Session 5 - Dar es Salaam

Transformations taking place and shaping urban space in African cities are largely driven by the  market/real estate sector without significant regulatory role of the state. Inadequate capacities of the  central government and local authorities expound the growing challenge African cities are facing.  Unfortunately, the private sector, the drivers of the market and the state which is the custodian of  public interests in urban space formation and transformation are in a dilemma and caught up in  protracted conflicts that emanate from dysfunctional space that is neither supportive of short nor long  term interests of the public or the market. This paper will attempt to explore this phenomenon using  findings from a study on urban land nexus in Dar es Salaam and Mwanza cities, Tanzania. One of  main observations is that unregulated transformations have given rise to spontaneous innovations at  grassroots, where local communities are creating informal platforms for negotiations and  interventions. The questions that this paper will attempt to answers are: i) What are the dynamics  shaping and transforming contemporary urban space in African cities? iii) How are local communities  in urban settlements responding to the market-led transformation? iii) What are implications for  planning practice and theory?

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