Synthesizing the dilemmas and prospects for a peri-urban land use management framework: Evidence from Ethiopia
TL;DR: In this article, the authors conceptualize and synthesize the existing land management frameworks with the view to support the design of a new effective peri-urban land management alternative/framework.
Abstract: The discourse on peri-urban land management frameworks cuts across different scientific domains and different tiers of government. The complexities of constructing effective framework lead to increasing land use conflicts, a consistent high rate of informal settlement patterns, frequent occurrence of illegal land acquisition, inequality in land access, and social unrest in most parts of peri-urban areas. These problems call an effective peri-urban land use management framework. Hence, the main objective of this paper is to conceptualize and synthesize the existing land management frameworks with the view to support the design of a new effective peri-urban land management alternative/framework. The study predominantly relies on a concept-centric literature review followed by a contextualization within the current Ethiopian land management systems. The scientific and grey literature reviewed have been selected based on their connection to the conceptual, methodological and operational discussions on land use intervention and spatial management in peri-urban areas. In addition, government-based land policies, frameworks, and directives are also included in the critical review, and are interpreted qualitatively in a content-wise based on the contemporary land management concepts and paradigms. The preliminary synthesis result of this paper was presented in the Ethiopian national annual land conference in 2019 and inputs were obtained from different stakeholders such as government officials, experts, researchers, and non-state actors. The review signals that the existing peri-urban land management frameworks consisting of the institutional arrangements related to land use intervention and the associated land information infrastructures are missed up, incoherent and far from being integrated. The legal frameworks, data standards, and structures between urban and rural land sectors are also different. These missed up urban and rural dichotomies, the isolated urban and rural land use policies and the different tiers of urban and rural land administration institutions result in a situation where managing peri-urban land use is ineffective. The result signals both a methodological and a technical gap in peri-urban land management in Ethiopia which hampers the effectiveness of decision-makers and practitioners. These limitations call for an urgent need towards an effective peri-urban land management framework/alternative through the alignment of land management indicators and requirements both horizontally and vertically. This could help to realize effective and evidence-based land management practices.
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TL;DR: The authors examines various actors' roles in different forms of governance in improving the sustainability benefits of urban agriculture and draws policy lessons from Accra, Ghana, through empirical research conducted at two sites.
Abstract: Urban agriculture provides one of the most promising areas for innovation in green and blue infrastructure in cities, particularly in developing countries. It can address multiple economic, social and local environmental benefits. Despite this critical role, urban agriculture often faces many challenges, including land competition, lack of urban policy directives, unfair land use planning and land tenure decisions. The presence of such barriers is indicative of critical issues of governance. This article examines various actors’ roles in different forms of governance in improving the sustainability benefits of urban agriculture. It draws policy lessons from Accra, Ghana, through empirical research conducted at two sites. The paper identifies the institutions and actors that govern urban agriculture and points to the problems and potential solutions to sustainable urban agriculture. These problems could be addressed by removing perverse incentives, conflicting regulations and unfair land management decision-making systems and providing more secure land tenure and large-scale technical support for agricultural and environmental management in a tropical urban environment.
18 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors assess land use dynamics and processes of land intervention in the peri-urban areas of Bahir Dar city using a socio-spatial analysis, and assess to what extent the existing periurban land intervention processes and land use decisions are effective in combating and controlling unwanted land use changes.
Abstract: The contemporary urbanization and its implication to land use dynamics especially in the peri-urban areas are emerging as a cross-cutting theme in policy debates and scientific discourse. As most cities in developing countries, including Ethiopia, are experiencing continuous expansion of built-ups and dynamic land use changes, monitoring and an in-depth analysis of the past, present and future predictions of these changes are important for a holistic understanding of the problem, its consequence, and to regulate proper land use intervention options. Thus, the main objective of this research is to assess land use dynamics and processes of land intervention in the peri-urban areas of Bahir Dar city using a socio-spatial analysis. It assesses to what extent the existing peri-urban land intervention processes and land use decisions are effective in combating and controlling unwanted land use changes. Primary socio-economic data were collected using questionnaires, focus group discussions (FGDs) and key informant interviews; in addition, spatial data including Landsat and Sentinel imageries of 1993, 2001, 2011 and 2020 were utilized. Land use/land cover (LULC) classes were computed using the integration of spectral and object-based image classification techniques. The results signal that built-ups are expanding horizontally with unpredicted patterns. This is because the existing land intervention processes are lacking effectiveness to govern the spatial patterns of built-ups. The results further depict that processes of land use intervention do not only determine horizontal urban expansion but also determine the nature of people-to-land relationships, which involve both formal and informal processes. This creates haphazard, disputed and unregulated land use systems in peri-urban areas of Bahir Dar. The socio-spatial methodology applied in this research is effective in monitoring both the spatial and social dimensions of land use changes. The spatial results effectively demonstrate the dynamics of land uses; whereas, the social analysis supports understanding of the processes of land use interventions. In conclusion, monitoring processes of land use interventions are key policy and decision making directions to regulate and manage land use dynamics in the peri-urban area.
12 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the recreational benefits of Val d'Ifrane, a broad peri-urban forest within Ifrane National Park in Morocco, to its domestic visitors were investigated.
Abstract: Peri-urban forests provide a range of important benefits to urban dwellers, such as, for example, nature-based recreation. This cultural ecosystem service is of significant importance in the developing world: It helps to increase urban resilience and stress recovery, which, in turn, can help mitigate many urban-life-related psychological and physical health issues, and socio-cultural problems caused by rapid urbanization and population growth. However, in developing countries such as, for example, Morocco, the heavy use of peri-urban forests for recreation and the limited management funds that do not keep up with the growing need for development and conservation result in anthropogenic pressures that lead to the degradation of these valuable natural sites. Non-market valuation of peri-urban forest recreation can help inform decision-making, conceive more effective management of these natural areas and increase funding for their conservation. This study estimates the recreational benefits of Val d’Ifrane, a broad peri-urban forest within Ifrane National Park in Morocco, to its domestic visitors, thereby filling a research gap in the non-market valuation of nature-based recreation in developing countries in general, and the geographic region of Morocco specifically. The study uses the individual single site Travel Cost Method with a correction for zero-truncation and endogenous stratification to estimate the recreational use-value of Val d’Ifrane. Results suggest an annual recreational value of 159.59 million DH (€ 14.71 million) or an average of 1,063.94 DH (€ 98.08) per visit per year (confidence intervals of 12.78 million DH (€ 1.17 million) to 306.40 million DH (€ 28.24 million) per annum, or 85.21 DH (€ 7.86) to 2,042.68 DH (€ 188.30) per visit per year). Robustness of the results is tested with regard to the operationalization of the travel cost and the opportunity cost of time, as well as the consideration of multi-site and multi-destination trips. The total annual recreational value is found to be 35 times higher than the cost for the last management and investment carried out by local environmental authorities in more than ten years. This information can assist decision-makers in their deliberations on funding for Val d’Ifrane restoration and development to maintain its recreational value while minimizing the negative impacts on natural capital and preserving the site for future generations.
7 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the challenges and opportunities of the institutional dichotomy between urban and rural land administration in the Amhara region were assessed, and the authors identified overlapping job titles, wastage of human and material resources, and promulgation of contradicting urban-and rural land laws as the challenges in the region due to the dichotomy of land administration.
Abstract: Institutional setup in the land administration system plays a crucial role in the successful functioning of modern land administration. The institutional setup, whether separated for urban and rural land administration or unified, is responsible for implementing the legal and policy framework. In most regions of Ethiopia, including the Amhara National Regional State, the institutional setup is separated, which results in increasing difficulties to administer land efficiently. The purpose of this study was to assess the challenges and opportunities of the institutional dichotomy between urban and rural land administration in the Amhara region. Primary and secondary data were used in the study. Questionnaires, focus group discussions (FGDs) and interviews with key informants were applied to collect the data. As the findings of the study revealed, about 55% of the respondents agreed that the integration between urban and rural land administration institutions is weak. In addition, 38% of the respondents also confirmed that the integration between the two independent institutions is very weak. The institutional separation between urban and rural land has opened the door for land invasion and informal settlement in peri-urban areas. The study also identifies overlapping job titles, wastage of human and material resources, and promulgation of contradicting urban and rural land laws as the challenges in the region due to the dichotomy of land administration between urban and rural. Although administering urban and rural land in separate institutions helps for minimizing the workload, the findings tend to administer land in a unified institution and within an independent ministry.
5 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore how the control of critical infrastructures play an important role in legitimizing new political orders through a case study of Hargeisa Airport in Northern Somalia.
Abstract: This article explores how the control of critical infrastructures play an important role in legitimizing new political orders through a case study of Hargeisa Airport in Somaliland (Northern Somalia). I argue that the quest by new authorities for authority, legitimacy and independent statehood highlights state visibility and effectiveness as well as a contestation of state legitimacy at times mediated by non-state actors. For Hargeisa airport, conflicts between the state and local landowners resulted in a legitimacy struggle where the new government resorted to familiar practices of the ousted military regime, provoking criticism from sections of the public who regarded these practices as evidence of continuities with the deposed authoritarian regime.
4 citations
References
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Book•
01 Jan 1994
TL;DR: The eagerly anticipated fourth edition of the title that pioneered the comparison of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research design, John W, Creswell as discussed by the authors, includes a preliminary consideration of philosophical assumptions, a review of the literature, an assessment of the use of theory in research approaches, and reflections about the importance writing and ethics in scholarly inquiry.
Abstract: The eagerly anticipated fourth edition of the title that pioneered the comparison of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research design. for all three approaches, John W, Creswell includes a preliminary consideration of philosophical assumptions, a review of the literature, an assessment of the use of theory in research approaches, and reflections about the importance writing and ethics in scholarly inquiry.
20,949 citations
01 Jan 2016
TL;DR: The Scoping meeting on collaboration between Regional Seas Programmes and Regional Fisheries Bodies in the Southwest Indian Ocean is described in this article, where the authors propose a framework for collaboration between regional sea programmes and regional fisheries bodies in the Indian Ocean.
Abstract: Information document of the Scoping meeting on collaboration between Regional Seas Programmes and Regional Fisheries Bodies in the Southwest Indian Ocean
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Journal Article•
TL;DR: A review of prior, relevant literature is an essential feature of any academic project that facilitates theory development, closes areas where a plethora of research exists, and uncovers areas where research is needed.
Abstract: A review of prior, relevant literature is an essential feature of any academic project. An effective review creates a firm foundation for advancing knowledge. It facilitates theory development, closes areas where a plethora of research exists, and uncovers areas where research is needed.
6,406 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the potential contributions of participatory geo-information tools towards participatory spatial planning, in terms of the principles and criteria of good governance, are explored, and a range of evaluation questions which can be operationalised so as to interrogate the criteria for judging the contribution of these tools and participatory activities.
Abstract: The last few decades have seen increasing attempts to foster ‘collaborative’ and ‘participatory’ approaches to spatial planning and decision-making, with a more sophisticated conceptualisation of the contested term, participation. Participatory, ‘bottom-up’ geo-information technologies have been concurrently developing and these are expected to strengthen participatory spatial planning; important among these has been the transformation of conventional mapping and GIS tools into Participatory GIS (PGIS). In this paper we explore the potential contributions of participatory geo-information tools towards participatory spatial planning, in terms of the principles and criteria of good governance. We discuss five fundamental principles of ‘good’ governance: accountability, legitimacy, respect, equity, and competence, and the potential of geo-information tools to contribute to, and detract from, such principles; although we focus especially on participation and the recognition and validation of local knowledge. We derive criteria for the five principles, and we identify a range of evaluation questions which can be operationalised so as to interrogate the criteria for judging the contribution of participatory tools and participatory spatial planning activities. We conclude by summarily assessing the potentials of participatory geo-information tools, particularly participatory mobile GIS, participatory 3-dimensional modelling, and visualisation features in PGIS.
269 citations
01 Jan 2016
TL;DR: The Global report on urban health: equitable, healthier cities for sustainable development, 2016 presents new data on the health of urban residents from nearly 100 countries, updating the first joint WHO-UN Habitat global report onurban health titled Hidden cities: unmasking and overcoming health inequities in urban settings.
Abstract: The Global report on urban health: equitable, healthier cities for sustainable development, 2016 presents new data on the health of urban residents from nearly 100 countries, updating the first joint WHO-UN Habitat global report on urban health titled Hidden cities: unmasking and overcoming health inequities in urban settings. The new Global Report deconstructs the complex challenges of health and health inequity in cities everywhere. It presents a special analysis on the impact of persistent urban health inequities on achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. It sets a baseline for the new global health and development agenda in the Sustainable Development Goals and Universal Health Coverage. It also presents evidence that in cities, progress in health depends not only on the strength of health systems, but also on shaping healthier urban environments. This Global Report presents practical, proven solutions for working across sectors to tackle these 21st century health challenges. It presents examples of effective actions by cities and nations around the world and the successes that have been achieved.
193 citations