Towards an understanding of proactive upzoning globally and in South Africa

Upzoning typically occurs as a passive process whereby landowners approach the municipality for a change of rights. Proactive upzoning, where a municipality takes the initiative to increase the rights assigned to land in its jurisdiction, can be a powerful tool to encourage development to occur in line with municipal policies. This paper firstly describes the various approaches used to achieve proactive upzoning. The focus then shifts to understanding examples of proactive upzoning in South(ern) Africa, which provide examples of policy transfer of ideas, primarily from the Northern into a Southern context. Four key lessons are identified from this discussion. Firstly, proactive upzoning can affect the poor negatively or positively, depending on the design of the initiative. Secondly, from South African experience, it is clear that there is a danger of proactive upzoning examples from the North being copied almost verbatim and applied in a Southern context, despite the considerable differences in context. Thirdly, there is a need to ensure that initiatives are in line with market dynamics, to avoid ‘wasted’ infrastructure investment. Fourthly, proactive upzoning often just considers zoning schemes’ rights, whereas the land development process can face a slew of regulatory constraints beyond the zoning scheme.     

Mining towns and urban sprawl in South Africa

South Africa’s mining towns were established by mining companies mostly after World War II. The workforce lived in company-owned or privately-owned houses, or high-density compounds. Since the demise of apartheid, South African government policy for these towns has promoted integrated mining communities and homeownership. The government’s urban policy aims to densify the country’s urban areas, which have some of the lowest urban densities. This paper compares the changes in urban density and the unintended land-use implications of mining in settlements around five types of mines: iron ore, manganese, coal, gold and platinum, and in a combination of towns during periods of mining boom and bust. We ask how the South African legal framework addresses land issues that are associated with mining settlements, how urban density has evolved in the five case studies; and how this evolution should be explained. We argue that the sprawl is associated with historical path dependencies and interdependencies. Contributing factors are the need to house miners, the unintended consequences of policies designed to minimise compound living, changing labour regimes, the continuation of migrant labour and the presence of traditional-authority land. This sprawl is evident in market-driven housing, government-subsidised housing and informal settlement development.     

Formalisation of land rights: Some empirical evidence from Mali, Niger and South Africa

In this paper, we re-interpret three cases of research previously carried out in Mali, Niger and South Africa in light of the recent debate about formalisation of land rights that has emerged since the publication of Hernando de Soto's ‘Mystery of Capital’. The Malian case shows that lack of broad access to formalisation processes in high-pressure areas may play into the hands of those with power, information, and resources. The case also demonstrates that timing of formalisation efforts in urban areas characterised by rapid expansion is crucial in terms of distributive outcomes. The Nigerien case demonstrates how impending formalisation led to a scramble for land and increased conflicts in a context of institutional competition and limited administrative capacity. The South African case shows that the very process of surveying and registering rights may also change the rights themselves. Formalisation procedures may also amplify the tension between individual and communal rights, and boost privatisation.     

Towards sustainable rural development in Central and Eastern Europe: Applying land consolidation

Over the past twenty years, social and economic decline in rural areas has intensified in the Central and Eastern European countries. A precondition for the reversal of this decline is the implementation of new policies in relation to the fundamentals of land ownership and management. In addition to addressing the problems of land ownership fragmentation, these should include measures to improve agricultural production and employment, taxation policy, and legislation to protect land ownership rights, within the context of acknowledging environmental and sustainability considerations. In Europe, the requirement for readjusting unfavourable land fragmentation and promoting the appropriate use of land combining with positive environmental solutions is expected to create new sustainable land management systems. The consolidation of land ownerships may be an effective and active land management instrument which not only addresses the problems of land fragmentation, but also, if applied sensitively, may be an instrument for delivering sustainable rural development in a wider context. The aim of this research is to investigate land consolidation as an essential tool to create sustainable rural areas in Lithuania.     

Understanding property market operations from a dual institutional perspective: The case of Lagos,Nigeria

This paper examines the Nigeria Land Use Act and considers how provisions of the Act inform and influence traditional landholding systems, the operation of the commercial real estate market, and the activities of the “omo-onile.” The research adopts a qualitative strategy and combines analysis of legal statute with in-depth, semi-structured interviews with market participants active in different capacities within the land and property markets of Lagos, Nigeria.The paper identifies a number of inconsistencies in the provisions of the Act and concludes that the recognition given to the traditional landholding system by the Act has not been effective in tackling informality and illegality in Lagos land and property markets.The paper provides insight into how informal institutions of norms, culture, and conventions of a real estate market characterize property ownership and affect transaction processes. This study shows how informal institutions may be used to circumvent formal institutions of a market when formal rights to property are poorly delineated and assigned. In these conditions market actors will incur higher transaction costs in the process of policing transactions and enforcing contractual agreements.     

基于GIS及AUTOPLY的土地定级与质量评价研究——以成都市城厢镇为例

城镇土地定级成为评价土地质量好坏的必要手段,它也是土地管理的一项基础性工作;以成都市城厢镇为例,在GIS技术支持下,建立土地资源空间数据库,并在此基础上,借助于"AUTOPLY城镇土地定级估价软件"和MapInfo等地理信息系统技术,应用层次分析法和多因素综合评价法对城厢镇的土地质量进行了定量化评价,划分城镇的土地级别,以便进一步高效、可持续利用土地。     

基于Voronoi图的农村居民点空间分布及整治潜力研究——以威宁县为例

研究借助Arc GIS空间分析技术和Voronoi图Cv值法对贵州省威宁县农村居民点的空间分布特征进行分析,结果显示威宁县农村居民点Voronoi图Cv值为105.49%,空间分布类型属于集群型。以乡镇尺度看,草海镇等7个乡镇空间分布类型属于随机型,其余28个乡镇为集群型。在此基础上采用人均建设用地标准法测算威宁县农村居民点整治潜力值,结合各乡镇的农村居民点空间分布类型和整理潜力,将全县35个乡镇划分为集群型优势区、随机型优势区、集群型劣势区、随机型劣势区四个不同等级的整治潜力区划,其中整治潜力集群型优势区主要分布在云贵乡、雪山镇等11个乡镇,随机型优势区主要分布在草海镇、麻乍乡等5个乡镇,集群型劣势区主要分布在黑土河乡、中水镇等17个乡镇,随机型劣势区分布在兔街乡、黑石镇,并据此分析和探索各区划内农村居民点整治的方案策略。     

The contested environmental governance of Maori-owned native forests in South Island,Aotearoa/New Zealand

In this study we set out to critically examine the environmental governance of native forests owned and managed by the Maori in New Zealand, with a specific focus on ‘SILNA’ lands given to the South island Maori as compensation lands for lost ancestral tribal lands. We will interrogate reasons for different forestry pathways in terms of how the process of European colonisation unfolded politically and spatially, the response of the Maori SILNA forest owners to pressures linked to land allocation and land rights issues over time, and the repercussions of these responses for biodiversity preservation in indigenous forest management systems. In order to unravel the complex environmental governance processes at play in the New Zealand context, we will pay particular attention to ‘exogenous’ (i.e. propelling forces outside Maori communities) and ‘endogenous’ regulation mechanisms (i.e. regulation of native forest management within SILNA forest blocks). New Zealand is a particularly appropriate setting as Maori governance, forest management and land rights issues have come to the fore over the past decades. Our findings suggest that Maori SILNA forest owners have used the full spectrum of forest management pathways, ranging from outright clearfelling and associated biodiversity depletion to forest preservation. The study highlights the complex interplay between endogenous environmental governance processes (actor embeddedness with their land and the role played by trusts and committees in particular) and exogenous drivers, in particular through the influence of international logging companies, and the policy environment which has sent mixed, and at times confusing, messages to Maori SILNA native forest owners.     

Development of a multi-criteria spatial planning support system for growth potential modelling in the Western Cape,South Africa

Growth potential modelling is useful as it provides insight into which settlements in a region are likely to experience growth and which areas are likely to decline. However, growth potential modelling is an ill-structured problem as there is no universally-agreed set of criteria (parameters) that can be combined in a particular way (rules) to provide a definitive growth potential measure (solution). In this paper we address the ill-structured problem of growth potential modelling by combining multi-criteria decision making (MCDM), geographical information systems (GIS) and planning support systems (PPS) to generate a number of growth scenarios for settlements in Western Cape province of South Africa. A new framework and methodology for selecting, structuring and analysing multiple growth potential criteria is proposed. The framework, based on the principles of innovation potential and growth preconditions, was applied to demonstrate how it can be used to identify a series of candidate criteria relating to the growth potential of settlements. The criteria were subjected to a MCDM process involving criteria selection, weighting and normalisation. Two criteria sets, weighting schemes and normalisation methods were considered. Two different classification techniques were also evaluated. A total of 16 scenarios were generated using a newly-developed growth potential PPS (GPPSS). The paper shows how the GPPSS can be used to quantitatively and qualitatively assess the various scenarios and to select the most appropriate solution.     

Modeling of ecosystem services informs spatial planning in lands adjacent to the Sarvelat and Javaherdasht protected area in northern Iran

Dynamic models of ecosystem services supply and scenario analysis of changes in multiple services are being increasingly used to support land use planning and decision making. This approach reduces potential and real conflicts among various stakeholders potentially creating win–win solutions for all. It is particularly applicable in areas where insufficient land for agriculture and settlements is resulting in high rates of conversion of natural forest and grasslands. We quantified and mapped multiple ecosystem services, including habitat provision as a proxy for biodiversity, carbon storage and sequestration, and water balance and supply in the Sarvelat and Javaherdasht region of the globally-significant Hyrcanian (Caspian) forests in northern Iran using the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs tool. This region is experiencing a rapidly increasing rate of forest conversion and as a result, the protected area located within the study landscape is threatened by human encroachment. Plausible future landscapes were modeled under three scenarios: (i) business as usual; (ii) protection-based zoning which reflects an expansion of the protected area boundary to prevent land use changes; and (iii) collaborative zoning through redefining the protection boundary simultaneously with an adjustment to meet local stakeholders’ objective of expansion of anthropogenic cover. The results showed that the collaborative zoning scenario would best contribute to effective policy because it presents a more rational spatial configuration of the landscape maintaining the provision of ecosystem services. This scenario may lead to reduced environmental impacts while achieving less conflict between the government and local communities. These results will help to inform and shape natural resource management policies in Iran and is applicable elsewhere in the world.     

The analysis of customer density,tenant placement and coupling inside a shopping centre with GIS

The spatial arrangement of tenants is currently one of the main topics in shopping centre research. This paper shows how a Geographic Information System (GIS) can be used to analyse the tenant structure. Given the recommendations in the literature, the analysis may help to improve the situation within a certain shopping centre. Therefore, we introduce the variable clumping method and kernel density estimation into shopping centre research in order to analyse retail category concentrations, customer flows and coupling in a shopping centre. Applying these techniques to a German shopping centre showed that spatial concentration can be observed within the retail categories of food, health & body and fashion and that the pass ratio declines according to the distance from the central point of the shopping centre. Also, shops in the same retail category have higher coupling than those of different categories, and unexpectedly spatially separated shops have a slightly higher coupling than non-spatially separated ones. Overall, the use of GIS improves the quality and the speed of spatially based analysis, and thus should be used more frequently in scientific shopping centre research and shopping centre management.     

Development stressors are stronger than protected area management: A case of the Pantanos de Centla Biosphere Reserve,Mexico

Evaluation of the management effectiveness of protected areas has become a global priority, especially in coastal zones, where essential services are threatened by land use pressures. To assess the effectiveness of a coastal protected area, we estimated the land-use change (LUC) within and outside of the Pantanos de Centla Biosphere Reserve (PCBR) and interviewed key stakeholders to identify the main stressors causing LUC. The native vegetation cover under the PCBR protection decreased by 65% over 24 years; whereas agriculture and livestock lands doubled, even within the core conservation areas of the PCBR. The greatest loss was in the flooded forest (48%), where the reduction was similar in and around the reserve. The effectiveness of reserve management was affected by drivers of land use change, which include agricultural and livestock enterprises that are run by government programs. Effective management of the PCBR has been undermined by poor management practices, limited capacity and resources, and inadequate zoning design. Protected areas and its surrounding landscapes could be considered to be natural experiments for future research, where high value land uses and conservation objectives coincide within coastal areas that will face a predicted sea level rise, more intense floods and higher temperatures.     

Rural development and the role of game farming in the Eastern Cape,South Africa

The analysis of game farming is set in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Game farming reorders the use, meaning and value of land and animal species. However, what it means for rural development processes in the immediate region and beyond is not well accounted for. We perceive game farming as an assemblage that brings together new actors, new forms of land use and new discourses. We argue that although game farming has generated new opportunities and new forms of added value to the available resources (e.g. eco-tourism, trophy hunting, game-meat production), situated in the history and contemporary context of the Eastern Cape, it is a contested, and from a development point of view, problematic land-use practice. We argue that game farming constrains land and agrarian reforms: the distribution of land and income remains skewed; ‘poaching’ occurs and game farms do not, or only minimally, generate new and badly needed employment opportunities. The game farm has emerged as an exclusive, globally well-connected space. The nature of the relationships this space maintains with the surrounding communities is, however, such that the overall contribution to rural development in South Africa is questionable.     

Impact of formalisation of property rights in informal settlements: Evidence from Dar es Salaam city

This paper aims to study the responsiveness of the informal property market and management systems towards the introduction of land registration for informal settlements in Tanzania. City governments are increasingly recognising the need to strengthen legal rights for the urban poor as a means to bring them more effectively into the urban economy and ensure better provision of water, sanitation and other primary services. The research focuses on Tanzania and in particular two case studies within Dar es Salaam. The findings of the work suggest that the introduction of residential licenses whilst potentially assisting in creating legal certainty has not resulted in the financial sector accepting them as full security against loans. Accessing credit by the poor however has not yet been fully realised resulting in some further hurdles for the financial sector to overcome. Finally, and of some significance is the registration of property in the informal settlements has provided the opportunity of formal property transactions within these settlements.     

农村居民点综合破碎度评价及影响因素探测*——以山东日照市为例

[目的]尝试借鉴景观格局的研究思路,对农村居民点破碎化程度进行评价及其影响因素分析,为当前"新农村建设"中合理进行土地整治提供辅助依据。[方法]充分考虑农村居民点的规模、形状和分布特征,构建了乡镇尺度上的农村居民点综合破碎度评价模型,并利用多元回归模型对其影响因素进行了分析,提出了居民点整理模式的针对性建议。[结果]以沿海平原地区——山东日照为例的研究结果表明:(1)农村居民点破碎度综合指数(FCI)能够较好地反映沿海平原地区农村居民点的空间分异特征;沿海地区FCI大于内陆地区,形成了"阶梯状"的空间分布格局。(2)多元回归模型可以较为准确地探测出破碎度影响因素;研究区FCI的显著影响因素包括距海岸线的距离、距县城的距离、坡度、道路密度等。[结论]通过分析不同等级破碎度的分布特征及其影响因素,可以为各地政府因地制宜开展土地整治、城乡协调发展和新农村建设的土地利用决策提供参考依据。     

Livelihood rights perspective on water reform: Reflections on rural Zimbabwe

The right to water has been adopted as a human right in General Comment 15 by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. It provides a new framework for law and policy supplanting the Dublin Principles that have too often been understood in the African context to mean water with the ‘right’ price. Does a human rights approach to water, especially in rural contexts, speak to the multiple ways in which men and women share and manage water? How are water tenure and land tenure linked in Zimbabwe's rural areas? We examine if and how local norms and practices include water within a broader right to livelihood. Substantial field research in Zimbabwe including ours demonstrates the existence of a right to water and livelihood, which can be responsive to gender and poverty. We suggest the incorporation of local norms and practices within water management laws and policies at regional, national and local levels.     

基于聚落—坡耕地—果园空间耦合的三峡库区腹地人—地—业多样性分析

[目的]探讨中国山区乡村农业景观空间耦合关系有利于解析乡村系统中人—地—业发展变化及状态，对于深刻认识山区农业体制的变化及其土地资源管理和规划具有重要意义。[方法]文章选择三峡库区腹地奉节县为研究区，通过建立聚落—坡耕地—果园空间耦合地理机制，以“空间数量比例—空间布局结构—空间功能结构”范式，从全局和局部景观视角剖析山区聚落—坡耕地—果园空间发展模式，以揭示研究区人—地—业多样性。[结果]（1）研究区的聚落—坡耕地—果园空间耦合有6种类型：低低低—较分散型、高低高—较分散型、高低高—较集中型、高高低—较分散型、高高低—较集中型和高高高—较集中型，各类型的空间分布差异显著。（2）研究区聚落—坡耕地—果园空间发展模式有聚落与坡耕地分散增长型、聚落与果园分散增长型、聚落与坡耕地集中发展型、聚落与果园集中发展型和聚落、坡耕地、果园集中发展型；这些模式其分别对应着研究区的人与地较协调发展、人与业较协调发展、人与地协调发展、人与业协调发展和人、地、业协调发展关系。（3）聚落—坡耕地—果园各空间耦合类型在自然因素中受高程、地形起伏度综合影响最大，在经济社会因素中受距县城中心距离、经济密度综合影响最...     

精准扶贫与土地利用区划创新融合的实证研究

[目的]土地利用区划研究不仅对土地资源可持续利用有重要作用,也是扶贫开发的重要抓手。文章试图探索如何将扶贫因素纳入土地利用区划标准,实现扶贫开发与土地利用区划的创新融合,并选取云南省芒市这一典型贫困地区进行实证研究。[方法]运用文献综述法分析二者融合的内在机制;综合分析法和分区单元归并法进行综合分区;演绎法划分实施扶贫开发战略的土地利用保障区;空间迭置法构建芒市土地资源利用与扶贫开发统筹协调发展的措施体系。[结果]最后将芒市划分为4个土地利用区,即:Ⅰ东北部低山盆地区,Ⅱ东南部中低山河谷区,Ⅲ西南部低山盆地区和Ⅳ西北部中低山地区4个土地利用区域。[结论]理论探讨精准扶贫与土地利用区划的创新融合,为精准扶贫提供了新的切入点;通过实证研究,尝试提出各综合区精准扶贫与土地资源利用统筹协调发展的措施体系,对芒市乃至类似地区土地扶贫开发利用具有一定的理论价值和现实意义。     

新农村建设背景下的土地整治项目绩效评价

研究目的:从项目决策、项目管理、项目效益3方面选取24个因子,构建新农村建设背景下的土地整治项目绩效评价指标体系,对湖北省浠水县清泉镇土地整治项目进行绩效评价研究,以提高新农村土地整治项目监管水平与工作成效。研究方法:基于熵理论的AHP权重调整法,基于S型函数的模糊综合评价法。研究结果:(1)浠水县清泉镇土地整治项目绩效水平良好,能推进当地新农村建设,达到了预定目标;(2)后期管护制度较差、农村基础设施资金投入相对不足是限制清泉镇土地整治项目绩效的主要原因;(3)此指标体系能反映土地整治项目特征,适用于土地整治项目绩效评价。研究结论:该结果能为今后土地整治项目实施提供参考与借鉴,建议从加快农村建设的角度开展土地整治项目,并建立成果管理体系与绩效评价的长效机制,提高土地整治综合效益。     

On the use of tradable development rights for reducing flood risk

We explore the use of a system of tradable development rights (TDRs) as a method for reducing flood risks brought about by development in flood prone areas. Typical land management practice focuses on zoning policies which are able to increase economic efficiency, but result in an inequitable distribution of benefits. A TDR program has the potential to increase equity while maintaining the efficiency of the socially optimal land allocation. We begin with a graphical analysis and then present a theoretical model incorporating unidirectional spatial externalities, and demonstrate how a TDR program could be implemented to internalize these negative external costs.