Between half and three-quarters of new housing development in African cities has been taking place on land acquired through informal channels. This paper offers insights from a study of self-builders’ investments in informal land and housing in Dar es Salaam and Mwanza, two of the largest and fastest-growing cities in Tanzania. The findings demonstrate that self-builders’ investments in informal land and self-built housing are inextricably linked with household wealth accumulation processes and long-term security. In light of the research findings, the paper offers reflections on the potential impacts of ongoing land formalization processes. The paper argues that the informal housing system has far more advantages than appreciated by proponents of formalization, that the vision of bringing “dead capital” to life is misleading, and that the anticipated emergence of active formal markets for land and housing may not serve the needs or interests of low- and middle-income households.

中文翻译：

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正规化背景下的非正式土地投资和财富积累：来自达累斯萨拉姆和姆万扎的案例研究

在非洲城市，有一半至四分之三的新住房开发是在通过非正式渠道获得的土地上进行的。本文从对坦桑尼亚最大和发展最快的两个城市达累斯萨拉姆和姆万扎的自建房者对非正规土地和住房投资的研究中得出了见解。研究结果表明，自建房者在非正规土地和自建住房上的投资与家庭财富积累过程和长期安全有着千丝万缕的联系。根据研究结果，本文对正在进行的土地正规化过程的潜在影响进行了反思。该论文认为，非正式住房制度的优势远远超过形式化支持者所欣赏的优势，即将“死资本”变为现实的愿景具有误导性，