The Urban Fabric Initiative, funded by AFD since 2018 to find innovative urban planning solutions that foster the appropriation of the major urban programs it supports, is a new collaborative and experimental tool within the arsenal of this public agency dedicated to France's international investment efforts.

Designed as high-value demonstrative experiments, the group aims to convince its partners of the validity of this approach and to replicate these urban innovation laboratories, which aspire to reinvent city-making by supporting those who live in and shape territories daily. This is achieved through the co-design and co-construction of innovative and participatory micro-actions for the development or activation of public spaces, drawing inspiration from successful participatory transitional urbanism initiatives implemented in the Global North.

These experiments, which involve both operational urban development and narrative urban design, are characterized by storytelling efforts made challenging by the complexity and novelty of the concepts employed. They also feature significant agility in activating public spaces that support the targeted urban transformation through frugal and adaptable urban planning choices.

The experimental nature of the program leads to significant evolutions in the approaches employed for its implementation, leaving the methods of city-making open to adaptation based on the specific characteristics of each urban context.