Extending the analysis of urban land conflict: An example from Johannesburg

Marx, Colin

doi:10.1177/0042098015607801

Cited by 24 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…This issue is taken up by Marx in the final paper in this collection (Marx, 2016). His analysis focuses on a single housing area in Johannesburg, demonstrating how the property rights available are associated with social networks and so are linked to other conflicts: while nominally similar to property rights in other parts of the city, they are less well-protected and enforced than elsewhere.…”

Section: Recognising Interactions Between Levelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban land conflict in the Global South: Towards an analytical framework

Lombard

Rakodi

2016

Urban Studies

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In cities of the Global South, access to land is a pressing concern. Typically neither states nor markets provide suitable land for all users, especially low-income households. In the context of urban growth and inequality, acute competition for land and the regulatory failures of states often result in conflict, which is sometimes violent, affecting urban authorities and residents. Conflicts are often mentioned in analyses of urban land, but rarely examined in depth. This paper develops a framework for land conflict analysis, drawing on relevant literature and the papers in this special issue. In order to explore the drivers, dynamics and outcomes of urban land conflicts, diverse disciplinary perspectives are discussed, including environmental security, political ecology, legal anthropology, land governance, conflict analysis and management, and urban conflict and violence. The papers focus on conflicts in the peri-urban areas of Xalapa, Mexico, and Juba, South Sudan, and during informal settlement upgrading in eThekwini (Durban), South Africa, and Nairobi. A second paper on South Africa examines how current tenure law reflects the characteristics and outcomes of previous conflicts. We suggest that an analytical framework needs, first, to consider definitional categories, including the material and emotional dimensions of access to land, conflict and violence, and tenure. Second, it needs to identify and examine the interests and behaviour of the many actors involved in urban land conflicts. And third, it needs to analyse the interactions and relationships between those involved at different levels, from the individual/household, through the local to the citywide, national and international.

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Section: Recognising Interactions Between Levelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban land conflict in the Global South: Towards an analytical framework

Lombard

Rakodi

2016

Urban Studies

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“…His case is representative of many similar disputes that occur frequently across the settlement. Marx (2016) differentiates between land conflict related to distributional inequalities and conflict emerging from the inherent nature of property rights. His focus is on the difference between conflict understood as a (re)distributional struggle over (already) defined property rights and conflict that occurs because of the inherent, contested nature of property rights themselves (Marx 2016(Marx , 2779.…”

Section: Land Conflicts and Conflict Resolution Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Marx (2016) differentiates between land conflict related to distributional inequalities and conflict emerging from the inherent nature of property rights. His focus is on the difference between conflict understood as a (re)distributional struggle over (already) defined property rights and conflict that occurs because of the inherent, contested nature of property rights themselves (Marx 2016(Marx , 2779. The idea that the nature of property rights can be a source of conflict is derived from a recognition that property rights are relational, constructed, contingent on social context and must be continually 'produced' (Marx 2016(Marx , 2780.…”

Section: Land Conflicts and Conflict Resolution Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…His focus is on the difference between conflict understood as a (re)distributional struggle over (already) defined property rights and conflict that occurs because of the inherent, contested nature of property rights themselves (Marx 2016(Marx , 2779. The idea that the nature of property rights can be a source of conflict is derived from a recognition that property rights are relational, constructed, contingent on social context and must be continually 'produced' (Marx 2016(Marx , 2780. These insights illuminate the situation in Ulyankulu, where the inherent insecurity of property rights remains at the core of many conflicts.…”

Section: Land Conflicts and Conflict Resolution Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Land and exile: revisiting the case of Burundian refugees in Tanzania

Kuch

2018

Critical African Studies

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In 2007, the Government of Tanzania and the Government of Burundi in partnership with the UNHCR adopted the Tanzania Comprehensive Solutions Strategy (TANCOSS). TANCOSS offered a choice between repatriation and naturalization to 220,000 Burundian refugees who had been living in three rural settlements in Western Tanzania (Ulyankulu, Katumba and Mishamo) since 1972. It was an unprecedented intervention and it garnered international attention and support (Milner 2014). Initially, obtaining citizenship was meant to be conditional on relocation away from the refugee settlements. This plan, however, was renounced, and ultimately those who opted for citizenship were permitted to remain on the land of the settlements. Following naturalization, new citizens' relationship with the land they occupy in Tanzania has changedboth in legal and symbolic terms. This article explores how former Burundian refugees were able to access land in exile and how, following naturalization, they seek recognition of their land rights. In the existing literature, scholars have highlighted the prominence of discourses of autochthony in the ways that both citizenship and land rights have come to be defined and asserted in contexts of migration. There is a risk that this emphasis hides other instances, in which autochthony is not the dominant trope through which citizenship or land rights are claimed, as this article demonstrates in the case of Burundian refugees in Tanzania.

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“…Moreover, when residents draw on a shared communal identity to safeguard their interests, land conflict moves beyond the individual level and takes on 'collective dimensions' (Lombard andRakodi, 2016: 2690). The interconnectedness of territorial, political, and economic issues for identity and conflict formation are, thus, important for understanding conflict and responses to it in informal settlements (Berry, 2009;Bollens, 2007;Geschiere, 2009;Marx, 2016). Here, we conceive of communal identity as subjective group identification based on, for instance, a common history, culture, or core values (Anderson, 1983;Gurr, 2000).…”

Section: Responding To Urban Land Conflictmentioning

confidence: 99%

Home of last resort: Urban land conflict and the Nubians in Kibera, Kenya

Elfversson

Höglund

2017

Urban Studies

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Amid expansive and often informal urban growth, conflict over land has become a severe source of instability in many cities. In slum areas, policies intended to alleviate tensions, including upgrading programs, the legal regulation of informal tenure arrangements, and the reform of local governance structures, have had the unintended consequence of also spurring violence and conflict. This paper analyzes the conflict over a proposed 'ethnic homeland' for the Nubian community in the Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya, in order to advance knowledge on the strategies communities adopt to promote their interests and how such strategies impact on urban conflict management. Theoretically, we apply the perspective of 'institutional bricolage', which captures how actors make use of existing formal and informal structures in pragmatic ways to meet their conflict management needs. While previous research focuses primarily on how bricolage can facilitate cooperation, the case analysis uncovers how over time, the land issue has become closely intertwined with claims of identity and citizenship and a political discourse drawn along ethnic lines. In turn, such processes may contribute to the intractability of conflict, causing significant challenges for urban planning.

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Extending the analysis of urban land conflict: An example from Johannesburg

Cited by 24 publications

References 17 publications

Urban land conflict in the Global South: Towards an analytical framework

Urban land conflict in the Global South: Towards an analytical framework

Land and exile: revisiting the case of Burundian refugees in Tanzania

Home of last resort: Urban land conflict and the Nubians in Kibera, Kenya

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