Urban infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa – harnessing land values, housing and transport: literature review on housing

This study reviews the literature on the current housing challenge faced by Sub-Saharan African cities

Abstract

Over the past decades, Sub-Saharan Africa has experienced some of the highest urban growth rates in the world, while income levels on the sub-continent remain amongst the lowest in the developing world. The dual pressures of growing urban population and pervasive poverty mean that the rapidly-growing African cities face a growing challenge of providing shelter for the poor.

This study reviews the literature on the current housing challenge faced by Sub-Saharan African cities. More specifically, it reviews trends with regard to approaches taken to housing and informal settlements in Sub-Saharan Africa from the post-colonial period to the present, who pays for housing investments, and the ways in which the value created by investments in housing can be captured.

Citation

African Centre for Cities. Urban infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa - harnessing land values, housing and transport: literature review on housing. African Centre for Cities, Cape Town, South Africa (2015) 47 pp.

Urban infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa – harnessing land values, housing and transport: literature review on housing

Updates to this page

Published 1 January 2015