Resource information
The New Urban Agenda and SDG 11 promote inclusive urban development, but limited empirical
knowledge exists on how such global rhetoric plays out on the ground. This paper contributes
to the inclusive city debate by focusing on the case of Soba, a peri-urban area at the fringes
of the capital of Sudan. Based on an explorative study of secondary material, semi-structured
interviews and structured observations it aims to systematically analyse the dynamics of periurban
development. Findings show how the rising pressure on land results in commoditisation,
(informal) land-use changes and a multitude of other land transformations. The paper concludes
that the mismatch of urban land policies has resulted in increasing fragmentation of urban space
and socio-spatial discrepancies between those who can afford to buy land or transform it into
urban uses and those who cannot. It sheds fresh light on the challenges of the inclusive urban
transition agenda.
Key words: urban transformations; land governance; spatial segregation; inclusive cities;
Khartoum; Sudan