Work

A socio-spatial methodology for evaluating urban land governance: the case of informal settlements

Year: 2015

Type: article

Abstract: Urban land has social and spatial dimensions. Governance of urban land should consider these dimensions. Existing methods of evaluating land governance tend to focus on the social dimensions: the spatial dimensions are considered less. A socio-spatial approach developed here is argued to fill this gap. This research supposes that informal settlements can be used to understand urban land governance. A conceptual framework that links urban land governance, socio-spatial dimensions and informal settlements is developed and tested through a case study. The results show that the socio-spatial methodology improved understanding of equity, efficiency and transparency as compared with the existing approaches which are solely based on poor-quality and unreliable data. This methodology can be used beyond informal settlements such as understanding infrastructural delivery and quality, mapping potential conflict areas and urban land uses where governance plays a great role. Overall, the socio-spatial methodology enabled an all-encompassing evaluation of urban land governance.

Source: Journal of Spatial Science

DOI: 10.1080/14498596.2015.1004654

Authors: Berhanu Kefale Alemie, Rohan M. Bennett, Jaap Zevenbergen

Institution: University of Twente

Language: English

Topic: Urban and Rural Development Challenges

Subfield: Urban Studies

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Sustainable cities and communities, Reduced inequalities, Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: green

Funder: University of Twente