Abstract
The quest for good governance in every sector has been highly prioritized in Africa within the last two decades, and this has drawn the interests of different stakeholders to the subject matter. One of the sectors where good governance is essential for its effectiveness and efficiency is the land sector and this is because the land is what everybody needs for identity, and its association with shelter, food security and livelihood (Anderson et al., 2006). However, this textbook is one of the attempts to improve and promote land governance scholarships in Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa in particular. The textbook seeks to create awareness and provoke a new research direction based on multidisciplinary standpoints as the contributors are from diverse fields and different countries. The textbook captures themes such as land access enhancement, anti-colonial legacy, capacity building for land and land law reforms.
The book is organized into 22 chapters. The first chapter begins by presenting a background introduction on land governance globally and in Africa and equally presented a general overview of the textbook. The second chapter by Chigbu reviewed different urban governance approaches and SDGs key objectives to develop a good governance strategy to redress land issues in African cities. The author examined the land governance system in a Namibian city and argued for the efficacy of city autonomy to avert sustainable land management challenges. Cirolia in Chapter three argued that understanding urban governance calls for understanding key public finance systems (i.e., revenue, debt and expenditure). The author advocated for a flexible finance system that can upscale urban development components in African cities. Chapter four demonstrates the potential of independently managing urban development by religious institutions using a case study of the holy city of Touba in Senegal. The author presented Touba’s structure as a perfect alternative urban governance that is more responsive to growth by allocating land, based on needs and not by means which is the practice of regular land market in Africa. Kamga in Chapter five argued for the enhancement of urban poor legal rights to the city (i.e., right to housing) by drawing insight from South African jurisprudence. Ngang in Chapter six argued that equal rights to land for women is essential to achieving inclusive development in Africa.
Chapter seven examined the implementation approach of planning regulation in selected 18 African cities and advocated for a new and more effective planning law that can significantly support sustainable development policies. Chapter eight of the book presented an overview of the Land Management and Geospatial Science master’s programme at the Technical University of Munich and the authors outlined how the programme has influenced African land-related research. Chapter nine presented a progress review of Participatory and Inclusive Land Readjustment (PILaR) in Africa. Abubakar in Chapter 10 examined different governance challenges in African New Town projects and alluded that most of the projects have not been socially inclusive. The author advocated for an alternative/innovative governance structure contrary to the Western model we are copying in Africa. Chapter 11 of the book presented an assessment of how alternative dispute resolution (ADR) structure has reduced conflict related to land in Botswana. The author claimed that ADR has performed satisfactorily in resolving land conflicts and suggested localization of ADR across the country. Chapter 12 presented the post-apartheid housing provision programme in South Africa and the author raised concerns about the poor quality of delivered housing units coupled with the slow pace of completion; and the increasing housing deficit upon the intervention. The author equally reflected on government failure to align the programme with other housing necessities (i.e., transport, employment etc.) which could force homeowners back to the shacks. Chapter 13 presented a comparative analysis of women land access and urban governance in the colonial and post-colonial era in Zimbabwe and established that women and children are usually denied land rights. The author advocated for an inclusive land governance system that aids sustainable development. Chapter 14 examined the issue of corruption in land governance in Africa. The position of the author is needed for a transparent and clearer land governance policy in Africa. Chapter 15 explores the Soweto East project in Kenya on slum improvement. The authors examined how the community was engaged and the corresponding problem and successes while Chapter 16 enquired potential policy considerations on the enhancement of urban resilience for achieving sustainable development in SSA. Chapter 17 examined the role of municipal government in South Africa in guarantying food security and argued that, as regard food security, recognition of a municipal government is essential because the current constitution only recognizes national and provincial government.
Chapter 18 examined perceptions of Ibadan residents in Nigeria on informal public transport (IPT) operation. The authors claimed that IPT has many prospects to offer and calls for its recognition as the future of African cities. Chapter 19 examined the association between urban governance (i.e., policy, institution, etc,) and disease outbreak of Cholera in Harare and Ebola in Monrovia. The author affirmed that the disease in Harare has solely been linked with urban governance while the Ebola outbreak is yet to be associated with urban governance failure. Chapter 20 analyzed pre-colonial and colonial housing development and the impacts of colonial policies on town structure. The authors demonstrated how colonial legacy has made it difficult for people to have a sense of place and argued that places should be given an appropriate name that is linked to histories, oral mapping or dialogue as it is essential for social capital development in African cities. Sait in Chapter 21 pointed out the necessity for ‘community-driven and gender-responsive urban governance for successful slum clearance in African cities while the Editor presented Chapter 22 as the last chapter and he reflected on the new direction of African urban land governance to reach sustainable development goals.
The book is well articulated with insightful information on urban land governance in Sub-Saharan Africa. Each chapter has been handled by experts in their respective fields and all were written in simple language which makes the textbook to be comprehensible and appealing for potential readership regardless of the background. The contents of the book have done justice to the book title and the objectives as some of the chapters used case studies to augment their argument. Notwithstanding that, I have some concerns that could have made the textbook more technically robust. First, the book is all about urban land governance in SSA but no attention was given to the informal land market operations which is the hope of many urban dwellers because it is cheaper, accessible and flexible (Wehrmann, 2008). Second, some of the authors advocated for an alternative solution to governance without stating clearly which alternative they meant; aside from Chigbu in Chapter 2 who advocated for city autonomy in land governance. Other suggestions alternative governance would have given chance to compare and contrast the options. Third, it seems to me that some of the authors were not aware of the general theme of the textbook as data from non-SSA African countries (i.e., Morocco) was cited in many instances while the textbook focused on land governance in SSA. Fourth, some chapters are not that relevant in the textbooks as they do not have a connection with land governance and this, perhaps, could have reduced the bulkiness of the textbook. Be that as it may, the textbook has revealed many research gaps for empirical investigation and this makes the textbook more appealing for research students and academics who are passionate about upscaling land governance in SSA. The contents of the textbook seem to interest other professionals and stakeholders like lawyers, politicians, sociologists, planners, estate managers, to mention just a few. In it all, I recommend the textbook for students, researchers and professionals who are desirous of knowing more about urban land governance in many African countries.
