Trading Places is about urban land markets in African cities. It
explores how local practice, land governance and markets interact to
shape the ways that people at society's margins access land to build
their livelihoods. The authors argue that the problem is not with
markets per se, but in the unequal ways in which market access is
structured. They make the case for more equal access to urban land
markets, not only for ethical reasons, but because it makes economic
sense for growing cities and towns. If we are to have any chance of
understanding and intervening in predominantly poor and very unequal
African cities, we need to see land and markets differently. New
migrants to the city and communities living in slums are as much a part
of the real estate market as anyone else; they're just not registered or
officially recognised. This book highlights the land practices of those
living on the city's margins, and explores the nature and character of
their participation in the urban land market. It details how the urban
poor access, hold and trade land in the city, and how local practices
shape the city, and reconfigures how we understand land markets in
rapidly urbanising contexts. Rather than developing new policies which
aim to supply land and housing formally but with little effect on the
scale of the need, it advocates an alternative approach which recognises
the local practices that already exist in land access and management. In
this way, the agency of the poor is strengthened, and households and
communities are better able to integrate into urban economies.
