Urban morphology, urban transformations and conservation in Maputo, Mozambique. Lessons learnt and transfer of knowledge to other regions. lessons learnt and transfer of knowledge to other regions.

The notion of home is a relational concept, which reflects the embedded sense of belonging to a certain space. Home is material and imagined and the concept embeds relationships between imagined ideals and specific physical spaces. Home is somewhere in particular; a place invested with meaning through lived experience and culturally defined practices. The analysis of home making processes in Maputo documents how this sense of belonging is created and the research focus on the relationship between the material, symbolic and imagined home.
A house turns into a home through inhabitation which involves feelings of security (physical and legal), concepts of family and social networks, relation to neighbourhood and how objects and spaces are invested with symbolic meanings. The study argues that the Maputo peri-urban inhabitants are acting as the de facto city makers with limited, if any, assistance from the state and/or the private sector. Understanding Home Space making is hence key to understanding how Sub-Saharan African cities continuously expand and transform themselves.