Urban land in Africa is governed by a complex array of actors – spanning the public and private, formal and informal, local and international. With land governance remaining highly contested in this context, efforts to optimise systems or tackle injustices in African cities have often been required to face these conflicts. Better understanding power and politics in the urban land space is therefore key to effecting positive urban reform.
As part of ACRC’s land and connectivity domain, researchers conducted studies in six African cities – Accra, Ghana; Bukavu, DRC; Harare, Zimbabwe; Kampala, Uganda; Maiduguri, Nigeria and Mogadishu, Somalia – paying particular attention to the relationship between land administration and governance, land value and markets, and land reform efforts.
The domain team held a webinar in May 2024, which explored key findings from the land and connectivity studies. Beginning with an overview of the domain research and the headline comparative findings from the report, city researchers then presented insights from their research, including the realities of land governance arrangements in the cities studied, the politics of these arrangements, the key actors involved and what factors are shaping land value.
Panellists:
- Samuel Biitir (Accra)
- Surer Mohamed (Mogadishu)
- Abubakar Monguno (Maiduguri)
- Jean-Louis Nzweve (Bukavu)
- Eria Serwajja (Kampala)
Co-chairs:
- Tom Goodfellow (University of Sheffield)
- Liza Rose Cirolia (African Centre for Cities, University of Cape Town)
- Abdifatah Tahir (University of Sheffield)
Watch the full webinar recording below.
Header photo credit: Andi Edwards / Getty Images (via Canva Pro). New road bypass between Entebbe and Kampala, Uganda.
Note: This article presents the views of the author featured and does not necessarily represent the views of the African Cities Research Consortium as a whole.
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