Africa's Urban Land Markets: Piecing Together an Economic Puzzle

This handbook introduces key economic and related concepts explaining the functioning
of urban land markets. By introducing key classical economic concepts, the handbook
provides foundational economic terms that are often referred to in relation to urban land
markets. In doing this, we do not imply that African land markets should or ought to
‘fit’ into neo-classical economic theories, nor do we propose that 'perfect' markets exist.
Rather, we hope to provide the tools for engaging in a critical analysis of conventional
economics, particularly in our understanding of African urban land markets.
It is intended for use by people in government, private firms and non-governmental
organisations involved in the fields of housing, urban planning, engineering, architecture
and related areas. It provides a basis for strengthening urban policy in ways that enable
poorer people in African cities to access well-located living and work spaces.
The reader of this handbook should come away with an understanding of how interventions
affect the market, and also how markets affect, enable, constrain and shape interventions
by governments, developers, traditional authorities, banks, micro-lenders or any of its
actors. It provides a sense of the dynamics of the urban land market – how particular
decisions in one sector affect other sectors. This understanding provides practitioners in
the field with a framework to make more informed decisions when formulating policies
or making recommendations.
The handbook is not meant to take sides in debates about how best to deliver these
goods to the people who most need them in African cities. Rather, it sets out the
basis for understanding the dynamics of urban land markets. It does not make specific
recommendations for policies or interventions but instead provides the tools to understand
what is at stake when formulating policies.
As such, the handbook is a sort of beginner’s guide to the economy, especially those
aspects of the economy that are relevant to urban land markets, and to questions about
land use, supply and demand as they unfold on the African continent.