LAND POLICIES AND MDGS
IN RESPONSE TO NEWLY EMERGING CHALLENGES
March 9-10, 2009, The World Bank, Washington DC
LAND GOVERNANCE FOR RAPID URBANISATION
Alain Durand-Lasserve
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique – France
a.durand-lasserve@wanadoo.fr
OUTLINE
1. Recent interest in relationship between land
and governance issues
2. Rapid urbanisation: figures & trends
3. Land governance: some methodological
issues
4. Practical objectives of land governance for
rapid urbanisation
5. Tools and procedures for improved land
governance in rapid urbanisation
6. Implications for research
1. Recent interest in relationship between land and
governance issues
1.1. Converging initiatives to create harmonised set of land indicators
during last five years (Quan, 2007)
In urban areas
World Bank/DBS, UN-Habitat, Global Urban Observatory (Urb. Gov. Index)
In rural and urban areas
MCC, USAID - Inter-American Alliance for Real Property Rights
In rural areas
IFAD, International Land Coalition
1.2. Main focus on:
Property rights
Security of tenure
Land markets
Land administration
1.3. In a first step: indirect relationship between land and urban
governance
Governance issues in urban areas have been addressed by several United
Nations agencies from the late 1990’s onwards.
- UN-Habitat Global Campaign on Urban Governance (1999).
- UN-Habitat Global Campaign for Secure Tenure (2000).
-UNDP Oslo Governance Centre - OGC (2005 ).
Role of UN-Habitat in enhancing
governance and governance in land.
relationship
between
urban
- Convergence of the two Global Campaigns (Urban Governance & secure Tenure).
- Role of GLTN established by UN-Habitat in 2006. Its main objective is to contribute
to poverty alleviation and Goal 7, Target 11 of the (MDGs)
1.4. Second step: land governance issues in rural and urban areas
FAO publication on Good governance in land tenure and administration (2007)
The WB initiated comparative study on Governance in Land Administration covering
both rural and urban areas (2007).
1.5. Current trend:
-Governance approached from a rural and urban perspective.
- Thematic shift from governance in land administration to land governance.
Yet no systematic analysis of land governance in the context of rapid
urbanisation.
2. Rapid urbanisation: figures & trends
2.1. At global level
- Urban population
By the middle of the 21st century the total population of the developing world will
more than double: 2.3 billions in 2005 to 5.3 billions in 2050.
95% of the world urban population growth over the next four decades will be
absorbed by cities in developing countries.
- Urban sprawl : Whereas Population in developing cities is expected to double in
the next thirty years� these cities can be expected to triple their land area during
this period� (Angel, 2007, Making Room for a Planet of Cities).
2.2. Land governance for rapid urbanization the case of African cities
- In 2050, Asia will host 63% of the global urban population, Africa about a
quarter.
- In Asia, adaptation of land governance tools and procedures expected to be
facilitated by:
Rate of economic growth
Tenure systems and land administration
Urban governance patterns
2.3. Land governance for rapid urbanization is raising particular
problem to African cities
Urban growth rate: 3.3% between 2000 and 2005
Early stage of urban transition
Expected to sustain the highest rate of urban growth in the world
for several decades.
Two-third of population growth in Africa will be absorbed by
intermediate cities.
Lack of public resources
Weak resources
2.4. Land and urban poverty in African cities
Expansion of urban population has caused rapid increase in the
demand for land.
Dual tenure systems (customary tenure).
Urban poverty is becoming the regions most important social
issue (UN-Habitat, ECA-CEA , 2008, The State of African Cities, 2008).
Informal land market for the poor is now the dominant land
market sector: creates frictions between the city administrations and the
inhabitants in informal settlements�.
Governance systems and approaches are in need of review and changes�
(UN-Habitat, ECA-CEA, 2008: 13).
For these reasons: focus on African cities.
3. Land governance: some methodological issues
3.1. Defining the terms
Governance: broad consensus at international level, reflected in this
conference debate
Governance is defined as the set of traditions and institutions by which authority in a
country is exercised�.
Governance institutions cover those institutions that safeguard individual rights,
and regulate markets and the functioning of public administration and the political
system.
Land governance refers to "the rules, processes and structures through which
decisions are made regarding access to and the use & transfer of land, the manner
in which those decisions are implemented and the way that conflicting interests in
land are managed�.
No consensus about what “Good governance”� refers to .
Government system based on Western model of democracy
Based upon individualisation and depersonalised rules (as
opposed to rules based on personal relationship).
3.2. Conflicting timeframe: short-term needs versus long-term social
change
Governance – including land governance – aims at providing a high degree of
transaction security, which in turns is supposed to procures a decisive advantage
in a society’s capacity to produce wealth.
In the context of African cities, and especially when land and tenure is concerned,
production of confidence is still largely based on personal relationships.
- Tenure is a social relation. Transposition to developing countries of the
process of impersonal formalisation of rules with regards to tenure does not
work at the pace expected by the dominant model (Payne & al. 2009).
- Population’s resistance to the risk of destabilizing social relation and social
order – in which tenure is playing a central role – can be an insurmountable
obstacle.
- The time that was needed in developed countries – centuries – to set up
effective land governance is rarely taken into account.
- There is a contradiction between the urgent need for effective governance in
land in response to rapid urbanisation, and the time required to make it socially
acceptable.
3.3. Diversity of situations (regional, national, local) (1)
- Urbanization patterns
Urbanisation rate (current figures and anticipated trends)
Urbanisation pattern at national level and dynamics (urban primacy, role of
secondary cities, �)
- Demographic factors
Population growth
Migration patterns
- Level of economic development
GNP & Income per capita, �
Dynamics and trends (rate of economic growth, �)
Vulnerability of national economies to external factors (dependency)
- Degree of social development
Social development indicators (ref. UNDP Human Development Index - HDI)
- Historical background and legacy
Historical background and colonial legacy
Political background
3.4. Diversity of situations (regional, national, local) (2)
- Legal and regulatory framework
Impacts of governance
- Land policy and land administration
Centralised / decentralised
- Tenure system / tenure patterns
- Land rights systems
Legal dualism
- Tenure formalisation
Ratio registered land right / non registered rights
Customary / statutory tenure
Diversity is raising series of methodological problems
- Complexity of interactions between factors involved, especially in a globalising
world where anticipation is made difficult by uncertainties.
- Diversity makes difficult international comparisons and quantification (Land
Equity, 2009).
4. Practical objectives of land governance for rapid
urbanisation
4.1. Prepare for urban spatial expansion / urban sprawl
4.2. Provide land for infrastructures – especially transport
infrastructure
4.3. Setting up land reserve for arterial road and infrastructure taking
into account expected spatial expansion of cites in the next decades
(Angel, 2007)
4.4. Provide land for housing at affordable cost
4.5. Limit the exclusionary impacts of unregulated land markets
4.6. Ensure continuum in land rights
4.7. Promote incremental tenure & informal settlement upgrading
processes
5. Tools and procedures for improved land governance in
rapid urbanisation (1)
5.1. Keeping administrative control over the area cities to encompass
future urban expansion (Angel, 2007)
5.3. Relying on public land acquisitions for the provision of
infrastructure
5.4. Regulating land market
Limit the impact of unregulated land markets on land prices
Ensure viable articulation between formal and informal land markets
Incremental integration of informal land market into the sphere of formality
5. Tools and procedures for improved land governance in
rapid urbanisation (2)
5.5. Adapting decentralisation policy to land governance taking into
account the slow pace of formalisation of rules (tenure formalisation)
5.6. Lowering norms and standards (including procedural norms)
5.7. Involving a wide range of stakeholders – including informal ones –
into the provision of serviced land and housing for the low incomes
5.8. Revisiting the role of urban planning (V. Watson, in GRHS, 2009)
New approaches should be:
- Strategic rather than comprehensive
- Flexible rather than end-state and fixed
- Stakeholder / community driven rather than expert driven
* Reflect new urban concerns (global positioning, environment sensitive,
socially inclusive)
6. Some implications for research
6.1. Land governance models
Universal model of land governance or diversity of model? (ref to
contextualisation of land governance: see presentation by Land Equity)
Voluntary guidelines or prescriptive model?
6.2. Relationship between governance and economic development of
cities from the perspectives of:
-
Competitiveness
Investment incentives
6.3. Role of land governance in poverty reduction
-
Impact on housing
Impact on security of tenure & tenure formalisation
6.4. Impact of land governance models on urban land markets
-
Integration of informal land markets
Articulation between formal and informal land markets