Village housing investments of multi-locational households and their spatial and environmental impacts: Case study of Kilimanjaro region, Tanzania

In recent years there has been a booming and unguided ‘modern’ residential housing investments in most of the villages on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. This was a phenomenon which motivated me to conduct this study in order to investigate the motives behind such investments, including the spatial and environmental challenges contribute by such investments. The idea is to conserve the nature in the villages on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, including the mountain and its forest. The literature in Tanzania has shown that there have been inadequate studies carried out in the area of multi-locality and rural-urban linkage. This implies that, there is little knowledge known about multi-locational households, including their impacts, especially those which are related to housing investments in their villages of origin. This study has revealed that, the village housing investments as a socio-cultural motive of multi-locational households which is currently booming in the villages on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro and of course in other villages in Tanzania is likely to, on the one hand; improve the village housing (reduce the housing poverty), increase village asset ownership, and enhance social status (prestige) at household, family and community levels. However, on the other hand and when not guided by the legal instruments and organs; it contributes to environmental challenges (e.g. over-exploitation of building materials such as timber, sand, bricks etc. causing deforestation and soil erosion) and spatial challenges (land fragmentation e.g. reduction of the farming land resulting from an excessive subdivision of the family land for housing investments). In understanding this problem, this study has employed both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The case study area (Sango Village) was the source of empirical evidence. The study has captured the socioeconomic and the qualitative data of 64 households who own ‘modern’ residential houses in Sango Village (it is one of the villages which lies on ...