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- Convenors:
-
Colin Marx
(UCL)
Julian Quan (University of Greenwich)
Rama Salla Dieng (University of Edinburgh)
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- Chair:
-
Julian Quan
(University of Greenwich)
- Discussant:
-
Rama Salla Dieng
(University of Edinburgh)
- Format:
- Roundtable
- Stream:
- Agriculture and food
- Location:
- Edith Morley 175
- Sessions:
- Friday 30 June, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
Land scholars and activists working on urban or rural issues share concerns but find few opportunities to interact. This panel explores the different emphases and diverse ontologies and epistemologies of urban and rural land initiatives to collectively promote new connections and agencies.
Long Abstract:
Urban and rural land relations are: (1) embedded in the way that the Anthropocene has developed, and its political ecology; (2) central to its present crises, involving commodification, natural systems degradation, climate and zoonotic hazards, and large scale human mobility and migrations ; and (3) fundamental to what comes next in establishing new connections and forms of agency that can enable climate adaptation, restore ecosystems and decarbonised development pathways.
This panel is intended as a workshop that will work across current urban- rural and other disciplinary divisions by encouraging engagement between scholars and practitioners concerned with land and its place in development from diverse points of view. This is seen as a first step in encouraging learning and greater collaboration across interests in both urban and rural contexts.
We invite contributors to address any or all of the following questions drawing on analysis or reflection of land issues in a rural or urban context:
1. In what ways, do conceptions of land and property lock in key features of development in the Anthropocene? What are the implications of this for different actors and interests?
2. How are conceptions of land, and rights and governance unsettled and challenged by the current conflicts and crises in the Anthropocene?
3. What new perspectives on land and what connections and forms of agency are relevant in charting transitions towards more just, equitable and sustainable futures?
Please send a 300 word abstract outlining your contribution to the convenors.
Accepted contributions:
Session 1 Friday 30 June, 2023, -Julian Quan (University of Greenwich)
Contribution short abstract:
This contribution reflects on the thinking behind this roundtable from a primarily rural perspective, by reflecting on how concepts are locked in to unequal and unsustainable development, associated challenges & crises, recent policy - practice initiatives and implications for development research
Contribution long abstract:
The first part of the contribution brings together key insights from development research on land:
the co-constitution of land & property rights, forms and territoriality of political authority; linkgages between distribution and control of land and natural resources on levels and nature of economic growth; the importance of context-specific political economy analysis, and increasingly political ecology, in understanding social, political and environmental conflicts involving land; and the scope and opportunities for equitable, nature-friendly land reforms. For example tracing the broad colonial & post colonial histories of a number of African countries, the interplay between state and customary authority, the changing dynamics and interests of of different social classes and groups in land, the evolution and consequences of efforts for land reforms and for agricultural and land-based investments.
A second part will outline some potentially encouraging recent and emerging policy perspectives and practical initiatives bearing on land and natural resouce governance, including: rights-based conservation; incorporation of customary principles, authorities and rural communities in governance arrangements, the growth of interest in sustainable landscape investments, inclusive value chains and multi-stakeholder platforms, the growth of international law and jurisprudence in protecting the land rights of indigenous communities, women and girls, peasants and small farmers; and emergent convergence of civil society and international agencies programming on land. In conclusion, this contribution will briefly consider the place of land rights and land use governance in cross-cutting, interdisciplinary development research, questioning how researchers can help overcome challenges of securing land rights and sustainable land and resource use.
Martina Manara (University of Sheffield)
Contribution short abstract:
I will discuss the preliminary steps of my recent research project, which develops a new epistemology of land to understand how informal land institutions work for local communities across urban and rural contexts, with a view to incorporate local regulations and perspectives in policy-making.
Contribution long abstract:
Informal settlements worldwide experience inadequate housing, infrastructure, and services. Communities engage in informal practices of land transfer, use, development, etc., underpinned by complex institutional configurations beyond the official (de jure) realm. These de facto regulations are hybrid, diverse and dynamic: often, they result from the encounter of rural and urban social orders, cutting across social, customary and statutory systems. Yet, limited understanding of the de facto regulation of informal land jeopardises the achievement of effective policies. Current efforts to establish formal institutions of property rights and town planning remain ineffective in much of urban and rural Africa because they fail to recognise how existing informal institutions work for residents. This presentation will discuss the preliminary steps of the research project ‘De facto regulation of informal land: opening the black box of African cities’, which will draw on interdisciplinary scholarship on social norms to develop an institutional archelogy (Ho, 2018) of land, examining how de facto regulations shape informal land practices for diverse local actors. Collaborative research will apply this framework in two African cities with distinctive informal land governance, involving actors such as local leaders, residents, brokers. Findings will advance an institutional approach to informal land institutions and support inclusive policy-making to incorporate existing regulations and local actors’ perspectives. While current conflicts and crises in the Anthropocene unsettle given conceptions of land, rights and governance, a new epistemology of land is proposed to leverage local knowledge and actions in policy-making, towards more just, equitable and sustainable futures.