Centralised spatial planning practice and land development realities in rural Tanzania

Abstract

After Independence in 1961, Tanzania realised the importance of land in rural development. Village land-use plans produced by experts in the Ministry of Lands and Settlements Development have, however, largely failed to provide the needed guidance to local authorities, village councils and small holders in their long term as well as day-to-day decisions and actions in land development. Instead land development takes place outside the scope of the existing spatial planning system. A notable outcome from that practice is a growing number of land disputes, an increased rate of environmental degradation in rural areas and emanation of land-use practices that are neither economically efficient nor environmentally sustainable. This paper reviews the ongoing discussion on reforming the centralised spatial planning practice so that a new system that can achieve social, economic and environmental objectives is developed. The central argument in this article is, that by equipping planners and decision makers with actual practical experience from centralised planning, contradictions between planning and reality are likely to be much more clear, and therefore may facilitate more grounded suggestions for change. Through such analysis, decision makers and planners may be in a better position to understand why centralised spatial planning practice, which has been so much supported by the government, failed to make a justifiable contribution in land development in rural settlements. This paper hopes to answer the following questions: • What is it that spatial planners do to influence land development in villages? • What can the villagers do in the absence of guidelines from spatial planners? • What are the possible lessons from the planner's actions? To answer these questions the paper draws mainly from a research conducted by the author in the Town Planning Office in Kilimanjaro region ( Lerise, 1996). 1 Kilimanjaro is one of the smallest regions in mainland Tanzania, covering an area of about 13,250 square kilometers and about 11 million people, according to the 1988 Census. The region is located in the northern part of the country, bordering Kenya, with an altitude ranging from 900 to 2,700 and up to 5895 meters on the peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro. 1 The paper begins with a brief historical background on the development of spatial planning in rural areas in Tanzania, in order to set the context for this analysis. The brief background is then followed by an examination of planners’ activities in the regional office. After evaluating spatial planners’ activities, lessons for reforming the planning system and thereby improving its practice are suggested.