Reconciling informal and formal land management:: an agenda for improving tenure security and urban governance in poor countries

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the agenda for reconciling informal and formal institutions and procedures of urban land management in developing countries. It argues that progress can be made in overcoming the deficits of the formal system by gradual integration of the informal sector into decision-making concerned with housing land supply, security of tenure rights, lay-out regulation and land servicing. Studies of informal housing land development in Tanzania offer ample evidence about the close linkages between the two sectors. Success in this area would require the recognition of existing informal institutions, the decentralisation of land management responsibilities and the extension of current urban planning legislation to cover such situations. The paper concludes that if the potential of the informal sector is tapped in land regularisation, then the legal framework for property and land management must provide a clear separation of ownership rights and land-use prescriptions. The public sector should retain the right to define the principles and concepts for the distribution and assignment of land use, while the individual entitlement to private property ownership should be guaranteed and protected.