Land conflict in peri-urban areas: Exploring the effects of land reform on informal settlement in Mexico

Abstract

Peri-urban areas are often subject to intensive construction, through both formal and informal processes. As land transitions from rural to urban status, different land tenure and administration systems may come into conflict, leading to disputes, contestation and, in some cases, violence. However, little is known about the precise causes of peri-urban land conflict. In Mexico, periurban growth has historically proceeded peacefully, owing to the control exerted by a corporatist system of government, and the political use of land tenure regularisation. However, the effects of land reforms on transactions at the peri-urban fringe, in the context of wider processes of liberalisation, may be increasing vulnerability to conflict over land. This paper explores these issues through a case study of an irregular settlement on the peri-urban fringe of the provincial Mexican city of Xalapa, where contestations over informally developed land have escalated into violent encounters between groups of settlers and the state. The findings show that vulnerability to conflict in peri-urban areas can be attributed to the interaction of macro-level processes with locallevel factors, including diverse claims, overlapping legal and governance frameworks and, critically, local power relations.

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

“…There is increasing evidence that titling is both difficult to implement in many urban situations and does not deliver all the benefits claimed for it (Payne et al, 2009;Rakodi, 2016). This consideration underlines a third analytical challenge relating to the potential for tenure formalisation or legalisation to create as well as ameliorate conflict, as discussed in Lombard's, Rigon's and Patel's papers (Lombard, 2016;Patel, 2016;Rigon, 2016).…”

“…However, the drivers, nature and outcomes of the conflicts differ, depending on the historical, political, economic and social circumstances. Lombard's case study of an irregular settlement on the outskirts of the provincial Mexican city of Xalapa reveals how conflicts over informally developed land have escalated into violent clashes between groups of settlers and the state and between groups of occupiers and those who claim original ownership (Lombard, 2016). She demonstrates how recent episodes of conflict can only be understood in the context of agrarian reform, the decline of Mexico's corporatist political system, and the outcomes of state attempts to adjudicate and maintain social control.…”

Urban Informality as a Site of Critical Analysis

“…While some accounts highlight the difficulties formal agencies face in this, given their institutionalised logics of operation (Parnell & Hart, 1999), a further generation of efforts have better understood how to offer institutionalised support to low-income groups while minimising the conditionalities related to formalisation. Urban development efforts in Thailand (Boonyabancha, 2009) and Pakistan (Hasan, 2008) are notable here, alongside land reform and titling processes in Mexico (Lombard, 2015) and Brazil (Fernandes, 2011). The designation by Nairobi County (the city authority) of a special planning area for Mukuru informal settlement in Nairobi is another recent example; through this provision formal rules and regulations have been lifted, creating possibilities for new development trajectories to emerge (Lines & Makau, 2018).…”

The determination of the “true” property boundary in planned development: a Coasian analysis

“…Good examples are the work of Braimah (1987) on planning in Nigeria; Razin (1998) on planning against urban sprawl in Israel; Gough and Yankson (2000) on the land market in Ghana; Lombard (2015) on land reform in Mexico; Ubink and Quan (2008) on boundary dispute resolution procedures in Ghana; De Vries and Lewis (2009) in Namibia; Mbah (2009) in Cameroon; Kamruzzaman and Baker (2013) in the Philippines; Prendergast (2013, 2014) in Ireland; Koo (2013) in England;and Sky (2013) on Norway.…”