Compliance with Residential Building Standards in the Context of Customary Land Tenure System in Ghana

Zoning regulation is considered as a tool used by government to control developments to ensure sustainability. In Ghana where about 80% of lands are held under customary land tenure systems, implementation of residential standards, which is a government function may conflict with customary norms of holding land. This paper uses case study to examine the implementation of residential policies and enforcement of residential standards in areas under customary land tenure in Ghana and if these policies and standards affect the enjoyment of land rights in the context of customary land tenure. Results showed that non-compliance to residential standards and non-conformity to the local plan has minimal interference on enjoyment of land rights. Residents are ignorant of the details of the residential standards and have never seen a zoning regulations document. There is also low level of monitoring and enforcement. Spatial analysis reveals four main types of non-conformity between orthophoto and local plans i) discrepancies in the orientation of the parcel boundaries, ii) discrepancies in the shapes of plot boundaries, iii) houses constructed on the plot boundary or straddle parcel boundaries, and iii) differences in plot sizes. Results suggest the need for planning authority to use efficient approaches such as GIS and UAV’s to communicate, monitor and enforce the residential standards. It is concluded that collaboration between customary land authorities and the Municipality during the allocation and development of plots may improve spatial conformity between orthophoto and the local plans

Urbanization and urban land use efficiency: Evidence from regional and Addis Ababa satellite cities, Ethiopia

Ethiopia has experienced rapid urbanization over the past three decades. Several cities expanded rapidly and many satellite towns sprung up around the major cities. The high rate of urbanization and urban growth resulted in high demand for urban land, mainly for industrial, commercial, and residential purposes. In order to meet the demand, an enormous amount of land has been made available for urban use, mainly through land conversion. However, we know very little about how efficiently cities use urban land. This paper investigated the urban land use efficiency (ULUE) of sixteen cities in Ethiopia. Remote sensing data (Landsat 7/8) was analysed with ArcGIS to assess spatiotemporal land use changes between 2007 and 2019. Built-up environment footprints were computed from Google Earth imagery. The ratio of land consumption to population growth rate, and the rate of urban infill were assessed. The findings revealed a prevalence of urban land use inefficiencies in all cities. In most cities, the rate of land consumption far exceeds the population growth rate. Densification (urban infill) is low and slow. A considerable part of the converted agricultural land sits idle within the built-up area for many years. Low ULUE is what fuels urban sprawl, fragmentation and informal settlements. This study emphasised the need to implement urban policies and practices aimed at improving ULUE. Improving ULUE is imperative to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals; ensuring sustainable urban land use; addressing land prices and housing shortages; protecting farmland and ecosystems; tackling land hoarding, urban sprawl and informal settlement

Innovative approaches through mobile apps to improve tenure security in subSaharan Africa

Due to the affordances of new digital data technologies in conjunction with policy paradigms of efficiency, participation, transparency, and open government, innovative tools and approaches for tenure documentation have emerged in recent years. This brief paper discusses these apps/tools and experiences in implementation within their respective contexts

An overview of initiatives to innovate land tenure recordation:2011 to present

Fit-for-purpose inspired approaches to land tenure recordation are being developed and implemented mainly in the form of pilot projects in various countries and application contexts. These approaches combine mobile digital technologies and flexible database structures with community based approaches for capturing and managing tenure rights. We discuss 10 such initiatives. A basic commonality of the initiatives is the general approach to tenure recordation through community based digital data capture, in many cases via mobile applications – where formal land registration does not suffice or has failed and acknowledging the diversity of land tenure regimes. Looking at the initiatives in more detail a number of differences become apparent in terms of financing mechanisms and organizational characteristics, as well as process design and application domains. Our discussion provides a basis to point out directions for future research as well as points of consideration for evaluation of implementation efforts and the aim of achieving citizens’ tenure securit

An overview of initiatives to innovate land tenure recordation: 2011 to present

The research explores initiatives to innovate land tenure and rights registration through bottom-up approaches and new mobile technologies. With focus on the relationships with existing regulatory frameworks the interviews conducted with implementers of such new approaches ask questions about actors involved, technologies, and the kind of data produced and exchanged, as well as challenges encountered. The interview transcriptions are contained in this data set

Devolution and the politics of communal tenure reform in Kenya

Increased legal access and the devolution of natural resource administration are generally seen as sources of power for local communities and their institutions. However, beyond this widely held expectation, the politics of land reform suggest that legal recognition of rights and devolution is not the only issue with implications for communal tenure reforms. Misconceptions about communal tenure, which are rooted in history, and their appropriation by local elites in the processes of communal tenure reform are characteristic of both colonial and post-colonial governments in Kenya. Although typically articulated and promulgated to enhance political representation and to devolve control over resources to the local level, unresolved issues in the reform process have worked to undermine the legitimacy of communal land rights in contemporary Kenyan society.A case study of the post-2010 community land legislation process demonstrates the continuing relevance of historically conditioned political and ideological representations of communal tenure built during the colonial period and reproduced in policy in independent Kenya. This paper offers reflections on the centrality of sustained communal tenure misconceptions, fetishization of formal governance institutions, and the institutional and power configurations that primarily benefit powerful stakeholders as sources of the current breakdown in the implementation of community land la

Innovative approaches through mobile apps to improve tenure security in subSaharan Africa

The project explores practices, values, and actions of various for-profit and not-for-profit organizations in the land administration section, who deploye so called fit-for-purpose land documentation approaches. Due to the affordances of new digital data technologies in conjunction with policy paradigms of efficiency, participation, transparency, and open government, innovative tools and approaches for tenure documentation have emerged in recent years. The new technologies present a variety of innovative alternative and complementary solutions for development and support of Land Information Systems (LIS). An array of innovative tools for tenure recordation have been piloted and implemented since 2011, for example, through fit-for-purpose land administration initiatives (FIG, 2014; UN-HABITAT 2016). They aim to address the challenge of unavailability of tenure information as well as the concerns of weak administrative and legal statutory environments around the tenure documentation by advocating for openness of land tenure information for informed decision making by third parties (e.g. large scale investors), emphasizing diversity in land tenure systems and rights, with special emphasis on women’s and other vulnerable groups’ rights, aspiring to work with and working with community driven and/or community generated digital data, data collection at scale and the use of such data for strengthening tenure security. Tenure security is considered fundamental for land holders, because they are assured of continued use and occupation of the land. This paper discusses these apps/tools and experiences in implementation within their respective contexts. The apps and tools and pilot implementations that will be discussed are listed in table 1; each of one has been piloted and/or implemented in at least one African country between 2011 and 2018.Along with the implementation of these innovate approaches came new actors, especially the innovative tool developers and implementers. This raises the following questions, central to ICT4D: • How are the North-South relationship framed within the implementation of FFP-approaches? • What are the concerns regarding the uptake of these approaches? • What are the ethical implications of the implementation of these apps/tools