Tenure responsive land use planning in Ghana: evidence from peri-urban Tamale

ABSTRACT

Due partly to rapid urbanisation and the re-interpretation of customary land tenure, land use planning in Ghana is sometimes associated with tenure insecurities in peri-urban areas. Contributing to the emerging debate on Tenure Responsive Land Use Planning (TR-LUP), this paper assesses the tenure responsiveness of land use planning projects in peri-urban Tamale based on data gathered from in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with key stakeholders. It is argued that the current tenure insecurity challenges that characterised land use planning projects in peri-urban Ghana emanate primarily from limited stakeholder participation, land commodification, re-interpretation of customary land tenure, and weak institutional capacities of local planning agencies. The paper adds insights to the challenges surrounding the applicability of the TR-LUP concept by highlighting how land use planning influences tenure security in customary land tenure contexts. Finally, it proposes policy measures to protect the land use rights of peri-urban dwellers.

KEYWORDS:

• Tenure responsive
• land use planning
• peri-urban
• customary land
• tenure (in)security

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Stool and Skin lands refer to customary lands whose management has been vested in chiefs in some parts of southern and northern Ghana respectively to manage on behalf of the land holding community. The stool is a traditional symbol of authority in the southern parts of Ghana whilst the skin is a symbol of chiefly traditional authority in northern Ghana.

2 ‘The Allocation Note /Chit mostly printed on an A-4 sized paper is a document that shows evidence of some land transaction and transfer haven taken place between a chief/grantor and a grantee. It is the initial step towards acquiring full legal rights over land under customary tenure and the grantee will have to proceed to perfect his title by presenting the necessary documentation to register the land at the Lands Commission’(Akaateba, Huang, and Adumpo 2018, 220).