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


Fostering resilient and inclusive urban development in Freetown
The Freetown uptake workshop on 23 March 2023 examined how to integrate research evidence from ACRC Freetown city studies into processes and activities to achieve congruence between policy actions and urban transformation practices and programmes in the city.


Community knowledge: Pushing the frontiers of research in Harare
Democratising research processes has long been a contested subject. While co-production of knowledge presents vast opportunities for positive development outcomes, urban research processes often continue to exclude and marginalise vulnerable groups.


Building cities for all (not the privileged few)
Economists have long claimed there is overwhelming evidence that urbanisation unlocks the potential for economic growth and, from this, development. They point to the fact that no country to date has reached middle-income status without undergoing an urban transition.