Urban and peri-urban land development and land use conflict
Mahama, Sulemana, Rocah Mongbo & Gillingwe Mayende
Rich debate followed the scene setting from the UN Habitat and country level presentations from Ghana, Benin, Senegal and South Africa. The group recognized that Countries are at different stages in the formalization of their land rights and this has impacted on how the particular issues of land are addressed at the urban and peri-urban levels. Further different customary approaches are in place in different parts of Africa. Customary and informal systems are themselves changing and dynamic with the urban and peri-urban situation and may be different from the past. With new rules and structures evolving this calls for support to deepened learning, innovation and mainstreaming of good practice. That between countries and even within countries there are different sets of urban and peri-urban challenges due to: history and settlement patterns for example South Africa has a very different history of settlement to patterns in say west Africa; the pace of urbanisation; the nature and type of economic development; and the level of political and economic migrants from outside the country Actual monetary land values can be higher than economic values due to symbolic/cultural relationships between communities and the land (Benin and Senegal case studies) The market alone cannot tackle the challenge of securing land rights and housing in the urban and peri-urban contexts. In addition there remains a role for the State in support of associated policies eg in credit, in support to economic activity in rural and urban areas, and in understanding the dynamics of migration etc. In the urban and peri-urban setting there are no single and simple solutions and one size does not fit alll
Event: Conference on Land in Africa : Market Asset or Livelihood Security?
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