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Titling and beyond: Evidence from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

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  • Panman, Alexandra
  • Lozano Gracia, Nancy

Abstract

Land titling has been a policy priority for developing country cities for decades. In Sub-Saharan Africa and across the world, tenure formalization has been promoted as a tool to improve the quality and value of urban housing. The track record of these projects, however, has generally been disappointing. Why is this? In this paper, we argue that project design has paid too little attention to contextual features of land markets in estimating the benefits of formalization to individual households. We draw on evidence from a case study city – Dar es Salaam, Tanzania – to show that in cities where broader property rights institutions are incomplete and informal sources of tenure security are strong, formal property rights may not be valued by households. This raises questions about the households’ willingness to pay for regularisation and suggests that complementary strategies to build trust in government and consolidate public benefits of titling will be needed to ensure that projects have a beneficial impact.

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  • Panman, Alexandra & Lozano Gracia, Nancy, 2022. "Titling and beyond: Evidence from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:117:y:2022:i:c:s0264837721006281
    DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105905
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    1. Manara, Martina & Pani, Erica, 2023. "Institutional pluralism and pro-poor land registration: Lessons on interim property rights from urban Tanzania," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    2. Manara, Martina & Pani, Erica, 2023. "Institutional pluralism and pro-poor land registration: lessons on interim property rights from urban Tanzania," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 118651, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

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