WITS-TUB-UNILAG URBAN LAB MASTER’S SUMMER SCHOOL
URBAN MANAGEMENT ACROSS CONTINENTS
SESSION 1:
© TOBIAS KUTTLER
LAND GOVERNANCE
View towards Sandton from Alexandra, Johannesburg, South Africa
The four presentations in this session investigate different aspects of land management, including public participation, collective ownership and the role of family ownership. In depth-case studies are presented from different African and Asian cities. The session is chaired by Dr. Basirat Oyalowo (University of Lagos) and coconvened by Florence Avogo (TU Berlin). Archimedes Muzenda (Wits) assesses public participation in land use management in Johannesburg. He undertakes this study in the context of a planning law reform enacted in 2013, observing the extent of public participation before and after the reform and seeking to identify the challenges in introducing public participation in land use management.
He uses a case study approach and conducted semi-structured interviews with key informants from different institutions. The findings reveal the difficulty to constitute a key instrument of the reform, the Municipal Planning Tribunal, and to achieve procedural fairness and transparency. He highlights that the reform brought decision making closer to residents, but that the city administration fails to address public participation adequately. In the discussion and Q&A, other participants encourage Archimedes to make his findings visible to the policy sector and think of ways how to achieve that.
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