Urban policy reforms across the globe over the last thirty years were unpinned by models of urban development as a market place where private actors meet space demands. This model of urban development fails to address existing pre-conditions in many cities in the Global South where private market reforms shifted the negotiation process of urban development without creating a market for urban space. In order to examine the shift in development this research project examines recent urban development in three Tanzanian cities: Dar es Salaam, Arusha, and Mwanza. Each case study includes two sites of observation: central city redevelopment and satellite city development. Variation in site characteristics includes the type of developer, presence of international investors, partnership types, and community responses. The case studies reveal that current urban development is driven by entrench business structures, plural governance systems, incentives for speculation and policy reform demand. The outcome of this process is an urban development pattern that is increasingly modular, unequal and fragile. The implication of the research is that policy unduly focused on the steps involved in development and deregulation without accounting for local factors. These factors can be categorized to account for potential bottlenecks. To create more sustainable and well functioning cities policy and planning could be refocused on infrastructure and service provision, long term hierarchical planning, improving rental markets, increasing housing safety nets, offering opportunities for small scale investors and increasing data transparency