Access to Urban Land: A Handbook for Community Organizations

Lack of access to urban land by the poor is one of the biggest challenges facing South African cities. Urban LandMark is a programme intended to contribute towards making urban land markets work better for the poor, and is funded by the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID). During 2007, Urban LandMark organised a series of workshops across the country to document the experiences and views of community organisations with regard to urban land issues. At all of the workshops, lack of information on urban land was highlighted as a major concern, and the desire for feedback was also expressed. This booklet consists partly of an overview of the outcomes of these workshops and other research undertaken by Urban LandMark, and partly of information prepared in response to the information gaps identified in the workshops. The draft version of this booklet was presented at a subsequent community workshop during 2008, and the content was then revised in accordance with the feedback from participants.

First of all, the causes of the urban land problem in South Africa are examined. Secondly, the human rights that are of relevance to accessing land are then examined. Practical steps that could potentially be used by community organisations to make these rights real are then discussed. Finally, policy solutions for addressing the urban land problem are suggested. These could potentially be advocated for by community organisations to ensure that the poor will be able to have access to well-located land in our cities and towns.