Scoping land tenure security for the poor and low-income urban dwellers from a spatial justice lens

Uwayezu, Ernest; Vries, Walter Timo de

doi:10.1016/j.habitatint.2019.102016

Cited by 17 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…Neoliberal ideology is reported to drive the unwillingness or inability of states to protect the interests of residents [52]. This has implications on issues for spatial justice, transparency, and accountability [53]. The state authorities often choose to use "exceptionality" measures [54] that lead to the violation of rights, including the right to participation, thus leading to social conflict and resistance [21,22,51].…”

Section: Urban Redevelopment Land Acquisition and Spaces For Particmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Closed to Claimed Spaces for Participation: Contestation in Urban Redevelopment Induced-Displacements and Resettlement in Kigali, Rwanda

Nikuze

Sliuzas

Flacke

2020

Land

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In many cities and urban areas in Africa, land acquisition for urban redevelopment, land readjustment, and resettlement of affected urban residents are currently framed as innovative approaches to eradicating informal settlements, improving the living environments, and supporting the implementation of newly adopted city Master Plans. Nevertheless, it is not yet known how the responses of institutions and affected people shape these processes. Based on research conducted in Kigali, Rwanda, this article discusses affected residents’ responses to land expropriation and resettlement necessary for urban redevelopments. Our findings show that affected informal settlement dwellers voiced their concerns over the deviations from the Expropriation Law, compensation decision-making made behind closed doors, lack of transparency in property valuation, and compensation packages that they perceive to be unfair. Some of the consequences of these concerns are strong feelings of unfairness, exclusion, and marginalisation; distrust and increased perceptions of impoverishment risks, all of which fuel contestation and resistance attitudes among the affected landowners. The affected landowners agitate to assert their rights and stake their claims through contestations, community mobilisation, and legal recourse. We conclude that such contestations constitute claimed spaces and interactions in which affected landowners are laying claim to fair processes against the ‘’exceptionality’’ and the “decide-defend” decision-making approaches, while local authorities assert legitimacy of their decisions. Critically, informal households affected by urban redevelopments see opportunities for participation in their resettlement decision-making as fundamental to securing their future.

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Section: Urban Redevelopment Land Acquisition and Spaces For Particmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Closed to Claimed Spaces for Participation: Contestation in Urban Redevelopment Induced-Displacements and Resettlement in Kigali, Rwanda

Nikuze

Sliuzas

Flacke

2020

Land

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“…However, this option might not have been attempted. As for the development of affordable housing, the most applied approach to acquire land is the expropriation, carried out by government agencies or private real estate developers [26,51]. As stated in the introduction, the key question is whether the developed affordable housing units are affordable for Kigali city inhabitants.…”

Section: Regulatory Framework For Housing Development In Kigali Citymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, this should be applied in Kigali city's informal settlements, since more than 80% of the existing houses have connections to water and electricity supply systems, with access to education and health facilities, and road networks in most of these neighbourhoods [20,32,43]. Informal settlement also has an added advantage of promoting a participatory approach to urban space co-production, since their dwellers can take part in the transformation of their neighbourhoods, improving their conditions and feeling integrated in the urban fabric [51,[106][107][108]. Central to the implementation of this option is the increased recognition of the rights of poor and low-income dwellers to housing and their integration into the urban fabric, which also become drivers for sustainable and inclusive cities.…”

Section: Improving the Existing Houses Through Informal Settlements Umentioning

confidence: 99%

Access to Affordable Houses for the Low-Income Urban Dwellers in Kigali: Analysis Based on Sale Prices

Uwayezu

Vries

2020

Land

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The government of Rwanda recently passed housing development regulations and funding schemes which aim at promoting access to affordable houses for the low- and middle-income Kigali city inhabitants. The existing studies on housing affordability in this city did not yet discuss whether this government-supported programme is likely to promote access to housing for these target beneficiaries. This study applies the price-to-income ratio (PIR) approach and the 30-percent of household income standard through the bank loan to assess whether housing units developed in the framework of affordable housing schemes are, for the target recipients, affordable at all. It relies mainly on housing prices schemes held by real estate developers, data on households’ incomes collected through the household survey and a review of the existing studies and socio-economic censuses reports. Findings reveal that the developed housing units are seriously and severely unaffordable for most of the target beneficiaries, especially the lowest-income urban dwellers, due to the high costs of housing development, combined with the high profits expected by real estate developers. The study suggests policy and practical options for promoting inclusive urban (re)development and housing affordability for various categories of Kigali city inhabitants. These options include upgrading the existing informal settlements, combined with their conversion into shared apartments through the collaboration between property owners and real estate developers, the development of affordable rental housing for the low-income tenants, tax exemption on construction materials, progressive housing ownership through a rent-to-own approach, and incremental self-help housing development using the low-cost local materials.

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“…Land tenure is defined as the rights individuals and communities possess with respect to land (Durand-Lasserve & Selod, 2009 ). Land tenure security refers to a landowner’s perception of their rights in relation to land (Uwayezua & de Vries, 2019 ). van Geldern ( 2009 ) categorises land tenure security as consisting of de facto, de jure (legal), and perceived security.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…van Geldern ( 2009 ) categorises land tenure security as consisting of de facto, de jure (legal), and perceived security. The de jure tenure security, the most emphasised form of tenure, protects land rights through legal recognition of the land and this is achieved through the provision of property ownership documentation (Uwayezua & de Vries, 2019 ). Perceived land tenure security refers to the user’s perception and experience on that particular land and the confidence that they will continue to accrue socio-economic benefits from that land without threat of eviction.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban community gardens in Cape Town, South Africa: navigating land access and land tenure security

Kanosvamhira

Tevera

2022

GeoJournal

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Land tenure security continues to pose a significant challenge to the sustainability of urban community gardens in global South cities. However, a few studies have explored the mechanisms that urban gardeners employ to facilitate land access and variations in land tenure security arrangements made with land owners in South African cities. This paper employs a mixed-methods research approach involving quantitative and qualitative techniques to examine how urban community gardens access land and land tenure security arrangements thereof. The study is based on questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and observations from 34 urban community food gardens in Cape Town selected through a combination of purposive and snowball sampling methods across selected low-income urban neighbourhoods. The findings reveal that although formalised land tenure security poses a sustainability threat to community gardens, perceived and de facto tenure present equally crucial forms of tenure which could be supported by state actors to promote urban agriculture. Reflecting on past efforts to formalise land tenure security, the article concludes that these efforts have failed due to poor coordination among government departments, and the complex and unclear processes of acquiring land. The paper recommends that while formalising land tenure arrangements may prove to be an effective solution, supporting institutions need to adopt a bottom-up approach to understand the gardener’s needs and build on perceived and de facto land tenure security options to promote the sustainability of community gardening projects.

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Scoping land tenure security for the poor and low-income urban dwellers from a spatial justice lens

Cited by 17 publications

References 63 publications

From Closed to Claimed Spaces for Participation: Contestation in Urban Redevelopment Induced-Displacements and Resettlement in Kigali, Rwanda

From Closed to Claimed Spaces for Participation: Contestation in Urban Redevelopment Induced-Displacements and Resettlement in Kigali, Rwanda

Access to Affordable Houses for the Low-Income Urban Dwellers in Kigali: Analysis Based on Sale Prices

Urban community gardens in Cape Town, South Africa: navigating land access and land tenure security

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