Land and connectivity
Land access and ownership are crucial in determining economic and social opportunities for many residents in African cities, playing a central role in political discourses, identities and conflict. Land administration is key for poverty reduction efforts and to facilitate bottom-up wealth creation and development.
Access to and rights over land determine many factors impacting residents’ lives and livelihoods, including housing availability and affordability, access to basic services and employment, and social security and physical safety, among others. As such, urban land issues are an intensely political subject, making technical interventions challenging and drawing in a wide range of actors.
Our research looks into the ideologies shaping state-led land reforms and support from international donors across the continent, along with how an increased appetite for land investment has fuelled price increases and speculative property development – entrenching the socio-spatial divide in many African cities. We also explore how international development partners are working with African governments on land reform, land value capture and enhancing property taxation, to funnel increased land prices into financing infrastructure and service investments.
Within the land and connectivity domain, we are focusing on the following cities:
LATEST NEWS from ACRC
Podcast: The value of cross-city learning exchanges
ACRC city managers Jack Makau and Temilade Sesan join Tom Goodfellow to talk about the action research that’s underway in their cities, along with how urban communities in informal settlements can build power through their own forms of knowledge and data collection, and how two-way exchanges between cities can strengthen this process.
Supporting community responses to kush in Freetown: Next steps
Although ACRC’s funding of action research in Freetown on the synthetic drug, kush, came to an end in September 2025, its legacy continues. There is ongoing work to address the challenges of reducing kush use, building on the gains of the action research.
Unpacking the complexity of informal urban land governance in Kisenyi informal settlement, Kampala
During ACRC’s foundation phase, the Kampala land and connectivity domain research revealed how relevant and critical local councils (LCs) are in land transfers, especially in informal settlements. To deepen our understanding of this challenge, we are conducting action research in Kisenyi informal settlement in Kampala.