Gentrification in African cities: a critical review

Source abstract

This article provides a critical review of gentrification research in African cities by assessing its current state and charting future trajectories while engaging with debates about gentrification theory's global reach. Drawing on a critical literature review of 45 peer-reviewed studies conducted in African cities, the paper interrogates four foundational concepts, namely land commodification, rent and value gap dynamics, gentrification actors and strategies and forms of displacement. We argue that African scholarship does not merely extend Northern theory's empirical frontiers but reveals its hidden contextual assumptions. Findings show that land commodification is driven by rapid urbanisation, foreign investment, land tenure reconfiguration and resource-driven demand. Rent gaps emerge not from classic urban disinvestment but from under-utilised state lands, policy-driven tax increments and ecological commodification. Gentrification actors form heterogeneous multi-actor coalitions departing markedly from classic developer-led models and displacement extends beyond physical eviction to encompass ecological and socio-economic dimensions. This paper suggests that future research should focus, among others, on gentrification driven by mega churches, Chinese investments and migration and digital platform because African scholarship is uniquely positioned to provincialise, extend and reconceptualise gentrification theory.