This study looks into the challenges andopportunities posed by urbanization in Guinea, reviewingbriefly the trends at the national level but focusing on theurban area of Conakry. The main reasons for focusing on theurban area of Conakry are the following. While secondarycities in Guinea are growing economically and in population,Conakry already represents close to 50 percent of the urbanpopulation and its demographic growth outpaces that of otherurban areas. This creates a sense of urgency to solving thecountry’s capital problems. Secondly, Conakry remains thecountry’s main interface for international trade through itsport facility. Failure to address Conakry’s issues,including congestion levels, would likely weaken its (andGuinea’s) attractiveness in the long run. Follow-up studiescould however look into Guinea’s system of cities, includinghow they are connected to each other within the country andwith theirneighbors. The analysis presented in this reviewshows that urban areas in Guinea, and Conakryin particularare currently not acting as engines of growth andcompetitiveness and are failing at providing public servicesand quality living standards for their residents. It arguesthat the reasons are to be found i) in the businessenvironment which, recent progress aside, stymies privatesector job creation and economic diversification, ii) inConakry’s deficient connectivity system which acts as abottleneck for residents to have access to economicopportunities, iii) in its obsolete and unenforced planningstrategies and its rigid land markets and iv) in the lack ofinstitutional clarity and financial resources which leads tounderinvestment in public services.
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