From the end of the 1990s, urban research in sub-Saharan Africa began to pay more attention to small and medium-sized cities (Bertrand and Dubresson 1997) in a context marked by the promotion of decentralization and local development... more
From the end of the 1990s, urban research in sub-Saharan Africa began to pay more attention to small and medium-sized cities (Bertrand and Dubresson 1997) in a context marked by the promotion of decentralization and local development through international cooperation. However, many works of geographers were focused on the commune, instead of the city as space produced by its actors. Today, strong urban growth in sub-Saharan Africa makes urban peripheries a fertile ground of investigation to apprehend the production of the city in its margins. The margin is understood here in the sense of a spatial and social construction, at the same time border but also, central space inscribed in relations of power (Sierra and Tadié 2008). How, in subSaharan Africa and especially in Senegal, does the city take place in its margins? The choice of Ziguinchor is justified by its location in a remote, landlocked and transboundary region and the physical constraints of its site. Surveys were conducted in 2015 in the southern urban districts of Kenya, Diabir and Kandialang. The household survey covered a sample of 206 households drawn from a mother population of 1373 households. The individual interviews, selectively sowed, targeted the different insti-tutional actors of the city to understand the perception of the dynamics of the spaces and the actors' play. The article presents the results in three points. The first shows the combination of geographical and geopolitical factors on the effusion of the city to the south. The second analyzes how the southern spaces have become a central stake of an intense set of actors of different origins and interests. The third identifies the signs of integration and urban insertion and the risks related to environmental and social impacts.
