Housing
Against a backdrop of poverty, underinvestment in basic infrastructure and contested land development, housing provision is lacking in African cities. In the absence of state support and affordable market opportunities, many households – including those in the middle classes – find housing in the informal sector, with associated insecurities.
As well as providing safety, security and access to essential basic services, housing also gives urban residents access to labour markets, a legal address and even a site for household economic activities. For city and national governments, housing construction is an important source of enterprise activity and employment. The cost, availability and suitability of urban housing options are influenced by multiple formal and informal systems, with a wide range of actors involved.
ACRC will examine the connections between these various systems and actors, along with other pertinent issues – including mass housing programmes versus incremental development, affordable housing, subsidies and environmentally friendly building materials – and how these intersect with other urban development domains.
LATEST NEWS from ACRC


Household microenterprises in African cities: A conversation with Selina Pasirayi and Rollins Chitika
Ademola Omoegun talks to two city-based researchers from the neighbourhood and district economic development domain – Selina Pasirayi (Harare) and Rollins Chitika (Lilongwe) – about the critical role that household microenterprises (HMEs) play in African cities.


Gendered experiences of rural migrant youth in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
“I have lived everything there is to be lived in this city. Now I need to leave because all that is left for me here is misery and I want a better life for my child.”


Gender and (in)formal security provision in Maiduguri, Nigeria
While on fieldwork in Maiduguri, I met Aisha (not her real name), who introduced herself as the commander of the vigilante group in her community.