The Urban Land Nexus: Challenges And Opportunities Of Regularising Informal Settlements: The Case Studies Of Dar Es Salaam And Mwanza In Tanzania

Informal or unplanned settlements in Tanzania accommodate more than 70% of the urban population. Using qualitative data from case studies from the two cities, this paper explores why and how the regularisation process was carried out and the land use planning, land values and tenure issues that emerged after regularisation. Findings indicate that the regularisation process has generated several opportunities that have accrued including the issuance of residential licenses and title deeds, increased land value and security of tenure. However, there are also challenges undermining the regularisation programme. Among the challenges that require policy action include over-emphasis on protection of private rights at the cost of undermining public interests on land, lack of harmonized cost of regularisation, prolonged delays in completing the process of regularisation, generalization of regularisation regardless of contextual factors and most importantly slow uptake of the title deeds. The study concludes that land regularisation remains an important tool to enhance livable cities and protect long term public and private interests in land development. However, a number of policy actions are required. These include the need to emphasize and protect public interests in regularization, harmonization of costs by providing indicative costs of regularisation based on plot sizes and public awareness creation on the importance of title deeds beyond tenure security.