ABSTRACT
Maputo, Mozambique’s capital, is still often described as a dual city, composed of the so-called Cimento (concrete city), the former colonial centre, and the Caniço, the vast surrounding informal settlements. If on the one hand until the early years of the twenty-first century and despite its urban morphology, Maputo looked almost the same as the city left by the Portuguese after independence in 1975, on the other hand its use, land occupation and daily practices revealed another city, in which informal rules guaranteed a certain (fragile) equilibrium even without official governance.
