Small Towns and Land Reform in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Zimbabwe’s land reform from 2000 radically transformed the agrarian structure, and with this small towns in rural areas. This article explores three such towns—Mvurwi, Chatsworth and Maphisa—examining changes in population, housing, transport and business activity between 2000 and 2020. Case studies highlight the importance of networks and social relationships between rural and urban areas, linked to new patterns of migration and a massive growth in the informal economy. Despite the lack of state investment in basic infrastructure, the economies of these small towns have grown significantly, with a major shift in agrarian relations generating new economic activity and employment. This suggests the potential of a territorial focus for local economic development following land reform, encompassing both urban and rural areas.

Landscape Design of Rural Characteristic Towns Based on Big Data Technology

“…rough the architectural forms and landscape features presented by these, you can appreciate the unique local customs of various places. Since the development of the times, the humanistic concern in the creative activities of the Chinese nation is more reflected in the humanized design [6]. e so-called humanized design is to take people as the main body of the design and comprehensively consider the needs of all aspects of people, and its core is still peopleoriented.…”

Between Village and Town: Small-Town Urbanism in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…Often, these processes of moving and settling are registered as rural-to-rural migration, not least because the bureaucratic definitions of places overlook the 'more-than-rural' in larger villages. Thus, in the very same locations, multiple reasons for and logics of moving into these places co-exist [20,24,27,28]; as highlighted by De Weerdt, the dynamics of rural-urban transformation and small town urbanization 'defy econometric destiny' [20]. This is further accentuated when we focus on the political roles of local leaders and citizens in small towns who are also important actors pushing for urbanization to happen [19].…”

“…In some areas, the availability of land, farming and employment provide commercial and/or livelihood expectations and opportunities for both individuals and households [51]. However, changes in the farming economy, e.g., in relation to plantation crops, smallholder schemes, new commercial crops [28,44], mining [19], investments in land [52][53][54], resettlement as part of land reforms [24], immigration and settlement into farming in response to policies promoting sedentary farming [55], and settlement in secure places during periods of political instability [56,57] are different examples of how migration-to-settlement pathways develop and contribute to significant settlement in rural regions. Often, these processes of moving and settling are registered as rural-to-rural migration, not least because the bureaucratic definitions of places overlook the 'more-than-rural' in larger villages.…”

“…This paper draws on these debates while it develops a particular focus on urbanism. In doing so, the paper contributes new perspectives to the reviving scholarship on Africa's small town development [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. Our small-town focus is not an attempt to essentialize these locations.…”

“…Our small-town focus is not an attempt to essentialize these locations. Rather, we approach transformations of small towns and their rural and urban spaces in the context of their contingent and context-specific social, economic and political pathways [23,24]. In the paper, we explore the ways in which small towns straddle rural and urban life, and consider how insights into this in-betweenness can contribute to our understanding of Africa's urban transformation.…”