[Guest Blog] Reflections from the 6th Conference on Land Policy in Africa: Rethinking our cities in a post-colonial era

by Liz Musvoto

From the 10th to the 13th of November 2025, policymakers, scholars, activists, and practitioners gathered in Addis Ababa for the 6th Conference on Land Policy in Africa. This year’s theme “Land Governance, Justice and Reparations for Africans and Descendants of People of the African Diaspora”- set the tone for a deep and honest conversation about land in its various guises.  Not just land as territory, but land as identity, memory, livelihood, history, trauma, and future possibility. 

Oftentimes, the conversations around African land are centred around rural, agricultural, or traditional land systems. But one of the most overlooked dimensions is urban land -the land that shapes the cities where millions of Africans now build their everyday lives. The sub-theme on Land, urbanization, settlements and conflicts brought this reality sharply into view, pushing the challenges of the post-colonial African city to the centre of the discussion.

Urbanization is arguably one of the most dramatic social phenomena confronting African cities post colonization. The UN predicts that Africa’s urban population will triple by 2050 reaching over 1.4 billion, presenting both opportunities and challenges. Rapid urbanization has been putting a strain on urban infrastructure such as housing, transportation, sanitation, increased demand for food, water and energy as well as putting pressure on the natural environment. There is growth of informal settlements, since most of the urban dwellers are now living in informal settlements, known as slums lacking basic services and sanitation. These are sometimes located on the outskirts of cities, sometimes expanding onto agricultural and rural land far away from economic activities, lacking transportation infrastructure. As cities expand outward into peri-urban land, formal plans collide with traditional land use. This imposition has also led to displacement and marginalization of indigenous communities.

Amid these challenges confronting the post-colonial city, African cities look to planning as a tool for sustainable and equitable development.  Whichever term one intends to use- town and regional planning, town and country planning or rural and urban planning, is a form of land governance in most African cities. Across Africa, urban planning was deeply implicated in pushing the colonial project. It has been instrumental in shaping the colonial city and is still influential and practiced in shaping the post-colonial city. 

The conversations at the conference reminded us that if planning is to be part of the solution, it must be re-imagined. It must confront its colonial legacy, embrace inclusivity, and respond to the realities of African urban life. Colonialism is not only a historical footnote. It actively persists through policies, infrastructure, and spatial arrangements that continue to disadvantage specific communities. African cities inherited the legacy of colonialism that includes segregated cities which are divided by race and social class, infrastructure serving only the elite, extractive economies and persistent inequalities in housing, services and poverty.

Planning has nonetheless been dynamic, has evolved depending on governance systems of the time, mostly carrying the promises of the governing system’s agenda. As an institution, planning is embedded in the state, but the definition of the state in Africa is evolving and contested. Traditional leaders, vigilante groups, political structures, homeowners’ associations, and other local authorities frequently operate alongside formal governance systems, creating multiple centres of influence and decision-making.

To achieve its role, planning has to be placed within the discourse of post coloniality. Some scholars describe post-coloniality as the unprecedented, complex predicament faced by individuals, societies and governments in the aftermath of colonialisation. Post coloniality is a powerful analytical lens because it acknowledges diversity and heterogeneity of actors in the urban space be it peri-urban households, landowners, developers, and many others who rarely fit neatly into a single planning framework. It also acknowledges multiple ideological perspectives and the heterogeneity of various schools of thought, different forms of urbanism, including informality, a wide range of settlement typologies and lived experiences as well as competing needs within society. Instead of assuming a single universal model of what a “modern” city should look like, the post-coloniality asks us to examine who the city is for, who holds power, and whose voices may be missing.

This opens the door to policy frameworks that embed equity and flexibility rather than blanket, one-size-fits-all solutions. In this view, informality is not a failure-it is a legitimate form of urbanism that must be understood, supported, and incorporated into planning practice.

How then do we achieve inclusivity in such a contested environment? The answer lies in embracing inclusive planning that reimagine cities to reflect the needs and realities of all its inhabitants. Thus, recognizing different stakeholders, key role players, embrace diverse ideological perspectives forming the colonial cities as well as competing needs. This leads to appreciating the role of participatory planning, where the rulers and the ruled interact. Interactive planning will accentuate the understanding of needs of various key players- who owns the land?, what does land mean to different groups? How do needs differ from slum dwellers to backyarders, to peri-urban dwellers and other communities? This opens the door to policy frameworks that embed equity and flexibility rather than blanket, one-size-fits-all solutions. In this view, informality is not a failure but a legitimate form of urbanism that must be understood, supported, and incorporated into planning practice.

As the fabulous young spoken word artist Scar reminds us, “the children are coming, but they should not find us here.”This is both a warning and a call to action. Africa’s next generations deserve cities that are shaped by inclusive governance, human-centered planning and a renewed relationship with land-against the backdrop of colonialism! 

The time is now - for planning systems, urban policies, and governance structures to transform in ways that reflect the realities, identities, struggles, and aspirations of all who call African cities home.

Liz Musvoto, is a Senior Lecturer at the University of University of Cape Town and served as Chair of the Scientific Committee of the 6th Conference on Land Policy in Africa 2025