Aerial view of African metropolitan periphery at dusk

ANR-funded Research Project (2022–2026)

METROLAND

Commodifying land: capital, inequalities and conflicts in sub-Saharan African metropolitan peripheries.

Focal Cities: Bamako, Dakar, & Nairobi

Case Studies

We focus on the peripheries of Bamako (Mali), Dakar (Senegal) and Nairobi (Kenya). These metropolises are capital cities of French- and English-speaking African countries facing legal pluralism, diverse post-colonial land law regimes and different current political configurations.

Research Framework

Work Packages & Methodologies

The project brings together researchers specialized in land, rural and urban issues, geographers and socio-anthropologists. We combine an empirical approach with the production of qualitative data, quantitative data collection and spatial analysis to question (i) the transactions carried out on land and the capital resources of differentiated actors (ii) the socio-spatial reconfigurations of territories, in terms of use and users, and (iii) the conflicts and social mobilizations generated by these transformations.

WP_01

Urban sprawl patterns and territorial reconfigurations on the metropolis fringe

Spatial Analysis

This WP measures the changes occurring in the outskirts of the three metropolises under consideration and specifically contextualises the land-use changes, which will then be addressed through case studies. Measures of land-use changes from agricultural or natural land to fallow or built-up land in sub-Saharan Africa are rare in the academic literature, since the published or official sources are insufficient. We mobilise quantitative data to specify land use and land cover changes on territorial fringes, using several scales of analysis: the metropolitan area, local authorities and communities (communes, localities), and the land parcel.

WP_02

Public policies, land markets and investors' trajectories

Land Markets

This WP examines the modes of access to land and land-use conversions linked to urbanisation dynamics. We pay attention to the diversity of actors who acquire, sell and subdivide land, thus driving land markets. We identify three transversal approaches: the sociology of investors and modalities of transfer of land rights, the value chains activated by land transactions, and the social inequalities resulting from these processes.

WP_03

Former and current users of the peri-urban resources, new socio-spatial inequalities

Peri-urban Reconfigurations

This WP addresses reconfigurations at work in a moving rural-urban interface. It examines the increasing competition for peri-urban land resources, economic inequalities to which merchant transactions give rise and new territorial legitimacies resulting from these changing uses and users. We highlight the shrinking of agricultural surfaces, the "road factor" which guides urban sprawl, emerging real estate markets, and the interplay between different sources of action and legitimacy.

WP_04

Social groups in action: land tenure insecurity, conflicts and mobilisation

Conflicts & Mobilisation

This WP examines land conflicts that take place on urbanisation fronts. Land conflicts, sometimes violent, regularly make the headlines in the media and social networks. We analyse how they are rooted in land tenure insecurity and/or dispossession experienced by rural actors and/or new inhabitants. The WP analyses the mobilisation and resistance strategies of farmers and inhabitants in the face of urbanisation projects, both public and private, they see as sources of dispossession.

Project Activities

Publications, Conferences & Workshops

Explore our publications, conferences, and workshops focused on land commodification and urban expansion in African metropolitan peripheries.

Ongoing Research2022–2026

ConferenceOCT 2025

Land transactions and socio-economic profiles of investors in urban peripheries

Presentations by the METROLAND research teams from Dakar, Bamako, and Nairobi on land transactions and the socio-economic profiles of investors in urban peripheries.

ConferenceJUN 2025

Land titling in peri-urban Bamako

Communication by Monique Bertrand on land titling dynamics and their socio-economic implications in the peri-urban areas of Bamako, Mali.

ConferenceMAY 2025

Unlocking land access: New approaches for expanding cities

Communication by Bérénice Bon on new research avenues on urban expansion and land commodification in the Global South.

WorkshopJAN 2025

Almost Urban: Crossed perspectives on urban sprawl and land use transitions

From January 19 to 26, 2025, the METROLAND team held a series of activities in Kenya to exchange knowledge and explore urbanization dynamics in fast-growing areas around Nairobi.

SHOWING 1-4 OF 23 ACTIVITIES

Collaboration

The Team & Partners

The project is conducted by researchers specialized in land, rural and urban issues, geographers and socio-anthropologists, working across institutions in France, Senegal, Mali, Kenya, and Switzerland.

Partner Institutions

IRD (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement)
Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar
USTTB, Bamako
Kenyatta University, Nairobi
Université Gustave Eiffel, Paris
Université de Genève
CIRAD, UMR G-EAU