Planning on the slippery slopes: what to do when confusing customary, informal and formal tenure frustrate development plans

ABSTRACT

In many, many areas of settlement in Africa and to some degree on other continents, the degree of security which residents have to remain on the land on which they live is determined by complex interactions between practices which have origins in different 'systems'. This paper examines shifting relationships between customary, informal and formal systems which do or do not secure residential land tenure, with a variety of consequences - and posing often intractable problems to planners intending to contribute to development.

By 'customary' practices we refer mainly to allocation of land by traditional leaders and security through common belief and practice. By 'informal' practices we refer mainly to purchase and rental of land without any official registration, taxation, or similar legal practices. By 'formal' practices we refer to activities in which land is secured through registration, often with associated taxation. Transactions include market and 'state' allocation.

The underlying supposition is that major changes are occurring in the relationships between these systems, which are having diverse effects on individual and in some cases collective tenure security. The key issue is that development, whether of housing, services, or economic activity, tends to be frustrated in these circumstances. What is the role of planners when such conditions occur?

Amongst other aspects of the planning role the paper notes difficulties and alternatives in relationships with key actors involved, land related conflict resolution procedures and mechanisms, and the need for capacity to work within different systems at local scale. The paper concludes with comments on global implications of this apparently locally specific conundrum.

The sources of the paper are several detailed case studies, mostly by interview methods, in five rapidly expanding areas of confused tenure arrangements in South Africa, as part of a Franco-South African research project, involving also comparative work in a number of other countries. The broad literatures on planning practice inform the paper in reflecting on the research.

ESF/N-AERUS: International workshop - Leuven and Brussels, Belgium, 23-26 May 2001

N-AERUS: Network-Association of European Researchers on Urbanisation in the South
http://www.naerus.net