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.
ACRC will look 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 will 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.
LATEST NEWS from ACRC
Voice, agency and citizenship: The everyday politics of young people’s lives in the global South
Young people across the global South face much economic, social, political and environmental uncertainty that impacts their daily lives as well as their futures.
Five African cities selected for ACRC’s implementation phase
The African Cities Research Consortium (ACRC) is commencing pilot action research projects in four African cities: Nairobi, Kenya; Harare, Zimbabwe; Maiduguri, Nigeria and Mogadishu, Somalia.
The value of tacit knowledge for urban reform coalitions: A conversation with Lalitha Kamath
Lalitha Kamath joins Ezana Haddis Weldeghebrael for a conversation about the transformative potential of urban reform coalitions and the need to value lived experience.