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28 and 29 October 2009 - Bytes Conference Centre, Midrand, Gauteng, South Africa
Falling land and property prices present both a challenge and an opportunity. Although the end of the current recession appears to be in sight, the land market is likely to take some time to recover. What opportunities does such a market present to government, the private sector, and to communities trying to establish themselves in urban areas? How can access to the current land market contribute to poverty reduction and the integration of people into the city?
When times are good, competition for well located land is brisk. Poorer people looking for land to live and trade on find it difficult to compete in the market, whether assisted by the state or not. The state governs land in the public interest, and so needs to secure opportunities for all urban residents to have a stake in the urban economy.
When property prices dip, the market opens up for a time. Lower land costs in down-times present a particularly useful opportunity to secure better land for housing and small businesses. The extra productive capacity of the private sector can also be usefully employed, as witnessed by the massive investment in transport and other infrastructure ahead of the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
Are we perhaps ignoring this opportunity to secure access to land for use by the urban poor?
This event hosted by Urban LandMark, a making markets work programme funded by UKaid from DFID, will review recent developments at the lower end of the urban land market. We will examine the question of what the urban players should be doing at this time to secure better and stronger access for poor people in urban land markets.
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