Housing and the Future of Rural Land-Based Commons

Résumé :

This chapter examines land dynamics in Sub-Saharan Africa in the context of massive, rapid, and diffuse urbanization. The first section focuses on the future of land-based commons, particularly on the outskirts of urban areas, including the rural fringes that some actors expect to be absorbed by the urban area. The second section addresses the emergence of new types of commons designed to provide housing access to precarious and middle-class populations. This occurs in the absence of social housing policies at a time when access to urban land for housing is being cut off as its financial value and price increase. The third and final section discusses the renewal of public action—which is desirable in our view—in the face of these land use challenges.