Land Use Policy 85 (2019) 218–229

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Land Use Policy

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/landusepol

Land tenure-related conflicts in peri-urban areas: A review T

a,⁎ b
Hashem Dadashpoor , Ahani Somayeh
a
Urban and Regional Planning Department, Faculty of Arts and Architecture, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
b
Faculty of Arts and Architecture, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The rapid increase of urban population during the 21 st century has led to the expansion of metropolises and
Conflict increased demand for land in peri-urban areas, which are often the object of compulsory land acquisition to
Land cover urban development processes. Such a process leads to widespread land tenure changes in a specific system
Land tenure of rights, relationships, and institutions that contradict the nature of land as an essential and limited commodity.
Conflict of power
These changes continuously create the potential for land tenure conflicts in peri-urban areas, which are often
Conflict of interests
Legal and normative conflict
complex and lead to violent, insecure, and unstable disputes. While many efforts have been made to explain the
Peri-urban area conflicts related to land tenure, and researchers have examined it from various aspects, there is still a deep gap in
the integrated understanding of land tenure-related conflicts in peri-urban areas. Thus, the purpose of this study
is to provide a comprehensive and systematic review of selected sources in order to explain the conflicts related
to land tenure in peri-urban areas. In this regard, a meta-synthesis approach was used to review the types of land
tenure-related conflicts in the conducted studies to integrate their results. So, 126 sources of land tenure conflicts
were identified. The frequency of these sources shows that land tenure-related conflicts in peri-urban areas can
be classified into three main categories. The first category considers conflicts in relation to the different interests
of land (conflicts of interests-55.3%). The second category attributes them to conflicts among individuals, in-
stitutions with one another, or between individuals and institutions (conflicts of power - 23.8%), and 20.9%
emphasize on the "conflict in legal and normative frameworks". With these in mind, it is obvious that the ex-
planation of land tenure conflicts in peri-urban areas from different levels and dimensions is crucial for achieving
sustainable land tenure.

1. Introduction (Adam, 2014d; Dadashpoor and Salarian, 2018; Dadashpoor et al.,

Our planet is becoming an urban planet. During the last century, the
contribution of the urban population of the world has risen from 15
percent to over 50 percent (Fazal, 2013). Specifically, an increase in
urban population has pushed the boundaries of large cities, and espe-
cially metropolises, towards adjacent peri-urban areas, and these areas
will be the dominant form of urbanization in the twenty-first century
(Dupont, 2007; Djiré, 2013; Adam, 2014d; Dadashpoor and Nateghi,
2017). In other words, spatial expansion is reflected in the particular
processes of peri-urbanization in the form of blended spaces-between
urban centers, rural spaces, and transitional spaces-that are subject to
numerous physical, socio-demographic, cultural, and economic changes
(Kakoi, 2013). The increase in the population of metropolises in the
world and their spatial expansion toward peripheral areas is accom-
panied by an increase in demand for land, which can be occurred pri-
marily through the conversion of peri-urban lands, especially agri-
cultural lands, in the margin of the existing built-up peripheral areas
2019a). These lands are often the object of compulsory acquisition to
cover urban development processes (Wehrmann, 2008; Narain, 2009;
Mburu, 2014). At the same time, the tenure system of such lands is
constantly changing that provokes disturbances (Doebele, 1987;
Toulmin, 2006; Metternicht, 2018; Duvernoy et al., 2018). These
changes result from inconsistencies and incompatibilities of rights,
procedures, requirements, and liberties of individuals, groups, institu-
tions in the access, ownership, utilization, and control of land.
In fact, new forms of human-land relations in these areas with
complex functional relationships, lead to changes in land rights, ex-
tensive changes in rules and regulations that were invented by societies
to regulate behavior in relation to the land, confused and ambiguous
responsibilities and ineffective restraints of individuals, groups, and
institutions. In general, changes in peri-urban lands lead to the dis-
ruptive outcomes of the land tenure system and conflicts that result
from it, with short-term and long-term effects. These conflicts are often
complex and, if not resolved, would make the context for tenure

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: H-dadashpoor@modares.ac.ir (H. Dadashpoor), ahanisomayeh7@gmail.com (A. Somayeh).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.03.051
Received 30 April 2018; Received in revised form 7 March 2019; Accepted 29 March 2019
0264-8377/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
H. Dadashpoor and A. Somayeh
insecurity, acute shortage of housing, haphazard and unregulated land
development, illegal and informal land transactions, and institutional
fragmentation (Everett, 2001; Nkwae, 2006; Grant, 2010; Djiré, 2013;
Mburu, 2014; Morshed and Asami, 2015; Ghebru and Lambrecht, 2017;
Li et al., 2018; Zeng et al., 2018). Also, these lead to complex laws and
serious disagreements in many societies, which are usually associated
with violence, insecurity, and instability (especially, as they relate to
wider processes of political isolation, social discrimination, economic
marginalization) and increasingly threaten peri-urban lands tenure
(Van Der Zwan, 2010).
While many efforts have been made to explain land tenure-related
conflicts, and researchers have examined their various aspects such as
concepts, causes, types, implications as well as methods for their eva-
luation and management, there is a deep gap in the integrated under-
standing of land tenure conflicts in peri-urban areas, and the sources
available in this field are scattered and incoherent. Focusing on these
conflicts can provide a new approach to understanding and solving the
complexities of land tenure issues in the peri-urban areas. Thus, the
purpose of this study is to provide a comprehensive and systematic
review of selected sources in order to explain land tenure-related con-
flicts in peri-urban areas, which is a product of inappropriate devel-
opment planning and control. Because of the multi-lateral issues of land
tenure in peri-urban areas, it is necessary that these issues are taken
into account from different levels and directions, and as long as sus-
tainable land tenure and appropriate management solutions are not
created for the land, they will not dwindle. What will be discussed in
this article is that, in light of the review of selected sources, what are
the dimensions of land tenure-related conflicts in the peri-urban areas
as a result of the growing demand for land in the increasing urbani-
zation process? It is expected that this review will help understand the
status of land tenure and defines the framework for land tenure issues in
these areas.
2. Land tenure in peri-urban areas
The land is, in fact, a vital factor for production, the backbone of life
(Mburu, 2014), and a main source for the product and the wealth base
of the countries (De Soto, 2000). The peri-urban environment can in-
clude a part of urban lands or the margins of urban areas and lands with
distance from the city. These lands may also include urban and rural
lands that have officially or informally been occupied (Allen et al.,
1999; Nkwae, 2006). Peri-urban landscapes are becoming increasingly
fragmented in the mosaics of various land uses, and the unbridled
growth of urban activities in the city's fringes will make wider peri-
urban developments (McGee, 2008). These changes largely resulting
from urban sprawl have caused the land to be one of the most con-
troversial issues and the main source of conflicts in these areas. One of
the most important issues is competition for land for various purposes
of urban development, which may lead to changes in land use and its
tenure (Wehrmann, 2008).
The term tenure is derived from a Latin word for ‘holding’ or ‘pos-
sessing’ land. Therefore, land tenure refers to the manner in which land
rights are held, used and transacted (Bruce, 1998). In other words, land
tenure as a means of preserving land refers to the relationship of in-
dividuals or groups with respect to land (FAO, 2002; Bruce and Holt,
2011; Panichvejsunti et al., 2018). These relationships, which have
grown over thousands of years and reflect the nature and needs of a
particular society, are complex and vary between different countries
depending on their history, culture, and legal system (Williamson et al.,
2010; Adam, 2014d).
In peri-urban areas, the relationships between people and the land
are constantly changing as a result of interactions and potential pres-
sures on land (Tacoli, 1998), and land tenure issues may not have a
certain stability. On the other hand, land tenure is often considered a
set of rights (Kvitashvili, 2004) to determine the rights of different in-
dividuals or groups to use land (Kasanga, 1994). These rights are
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Land Use Policy 85 (2019) 218–229
diverse and may belong to many people and are formed in different
ways (Von Bend-Beckmann et al., 2006 Lombard, 2016). There may
also be types of different tenure systems.’ For example, it is possible that
there is a high level of security and limited rights to use, develop or sell
land, or a limited level of security but a wide range of tenure
rights’(Payne and Durand-Lasserve, 2012:2). In peri-urban areas also,
there are various forms of land tenure, such as private tenure, gov-
ernment tenure, public/communal tenure, free access, and informal
tenure. Some of them may provide various rights for landowners; while
some others include very limited or limited rights (Adam, 2014d).
Also, land tenure is considered a social structure, which includes a
set of institutions, policies, procedures, and constraints that determine
how land is accessed, who can use it, and how long and under what
conditions (Bruce et al., 2010; USAID, 2008). This social structure in-
volves a set of complicated rules created by societies (Fischer, 1995;
Adam, 2014d). It regulates how land access, use, control, transfer
rights, the patterns of land distribution and protection, as well as re-
lated responsibilities and constraints are necessary to achieve policy
goals (FAO, 2002; Bruce and Holt, 2011). The social structure is very
complicated in peri-urban areas; because these areas are interwoven
with institutional structures, procedures, policies and responsibilities,
and numerous and complicated constraints that overlap in most cases
(Hudalah, 2010).
It is widely acknowledged that well-designed land tenure has the
potential to represent the value of land and increase socio-economic
development (De Soto, 2000; Payne, 2001; Adam, 2014d). Some of
them are highly formalized and subject to statutory control, while
others are informal and based on traditional customs. All types of
communities, including those in peri-urban areas, have their own te-
nure mechanisms which help determine the rights and limitations of
individuals and groups in relation to land (Libecap, 1993; Adam,
2014d).
In sum, in peri-urban areas, the term ‘land tenure’ could be used to
denote a concept, process or institution. The concept includes an ex-
tensive set of registered and informal rights, responsibilities, obliga-
tions, and restraints associated with land. The process reflects in the
form of relationships between individuals, groups, or institutions with
attention to access, control, management, and transfer of land, and as
an institution, it implies a form of contractual or customary arrange-
ments and procedures, management requirements, responsibilities and
constraints that govern a piece of land. Land tenure arrangements in
these areas are always in a state of change. This can be due to con-
tinuous and rapid urbanization, demand and competition for land in
response to new housing needs, the extreme inconsistency of interests,
ambiguity in responsibility and power, legal issues, authoritarianism.
These changes are not linear, simple and predictable, and continuously
provide the potential for conflict in these areas, which is in contra-
diction with the nature of principled and systematic land tenure.
3. Materials and methods
In order to respond to the goals and questions raised in the study,
the methodological process is based on a systematic review. A sys-
tematic review is a deliberate, explicit, and repetitive way for identi-
fying, evaluating and synthesizing a set of studies available by re-
searchers, scholars, and practitioners that, according to their nature, are
able to address a much wider range of questions than that of individual
studies (Fink, 2013). With regard to the dispersed and inconsistent
collection of studies carried out in the field of land tenure conflicts, the
need for a comprehensive and systematic approach in this area is ur-
gent, which will be realized through the systematic review process. In
order to achieve this goal, the meta-synthesis approach was selected to
examine carefully the main arguments, data, and outcomes of studies
on land tenure conflicts. This approach, in addition to integrating the
results of previous researches, attempts to reflect on their processes
(Paterson et al., 2001). Considering that, the meta-synthesis approach,
H. Dadashpoor and A. Somayeh
Fig. 1. Research process (developed by the authors).
was conducted in three stages: recognition, survey, and analysis
(Fig. 1).
It should be noted that meta-study is a kind of systematic review
which has been used to examine, synthesize and analyze the researches
that have been done in a particular field in recent years and according
to the need for research, implies the four fields such as meta-synthesis,
meta-method, meta-analysis, and meta-theory (Bench and Day, 2010).
In the first stage (recognition), a systematic review of sources was
organized through four steps of identification, screening, competence,
and inclusion. In the first step (identification), the selection of study
was done by purposive sampling - a sampling of a small number of units
from a larger target population - and by searching for a wide range of
keywords related to the subject of scientific databases, Scopus,
Springer, Wiley, and Proquest. Finally, 250 sources were obtained. In
the second step (screening), three criteria of the time interval, impact
factor, and review of the title or abstract were considered. Accordingly,
250 selected sources in the first step were evaluated, taking into ac-
count the 25-year time period (1993–2001, 2001–2009, 2010–2018),
having an impact factor of 0.5 to above and explicit mention of the
subject in the title or abstract. In this step, 173 sources were selected. In
the third and fourth steps (worthiness and inclusion), the review
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process was followed repeatedly by studying the title, abstract, and the
entire article text in the cyclic process. Finally, 126 sources were se-
lected from scientific journals, dissertations, research reports, scientific
conferences, and book summaries in the subject field, for the final
survey as the statistical society of the study. Fig. 2 show their frequency
in the three periods considered in the research.
After identifying the selected sources, the second stage (survey) was
followed by three steps reading, relationship, and translation. In the
first two steps (readings and relationship), the text of the selected
sources was studied and their relationship with each other was ex-
amined to extract key concepts. For this purpose, the text of the studies
was analyzed using open coding method and, based on the coding unit
(line-phrase-paragraph), each unit was assigned a code (concept, name,
tag). This process continued to the extent that the code or the concept
could be able to saturate the maximum conceptual and semantic space.
So, in the first stage, 20 codes including "tenure insecurity"," unplanned
settlements without recognized and registered land rights", "the effects
of speculation on the land tenure mechanisms", "inefficient procedures
of land management","the coexistence of different land tenure systems",
"claim and competition for land rights","procedures of multiple sales/
allocations/rent", "institutional fragmentation/legal pluralism in the
H. Dadashpoor and A. Somayeh
Fig. 2. The frequency of statistical society of research in the period of 1993–2018 (developed by authors).
land tenure system”, “increasing uneven distribution of land", "con-
frontation of the customary and legal systems of land tenure", " the
effect of market fluctuations on the land tenure mechanisms", "loss of
land rights of local residents (rural)", "unguaranteed of efficient land
tenure", "ambiguity on the boundary of land parcels", "challenges re-
lated to the political economy", "eviction or destruction of informal
settlements", "conflicts related to inheritance/gender", “the lack of land
registration"," instability and inefficiency of land tenure rules”, and
“people's distrust of the governing institutions" were identified from
selected sources, which formed the basis for the sub-categories and the
next major categories.
Some sources have referred to a type of land tenure conflict (code),
while others have referred to several types of land tenure conflicts.
Therefore, the total number of times referred to each conflict (codes) in
the selected sources (126 sources) was 176, according to which the
percentage of the extracted codes was calculated.
In the next step (translation), with the concepts extracted from the
first level coding, it was tried to transform key concepts into one an-
other and to produce and extract the major subcategories. In fact, with
the aim of using the most meaningful or abundant primary codes for
screening and reducing a large amount of data, the extracted codes
were put under semantic examination and analysis, and similar and
common codes were included in the subcategories. Thus, the data
(codes-concepts) was reduced to 10 major sub-categories, including
“need-oriented conflicts", "market-oriented conflicts”, “inheritance/
gender conflicts", "individual-individual conflicts", "individual-institu-
tional conflicts", "institutional-institutional conflicts", "local-interna-
tional conflicts", "contextual conflicts”, “procedural conflicts", "func-
tional conflicts".
Finally, in the third stage (analysis), using the selective coding
method, sub-categories were regularly compared and subtly over-
lapping sub-categories were put next to each other to get reached into
the major categories. These categories include "conflict of interests”,
“conflict of power", and “legal and normative conflict". In this regard,
the use of previously considered categories was avoided; instead, the
categories were derived from the data. Therefore, all the codes and
subcategories extracted from data were categorized into three main
clusters above-mentioned, displaying the relationships between codes
and subcategories.
According to the study of sources, 55.3% of the researches believe
that the major conflicts of land tenure in peri-urban areas are related to
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Land Use Policy 85 (2019) 218–229
conflict of interests; 23.8% of them consider conflicts of power as the
main contributors to the conflicts, and 20.9% emphasize on the "con-
flict in legal and normative frameworks". The share of these categories
is about 98, 42 and 37, respectively (Fig. 3).
NVIVO10 software was used for all of the above stages due to in-
crease in speed and accuracy. This software is among the specialized
text-oriented data-analysis software which provides the possibility of
text editing, searching, categorizing, processing, modeling and re-
porting from different parts of the project for the researcher (Bazeley
and Jackson, 2013).
4. Conflicts of land tenure in the peri-urban areas
Based on the logic of categorization (addressed in methodology),
land tenure conflicts in peri-urban areas can be explained in three more
general clusters of "conflict of interest", "conflict of power", and "legal
and normative conflict" in different dimensions related to the interests
of land tenure, power and domination of beneficiaries under contra-
dictory norms and rules (Fig. 4).
One of the fundamental dimensions affecting land tenure conflicts
in peri-urban areas is a conflict of interest, including revealed and
hidden conflicts between individuals, groups, and institutions in dif-
ferent dimensions related to the benefits resulting from land rights,
people's relationships with the land and the mechanisms of the in-
stitutions that affect it. It involves a wide range of types of disagree-
ments and inconsistencies that can lead to conflict, violence or antag-
onism. The interests and motives associated with land are so wide-
spread that sometimes are confronted with one another, especially
when the two sides are in the same position with respect to different
interests (Wehrmann, 2008). These benefits can result from the need as
a factor in human activity and motivation. Disregarding the needs of
individuals due to the limited resources, social status, and power or
value systems leads to hostile and conflicting behaviors of the involved
actors for most basic need as a need for shelter with minimum security
(Rakodi & Withers, 1995; UN-Habitat, 2003; Tettey et al., 2008;
Broegaard et al., 2017.(In the case of non-supply, it will lead to the
formation of unplanned settlements where its residents are searching
for tenure security in extrajudicial and common factors (Alsayyad,
2004; Stacey, 2018).
Tenure security is definitely the case when, firstly, “a person’s right
to land is recognized by other people and protected in cases of specific
H. Dadashpoor and A. Somayeh Land Use Policy 85 (2019) 218–229

Fig. 3. Codes, subcategories, and categories of selected sources (developed by authors).

challenges” (FAO, 2002:18). Secondly, decisions of the ruling powers between individuals, groups or institutions with regard to access, con-
on land, directly or indirectly, is based on the proper recognition of trol, management and transfer of land are not to be ruled out.
community-based rules and regulations. Thirdly, the relationships Therefore, the need and intense competition for land rights, along with

222
H. Dadashpoor and A. Somayeh
Fig. 4. Land tenure-related conflicts (developed by authors).
violations of land rights under poor protection and regulatory oversight
of governments, the inconsistency of the functioning of institutions, the
ineffectiveness of the requirements, procedures and mechanisms gov-
erning the land as decision-makers on land, result in an increasing
unequal distribution of land in peri-urban areas, which in most cases is
accompanied with conflict, disagreement, or struggle (Zhao, 2016).
Another conflict-provoking interest in peri-urban areas is the ben-
efits resulting from market mechanisms, which are mainly in the form
of informal markets, caused by speculation and its effects on a system of
rights, relations, and institutions governing the peri-urban lands. Such
an approach through informal transactions and development leads to
unguaranteed efficient land tenure, in which fluctuations in the price of
the land will also have a major impact on it (Baranyi & Weitzner, 2006;
Lombard & Rakodi, 2016; Adam, 2014c). Furthermore, land tenure can
be influenced differently by gender or ethnicity. Such disputes can be
raised as another dimension of the conflict in interest, based on distrust
in each other by focusing on interests (Wehrmann, 2008; Muchomba,
2017).
The next dimension is the conflict of power that occurs when one of
the actors involved in the conflict has a tendency to dominate the op-
position. This conflict intensifies sharply in peri-urban areas with the
particular complexity of land tenure systems. Such conditions can occur
among people with different needs, desires, goals, and values, due to
claims and competition for land rights, lack of contractual or customary
arrangements and requirements for land registration and the ambiguity
on the border between different parcels affected by the weaknesses and
inefficiencies of the regulatory authorities (Home, 2013; Barnes and
Griffith-Charles, 2007; Wehrmann, 2008; O’Brien and Prendergast,
2013).
This level of conflict, in fact, occurs when the carrying capacity
passes through and one person considers the behavior of another to be
annoying, provocative or troublesome. Conflict in this sense involves a
Fig. 5. Different dimensions of conflicts of interest (developed by authors).
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Land Use Policy 85 (2019) 218–229
wide range of types of disagreements and inconsistencies that are ex-
ercised by those who hold power over others. Such struggles may take
place between individuals and institutions in their relative power over
land rights, in such a way as to use power to force people to do
something contrary to their inner will. In peri-urban areas, this emerges
in the form of dominance of strong power and influential actors on land
ownership of local residents and the daily threat of loss of property due
to eviction or destruction of informal settlements (Khan, 1994; Aalbers
and Eckerberg, 2011; Duvernoy et al., 2018). On the other hand,
overlapping tasks and performances of institutions and their domain of
fragmented and non-responsive power lead to legal pluralism in the
system of institutions governing land especially due to fragmented or
overlapping legislation (Mattingly, 1999; Hui and Bao, 2013; Morshed
and Asami, 2015; Li et al., 2018). Such a situation in the interaction of
international actions and forces with local agents and the effects of the
strategy of pro-growth agenda of capitalist interests and global eco-
nomic developments, lead to challenges such as the pressure imposed
on land use changes and increasing impacts of global markets. (Logan
and Molotch, 2007; Bruce, 2011; Pradoto, 2012; Lombard, 2016).
The last dimension is also related to conflicts in context, procedure,
and function of the land tenure system as a legal and normative conflict.
Peri-urban areas are undergoing a rapid change in traditional land use
such as agricultural to urban land, that mainly due to lack of effective
tenure mechanisms and inefficient laws, create conflict (Nkwae, 2006).
Also, the inefficiency of land management system procedures and
multiple sales/allocations/rent procedures raises a wide range of types
of disagreements and inconsistencies (Aryeetey et al., 2007; Wehrmann,
2008; Zevenbergen et al., 2013).
The coexistence of different tenure systems-informal tenure systems,
along with formal and custom systems, also creates a complex set of
relationships in which functions and procedures related to each system
may conflict with other systems, leading to multiple conflicts
(McAuslan, 1987; Zhu and Simarmata, 2015). In the same vein, people's
distrust of the governing institutions also contributes to these conflicts.
4.1. Conflict of interests
As discussed above, the categories based on needs, market me-
chanisms, and inheritance/gender are the most important dimensions
of peri-urban land tenure which, over time, create conflicts for benefits.
So, "need-oriented conflicts", "market-oriented conflicts" and "in-
heritance-gender conflicts" are dimensions that fall under the category
of "conflict of interests" (Fig. 5).
4.1.1. Need-oriented conflicts
Need is a motivating factor for certain types of behavior. The lack of
H. Dadashpoor and A. Somayeh
attention to need leads to tensions, conflicts and behavioral unrest. In
peri-urban areas, the need category can be addressed in a variety of
ways that reflect specific aspects of behavior in each case. Metropolises
at the stages of their development, and after adding a few new shells to
their bodies, are not capable of growing in a continuous manner. Thus,
they begin to disperse the population and activity discontinuously into
peripheral areas. This developmental pressure occurs when the peri-
urban land planning system fails to respond to the demand and in-
creasing competition for land in meeting new residences and activity
needs. Thus, the unplanned and spontaneous functions of these areas
lead to an overflowing environment of types of planned and non-
planned settlements with formal and informal land tenures. The con-
sequence of such an event is the insecurity of land tenure, un-
controllable and unorganized development processes without regis-
tered and recognized land rights and increasing uneven distribution of
land.
One of the most important of these dimensions is the need for tenure
security with respect to guaranteeing of land rights and institutions
(contractual or customary arrangements and procedures, management
requirements, responsibilities and constraints governing a piece of
land).
Land tenure security guarantees that a person’s rights to land will be
approved by the community. Such rights are legal and are defined by
land-related laws. This sense of security comes from estimating the
probability of expulsion or other factors that threaten the property si-
tuation and may cause an unwanted displacement (Van Gelder, 2009.
Land tenure security responds to individuals, groups and institutions’
perception of their rights to a piece of land on a continual basis, as well
as the ability to access, use, control, management, transfer (Mutanga-
dura, 2007). In evaluating the criteria for a sustainable environment,
tenure security is emphasized as an essential dimension (UN-Habitat,
2003a); as far as many scholars consider, the root of many conflicts in
peri-urban areas is land tenure insecurity (Mburu, 2014). Such an event
can be manifested for a number of reasons that most notably are the
following:
- Illegal tenure (De Souza, 1999, 2001; Satterthwaite, 2009;
Dadashpoor et al., 2010; Lombard, 2012; Ho, 2014).
- Permanent threat (violence) especially for evacuation of settlement
land that can be considered the most destructive shape of insecure
tenure (Broegaard, 2005; Dadashpoor and Alizadeh, 2010; Arko-
Adjei, 2011; Payne and Durand-Lasserve, 2012).
- Deprivation or lack of access to basic services)Nkwae, 2006; UN-
Habitat, 2012).
- Social exclusion and homelessness, in particular, the lack of security
in informal settlements (Gilbert, 1998; UN-Habitat, 2012; Payne and
Durand-Lasserve, 2012; Brueckner & Lall, 2015; Philip, 2015).
- Changes in land legislation, decrease in investment and housing
consolidation and distortions in land prices (Doebele, 1994; Rakodi
and Withers, 1995; Ubink, 2008; Reerink and van Gelder, 2010; Ho,
2014).
- Inefficient governance, inconsistency in land policies (Kasanga and
Kotey, 2001; Aryeetey et al., 2007; Zevenbergen et al., 2013;
Murtazashvili and Murtazashvili, 2016).
- Serious threats to native farmers and the loss of agricultural lands
associated with food insecurity (Quan et al., 2005; Broegaard, 2005;
Nkwae, 2006; Wehrmann, 2008; Arko-Adjei et al., 2009; Albertus
et al., 2018).
- Incompatibility with planning standards, construction, and market
pressures (Gough and Yankson, 2000; Payne and Durand-Lasserve,
2012; Barry and Danso, 2014; Choplin and Dessie, 2017).
- Extensive poverty (Gilbert, 1998; De Soto, 2000; FAO, 2002;
Broegaard, 2005; Amanor, 2006; Alarima et al., 2012 et al., 2012).
- Lack of cohesion and social instability including conflicts and civil
unrest)FAO, 2002; Broegaard, 2005; Magigi and Majani, 2006; Van
Der Zwan, 2010; Alarima et al., 2012 et al., 2012).
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- Lack of political support and policy incoherence, the weakening role
of the state, conflicts related to participation in decision-making
between communities and external actors (Quan et al., 2005;
Baranyi and Weitzner, 2006; Broegaard et al., 2017; Ghebru and
Lambrecht, 2017).
- Rural immigration and land abandonment (FAO, 2002; Baranyi and
Weitzner, 2006; Wehrmann, 2008; Alarima et al., 2012 et al., 2012;
Ho, 2014).
Another consequence of need-oriented conflict that results in un-
controllable and unorganized development processes is largely due to
the growing trend of shortage of land in peri-urban areas, which led to
the migration of a growing number of people to informal settlements in
these areas where the land rent is very low and the land is cheaper for
people who make their place of residence illegally due to needing (Un-
Habitat, 2003a; Nkwae, 2006; Grant, 2010; Gough and Yankson, 2011;
Adam, 2014b; Zhao, 2017). The specific feature of such an event is the
lack of formal rights of lands that actors choose for their residential
needs outside a legal framework (Ward et al., 1999; Barnes and Griffith-
Charles, 2007; Galiani and Schargrodsky, 2010; Zhao, 2016; Stacey,
2018). These areas that are mainly used for agricultural purposes and
maintained by native farmers, are considered to be a targeted area for
informal housing and usually lack urban services and the required in-
frastructures. They are characterized by unlawful and informal sub-
division of agricultural lands (Warf, 2006; Amanor, 2006; Owusu,
2008; Owusu and Agyei, 2008; Adam, 2014c; Inostroza, 2017).
On the other hand, owners of peri-urban lands are the main sup-
pliers of land for the informal market. They also play a vital role in the
construction of illegal and non-standard houses in these lands
(Huchzermeyer, 2011). As a result, informal settlements expand un-
expectedly beyond the planned legal developments and ultimately lead
to a change in the use of space and the structure of activity and affect
the land tenure mechanisms of the peri-urban areas (UN-Habitat, 2003;
Hudalah et al., 2007). Such mechanisms are not in conformity with land
use planning and legal requirements and may cause contradictions and
conflicts.
The third consequence of the need-oriented conflict is the increas-
ingly uneven distribution of land, which is itself influenced by socio-
economic inequalities and results in the formation of local groups that
respond to socio-economic inequalities in transition to market economy
(André and Plateau, 1998; Broegaard, 2005; Syagga, 2006; Peters,
2009; Lombard & Rakodi, 2016; Zhao, 2016). Such factors are not in
accordance with the mechanisms of the land tenure system and, finally,
lead to conflict and violence.
4.1.2. Market-oriented conflicts
Land in peri-urban areas is important and noteworthy for landlords,
urban dwellers, private developers, non-governmental and govern-
mental institutions and informal settlers with competing interests and
perceptions (Narain and Nischal, 2007). In these areas, the land is
subject to speculation and market exchange - mainly an informal
market - and its shortage is the result of legal barriers or market com-
petition, which places land in the monopoly of certain people (Bruce,
2011). Such development may occur in official or informal form by
rural or urban stakeholders.
In fact, the driving force of many actors in claim and competition on
land is maximizing profits that result from unfair occupation of land or
through the abandonment of poor and deprived parts of the legal land
rights (Bromley, 1991; Barry et al., 2007; et al., 2007; Debolini et al.,
2015; De Rosa, 2018; Obeng-Odoom and Van Gyampo, 2017). There-
fore, development of land in peri-urban areas is not a simple process of
land transfer from rural to urban use; it is rather a complex process that
involves many factors such as a change in land tenure procedures and
arrangements which affects land-related rights and relationships.
In general, land speculation, the complexity and fluctuations of the
land market with a high level of uncertainty, widespread disagreement
H. Dadashpoor and A. Somayeh
and lack of true monitoring led to significant changes in land tenure
relations (Kasanga et al., 1996; Gough and Yankson, 2000; Lund et al.,
2006; Wehrmann, 2008; Bruce, 2011; Lombard and Rakodi, 2016)
where there is no guarantee of an efficient system of land tenure and
relationships and rights affected by it (Everett, 2001; McGregor et al.,
2006; Masum, 2009; Djiré, 2013; Mburu, 2014; Adam, 2014c). Such
events lead to complex conflicts among various actors, reflecting the
different interests of actors involved in the process of land transactions
and may be aggravated by the speculation of land (Lupala, 2002;
Syagga, 2006; Baranyi & Weitzner, 2006; Mahaphonh et al., 2007;
O’Brien and Prendergast, 2013; Morshed, 2014). Also, when the actors
are the owners of rural lands, the continuous sale of land by them to
gain profit would inevitably endanger legal, management, commu-
nication procedures related to land (Becker, 2013). On the other hand,
in conformity of interests and ignoring the role of unofficial actors such
as real estate developers can highly contribute to the conflict (Masum,
2009; Stacey, 2018).
4.1.3. Inheritance/gender-oriented conflicts
Inheritance/gender-oriented conflicts are another type of conflict of
interest in peri-urban areas. These conflicts relate to inheritance dis-
putes between siblings about a piece of land inherited resulting from
inheritance rights (Mahaphonh et al., 2007; Wehrmann, 2008). In some
cases, limited rights of land due to discrimination by law, custom, or
practice are a controversial issue which is more prominent in cases of
gender discrimination, particularly in female-headed households. For
example, women often only get access to land through a male relative,
making them vulnerable in cases of divorce or widowhood (Deininger
and Castagnini, 2006; Kalabamu, 2006; Ali et al., 2014; Muchomba,
2017).
4.2. Conflict of power
Fig. 6 illustrates the importance of power-oriented categories in
peri-urban areas which its acquisition by individuals or institutions
causes command, control, or influence the behavior of individuals or
other institutions. Power is a property to do affairs and influence others
to make changes in their behavior. Such a property is based on re-
lationships. This relationship requires both sides: one that applies and
another that is applied to him. In peri-urban areas, the two sides of this
relationship can be individuals or institutions with each other and or
individuals and institutions in a mutual relationship due to their dif-
ferent interests and the result of a competitive environment (Aalbers
and Eckerberg, 2011). Therefore, the power category in the land-re-
lated major components is reflected in the individual-individual, in-
dividual-institutional, institutional-institutional and local-international
Fig. 6. Different dimensions of conflict of power (developed by authors).
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Land Use Policy 85 (2019) 218–229
relations and ultimately, due to the domination and infiltration of one
of the parties, leads to conflict and violence between them.
In general, "individual-individual conflicts", "individual-institutional
conflicts", institutional-institutional conflicts, and "local-international
conflicts" are dimensions that fall under the category of "conflict of
power" (Fig. 6).
4.2.1. Individual-individual conflicts
One of the dimensions of conflict of power is when the conflict
occurs between individuals who are opposite to each other and have
different goals. These conflicts happen mainly due to the claim and
competition for land rights, the lack of land registration and ambiguity
on the boundaries of land parcels. They result from heterogeneity, in-
consistency, and weakness in land tenure systems, including disputed
resolution mechanisms, defense of rights, administration or manage-
ment of land.
The most common form of individual-individual conflicts is seen in
overlapping claims on ownership of a piece of land (Chitonge and
Mfune, 2015). This happens often in cases when the land was obtained
through an informal market; and the conflict occurs among two or more
persons in possession of some documents, indicating that they have
purchased the land (Plateau, 1996; Nkurunziza, 2007; Cadstedt, 2010;
Napier, 2013; Liu et al., 2018). Sometimes the claim of ownership for a
specific property is in the event that there is no land registration, or in
bad conditions or destroyed (Fourie, 1998; Wehrmann, 2008;
Murtazashvili and Murtazashvili, 2016).
Also, the conflicts on the boundaries of fixed parcels from a math-
ematical geometric dimension in size, shape, and location are another
type of individual-individual conflict in these areas which faces issues
related to land ownership with numerous problems. The indistinct
border deals with the uncertainty of the border between neighbors
(Arko-Adjei et al., 2009). It can be said that the origin of boundary
conflicts often lies in the corrective work of the surveyor, and is due to
inappropriate, inaccurate, and vague legal descriptions about land)-
Gough & Yankson, 2000; Wehrmann, 2008; Chitonge and Mfune, 2015;
Mburu, 2014; Fitzgerald, 2017).
4.2.2. Individual-institutional conflicts
The types of heterogeneity between individuals and institutions in
the peri-urban areas are due to the ability of individuals or institutions
to achieve goals and advance their interests (Wehrmann, 2008). These
lead to conflicts that are the result of intense and sometimes violent
competition to control the area and its future development (Cernea and
Guggenheim, 1993; Marx, 2016). In fact, increasing demand for land
for urban purposes and compulsory land acquisition by governments
usually results in the loss of land rights of local landowners/farmers and
H. Dadashpoor and A. Somayeh
the problems in their livelihoods (Toulmin, 2006; Aalbers and
Eckerberg, 2011; Duvernoy et al., 2018). In other words, when influ-
ential and powerful actors are demanding land in the peri-urban areas,
most of the land rights of local residents are endangered (Alsayyad,
2004; Wehrmann, 2008). “The rural landholding right, which is ex-
pected to be exercised for a person’s lifetime, will automatically be
canceled and replaced by the leasehold system” (Adam, 2014d: 1973),
leading to the displacement of local peripheral communities from the
lands where they lived and farmed (Toulmin, 2006; Arko-Adjei et al.,
2009; Adam, 2014a; Metternicht, 2018). Also, millions of people are
threatened with daily deportation from their homes with little or no
compensation (Cernea and Guggenheim, 1993; Khan, 1994) and the
government also threaten to demolish informal settlements built on
private or public lands due to land scarcity and severe speculation. In
general, when land rights disappear, tenure becomes insecure and
provides grounds for violent conflicts in peri-urban areas.
4.2.3. Institutional-institutional conflicts
One of the most fundamental challenges in peri-urban areas is the
domain of fragmented and non-responsive power and multilevel po-
licies that causes major problems in the changing tenure system of these
areas (Adell, 1999; Von Benda-Beckmann, 2001; Kvitashvili, 2004;
McGregor et al., 2006; Nolon et al., 2013; Morshed and Asami, 2015).
Legal pluralism between different institutions coupled with overlapping
duties and legal and normative frameworks (Nkwae, 2006; Hudalah,
2010(, may lead to inconsistent local and personal actions and help
increase the physical fragmentation and dispersion of the spatial
structure. Such an occurrence is often reflected in the uncertain legal
position of the land, where its ownership may be disputed with
squatters and improvements to it may go unauthorized (Huchzermeyer,
2011). Overall, fragmented institutions/legal pluralism in the land te-
nure system hinders the achievement of sustainable objectives on a
wider regional scale and ultimately leads to conflict in these areas.
4.2.4. Local-international conflicts
The last dimension of the conflict of power is the interaction of
macro processes with local factors. Peri-urban areas are subject to in-
creasing international impacts on local factors with the mechanisms of
the customary land tenure system. One of these effects can be capitalist
dominance. From the perspective of the leading growth strategy driven
by the interests of capitalism, the city is considered a growth machine.
It seeks to exploit hinterland resources to optimization of urban
economy performance. Governmental agencies and private sectors are
converted into a development regime that considers economic growth
scores as the most important indicator of success (Logan and Molotch,
2007). Their functions cause peri-urban areas to be faced with the
challenges posed by dispersed industrial development and the growing
effects of global markets such as the pressure imposed on land use
change, or loss of agricultural lands)Leaf, 2002; Logan and Molotch,
2007; Pradoto, 2012; Dadashpoor et al., 2019b(.
Obviously, in all of these cases, local factors matching international
mechanisms take place without paying attention to land tenure system
mechanisms and lead to various and often contradictory conflicts in
behavior (coercion or cooperation), attitudes (perceptions, beliefs,
feelings), and internal structure (competitive material, relational
structure interests) (Lombard, 2016).
4.3. Legal and normative conflict
Legal and normative conflict can be considered one of the conflicts
in peri-urban areas in three dimensions of context, procedure, and
function of the land tenure system. Therefore, "contextual conflicts",
"procedural conflicts", and "functional conflicts" are dimensions that fall
under the category of "legal and normative conflict" (Fig. 7).
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Land Use Policy 85 (2019) 218–229
4.3.1. Contextual conflicts
These conflicts are related to the contextual challenges in peri-urban
areas. As the metropolitan areas expand to their periphery, they exceed
into areas where customary/traditional land tenure systems have been
used for a long time (Gough and Yankson, 2000; Allen, 2003; Nkwae,
2006; Becker, 2013). This development often leads to a constantly
changing mosaic of both traditional and modern land use and therefore
requires complex policies and programs (Allen et al., 1999; 2003;
Haregeweyn et al., 2012; Duvernoy et al., 2018). This is while such a
process coupled with the unplanned transfer of land rights in the per-
iphery of the metropolis occurs in conditions of land illegal conversion
and expansion without control of the land black market (Arko-Adjei
et al., 2009; Hui and Bao, 2013). Under these circumstances, the con-
frontation between the customary and legal systems of land tenure may
cause rivalry, disagreement, and in some cases violence (FAO, 2002;
Magigi and Drescher, 2010; Adam, 2014b). On the other hand, the
instability and lack of clarity in regulations related to land tenure lead
to conflicts, which can be manipulated and changed in favor of the
owners of power) Trefon, 2011; Barry and Danso, 2014(. It is also
possible that the new regulations will be passed irrespective of the past
ones, leading to conflict on land tenure policies (World Bank, 2015;
Yuanyuan et al., 2018).
4.3.2. Procedural conflicts
The procedures relating to peri-urban land tenure lead to conflict for
two reasons. First, inefficiency in land management procedures make
the environment for conflict and, second, lack of monitoring and
management mechanisms, lead to conflict-generating procedures, such
as multiple sales, allocations, and rents of land. The prevalence of in-
formal markets and the inefficiency of land allocation in a fair and
sustainable way, sometimes resulting in a frequent supply of a piece of
land (Wehrmann, 2008), requires a flexible and responsive manage-
ment approach in order to guide the land tenure arrangements in these
areas, facilitate decision-making, and support implementation of those
decisions at all levels (Arko-Adjei et al., 2009; Chitonge and Mfune,
2015). Land management with the goal of providing plentiful land,
guiding the growth of cities, and ensuring their performance due to the
limited control of land use and regulatory standards, as well as illegal
land tenure mechanisms are highly important in the peri-urban areas
(Zevenbergen et al., 2013; Barry and Danso, 2014).
Both government and customary institutions govern the changing
tenure system in this area and have not coordinated strategies. This
causes that the peri-urban lands face governance challenges- inefficient
land management-, especially in illegally and informally built-up sec-
tors (Fourie, 1998; Fekade, 2000; Mahaphonh et al., 2007; Besussi
et al., 2010). These factors lead to conflict in peri-urban areas and,
therefore, require the attention of the appropriate institutional and
legal organizations to arrange specific tasks to meet the demand for
land and housing in a fair and sustainable manner.
4.3.3. Functional conflicts
’Peri-urban areas are often subject to intensive constructions
through both formal and informal processes’ (Lombard, 2016:2700).
Such processes lead to the duality of the land tenure system- informal
land tenure systems alongside formal systems- in these areas
(Deininger, 2003; Mutangadura, 2003; Magigi and Drescher, 2010).
These systems create complex relationships and structures in peri-urban
areas (Barry and Danso, 2014; Adam, 2014b; Zhu and Simarmata,
2015). This is while the functional approaches and procedures of each
system are inconsistent with other systems and their mechanisms may
have more social legitimacy than the other. For example, informal
mechanisms of land may have more social legitimacy than formal sys-
tems (IISD, 2007; Lombard, 2016). Thus, the co-existence of different
land tenure systems in peri-urban areas (formal and legal/informal and
illegal) lead to the creation of complex and dual relationships, which
their contradiction ground for contextual conflicts in these areas. Also,
H. Dadashpoor and A. Somayeh
Fig. 7. Different dimensions of legal and normative conflict (developed by authors).
people's distrust of governing institutions in land tenure mechanisms
leads to illegal actions by them and provides grounds for conflict in
these areas. In other words, if people cannot trust institutions to resolve
land tenure conflicts in peri-urban areas, they often act in ways that are
out of the law (Trefon, 2011; Mburu, 2014; World Bank, 2015).
5. Conclusions
Urbanization in many countries pushes the border of the main
metropolises to peri-urban areas, and the growing demand for land in
these areas leads to the formation of a mixed space with various and
often contradictory conflicts, especially land tenure-related conflicts.
This powerful trend in most countries is the product of inappropriate
control of development and planning, concentration, accumulation of
poverty, and the informal economy.
In other words, peri-urban lands around the metropolises are often
subject to compulsory or optional seizure because of the growing de-
mand for land for urban development purposes and consequently lose
their primary nature. Such change can transform the nature of land use
in these areas in response to the new needs of activity and settlement. In
this regard, the land tenure is also influenced by a set of rights, in-
stitutions, and relationships of individuals with the land, and manifests
itself in a constantly changing situation. Such a situation, due to the
different interests of land tenure, power and domination of stake-
holders, and conflicting norms and laws provides the conflict contexts
of land tenure which have been discussed by urban and regional re-
searchers over the past decades.
Many theoretical and empirical studies in this field, focus on issues
such as how the changing existing land tenure systems; however,
available studies are scattered and non-coherent. In this study, attempts
were made to classify available studies and present results through a
systematic review and meta-synthesis approach. The results showed
that land tenure conflicts in peri-urban areas could be classified into
three main categories that tend to overlap and are combined with each
other, including:
1 Studies that see the main root of land tenure-related conflicts in
peri-urban areas are in different interests, such as the need for land
for settlement, the right to use and manage, the production of in-
come from land, depriving others of the land, transfer of land and
the right to compensation (conflict of interest - 55.3%).
2 Another group of studies emphasize that the conflict of power be-
tween individuals, institutions with one another, or between in-
dividuals and institutions, due to lack of control and supervision of
the land market, lead to land tenure-related conflicts in peri-urban
areas that are associated with larger processes of fundamental
transformations, political power, and historical conjuncture
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Land Use Policy 85 (2019) 218–229
(conflict of power - 23.8%).
3 The third group considers a weakness in common legal and nor-
mative frameworks (such as customary systems of land tenure,
conventional management arrangements and mechanisms, changing
and instability of rules and regulations), as the major cause of land
tenure conflicts in peri-urban areas (legal and normative conflict,
20.9%).
These conflicts originate from an extensive set of registered and
informal rights, relationships between individuals, groups, or institu-
tions with attention to land and contractual or customary arrangements
and procedures, management requirements, responsibilities and con-
straints that govern a piece of land. It is obvious that the explanation of
land tenure conflicts in peri-urban areas from different levels and di-
mensions is crucial to achieving sustainable land tenure.
This article, with a deep understanding of the issues and challenges
associated to land tenure in the peri-urban areas, adds a new dimension
to the study of peri-urban areas; it provides the basis for future studies
to propose effective measures for resolving conflicts and mitigating
their adverse impacts. In general, the explanation of land tenure-related
conflicts including inconsistencies and incompatibilities in the interests,
the mechanisms of power and the legal and normative frameworks in
the mutual interaction, is an important step towards guiding the con-
sequences of peri-urbanization and controlling its growth, leading to
effective solutions at the area level.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank professor J.A. Zevenbergen and
three anonymous reviewers for their constructive comment.
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