Concrete Sape : post-crisis urbanization and the political economy of the real estate boom in the Congos

Abstract The notion of ‘concrete Sape ’ constitutes the central heuristic tool of this study. Inspired by the Congolese elegant art of dressing ( La Sape ) – a form of ostentatious elegance in contexts of precarity – it refers here to strategies of urban display and the simulation of state order through spectacular constructions in contexts marked by war or post-crisis. Much like the body of the sapeur , which masks social fragility under the guise of appearance, the concrete-clad city showcases an image of an urban modernity that hides inequalities, political instability and the structural weaknesses of the state. This metaphor enables a joint analysis of the logics of simulacra, extraversion, violence and legitimation at play in the political economy of concrete. This study is rooted in a comparative ethnography of the post-crisis real-estate boom observed in Kinshasa and Brazzaville since the 2010s. It combines direct observations, a photographic corpus of public and private buildings, participation in real-estate fairs, and over thirty semi-structured interviews and informal conversations. By bridging urban studies and the socio-anthropology of politics, it sheds light on the mechanisms of simulacra, violence and political legitimation embedded in the economy of concrete and construction in Central Africa, both within and beyond post-conflict contexts.