Abstract

Urban and reform is a relatively under-researched and -considered element of the broader land-reform debate. This article reviews some of the key positions that have been explicated in the current urban land-reform debate, and seeks to extend existing contributions, fine-tune them and push the debate further. It does so by distinguishing the features of urban land, and considers these and their implications for the meaning of land reform. It also reviews the recently achieved, national policy consensus on urban development and planning, and concludes with suggestions on how to proceed with urban land reform. Keywords: Land reform, land tenure, planning, policy, South Africa, urban

Highlights

  • The South African land-reform initiative has largely centred on rural or commercial farming contexts

  • In relation to urban land reform, it recommends the formulation of an urban land-reform policy, the fostering of more equitable urban spatial patterns, the targeted use of stateowned land, the recognition of diverse forms of tenure rights, including off-register rights, and actions to give meaning to the notion of equitable access derived from Section 25.5 of the Constitution, to which we return below

  • If land reform is understood to be implemented through three pillars, urban land reform needs to articulate these in relation to the characteristics of urban land and their particularities in the South African context

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Summary

INTRODUCTION

The South African land-reform initiative has largely centred on rural or commercial farming contexts. It is important to understand how the patterns of access and use of urban land are the outcome of historically layered intersections between state policy and the operation of the market. From this perspective of ‘political economy’, urban land reform requires political will to address the entrenched interests in the current spatial order and social mobilisation in support of the process. The rural and the urban in South Africa are conjoined in multiple ways, urban land has distinguishing features The article reviews these because of their implications for the meaning of land reform. The article makes suggestions on how to proceed with urban land reform, including implications for planning

CURRENT POSITIONS IN THE URBAN LANDREFORM DEBATE IN SOUTH AFRICA
THE DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS OF URBAN LAND
REFINING AND FINETUNING PROPOSALS FOR URBAN LAND REFORM
Securing tenure
Moderating interests invested in property
Redistribution in an urban context
IMPLICATIONS FOR URBAN PLANNING
Findings
CONCLUSIONS

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