Housing submarkets for the urban poor - the case of Greater Khartoum, the Sudan

Abstract

Housing submarkets for the urban poor: the case of Greater Khartoum, the Sudan identifies ten housing submarkets as those most widely used by the city's poorer groups. The city's land classification system is described, as this is a key issue in understanding how these submarkets are shaped. In the three decades after independence, official attitudes have ranged from extensive demolition of squatter settlements under military rule to selective demolition and resettlement in planned peripheral settlements and some upgrading under elected governments. A section of the article describes community efforts to improve living conditions in the small peripheral settlement of Jabra, while a final section examines the extensive rental housing market of Umbadda, a settlement with a population of some 180,000 in 1983.