How can local interest groups intervene to manage peri-urban land development? What lessons can informal systems of land management have for formal systems of land management?

Research conducted by the University College of Lands and Architectural Studies in Tanzania addresses these issues through detailed studies of four peri-urban areas in Dar es Salaam. Findings from one of these study areas, Changayikeni, show that the efforts of local groups to guide land use development in the peri-urban zone of Dar es Salaam are critically important.

The peri-urban zone of Dar es Salaam is experiencing a huge influx of people from both the inner city and upcountry regions. In fact, some peri-urban settlements experienced population growth rates of over 200 percent in the late 1990s. Urban and peri-urban land management is faced with the challenge of meeting the growing needs of land for housing and livelihoods for those moving into peri-urban zones to live. Due to the rapid pace of urbanisation in Dar es Salaam, the local government authority is unable to meet the growing needs in both urban and peri-urban zones. As a result, the informal land management system has been bridging the gap in planning and servicing new land since the late 1960s. However, the state has not yet legally mandated grassroots actors to manage land development in these peri-urban zones.

What were the major findings to emerge from the study of Changayikeni peri-urban settlement?

• There is a lack of understanding and partnership between the government and local communities concerning land development. Although local grassroots actors are active in peri-urban land development, they cannot ensure efficiency in informal land subdivision, land markets, regularisation, and sustainable land use planning on their own.
• The quality of land management and planning by local interest groups can vary. Some groups have a narrow understanding of what services may be needed by a community (e.g. roads rather than a dispensary, shops, pharmacy etc.).
• A limited number of key grassroots actors involved in land management reduces transaction costs. Also, because these actors live in the regions concerned, they can ensure better and less-costly monitoring.
• External resources are not needed to ensure the participation of local interest groups.
• The costs of information dissemination during the land transaction stage can be reduced through flows of information at a community-level. However, information needs to be better shared among land managing groups.
• The involvement of all stakeholders in negotiating suitable locations of community services from the land allocation stage is important. Also, the use of locally available objects to define plot boundaries can enhance the affordability and practicability of the land registration process.
• Land buyers often enter the market with limited knowledge, which affects the way that land prices are negotiated and concluded.

Source(s):
‘Peri-urban land management – the role of local communities’, EKISTICS, Athens, Greece, by Aldo Lupala, 2002 (forthcoming)
‘Informal land management in Tanzania’, SPRING Research Series No. 29, Germany, SPRING Centre, Dortmund, by K. Wilbard and K. Volker, 2000
Insights #41 'Mind the gap! Bridging the rural-urban divide' Full document.

id21 Research Highlight: 30 May 2002

Further Information:
Aldo Lupala
University College of Lands and Architectural Studies (UCLAS)
University of Dar es Salaam
Department of Urban and Regional Planning
P.O. Box 35176
Dar es Salaam
Tanzania

Tel: + 255 22 277 1271
Contact the contributor: aldolupala@hotmail.com

The University College of Lands and Architectural Studies (UCLAS), University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Other related links:
See id21's further links on Peri-Urban issues