Can Land Use Regulation Be Smarter? Planners’ Role in the Informal Housing Challenge

Abstract

Persistent urbanization is challenging planners to reimagine the absorptive capacities of cities. While more and more city dwellers respond to the challenge with informal solutions, policy and planning responses have fallen short of providing compelling answers. We propose redirecting attention to the use of land. This paper develops a model that centers on the role of land use regulation in conditioning and sustaining housing informality. Taking variations in income, location, and regulation into account, our framework uncovers the effective, household-level regulatory burden. Using this model to audit existing land use regimes gives planners the tools to plan effectively for targeted adjustments.

The Role of Inclusionary Hybrid Governance in Housing Delivery in Jos

“…These systems often aim to establish more secure land rights by amalgamating various historical tenure patterns. Nevertheless, inadequacies in legislation, including ambiguous property rights and enforcement mechanisms, lead specific market participants to violate new regulations (Heikkila & Harten, 2023;Kukulska-Kozieł, 2023). Consequently, this has spurred the emergence of both official and informal land distribution mechanisms in numerous African countries.…”

La conception du logement informel en Algérie: les cas des villes de Guelaat Bou Sbaa et Bouati Mahmoud

“…En ce qui a trait à la politique des États et des gouvernements locaux envers les quartiers et logements informels, les interventions peuvent être regroupées en quatre approches: la négligence et tolérance, l'expulsion et le relogement, les politiques habilitantes, et l'auto-assistance ainsi que la mise à niveau in situ (Heikkila and Harten, 2019). Ces approches s'inscrivent dans un cadre réglementaire ayant pour objectif de mettre en conformité les zones d'habitat informel afin de les insérer dans la structure urbaine des villes et, de la sorte, assurer leur contrôle et la gestion des services urbains (Arandel and El Batran, 1997).…”