Resource information
The report’s findings suggest that policies and programmes of governments and the development partners could include a stronger focus on the development of peri-urban areas and smaller cities and towns. The rapid pace of change in peri-urban areas throws into relief any underlying issues in land tenure arrangements, land administration/planning and governance, such as overlapping mandates, conflicts in tenure systems, weak land administration/planning capacity and wider political economy issues that can block positive reforms.
Governments and funders could support activities to strengthen tenure arrangements, increasing capacity at municipal level to: recognise and manage different tenure systems and to manage the transition along the land rights continuum, protecting rights while allowing access to land to new entrants; and improve capacity at municipal level to undertake sound land use planning, including through more community-based practices, and better data use and management.
The literature reviewed for this study highlighted three main land issues as being particularly important for facilitating good outcomes from urbanisation:
• Sound land use planning, particularly when combined with gender-sensitive transportation planning to provide affordable access, appropriate densities, mix of land-uses, and safety for vulnerable populations and connect people to jobs, markets, essential services and political representation.
• Smoothly functioning land and housing markets and local authorities that are responsive to market failures, so that people and firms can easily relocate and can access suitable land and infrastructure for residential and economic purposes.
• Capable and responsive land market and urban management institutions that can ensure that formal sector housing and land markets can respond with adequate supply in the short-medium term and will plan on the basis of population projections to ensure the inclusion of the poorest urban dwellers.
