Built on Solid Foundations? Assessing the Links between City-Scale Land Titling, Tenure Security and Housing Investment

ABSTRACT

This paper interrogates the links between city-scale land titling, tenure security and housing investment, using a case study of the donor-funded Land Management and Administration Project (LMAP) in Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh. It finds that LMAP activities centred on titling in planned residential areas with ‘informal’ tenure, despite residents exhibiting strong pre-titling tenure security and substantial housing investments. In contrast, ‘informal’ self-built settlements with high tenure insecurity and low levels of investment were excluded from project activities. Resultantly, the project did not increase tenure security and investment for the most vulnerable urban dwellers. The paper discusses the reasons for the project’s shortcomings, revealing policy implications for city-scale titling projects, and speaking to wider academic debates on titling in urban areas.

KEYWORDS:

• Tenure security
• informality
• investment
• land titling
• housing

Acknowledgments

The Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI) provided valuable support to research activities in Phnom Penh. Two anonymous referees and the journal editors provided useful feedback on the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

UCL Impact Award Studentship; fieldwork activities funded by the Royal Geographical Society’s Slawson Award.

Notes on contributors

Benjamin C. R. Flower

Benjamin C. R. Flower conducts research on the housing, land and property rights of low-income urban residents, focusing on cities in Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.