About Us
Who we are
A design office committed today for the cities of tomorrow
Urbaconsulting is a French consultancy firm created in 2006 that specialises in supporting stakeholders from the global South to implement their urban development projects.
We work mostly in poor settlements and in fast growing cities .
We have successfully carried out more than 50 projects in some twenty countries on issues related to rapid urbanisation:
⚫️ Urban development
⚫️ Decentralisation
⚫️ Governance
⚫️ Municipal Management
⚫️ Investment programs
⚫️ Security and land tenure
⚫️ Local Finances
⚫️ Municipal taxation
We develop approaches that foster the participation of all stakeholders within the project area and we rigorously adapt our practices to local conditions .
Our team benefits from a strong network of experts and partners, both in France and abroad, with whom we have forged special relationships. Our combined talents enable us to develop tailored solutions for our clients.
Urbaconsulting is part of a group whose capital is 100% owned by its employees, which guarantees our independence , the commitment of our experts and the cohesion of our team.
Our Mission
We wish to contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within an engineering group that is completely independent, professional, innovative, a source of proposals, respectful of humanist values and the well-being of its employees, steered by its management in a participatory manner, in which we (shareholders, representatives, employee team) derive satisfaction from our work and our commitment
Our Vision
Our Values
INTEGRITY & TRANSPARENCY
Integrity is a value that is shared by all of the people with whom we work. All of our ethical commitments are set out in a detailed charter. Tackling corruption is one of the fundamental pillars of this commitment, both for our team and for our partners.
ADAPTABILITY & CREATIVITY
For us, each situation and each project is unique. The capacity to adapt and the creativity that the Urbaconsulting teams regularly display to appropriately respond to the issues and challenges of each situation have become one of the hallmarks of our work.
QUALITY & EFFICIENCY
We provide workable and sustainable solutions and take care to ensure that, at each project stage, our approach is aligned to the environment, practices, and habits of the local area. We undertake all quality assurance measures needed to meet our clients’ requirements on each of our assignments. We are able to rapidly deploy our team, we commit to client timescales and to ensuring all deadlines are met, and we are able to ramp up the deployment of our staff should the need arise.
COLLABORATION & SHARING
We systematically work with local partners when conducting our assignments. We enjoy relationships of trust with all our partners and share common values .
Our Group
Strengthened by our membership of the Global Development Group, we are able to call upon the skills and network of Hydroconseil, Nexsom and Kattan to further enhance the services we offer.
Created in 2021, Nexsom provides engineering services, with a social focus, to improve access to basic services, solve environmental and housing problems in vulnerable communities of Latin America.
Founded in 2022, Kattan provides an offer dedicated to the energy sector under the objective to promote sustainable, equitable and inclusive access to energy in emerging and developing countries.
Since 2006, Urbaconsulting specialises in supporting stakeholders from the global South to implement their urban development projects. It operates mainly in poor settlements and in fast growing cities.
We are engineers, economists, institutional experts, architect-urbanists who work hand in hand to provide access to essential services (water, sanitation, waste, energy, irrigation, etc.) and improved living environments to inhabitants of developing and emerging countries. We work as well on aspects related to climate change (resilience of cities, impact on water resources, etc.)
Corporate Social Responsability
Reducing the environmental footprint of our consulting firms’ activities
Global Development strives to minimise the impact of its activities on both the environment and the climate. In 2022, a responsible purchasing policy based on CSR criteria will be rolled out with our service providers (office supplies, cleaning products, etc.) and we will also introduce a sustainable management policy for our digital equipment.
The group is also taking steps to reduce its carbon footprint. Air travel, with its high fossil fuel consumption, is used only when strictly necessary. The preferred options are rail travel or videoconferencing and these are used whenever possible. Our business policy now includes high-impact client guidelines for justifying the need for certain trips and that promotes our ability to implement projects remotely with the help of trusted local partners. With the support of France’s Region Sud, the two companies will also implement a policy to offset air travel emissions.
In 2022, all employees will sign up to a jointly developed « eco-actions at work » charter , the aim of which will be to reduce energy consumption in the office, encourage the use of sustainable modes of transport (bicycles and electric vehicles), reduce the amount of waste produced, sort waste for recycling, and compost organic waste. Working from home is encouraged and forms an integral part of the team’s working practices.
Prioritizing the sustainable management of natural resources
Global Development advises contracting authorities on the construction of infrastructure that often has an impact on the surrounding environment (water abstraction, wastewater discharge, soil sealing, etc.). For all these development projects, the group prioritises those technical solutions that minimise the impact on the environment at a reasonable cost. We systematically prioritise nature-based solutions. Where large volumes of water are set to be extracted from water resources, the four companies determine the potential impact of this as accurately as possible so that proper control or compensation measures can be defined.