The Plateau is the
central business district
A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...
of
Abidjan
Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, ...
, the economic capital of
Côte d'Ivoire
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...
. It is one of the 10 urban
communes of the city. The Plateau is surrounded by the municipality of
Yopougon to the west, to the south by the
Ébrié Lagoon. As a
central business district
A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...
, it brings together most of the city's administrative and commercial activities. Most of the large Ivorian firms have their headquarters in Plateau. It also has a very lively market.
Nicknamed by some the "Little Paris" or "Little Manhattan", the Plateau with its towers and buildings overlooks the
Ébrié Lagoon. Since the creation of the railway district, to accommodate the terminus of the Abidjan-Niger railway line, the Plateau has rapidly developed to become the administrative, commercial and financial center of Côte d'Ivoire, and holds an important place in West Africa.
There is also the Félix Houphouët-Boigny stadium and the
cathédrale Saint-Paul.
One of its amazing features is to welcome thousands of bats after dark, which gather above the lagoon to hunt mosquitoes and other insects.
Architecture
The commune of Plateau has many office towers, hosts of ministries and several companies. Its architecture varies between
modernism
Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
, for certain monuments such as the
cathédrale Saint-Paul or the Presidential Palace and several other buildings, and
functionalism, for the majority of buildings. The Plateau is a model of
town planning typical of the 1960s and
70s.
References
Communes of Abidjan
{{Abidjan-geo-stub