Table Of ContentLocal and Urban Governance
Robert Home Editor
Land Issues for
Urban Governance
in Sub-Saharan
Africa
Local and Urban Governance
Series editor
Carlos Nunes Silva
Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning, University of Lisbon,
Lisbon, Portugal
This series contains research studies with policy relevance in the field of sub-
national territorial governance, at the micro, local and regional levels, as well as on
its connections with national and supranational tiers. The series is multidisciplinary
and brings together innovative research from different areas within the Social
Sciences and Humanities. The series is open for theoretical, methodological and
empirical ground breaking contributions. Books included in this series explore the
new modes of territorial governance, new perspectives and new research
methodologies. The aim is to present advances in Governance Studies to scholars
and researchers in universities and research organizations, and to policy makers
worldwide. The series includes monographs, edited volumes and textbooks. Book
proposals and final manuscripts are peer-reviewed.
The areas covered in the series include but are not limited to the following
subjects:
• Local and regional government
• Urban and metropolitan governance
• Multi-level territorial governance
• Post-colonial local governance
• Municipal merger reforms
• Inter-municipal cooperation
• Decentralized cooperation
• Governance of spatial planning
• Strategic spatial planning
• Citizen participation in local policies
• Local governance, spatial justice and the right to the city
• Local public services
• Local economic development policies
• Entrepreneurialism and municipal public enterprises
• Local government finance
• Local government and sustainable development
• Anthropocene and green local governance
• Climate change and local governance
• Smart local governance
The series is intended for geographers, planners, political scientists, sociologists,
lawyers, historians, urban anthropologists and economists.
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/16129
Robert Home
Editor
Land Issues for Urban
Governance in Sub-Saharan
Africa
Editor
Robert Home
Anglia Law School
Anglia Ruskin University
Chelmsford, Essex, UK
ISSN 2524-5449 ISSN 2524-5457 (electronic)
Local and Urban Governance
ISBN 978-3-030-52503-3 ISBN 978-3-030-52504-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52504-0
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Foreword
The centrality of land in most societies is indisputable. Land not only anchors social
and economic activities in most countries but is also the source of individual and
communal identity, and the basis for shelter, food production, livelihoods and envi-
ronmental health. Five of the 17 SDGs specifically refer to the role of land, and the
New Urban Agenda identifies it as a key driver for inclusive and sustainable human
settlements and urban development. Land governance is, therefore, a critical focus
for developmental agenda and related interventions.
Land governance, particularly in urban sub-Saharan Africa, is important for vari-
ous reasons. First, UN-Habitat estimates that by 2030, the region’s urban population
will account to over half of total population and will require infrastructure, social
services, affordable housing and employment opportunities, which all depend upon
land. Second, land governance systems continue to be influenced by the continent’s
colonial past, which entrenched exclusion, exploitation and delegitimization of
rights and livelihoods for the majority of the population. Third, conflicts over land
and natural resources require appropriate rules, processes and structures for resolu-
tion. Fourth, sub-Saharan Africa has a plurality of tenure types, often existing side
by side, each vying for legal recognition and social legitimacy. With all these chal-
lenges, the legitimate land rights of the poor, women and marginalized groups are
disproportionately and adversely affected.
Inadequate land governance has dire consequences for urban areas in sub-Saha-
ran Africa. It fosters social and economic inequalities, as elites benefit from access
to land and capture most of its value while the majority are disenfranchised. It pro-
motes environmental degradation, with weak controls on land use and natural
resources. Weak land governance also leads to inadequate investments and poor-
performing property taxation systems which rob governments of much-needed rev-
enues. Insufficient mechanisms to mediate competing interests over land may result
in long-standing grievances that can degenerate into violence and conflict.
These effects are worsened by COVID-19, which is putting land rights under
pressure from evictions and strained land markets. As governments re-direct funds
and resources in response to the pandemic, this affects the quality of land
v
vi Foreword
governance services and the implementation of policies and programmes.
Emergency measures by countries, combined with the inability of mediation institu-
tions (such as courts) to function normally, are undermining public confidence.
This volume brings together scholarship from different disciplines in the human-
ities and social sciences to discuss urban governance from a legal and institutional
point. It boasts an accomplished team of contributors, drawn from diverse disci-
plines and geographical homes, and is aimed at readers from urban specialisms in
law, geography and other social sciences, and professionals and policy-makers con-
cerned with land use planning, surveying and governance.
Readers will benefit from this book through its elaboration of the link between
global initiatives including SDGs, New Urban Agenda, Sendai Framework and
Addis Ababa Action Plan, as well as regional ones such as the Framework and
Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa. Themes include the role of legal and institu-
tional frameworks, land use planning, taxation, responsible land administration,
urban resilience, women’s land rights, informal settlement upgrading and dispute
resolution.
It is hoped that the book will raise awareness and stimulate new research from
cross- and post-disciplinary perspectives with particular attention on promoting
inclusive access to land, eradicating negative colonial legacies, reforming urban
laws and regulations, changing top-down cultures of planning, improving public
space, educating citizens, stimulating entrepreneurship and innovation, and recog-
nizing the community role of urban and oral history. This book is timely for land
and urban professionals, academia, civil society actors, and stakeholders in public
and private sectors who are keen to promote better land governance in a rapidly
urbanizing Africa.
Chief of Policy, Legislation and Governance Section, Remy Sietchiping
UN-Habitat
Contents
1 Land, Law and African Land Governance: Introduction . . . . . . . . . . 1
Robert Home
2 The Quest for “Good Governance” of Urban Land
in Sub-Saharan Africa: Insight into Windhoek, Namibia . . . . . . . . . . 17
Uchendu Eugene Chigbu
3 Financing African Cities: A Fiscal Lens on Urban Governance . . . . . 35
Liza Rose Cirolia
4 Urban Governance Through Religious
Authority in Touba, Senegal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Eric Ross and Cheikh Guèye
5 The Right to the City and South African Jurisprudence . . . . . . . . . . 73
Serges Djoyou Kamga
6 Urban Landownership and the Right to Sustainable
Development for Women in Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Carol C. Ngang
7 Effectiveness of Planning Law in Sub- Saharan Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Anne Amin, Robert Lewis-Lettington, and Samuel Njuguna
8 Twenty Years of Building Capacity in Land Management,
Land Tenure and Urban Land Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Walter Timo de Vries, Uchendu Eugene Chigbu,
and Pamela Duran-Diaz
9 Stocktaking Participatory and Inclusive Land
Readjustment in Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Charles Chavunduka, Kudakwashe Chikuku,
and Marcyline Chivenge
vii
viii Contents
10 Governance Challenges in African Urban Fantasies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Ismaila Rimi Abubakar
11 Land Conflicts and Alternative Dispute Resolution
in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Case of Botswana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Faustin Tirwirukwa Kalabamu
12 Post-apartheid Housing Delivery as a (Failed)
Project of Remediation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Zachary Levenson
13 Women, Land and Urban Governance in Colonial
and Post-colonial Zimbabwe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Sandra Bhatasara
14 Urban Land Governance and Corruption in Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Manase Kudzai Chiweshe
15 Partnerships for Successes in Slum Upgrading:
Local Governance and Social Change in Kibera, Nairobi . . . . . . . . . 237
Thomas Meredith, Melanie MacDonald, Harrison Kwach,
Esther Waikuru, and Graham Alabaster
16 Urban Resilience as an Option for Achieving Urban
Sustainability in Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Patrick Brandful Cobbinah
17 Food Security, Urban Governance and Multilevel Government
in Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Jaap de Visser
18 Resilience of Informal Public Transport
and Urban Land Governance in Ibadan, Nigeria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
Dumiso Moyo and Adebola Olowosegun
19 Urban Governance and Disease Outbreaks:
Cholera in Harare and Ebola in Monrovia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
Hillary Birch
20 African Urban History, Place-Naming and Place-Making . . . . . . . . . 317
Robert Home
21 Should Monrovian Communities Agree to Voluntary
Slum Relocations: Land, Gender and Urban Governance . . . . . . . . . 339
M. Siraj Sait
22 Where Next? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
Robert Home
About the Contributors
Ismaila Rimi Abubakaris Associate Professor (Urban and Regional Planning),
University of Dammam College of Architecture and Planning, Saudi Arabia. He
holds a Ph.D. from Florida State University, and is a member of the Nigerian
Institute of Town Planners.
Graham Alabasteris Head of the UNHabitat Geneva office and leads their work
in public health and infrastructure. He was responsible for UNHabitat’s
infrastructure-l ed slum upgrading programme in Nairobi. An engineer by profes-
sion, he has worked in the field of improving health in urban settings for 35 years
and in over 50 countries worldwide.
Anne Amin is a Legal Specialist at UN-Habitat with 20 years of international pro-
fessional experience in a variety of different areas, including providing technical
assistance in legislative processes, capacity building, research and academic part-
nerships. Her areas of expertise include urban governance, physical planning and
human rights. Anne holds a Master’s degree in Law from the University of Helsinki,
Finland, and a Master’s degree in International Law from the University of Paris
VIII, France.
Sandra Bhatasara (PhD) is a Senior Lecturer in the Sociology Department
(University of Zimbabwe). Her work and research focus on intersectional studies of
women, land and agrarian issues, environment, and social dimensions of climate
change in Zimbabwe and Southern Africa.
Hillary Birchis currently a graduate student at The Urban School, Sciences Po, in
Paris, France. She has previously worked in various roles related to global health
concerning sexual and reproductive health and child well-being. Her current
research focus is on the urban governance of infectious disease in African cities.
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