In sub-Saharan Africa, cities are growing rapidly, but this growth is not being accompanied by widespread economic prosperity or wealth distribution. What does this means for the region's poor? This paper investigates the accelerating process of urban development and looks at appropriate ways of improving residential land management.

Throughout sub-Saharan Africa land markets are burgeoning, although much development remains outside the formal systems. New research by Heriot-Watt University investigates the nature of the emerging urban residential land markets in post-socialist Mozambique, where land officially remains nationalised. It focuses on how these markets affect the poor and looks at alternatives to improve equitable access and efficient urban development.

The study finds that housing continues to be low in priority in state development policies despite its importance in physical terms. Recently, however, there has been a new focus on urban land issues. This is due to the election of autonomous local governments in 1998, and the introduction of a new Land Law in 1997, which recognises forms of customary land occupation. Although this law applies primarily to rural areas, there is now a debate on how it can be applied in urban areas to widespread informal settlement. The study investigates institutional attitudes to urban land management. It also investigates the attitudes of the peri-urban poor to land and how the emerging differential land markets are likely to affect their livelihood strategies.

The paper found that rapid urbanisation is affecting the poor in the following ways:

• The proposed mechanisms for formally establishing occupation rights will require resources that are unlikely to be available in the medium term.
• Customary land access, which is modified in the urban context, is under threat. This could exacerbate levels of urban poverty.
• The poor living in good locations will be displaced by market forces, with payments linked to the lower informal market, yet economic gains being determined by the emerging formal market.
• Increasingly, the state is expected to facilitate the private sector at the expense of the urban poor majority. This will undermine their physical and economic assets, which are an essential element of people's livelihood.
• Local governance structures involving civil society are weak due to past repression, rapid urbanisation, war and poverty. There is limited activity in this area by other actors, such as NGOs, in support of civil society.

The report concludes that the Mozambique government needs to:

• establish partnerships with civil society organisations, enabling it to operate land management for the urban majority, while building on customary attitudes and approaches
• develop mechanisms to (1) facilitate private sector activity in urban development, (2) promote equity as well as efficiency in land use, (3) reduce speculation and corruption and (4) create public benefit through redistribution of the wealth created by urban land values
• implement new strategies such as (1) decentralised or community land management, (2) realistic land valuation and taxation (including betterment taxes) and (3) land pooling and readjustment in key development locations
• support further research and test the application of such mechanisms through pilot projects.

Source(s):
‘Emerging urban residential land markets in post-Socialist Mozambique: the impact on the poor and alternatives to improve land access and urban development’, Edinburgh College of Art/Heriot-Watt University, School of Planning & Housing, Research Paper #75 by P. Jenkins, 2001 Full document.
‘Strengthening access to land for housing for the poor in Maputo, Mozambique’, International Journal of Urban & Regional Research 25/3 by P. Jenkins, 2001

Funded by: DFID (Escor)

id21 Research Highlight: 27 June 2002

Further Information:
Paul Jenkins
Centre for Environment and Human Settlements
School of the Built Environment
Heriot-Watt University
Edinburgh EH14 4AS
Scotland
UK

Tel: +44 (0) 131 451 4186
Fax: +44 (0) 131 451 4617
Contact the contributor: P.Jenkins@sbe.hw.ac.uk

Centre for Environment and Human Settlements, Edinburgh College of Art/Heriot-Watt University, UK

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'Mind the gap! Bridging the rural-urban divide', Insights #41

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