We promote and disseminate quality publications by African scholars on urban topics in general, but rooted in our programmes.
Without land, there can be no housing. And without looking at the issue of land, there can be no meaningful discussion about how to solve the problems of housing for the poor in our cities. The inaccessibility of decent, secure, affordable land is the major reason why there are so many informal settlements in African cities and is a contributing factor to urban poverty.
This guide describes several ways of addressing low-income housing in African cities at the programme and project level. It focuses on well tried methods of improving the housing and living environments of people living in slums and informal settlements, and providing adequate housing for future generations of urban poor.
Discourses on urban development tend to dehumanise ordinary Africans by stripping them of the ingenuity it takes to simply survive and reproduce a sense of identity, community, belonging and aspiration that coincides with the conditions of poverty and exploitation.
