Land tenure formalisation as institutional transition in African cities: a critical examination.

我的跨学科研究重点是土地制度和土地保有权正规化的过程，解决全球南方快速城市化城市的城市发展和扶贫的持久重要性问题。全球约有10亿人居住在未经规划的住区，国际组织和发展中国家政府推动土地登记（正式化），以应对快速城市化的挑战。正规化政策的净效益仍不清楚。事实上，许多发放所有权项目在执行方面遇到了挑战，包括土地所有权获得率低，政府的沉没成本很高。因此，有必要进行更多的实证研究，研究在特定的时空背景下当地对改善产权的需求，以及如何通过政策举措来满足这一需求。 我的研究调查了达累斯萨拉姆（坦桑尼亚）的产权倡议，分析了产权低吸收的动机和导致正式财产制度建设的过程。借鉴广泛的实地调查和混合方法分析，我的研究发现，邻里之间的社会互动和与当地公共当局调解的选择和正式化的过程。与当地学生合作，我收集并制作了一套广泛的数据，包括行政地籍数据，初级调查数据，深入访谈，人种学观察和实验数据。总的来说，我的研究提供了重要的方法论，理论和实证贡献，产生了政策建议，我已经传播给政策制定者和其他利益相关者。更具体地说，我的工作发现，首先，正规化政策在达累斯萨拉姆获得了相当大的社会支持，尽管吸收率低。第二，选择正式化与临时产权是相互依赖的人口，作为情节业主参考的行为和建议，其他人（邻居和社区领袖）时，决定是否接受他们的头衔。第三，社会互动也介导了正式化的过程：地方领导人和邻居对财产的非正式认可对于正式财产工具（地籍和测量地图）的合法化和可操作化至关重要。第四，地方领导人准确了解当地社区对正规化的需求。可以利用这一点为更具包容性的项目提供正规化的信息。该奖学金将帮助我通过进一步建立出版物的跟踪记录，研究网络，以及在城市和机构研究的交叉点创新的跨学科学术形象，通过与学术界和更广泛的受众接触的雄心勃勃，但可实现的计划，发展学术生涯。至关重要的是，这些活动将从我现有的工作和未来的研究机会产生更大的影响。产出将包括在顶级期刊、会议、研讨会、与政策制定者和其他项目利益攸关方的会议上发表一系列出版物，以及博客文章。为了探索未来比较，跨学科和政策相关的研究合作的可能性，我将巩固现有的和新的网络与i）在达累斯萨拉姆，内罗毕和坎帕拉大学的当地学者; ii）在LSE内外的相关领域的学者; iii）各级政府和其他项目利益相关者在坦桑尼亚的政策制定者。此外，我将写我的下一个三年项目的资金申请，英国学院，Leverhulme信托基金和ESRC。最后，奖学金将使我能够通过在社会规范和行为动力学中心（宾夕法尼亚大学）的短期访问，在LSE的课程和短期课程，扩展我现有研究的现有理论和方法方面。

My interdisciplinary research focuses on land institutions and processes of land tenure formalisation, addressing questions of lasting importance for urban development and poverty alleviation in rapidly urbanising cities of the Global South. With roughly 1 billion people living in unplanned settlements, international organisations and governments of developing countries promote land registration (formalisation) to address the challenges of rapidly urbanising cities. The net benefits from formalisation policies remain unclear. In fact, many titling projects have encountered challenges of implementation, including the low uptake of land titles, with large sunk costs for governments. Thus, there is a need for more empirical research studying the local demand for improved property rights in specific spatial-temporal contexts, and how this could be met through policy initiatives. My research investigates titling initiatives in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) analysing the motivations for low uptake of titles and the processes leading to the construction of a formal property system. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and mixed-methods analysis, my research finds that social interactions among neighbours and with the local public authority mediate the choices and the processes of formalisation. In collaboration with local students, I have collected and produced a wide set of data including administrative cadastral data, primary survey data, in-depth interviews, ethnographic observations and experimental data. Overall, my research provides important methodological, theoretical, and empirical contributions, resulting in policy recommendations, which I have disseminated to policymakers and other stakeholders.More specifically, my work finds that first, formalisation policies rally considerable social support in Dar es Salaam, despite of low uptake. Second, choices of formalisation with interim property rights are interdependent in the population, as plot owners refer to the behavior and advice of others (neighbours and community leaders) when deciding whether to uptake their titles. Third, social interactions also mediate the process of formalisation: informal dynamics of property recognition by local leaders and neighbours are essential to legitimise and operationalise the instruments of formal property: the cadastre and the survey map. Fourth, local leaders have accurate knowledge on the local demand for formalisation in their neighbourhoods. This could be leveraged to inform more inclusive projects of formalisation. The Fellowship will help me to develop an academic career by further establishing a track-record of publications, a research network, and an innovative interdisciplinary academic profile at the intersection of urban and institutional research, through an ambitious, yet achievable programme of engagements with academic and wider audiences. Crucially, these activities will generate higher impact from my existing work and opportunities for future research. Outputs will include a set of publications in top-tier journals, conferences, seminars, meetings with policymakers and other project stakeholders, and blog posts. To explore the possibility of future comparative, interdisciplinary and policy-relevant research collaborations, I will consolidate existing and new networks with i) local academics at the Universities of Dar es Salaam, Nairobi, and Kampala; ii) academics in related fields both within and outside the LSE; iii) policy-makers at all levels of governments and other project stakeholders in Tanzania. Moreover, I will write my next three-year project for funding applications to the British Academy, the Leverhulme Trust and the ESRC. Finally, the fellowship will enable me to extend the existing theoretical, and methodological aspects of my existing research through a short-term visiting period at the Centre for Social Norms and Behavioral Dynamics (University of Pennsylvania), classes and short courses at the LSE.