Participatory approaches to land re-allotment : on the interplay between institutional frameworks and trust
Raoul Beunen & Marije Louwsma
This paper presents the preliminary findings of an ongoing study towards novel approaches of land re-allotment in the Netherlands. In the traditional approaches to land consolidation, planning experts played an important role. They were the ones who based on an inventory of current ownership and use rights and the wishes of individual land owners, developed and proposed a land consolidation plan. The more participatory and voluntary forms of re-allotment processes require a more active role of land owners and accordingly a different process. Two different approaches to land re-allotment can be distinguished in current practice in the Netherlands: one whereby land owners individually discuss the development with a facilitating coordinator (facilitated decision-making), and another whereby land owners together discuss the development (collective decision-making). Both practices co-exist depending on land owners? and governments? preferences. This study compares both approaches of re-allotment, paying attention to ways in which stakeholders perceive the process and its outcomes. We are particularly interested in the role of trust in these processes. The study shows that the interplay between the institutional framework and trust helps explaining how land re-allotment processes unfold and how the involved actors evaluate the process and its outcomes. The findings from this study offer a novel angle for analysing policies and practices of land governance and insights that can be used for developing more effective and legitimate approaches and instruments that are appreciated and trusted by all relevant stakeholders.
Event: Symposium on Land Consolidation and Readjustment for Sustainable Development
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