Home-Grown Growth in African Cities: How Self-Build Housing Drives Urban and Economic Growth in Ghana and Tanzania

We aim to answer three research questions:

1. How do people living in urban areas access housing as tenants or owners and how do they gain resources to acquire, finance and improve their homes?

2. How does self-organised construction contribute to the economies of urban areas?

3. How does the economy of self-build housing affect social mobility, inequality and neighbourhood change?

The project is based on qualitative research in two of Africa’s fastest-growing cities (Accra, Ghana; and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania), and in two fast-growing towns (Techiman, Ghana; and Ifakara, Tanzania).

The research is organised in to three work packages:

1. Using surveys to show how people rent, build and make assets out of houses;

2. Using observation and interviews with builders, owners and renters, to describe how the economy of self-build housing creates services and employment;

3. Using interviews and oral histories with residents, businesses and local government officials to understand processes of asset accumulation, neighbourhood improvement and social differentiation in the four towns and cities. 

Dr Isaac Arthur, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana
ikarthur@ug.edu.gh

Dr Tom Gillespie, University of Manchester, UK
thomas.gillespie@manchester.ac.uk

Professor Maia Green, University of Manchester, UK
maia.green@manchester.ac.uk

Professor Joseph Lusugga Kironde, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
lusuggakironde@gmail.com

Iddy Mayumana, Kilombero Valley Health and Livelihood Promotion, Ifakara, Tanzania
imayumana@yahoo.com

Professor Claire Mercer, London School of Economics, UK (Principal Investigator)
c.c.mercer@lse.ac.uk

Professor Diana Mitlin, University of Manchester, UK
diana.mitlin@lse.ac.uk

Professor George Owusu, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana
gowusu@ug.edu.gh

Dr Shaaban Sheuya, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
sheuya@yahoo.com

Dr Shaaban Athuman Sheuya was born on 6 March 1950 at Mlalo, Lushoto, Tanzania, and died on 30 May 2025 in Dar es Salaam. He was educated at Tanga School (obtaining O levels in 1969) and Pugu Boys Secondary School (obtaining A levels in 1971). He went on to be awarded a Master of Architecture from the University of Venice, Italy, where he studied between 1972-1978; a Postgraduate Diploma from the Institute of Housing Studies, Rotterdam, The Netherlands (1986); and a PhD from the University of Dortmund in Germany (2003), titled ‘Housing Transformations and Urban Livelihoods in Informal Settlements, The Case of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’.

He was a Registered Architect with the Tanzanian National Board of Architects and Quantity Surveyors from 1982. Between 1978 and 1992 he was employed by the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development as an Architect/Planner with the Sites and Services Squatter Upgrading Programme. He was employed at Ardhi Institute and then Ardhi University (1992-2015) in the Department of Urban and Rural Planning where he taught Studio and Housing subjects. He was seconded to the ILO as National Programme Coordinator for the Hanna Nassif Community Managed Upgrading Project, and to the Tujenge Pamoja (‘Let’s Build Together’) Ford Foundation project for community-based house upgrading in Hanna Nassif II.

He worked on the Home-Grown Growth in African Cities: How Self-Build Housing Drives Urban and Economic Growth in Ghana and Tanzania research project between 2021 and 2025 with colleagues in Ghana, Tanzania and the UK. That project was inspired by his PhD research on housing finance in Hanna Nassif. Dr Sheuya conducted fieldwork for the project in Bunju and Ifakara, where communities appreciated his friendliness and kindness. Dr. Sheuya was married with three daughters, and two sons.

• Sheuya, Shaaban and Burra, Marco (2016), ‘Tenure security, Land titles and Access to Formal Finance in Upgraded Informal Settlements: the case of Dar es Salaam, Current Urban Studies’, Current Urban Studies, 2016, 4, 440-460
• Sheuya, Shaaban, (2009) ‘Urban Poverty and Housing transformations in Informal settlements. The case of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania,’ International Development and Planning Review, 31 Vol. 1 pp. 81-108
• Sheuya, Shaaban, (2009) ‘Urban Poverty and Housing transformations in Informal settlements. The case of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania,’ International Development and Planning Review, 31 Vol. 1 pp. 81-108
• Sheuya, Shaaban (2008), ‘Improving the Health and Lives of People Living in Slums’ in Stephen Kaler and Owen Rennert, (eds) Reducing the Impact of Poverty on Health and Human Development, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Blackwell Publishing, Boston, Massachusetts
• Sheuya, Shaaban (2007), ‘Reconceptualizing housing finance in informal settlements: the case of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’, Environment and Urbanization, Vol.19, pp.441-456
• Sheuya, S., Howden-Chapman, P., and Patel, S. (2007) ‘The Design of Housing and Shelter Programmes: The Social and Environmental Determinants of Inequalities’, Journal of Urban Health, The New York Academy of Medicine, Springer, Vol. 84 No. 3 pp.98-108
• Sheuya, S., Patel, S. and Howden-Chapman, P., (2008) The Design of Housing and Shelter Programmes, WHO Centre of Health Development, Kobe
• Meschack, M., Lupala, J., and Sheuya, S., (2007) Analysis of Conflicts in Community Managed Projects. The case of Community-Based Projects in Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar, Tanzania. KTH Architecture and Built Environment, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm
• Sheuya, Shaaban A.  (2010) Informal Settlements and Finance in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, UN- HABITAT, Nairobi
• Sheuya, Shaaban (2004) Housing Transformations and Urban Livelihoods in Informal Settlements. The Case of Dar es Salaam. SPRING Centre, University of Dortmund
• Sheuya, Shaaban and M.V. Meshack (2001) Trekking the Path of Urban Community-Based Organizations in Tanzania. The Case of Five CBOs in Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam University Press

Centre for Democratic Development, Accra, Ghana

Economic and Social Research Foundation, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Tony Asare, Tekton Consult, Accra, Ghana
tony.asare@tektonconsult.com

George Temba, Economic and Social Research Foundation, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
georgeraphael9284@gmail.com

Danny Mwasandube, Webb Uronu Consultant Quantity Surveyors, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Dr Daniel Mbisso, Head of the Architecture Department, Ardhi University, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (2021-22)

Dr Wilfred Anim-Odame, CEO at Lands Commission, Accra, Ghana

Professor Wilbard J Kombe, Professor at the Institute for Human Settlements Studies, Ardhi University

The research is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) of the UK. The project runs from December 2021 to June 2025.

Households’ generation of resources for housing in urban Ghana: The Case of Techiman Municipality, Ghana. Read paper. 

Working Paper, Draft Summary of Findings: Christian Village & Golf Hills, Accra. Read paper. 

Self-build housing economy and neighbourhood change in urban Ghana: Case studies of Accra and Techiman. Read paper. 

A dynamic analysis of winners and losers in Africa’s urban housing markets. Read paper.