The Plateau is the central business district of

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N'ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the largest city and the former capital of Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of the overall population ...

, the economic capital of

Côte d'Ivoire Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest city and ...

. It is one of the 10 urban

communes A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

of the city. The Plateau is surrounded by the municipality of

Yopougon Yopougon (), also known colloquially as Yop City, is a suburb of Abidjan, Ivory Coast. It is the most populous of the 10 urban communes of Ivory Coast, communes of Abidjan and covers most of the western territory of the city. Yopougon is the only c ...

to the west, to the south by the

Ébrié Lagoon The Ébrié Lagoon lies in Ivory Coast, separated for almost all of its length from the Atlantic Ocean by a narrow coastal strip. The long lagoon is linked to the sea by the Vridi Canal, while the Comoë River flows into it. The lagoon averages ...

. As a central business district, 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

. 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. The area is also home to Félix Houphouët-Boigny Stadium and the cathédrale Saint-Paul. A notable feature is the population of 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 was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

, 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 Urban planning (also called city planning in some contexts) is the process of developing and designing land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportatio ...

typical of the 1960s and 70s.

References

Communes of Abidjan {{Abidjan-geo-stub