Titling and beyond: Evidence from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Alexandra Panman and Nancy Lozano Gracia
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Nancy Lozano-Gracia

Land Use Policy, 2022, vol. 117, issue C

Abstract: Land titling has been a policy priority for developing country cities for decades. In Sub-Saharan Africa and across the world, tenure formalization has been promoted as a tool to improve the quality and value of urban housing. The track record of these projects, however, has generally been disappointing. Why is this? In this paper, we argue that project design has paid too little attention to contextual features of land markets in estimating the benefits of formalization to individual households. We draw on evidence from a case study city – Dar es Salaam, Tanzania – to show that in cities where broader property rights institutions are incomplete and informal sources of tenure security are strong, formal property rights may not be valued by households. This raises questions about the households’ willingness to pay for regularisation and suggests that complementary strategies to build trust in government and consolidate public benefits of titling will be needed to ensure that projects have a beneficial impact.

Keywords: Urban titling; Formalization; Land markets; Tanzania; Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:117:y:2022:i:c:s0264837721006281

DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105905

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