Urbanisation in sub-Saharan Africa has been marked by high socio-economic inequality, which continued after independence. The growth of a still ill-defined middle class has introduced new dynamics in urban space in the region, with different effects on lower-income groups, who form the vast majority of city dwellers. Access to urban land is central to these new dynamics and plays an important role in the reduction of pre-existing inequalities. In the Mozambican capital, Maputo, as land becomes increasingly scarce, development expands into the peri-urban areas of a fast-growing city region, partly encouraged by the improvement and construction of main roads but also by official urban planning praxis in a context where land is state-owned. This article analyses the land occupation processes promoted by these state initiatives and how these are shaping expansion in the Maputo city region, with a focus on new occupation by a growing middle class, linked to increasing land value and commodification. It argues that recent state initiatives in urban development have been supportive of middle-class advances into peri-urban areas of the Maputo metropolitan area, with reduced consideration of lower-income groups, on which these advances often have negative effects.

撒哈拉以南非洲的城市化以高度的社会经济不平等为标志，这种不平等在独立后继续存在。仍然不明确的中产阶级的增长为该地区的城市空间带来了新的动力，对占城市居民绝大多数的低收入群体产生了不同的影响。获得城市土地是这些新动态的核心，并在减少先前存在的不平等方面发挥着重要作用。在莫桑比克首都马普托，随着土地变得越来越稀缺，开发扩展到快速发展的城市地区的城郊地区，部分原因是主要道路的改善和建设以及官方城市规划实践的鼓励土地是国有的。本文分析了这些国家举措推动的土地占用过程，以及它们如何影响马普托市地区的扩张，重点关注日益壮大的中产阶级的新占领，与土地价值和商品化有关。它认为，最近国家在城市发展方面的举措一直支持中产阶级进入马普托大都市区的城郊地区，减少了对低收入群体的考虑，这些进步往往会对低收入群体产生负面影响。