The Benefits of Fit-for-Purpose Land Administration for Urban Community Resilience in a Time of Climate Change and COVID-19 Pandemic

David Mitchell, Bernhard Barth, Serene Ho, M. Siraj Sait and Darryn McEvoy
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David Mitchell: Geospatial Science, School of Science, RMIT University, Melbourne 3000, Australia
Bernhard Barth: UN-Habitat, Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Fukuoka 810-0001, Japan
Serene Ho: Geospatial Science, School of Science, RMIT University, Melbourne 3000, Australia
M. Siraj Sait: Noon Centre for Equality and Diversity, University of East London, London E16 2RD, UK
Darryn McEvoy: School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne 3000, Australia

Land, 2021, vol. 10, issue 6, 1-19

Abstract: The major global pressures of rapid urbanization and urban growth are being compounded by climate impacts, resulting in increased vulnerability for urban dwellers, with these vulnerabilities exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Much of this is concentrated in urban and peri-urban areas where urban development spreads into hazard-prone areas. Often, this development is dominated by poor-quality homes in informal settlements or slums with poor tenure security. Lessons from a resilience-building project in the Pacific shows that a fit-for-purpose (FFP) approach to land administration can provide solutions by increasing the number of households with security of tenure, and consequently, improving resilience outcomes as informal settlements grow. This paper specifically discusses the influence of FFP land administration on reducing vulnerabilities to external shocks, such as climate change and COVID-19. It proposes ways to be better manage urban growth through the responsible governance of land tenure rights and more effective land-use planning to improve resilience to multiple shocks and stresses, hence, delivering improved access to safe land and shelter. Land administration systems can contribute to enhanced resilience to the shocks of climate extremes and pandemics by improving tenure security and enhancing land-use planning controls. It is argued that climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction need to be better mainstreamed into two major elements of land governance: (i) securing and safeguarding of land rights, and (ii) planning and control of land use.

Keywords: fit-for-purpose land administration; rapid urbanization; climate change; pandemic; urban resilience (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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