The socio-spatial synergy in land governance : a case study of informal settlements in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia
Berhanu Alemie, Rohan Bennett & Jaap Zevenbergen
Urban land has social and spatial dimensions. Governance of urban land should consider social and spatial dimensions. However, current approaches of urban land governance evaluation are mainly focused on social dimensions of input, process and output. The spatial dimension gets less consideration. A socio-spatial approach applied here is argued to fill this gap. This research justifies that informal settlements are outcome indicators of weak urban land governance. Social and spatial data of the case study are used to evaluate urban land governance. Spatial analysis of high resolution satellite images in the case study district show that informal settlements are expanding both spatially and temporally. In addition, the GIS analysis of settlements layer with cadastre and land use plan maps demonstrate that the recent informal and formal developments in the case study district do not correspond with the de jure land use plan and cadastre map. Causes for the informal settlements expansion are identified and discussed in connection with the spatial results. Overall, this research suggests that integrating the spatial and social dimensions is vital for an all-encompassing evaluation and monitoring of urban land governance particularly in achieving the post-2015 global developmental agenda.
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