Spatial dynamics of the city of azove (Benin)

In the midst of space-time mutation, the city of Azovè is characterized by galloping population growth and horizontal dynamics of agglomeration zones. This research presented the city’s spatial dynamics between 2005 and 2023 using cartography. Data were first collected through individual interviews with 120 households and by taking geographical coordinates of existing infrastructures. Cartographic production was based on Landsat TM 2005 and Landsat Oli-Tirs 2023 images downloaded from www.earthexplorer.com using ArcGis 10.7 software. The Excel 2016 spreadsheet was used to calculate proportions and produce figures of the interviewees’ responses. The results showed that the land-use units in the urban space are forests and savannas, forest and fruit plantations, crops and fallow land, crops and fallow land under oil palms and agglomerations. Field mosaics and fallow land under oil palms have lost 310 ha to fields and agglomerations. This dynamic is the direct cause of the increase in the built-up land linked to subdivisions (23.12%), the reduction in traditional housing (22.31%), and in farmland (21.10%), the presence of foreigners from Togo with cross-border trade (18.46%) and the increase in infrastructure (15.01%). From 2005 to 2023, the city’s socio-community infrastructures evolved with the agglomerations, making the city a center for goods and people exchange.