Cooperative Development and Land Use Planning Dynamics in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Quest for Socio Solidarity Economy and Partnership in Sustainable Urban Development

Abstract

Urbanisation is the key factor underpinning and catalysing changes in land use, land transactions, increased rural-urban immigration, cooperative development and the overall poverty increase in Cities of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The increase of urban population leads to changes in the life style of the people, where land used for farming is changed into different land uses including housing and institutional development. The changing life style demand people to think more on how to get finance to sustain their life and living styles in urban areas, and therefore financial and agricultural cooperatives becomes a fundamental demand in urban development. The need for development of these cooperatives is encouraged due to life changes caused by among other reasons urbanisation processes leading and catalysing people into forming associations and voluntary pressure groups as room for manoeuvre, which ultimately help them to access different financial betterments from financial institutions to improve their income levels. Paradoxically, rural dwellers make use of goods and services including money remittances in terms of money flows from urban settings.