Adapting to Urban Planning Contradictions in Community-Led Initiatives in Growing African Cities: A Case Study of Sinza D, Dar es Salaam

Abstract

This study demonstrates how grassroots and extended planners navigate urban governance contradictions by turning conflict into opportunities for learning and collaboration. Using a contested green space project in Sinza D, Dar es Salaam, as a case, it applies Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), expansive learning, and the ChangeLab framework to trace how shifting roles, fractured alliances, and cycles of reflection produced four distinct learning trajectories. After more than a year of mobilisation, a four-month Extended ChangeLab was carried out through a series of structured activities, including resident consultations, negotiation meetings, reflection sessions, and a dissem- ination campaign. These engaged grassroots leaders, a community-established Green Space Committee (GSC), residents, and adjacent actors. Within a Participatory Action Research (PAR) design, the researcher combined facilitation with participant observation while systematically documenting interactions and artefacts such as minutes, maps, and letters. Findings show that documentation, initially fragmented and contested, became a shared artefact that fostered transparency, legitimacy, and accountability, while reshaping relationships and supporting collective decision- making. The study reconceptualises the ChangeLab as a mobile, embedded learning infrastructure suited to hybrid governance contexts where formal authority and informal practices intersect. It advances methodological and practical insights for strengthening participatory urban governance in rapidly growing African cities.