Collective or individual titles? Conflict over tenure regularisation in a Kenyan informal settlement

Abstract

Providing formal titles to residents in densely populated informal settlements without fuelling conflict or encouraging gentrification presents several challenges. It has been argued that, in some contexts, forms of collective tenure such as a Community Land Trust may help to overcome some of these problems. This paper analyses one attempt to legalise informal tenure arrangements, minimise relocation and prevent gentrification by introducing collective titling in an informal settlement in Nairobi. The paper demonstrates how attempts to build consensus on the most appropriate tenure system were deeply embedded in local conflicts between existing structure-owners (owners of shacks/buildings on land which is not theirs) and tenants. The state was unable to carry out the land reforms it had proposed -to protect the land user rights of all residents -because they implied a redistribution that was resisted by local elite actors. This paper argues that tenure reforms are shaped by contextspecific power relations; in this case the process was characterised by the implementers' need to maintain fragile agreements with local elites in order to avoid conflict. Tenure reforms are based on different ideas of whose rights should be recognised and competing claims are both negotiated through and shaped by the implementation process. Tenure reforms for contested land in informal settlements not only require technical mechanisms to prevent gentrification and displacement, but must reflect a serious consideration of local power relations and the capacity of the state to deal with conflicts arising from redistributive plans. Key words:Land; tenure; informal settlements; conflict; elites Acknowledgements I wish to thank all the community members, the Government of Kenya, the project donor and the United Nations. Without their openness and availability, this research would not have been possible. I am most indebted to Melanie Lombard and Carole Rakodi for their support and guidance throughout. I would like to thank the three anonymous reviewers and the editors of Urban Studies for their thoughtful comments and helpful suggestions. FundingThis research was generously supported by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences. 2Collective or individual titles? Conflict over tenure regularisation in a Kenyan informal settlement.

Urban land conflict in the Global South: Towards an analytical framework

“…However, in practice informality is more widespread and complex: governments and political actors often use it as a means of exerting power and extracting rents, riding roughshod over residents' rights to land in the name of progress or modernity, or to reinforce patron-client relationships that are instrumental in maintaining political power and legitimacy (for example in India, see Roy, 2009;Shatkin and Vidyarthi, 2014). Similar complex relationships between actors at different levels and the instrumental use of informality in the exercise of power are revealed by McMichael's analysis of Juba and Rigon's of a settlement in Nairobi in this issue (McMichael, 2016;Rigon, 2016).…”

“…There is increasing evidence that titling is both difficult to implement in many urban situations and does not deliver all the benefits claimed for it (Payne et al, 2009;Rakodi, 2016). This consideration underlines a third analytical challenge relating to the potential for tenure formalisation or legalisation to create as well as ameliorate conflict, as discussed in Lombard's, Rigon's and Patel's papers (Lombard, 2016;Patel, 2016;Rigon, 2016).…”

“…Yaro, 2012) is therefore relevant to understanding the organisational capacity of residents seeking to advance or protect their land-related interests. Similarly, the nature of civil society organisations varies greatly, ranging from well-meaning but sometimes politically naı¨ve NGOs concerned to improve living conditions for poor occupants of informal settlements (see Rigon, 2016) to organisations and parties with a covert or overt political agenda, such as Hindutva in India.…”

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“…Sources: Prepared by author. Central Intelligence Agency, 2019;Agha, 2018; Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, 2009; Housing Europe, 2018, Midheme andMoulaert, 2013; Mount Alexander Community Land Ltd., 2019; National Community Land Trust Network, 2019;Rigon, 2016; Schumacher Center for a New Economics, 2019,World Habitat, 2019 andWilliamson, 2018.…”