Bamenda is the commercial and cultural capital of Cameroon's Northwest Region, a highland province of roughly two million people sitting at 1,600 metres in the volcanic ranges of the Cameroon Line. It is the heartland of the Grassfields kingdoms, whose palace architecture, carved timber, woven toghu textiles and bronze casting form one of Central Africa's most distinctive material cultures.

The city is a rectangle roughly one kilometre wide by two kilometres long, its long axis running north to south, crossed by a single tree-lined arterial boulevard that runs from a transport interchange on the western edge straight to the airport gate. Twenty per cent of the land is streets and public circulation, fifteen per cent is parks and open space, and the residential districts are planned at 64 persons per hectare: compact and walkable rather than suburban.

Every institution a town needs is planned from the outset rather than deferred: a university institute, a medical centre, primary and secondary schools, a library and Museum of the Grassfields, a sports complex, a faith quarter, a memorial park, a civic quarter, a mall with an open-air produce court, and a hotel with a conference hall. Along the airport boundary sits an industrial and logistics strip for manufacturing, warehousing, air cargo and agro-processing.

The design language is drawn from the Grassfields rather than imported: steep pyramidal roofs with deep overhanging eaves, covered arcades on carved timber columns, perforated screens patterned after toghu textile geometry, and walls in laterite red-ochre, terracotta and cream plaster. Energy comes from a 14 megawatt solar array with 24 megawatt hours of storage; water is drawn from a wellfield and rain-harvesting reservoir; internal transport is progressively autonomous.

The project is being delivered in phases. Phase One covers the first 60 hectares, including the university institute, the hotel, the first serviced plots, the initial solar array and the full drainage network, which is built at final size from the outset. The masterplan is currently at design stage, with detailed engineering and statutory approvals in progress.