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As part of Urban LandMark’s aim of building a sound empirical base, we have commissioned investigations on many different issues. Each report reveals something about how the urban land market works, and many of the reports address whether the poor have access to urban land and how this access might be improved. We gratefully acknowledge the many authors and researchers who have taken on the challenge of improving access to land, recognising people’s rights to land, suggesting ways that the better governance of land might help, and making the market more functional for all urban dwellers.
Investigation into an apparent increase in evictions from private rental housing
In early 2009 the Social Housing Foundation and Urban Landmark noted anecdotal evidence suggesting that in the second half of 2008 eviction, and attempted eviction, of tenants from private rental housing on the basis of non-payment/under-payment of rent, increased significantly. The two organisations subsequently commissioned a consortium of researchers and legal experts under the auspices of Lawyers for Human Rights to carry out an investigation into this phenomenon.
Training Materials
Urban LandMark aims to ensure that relevant outputs from research and projects are made available for inclusion in the teachings of academics, experts, teachers, etc. Urban LandMark has developed teaching learning material from selected research reports and projects. The teaching learning materials and case studies produced are approximately 10 pages in length, each case study provides a summary, but also detailed information on issues covered in the research reports. For high-quality printing purposes, electronic print-ready copies are available from Urban LandMark on CD.
A Handbook on Urban Land Markets for Africa
The handbook introduces key economic and related concepts explaining the functioning of urban land markets. By introducing key classical economic concepts, the handbook provides foundational economic terms that are often referred to in relation to urban land markets. In doing this, we do not imply that African land markets should or ought to 'fit' into neo-classical economic theories, nor do we propose that 'perfect' markets exist. Rather, we hope to provide the tools for engaging in a critical analysis of conventional economics, particularly in our understanding of African urban land markets.
It is intended for use by people in government, private firms and non-governmental organisations involved in the fields of housing, urban planning, engineering, architecture
and related areas. It provides a basis for strengthening urban policy in ways that enable poorer people in African cities to access well-located living and work spaces. The reader of this handbook should come away with an understanding of how interventions affect the market, and also how markets affect, enable, constrain and shape interventions by governments, developers, traditional authorities, banks, micro-lenders or any of its actors. It provides a sense of the dynamics of the urban land market – how particular decisions in one sector affect other sectors. This understanding gives practitioners in the field a framework to make more informed decisions when formulating policies or making recommendations.
The handbook is a beginner’s guide to the economy, especially those aspects of the economy that are relevant to urban land markets, and to questions about land use, supply and demand as they unfold on the African continent.
Development Facilitation Act (DFA) Review
Urban LandMark has been supporting the Presidency and its inter-departmental reference group in a regulatory impact assessment process of the Land Use Management Bill. The Bill proposes the repeal of the Development Facilitation Act, Act 67 of 1995. This Act was the first planning Act of the new South Africa and heralded a new paradigm in planning. As part of the regulatory impact assessment process, Urban LandMark appointed Rhizome Management Services cc, Gemey Abrahams Consultants and Ivan Pauw and partners to review the Act.
The study revealed that the complexity the DFA was developed to address still exists today and is further exacerbated by poor capacity in municipalities to plan for and take decisions around land development. The study has also indicated that, while some components of the Act remain useful, others have become outdated and are no longer relevant. Opinions on its repeal or retention were mixed but the overall view is that the innovative mechanisms it has introduced into planning should continue in whatever form the new planning system and law takes in the future.
Incrementally securing tenure: an approach for informal settlement upgrading in South Africa
This document summarises Urban LandMark's approach to incrementally securing tenure
in informal settlements. This approach emphasises practical mechanisms that allow land
rights to be upgraded over time. It has been developed from a range of activities, including
input from research papers, a considerable number of interviews, and the testing of
different processes with municipalities.
Street trading in Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality: realities and challenges
Informal trading plays an important role in poverty reduction and absorbing unemployment. Recent media reports on the plight of street traders in some of the host cities during the forthcoming Soccer World Cup have also focused attention on this issue. A paper by researcher Marry Masonganye investigates the challenges faced by street traders operating in Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality in the neighbourhoods of Hatfield, Sunnyside and Arcadia.
Voices of developers and municipalities: Creating more inclusive cities through cooperation
This study by the University of Pretoria, commissioned by Urban Landmark, provides an in-depth understanding of how urban land development and governance work in practice; the political, economic, and social factors that influence urban land development and governance; and the interaction between developers and municipalities. The study also reveals that truly inclusive cities are unlikely to become a reality in South Africa without the development of greater synergy, cooperation and mutual understanding between municipalities and developers, and municipal attention to developmental outcomes.
New small-scale rental strategy promises to improve supply of affordable housing
A project undertaken by the Social Housing Foundation (SHF) and Urban LandMark aims to provide greater understanding of, and exposure to, the small private dwelling rental (or small-scale rental) market within South Africa's human settlements framework. The official launch of the final strategy document took place on 11 February 2010 in Johannesburg. The study involved a range of representatives from provincial government and civil society and is the most comprehensive attempt yet to engage with the small-scale rental sector in South Africa. The project incorporated the following outputs:
- Booklet outlining a proposed strategy to harness the power of small-scale private landlords in order to increase the rate and scale of delivery of affordable, acceptable rental accommodation in South Africa's existing suburbs and townships, written by David Gardner [2.18MB]
- Strategy for increasing supply of small-scale private dwelling rental – report by David Gardner [203KB]
- A strategic assessment of local and international literature relating to small-scale dwelling rental, undertaken by Vanessa Watson [369KB]
- A report on the proliferation of low-income private rental housing supply, and the development of recommendations concerning appropriate interventions, compiled by Susan Carey [218KB]
- Presentation delivered at the launch of the strategy [420KB]
Municipal rates policies and the urban poor
Commissioned by the SA Cities Network and Urban Landmark, this paper examines how municipal property rates policies are, or could be, used as an instrument to promote access by the poor to urban land markets. Buffalo City Municipality and the City of Johannesburg are used as case studies to probe implementation issues and highlight some of the key trade-offs made and approaches taken by municipalities to balance municipal revenue concerns with pro-poor policy intentions.
Training for Township Renewal Initiative (TTRI)
Initiated in 2007, the Training for Township Renewal Initiative (TTRI) aims to develop an understanding of the needs and dynamics of South Africa's townships, as well as the various ways of transforming them into functional and sustainable neighbourhoods. The initiative is a joint venture between the Neighbourhood Development Programme of the National Treasury, the Urban Renewal Programme of the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, the Knowledge Unit of the South African Cities Network, and the Sustainable Communities Initiative of the Development Bank of Southern Africa.
The second Township Renewal Overview course took place from 1 - 4 June 2009 in Durban. The second day of the course was allocated to Urban LandMark to address the theme Unlocking Township Markets. This module comprised the following presentations:
Read an article by Abueng Matlapeng on TTRI 2
Certificate Programme in Housing Policy Development and Management
Urban LandMark participates in the Certificate Programme in Housing Policy Development and Management, a bi-annual four-week course offered by the Wits Graduate School of Public and Development Management. Urban Landmark made the following presentations during the second module of the 2009 course, titled Establishment of Sustainable Human Settlements:
Teaching and learning material
Urban LandMark is developing teaching and learning material from some of the research reports produced over the past three years. These include the overview on Unlocking township markets [499KB] presented at the 2nd TTRI course. Material still under development includes the following topics:
- Developers and municipalities
- How the poor access, trade and hold land
- Urban biographies
- Land registration
- Voices of the poor
- Markets happen
Training for Township Renewal Initiative: Sourcebook now available
Initiated in 2007, the Training for Township Renewal Initiative (TTRI) aims to develop an understanding of the needs and dynamics of South Africa's townships, as well as the various ways of transforming them into functional and sustainable neighbourhoods. The Township Renewal Sourcebook published recently by the South African Cities Network comprises a number of presentations, papers and articles presented at TTRI learning events in 2008/9. Module 2 of the Sourcebook, titled Unlocking township markets, was developed by Urban Landmark.
LANDfirst campaign strategy and funding review
The LANDfirst concept aims to provide people with access to land (and basic services, basic tenure, etc) as a first step to incrementally and progressively improving the lives of people living in slum conditions. Urban LandMark has commissioned VEDA Associates to develop a LANDfirst campaign strategy and a funding review in support of LANDfirst. These documents aim to help Afesis-Corplan, Urban LandMark and other role players to promote and support a LANDfirst settlement development strategy.
Workshop proceedings: incrementally securing tenure - 29 January 2009
Urban LandMark is developing an approach for the recognition of informal settlements and tenure security in South Africa, with potential regional applicability. 'Special zones' and 'local land offices', among other mechanisms, will be explored and their applicability tested. This inception workshop provided participants with background and context on the project, and gave delegates the opportunity to provide feedback on the development of the approach.
Second Economy Strategy Project with Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS)
The purpose of this project is to contribute to reducing poverty and inequality in South Africa by supporting the government in developing a Strategy for the Second Economy, as part of its Accelerated Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (Asgi-SA), located in the Presidency. The strategy for the second economy is tasked with finding ways to enhance existing policy and programmes, as well as identifying, developing and designing additional initiatives to ensure these targets are met.
Affordable inner city residential accommodation for the poor
Urban LandMark commissioned Sagitta Financial Consulting to undertake a modelling exercise of selected formal residential accommodation options for the poor in Johannesburg. This report describes in detail the financial model that has been developed for the assignment that reflects the selected housing options targeting the poor.
Developing Integrated Towns
This report by Felicity Kitchin and Wendy Ovens describes an investigation of several towns, and the municipalities in which they are located, to assess the extent to which their current land use policies and practices enable municipalities to provide the poor with access to well located land in a sustainable manner, in an effort to integrate them effectively into the daily workings of the town. The six towns selected as case studies are Pietermaritzburg/Msunduzi, Rustenburg, Sasolburg/Metsimaholo, Lusikisiki/Ingquza Hill, Ulundi and Dullstroom/Emakhazeni.
How the poor access, hold and trade land: findings revisited
A 2007 project commissioned by Urban Landmark investigated how the poor access, hold and trade land in different types of settlements in three metropolitan areas in South Africa (Cape Town, Ekurheleni and eThekwini). As a follow-up to this project, additional qualitative and quantitative analyses of the original project data were carried out to increase understanding of the issues, particularly in respect of the way in which the poor transact, trade and develop land and the costs thereof.
Land Biographies Project
This report by Colin Marx and Margot Rubin explores how urban land is divided and re-divided within the context of the interaction between formal and informal land use management systems. It investigates the processes, practices, techniques and power required to make it possible to divide spaces into smaller or larger parcels. The three case study precincts are Diepkloof, Thokoza and Doornfontein
Recognition and enhancement of socially dominated urban land markets
Urban Landmark has developed an empirical base on how the poor gain access to urban land, and how land markets work for the poor. The next phase aims to develop proposals that would incorporate research findings into more effective land use management and planning responses that would improve socially dominated markets through increased recognition, efficiency, effectiveness and equity, and develop ways of promoting integration across the market.
Land Access Manuals - by Afesis Corplan
The target group for this series is the leadership of organised groups of homeless in need of land for housing development. The following titles are available:
- Land Access Manual A - An Overview [511KB]
Provides a short and simple introduction to the process of getting land for a house. The manual starts with an introduction to the land access process, followed by an outline of the five stages involved in land access.
- Land Access Manual B - The Steps [733KB]
Offers more details on each of the steps involved in the five main stages of land access.
- Land Access Manual C - Options [410KB]
Outlines the various options for how and when land can be accessed. The report also looks at other strategies that could be followed to make land more affordable, and offers general advice on the process of accessing land.
CUBES and Planact Land Management Project
The Wits Centre for Urban and Built Environment Studies (CUBES) and the urban NGO Planact have jointly managed a significant research project centred on land management, a term covering a critical set of processes, including the acquisition of land, continued rights to the land, regulation of the use and development of land, and trading of land. An overview report of this project, funded by Urban Landmark, was commissioned to scan major metropolitan areas across the country and to build up a macro view of land management issues and the conceptual and practical challenges these pose.
Competing for Urban Land: improving the bidding power of the poor
The development planning vision of equitable and integrated cities, and the achievement of slum-free cities, remain unrealised. This paper (and presentation) looks at this conundrum in the South African context and suggests ways in which poor people can be spatially and economically integrated into cities by increasing their bidding power, including improving the intensity of land utilisation.
Access to Urban Land: a handbook for community organisations
During 2007, Urban LandMark organised a series of workshops across the country to document the experiences and views of community organisations with regard to urban land issues. This booklet consists partly of an overview of the outcomes of these workshops and other research undertaken by Urban LandMark, and partly of information prepared in response to the information gaps identified in the workshops. The booklet examines the causes of the urban land problem in South Africa, and the human rights that are of relevance to accessing land. Practical steps that could potentially be used by community organisations to make these rights real are then discussed. Finally, policy solutions for addressing the urban land problem are suggested.
Metsweding peri-urban land management assessment and strategy
The purpose of this report by Riana du Plessis Urban Planning is to undertake an analysis of the constraints on effective urban/peri-urban land use management in district municipalities, utilising Metsweding District Municipality as a case study, and to formulate a strategy for addressing the key constraints or issues that emerge from the analysis.
Annual conference 2008
Urban LandMark hosted a conference on August 27th and 28th in Midrand, South Africa. The aim of the conference was to showcase the work of Urban LandMark in pursuit of its mandate to 'make urban land markets work for the poor.' Research highlighted the dimensions of the expansive, dynamic and uneven terrain that constitutes the urban space economy.
Local Land Registration Practices in South Africa
This report by Margot Rubin and Lauren Royston is the result of an initial scoping study to provide documented evidence of local practices in registering land claims and rights. It is intended to inform the work in Urban Landmark's tenure theme area on securing and managing land rights in informal settlement upgrading processes in ways that build on existing practices. The report describes and characterises local registration practices in selected cases, and identifies common elements in these practices, as a basis further work in the theme area.
The dynamics of the formal urban land market in South Africa
This 2008 report, prepared for Urban LandMark by Genesis Analytics, aims to explain the dynamics of the formal urban land and property market in South Africa. It provides a useful overview of the conceptual basis, the structural underpinnings and the operational dynamic that characterise the formal urban property market. It also provides an insight into the relevance and potential value of the market as a contributor to the fulfilment of the South African government’s urban housing supply and transformation objectives.
Training for Township Renewal Initiative (TTRI)
Initiated in 2007, the Training for Township Renewal Initiative (TTRI) aims to develop an understanding of the needs and dynamics of South Africa's townships, as well as the various ways of transforming them into functional and sustainable neighbourhoods. The initiative is a joint venture between the Neighbourhood Development Programme of the National Treasury, the Urban Renewal Programme of the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, the Knowledge Unit of the South African Cities Network, and the Sustainable Communities Initiative of the Development Bank of Southern Africa.
During the first TTRI Overview course, which took place from 29 October to 2 November 2007, Urban Landmark made the following presentations on the theme Economic Dimensions: Activating Markets within Townships:
International Land Banking Practices: Considerations for Gauteng Province
The objective of this study is to offer an overview of land banking internationally with a view to providing information for determining its feasibility in the context of Gauteng. Given the legal, institutional and financial complexities that are implicit in a practice such as land banking, this paper outlines some of the basic tenets of land banking as it functions internationally as a starting point for a more detailed analysis of its viability in the local milieu.
This presentation by the Gauteng Department of Housing provides an overview of the international experience of land banking. Specifically, it outlines definitions of land banking, investigates the practice of land banking in an international context and looks at best practice in land banking and land banks.
Inclusive African Cities Conference summary and full report - held in Johannesburg on 6 and 7 March 2007
This was a joint conference held under the auspices of the Development Bank
of South Africa, the Human Sciences Research Council, the South African Cities Network, the University of the Witwatersrand, the City of Johannesburg and Urban Landmark. The conference aimed to explore inclusion and exclusion through three broad themes: access to urban resources and infrastructure - material inclusion and exclusion; constructing urban citizenship(s) in everyday lives; emerging experiences of inclusion in African cities and what they teach us about cities.
The first edition of the SACN's Inclusive Cities Annual brings together reports on knowledge-sharing initiatives undertaken during 2007/08 and opinion pieces by leading inclusive cities thinkers. This collection of articles highlights inclusion and exclusion issues within cities, with a view to answering the question of how economic growth can be effectively harnessed towards a better life for all who live and work in South Africa's cities.
Voices of the Poor: community perspectives on accessing urban land
The aim of this 2007 initiative by Urban Landmark was to analyse the perspectives and experiences of civil society organisations about access to urban land by the poor. The study was based on a series of workshops undertaken during May and June 2007. Workshops were held in Port Elizabeth, Cape Town, Pietermaritzburg and Johannesburg and hosted by urban development NGOs active in the region. In all, 105 participants from more than 30 different civil society organisations participated.
How the poor access, hold and trade land
This research project investigated the extra-legal ways in which poor people access, trade and
hold urban land in different types of settlements in the three South African metropolitan areas of Cape Town, Ekurhuleni and eThekwini. The types of settlements examined through a case study approach were informal settlements, recently allocated Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) housing projects, backyard shacks, an area under a traditional authority and an area of local council housing.
Making Urban Land Markets Work Better in South African Cities and Towns
This paper by Dr Mark Napier discusses the balance between state allocation of urban land and market distribution of land as a resource, an asset which inevitably becomes a commodity which can be used by the poor more or less effectively to alleviate poverty. Observations are made about how the market has been distorted, and why it would make good sense (socially, economically and ideologically) for poorer communities to be better located in South African urban areas.
Land as Commodity in South Africa
This report proposes useful categories for the categorisation of urban land in South Africa and records the current trends and patterns of land ownership in South Africa's towns and cities. It also identifies the main actors influencing urban land transactions and the individuals, institutions or groups that benefit from the current operation of the urban land market, as well as those who do not, providing possible explanations of why this may be the case.
Urban Land Visioning towards 2020
Urban LandMark held a workshop with key thinkers in May 2007 to identify trends in the urban land sector and how they are likely to change over time. Two documents resulted from the workshop, namely a document setting out the current status of the land sector in South Africa and a vision based on an extension of the current status quo; and a document setting out the interventions proposed by the participants at the workshop and the future scenario that emerged as a result of these interventions.
Regulatory Impact Assessments for Housing
In January 2007, Urban LandMark commissioned Strategic Business Partnerships (SBP) to conduct a regulatory impact analysis of two proposed regulatory interventions in the urban land market: the National Department of Housing's draft Inclusionary Housing Policy (IHP) and a proposal for the creation of a Housing Development Agency (HDA).
Housing Entrepreneurs Research Project
The Housing Entrepreneurs Research Project, concluded in 2006, seeks to provide a deeper understanding of housing as a productive asset, and its role in promoting economic activity and improved affordable housing supply, by supporting the activities of home-based entrepreneurs and small-scale landlords.
Funded by Finmark Trust, the Social Housing Foundation, Nedbank, the Gauteng Department of Housing and the National Department of Housing, the project focused on obtaining a detailed understanding of how small-scale landlords and home-based entrepreneurs operate, the key constraints they face and the extent to which they use their homes as a productive asset. This was set within the context of a broad understanding of entrepreneurship and current policy and practice in unleashing and supporting entrepreneurial activity.
Project outcomes included the following:
Final Reports:
Resource Reports
Towards effective state interventions to improve access by the poor to urban land markets
The main objective of this paper is to investigate and discuss ways in which the state should intervene around urban land issues, within the context of its relationship to the private sector, in order to improve the access of poorer and excluded sectors of South African urban society to land, housing, and services.
- Paper [88KB] by Dr Mark Napier and Nana Ntombele
Eight Papers from the 2006 Urban Land Seminar
- Making urban land markets work for the poor in the context of existing local land access and transfer institutions
Author: Lauren Royston - Paper [160KB] | Presentation [49KB]. Respondent: Warren Smit - Presentation [22KB]
- Attacking urban poverty with housing: toward more effective land markets
Author: Catherine Cross - Paper [199KB] | Presentation [138KB]. Respondent: Maurice Makhathini - Notes [24KB]
- Conceptualising 'the economy' to make urban land markets work for the poor
Author: Colin Marx - Paper [231KB]. Respondent: Sophie Oldfield - Notes [20KB]
- Regulatory systems and making urban land markets work for the poor in South Africa
Authors: Michael Kihato and Stephen Berrisford - Paper [261KB] | Presentation [56KB]. Respondent: Rogier van den Brink - Presentation [29KB]
- Capturing unearned value/ leakages to assist markets to work for the poor
Author: Mercy Brown-Luthango - Paper [184KB] | Presentation [324KB]. Respondent: Nigel Tapela - Notes [52KB]
- Land use differentiation, class differentiation and the urban land market - international and SA frameworks in MMW4P perspective
Author: Jeff McCarthy - Paper [942KB] | Presentation [808KB]. Respondent: Kecia Rust - Presentation [99KB]
- Opening up spaces for the poor in the urban form: trends, challenges and their implications for access to urban land
Authors: Karina Landman and Nana Ntombela - Paper [259KB] | Presentation [827KB]. Respondent: Alison Todes - Presentation [14KB]
- Thoughts on developing a South African advocacy position on urban land
Author: Sarah Charlton - Paper [316KB] | Presentation [30KB].
Background papers to the 2006 Urban Land Seminar
These papers are for information only and are not necessarily an indication of the ideological position of the workshop.
- Making market systems work better for the poor: An introduction to the concept [472KB]
Discussion paper prepared for the Asian Development Bank-Department for International Development learning event, ADB Headquarters, Manila, 2005. Author: DFID
- The role and function of urban land markets in market economies [25KB]
Paper presented at the Workshop on Privatisation of Land in Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine, May 1993. Author: DE Dowall
- Making urban land markets work for the poor: debates and positions [150KB]
Excerpts from programme proposal to DFlD, 2005. Authors: David Porteous, Kecia Rust, Tam Doan and Elizabeth Franke
- Scoping study: urban land issues [515KB]
Report prepared for DFID-SA, April 2004. Author: Urban Sector Network and Development Works
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