Conclusions: The Distance Between Critical Review and Institutional Commitment

The assumptions of prevailing interpretive approaches in the peri-urban sphere are discussed, and the research questions are reformulated in light of the analysis of Dar es Salaam. Seven key issues for a new interpretation of peri-urban areas and sub-Saharan cities are identified: relationship with natural resources, socio-economic and cultural homogeneity, environmental management and adaptive capacity, ‘people as infrastructure’, the ‘ideal of life’, dynamism in use of and access to resources, and rural–urban interdependence and bidirectional migration. Two sets of limits in research on peri-urban planning are thus identified. The first consists of the risk of formalizing, paralyzing or constraining social relations and ‘platforms of action’ within a structure that is incapable of responding to the needs of peri-urban residents. The second involves the risk that the emphasis on agency and informality in African cities become a vicious circle of self-exploitation and poverty that precludes development alternatives. Finally, the renewal of interpretive approaches in the cities of the Global North is envisioned together with a reflection on the need to bridge the gap between knowledge and planning.