Spatio-temporal dynamics of urban space and land pressure in Houndé, a gold-mining area in Burkina Faso

The objective of this study is to analyse the contribution of gold mining to urban sprawl in the city of Houndé. Primary and secondary data were used for this purpose. The study revealed strong urban demographic growth in Houndé, as well as various modes of land acquisition, tools and urban development operations as characteristics and factors of urban dynamics. From an urbanisation rate of 1.36% in 1996, the city of Houndé rose to 1.24% in 2006, then 1.6% in 2019. The city is expanding very rapidly (55%), and there is also a high concentration of the population of Houndé (51%), with 84% of this population living in unparcelled areas of the city and only 14% living in parceled areas. The cartographic analysis shows an impressive evolution of the urban space of Houndé, with an area increasing from 1,459.43 ha in 2012 to 1,826.85 ha in 2016, representing a spatial increase of 25.26% in four years. In 2021, the city's area was 5,145.84 ha, representing an increase of 3,318.99 ha over the five years between 2016 and 2021, or 181.67%. The local population and farmers perceive the cost of living in Houndé to be high (45%), with housing problems (41%) and land pressure (14%) also being issues. It would therefore be wise for the municipal and state authorities to take action to promote sustainable urbanisation of gold-mining towns.