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Urbanization The Mossi Empire grew up around the political capital and trade centres on the central plateau, Bobo-Dioulasso was the main commercial centres based on gold, salt, nuts and cloth; Ouagadougou was the main route centres, Fada N'Gourma, Ouahigouya and Tenkodogo were Fulani emirates. These have all now grown into the main urban areas of Burkina Faso.
Ouagadougou became the capital when the French colonised the country in 1886 and renamed it Upper Volta, chosen for its location and accessibility, infrastructure was concentrated here and in Bobo-Dioulasso. The railway from the coast reached Bobo-Dioulasso in 1934 and Ouagadougou in 1954. The towns grew rapidly between 1975 and 1993 and rapid rural-urban migration has led to the 'Ten medium sized towns project' to encourage people to stay in the rural areas.
The ten are:
27% of the population currently live in towns and 73% in rural areas. Over 80% of the people in Ouagadougou are under 35 causing problems of employment and housing, health, leisure and transportation. Urban unemployment of under 24 year olds is 27% giving rise to crime and unrest. The mud adobe buildings are still the main dwellings and unplanned shantytowns are growing, here these are called 'non-lotis'.
A new area of executive housing with 12000 homes and leisure facilities is being built to the south of the city on 700ha linked to the presidential services.
In urban areas 75% of people have access to a water supply. The capital is supplied from three reservoirs to the north, only 6% of urban homes have a gas supply so the main form of energy for cooking is still wood. Two HEP stations are now supplementing electricity from thermal power stations and 33 urban areas now have a limited supply.
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