Paper short abstract:

Building upon findings of the recent completed project "Home Space in the African City" this paper focuses on the creative solutions that the inhabitants of Maputo find to solve the challenges they face in the process of acquisition, construction and transformation of their home spaces.

Paper long abstract:

Building upon findings of the recent completed project "Home Space in the African City" (www.homespace/.dk) this paper focuses on the creative solutions that the inhabitants of Maputo (Mozambique) find to solve the challenges they face in the process of acquisition, construction and transformation of their home spaces. The analyses is centered in the daily processes whereby the inhabitants gain access to, produce and reproduce space, giving it social and cultural value which gives meaning to their lives. Practices whereby the possession of land is secured and legitimized in a context where individuals are seeking to exploit the opportunities emerging in the urban property market will be analyzed. This paper also questions the dynamics underlying the construction and transformation of the home space, and discusses the processes activated by individuals and families in their endeavors to use and transform land according to the plans and purposes they have conceived for it. The author concludes that the house embodies the desires and ideals of the family and the process of building a house - a drawn-out process that takes place over a medium or long term and is not always guaranteed to reach completion - represents the successful collective trajectory of the family in a context marked by social and economic adversity.