"The place where people do not want to live". The effect of land ownership on human agency in Namibia's informal settlements.
(2019) SIMV30 20191Master of Science in Development Studies
Graduate School
- Abstract
- The rapid urbanisation in Namibia led to the fast expansion of informal settlements, which are mainly characterised by a lack of basic services, such as running water, sanitation or electricity. To counteract the poor situation of informal settlements, land ownership is often argued to be a solution. While it is assumed to be an incentive for residents of informal settlements to invest in land development, many critical views doubt that the expected benefits actually occur. Since current strategies of the Namibian government to improve the living conditions in informal settlements do not reach their goals, this thesis examines whether land ownership could be a strategy for the country to improve the living conditions. Through quantitative... (More)
- The rapid urbanisation in Namibia led to the fast expansion of informal settlements, which are mainly characterised by a lack of basic services, such as running water, sanitation or electricity. To counteract the poor situation of informal settlements, land ownership is often argued to be a solution. While it is assumed to be an incentive for residents of informal settlements to invest in land development, many critical views doubt that the expected benefits actually occur. Since current strategies of the Namibian government to improve the living conditions in informal settlements do not reach their goals, this thesis examines whether land ownership could be a strategy for the country to improve the living conditions. Through quantitative surveys in parts of the capital’s informal settlements, it was evaluated, whether the participants would be willing to spend money on land development, following receipt of land ownership. This was evaluated along Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach, assuming that the enhancement of capabilities fosters human agency. It was found that the willingness to spend money on land development, and therefore to exercise agency, is existent with the majority of the participants. It is, however, limited by structural circumstances. It was further found that land ownership is not the only decisive factor for the participants, to spend money on land development or not. Gender, the permanence of their stay, as well as financial resources played significant roles in their decisions whether to exercise agency or not. Land ownership can therefore be considered as a first step, but not sufficient in itself in order to improve the living conditions in Namibia’s informal settlements. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8988278
- author
- Hinz, Tamara LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- SIMV30 20191
- year
- 2019
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Informal Settlements, Land ownership, Namibia, Capability Approach, Human Agency
- language
- English
- id
- 8988278
- date added to LUP
- 2019-09-30 16:53:24
- date last changed
- 2019-09-30 16:53:24
@misc{8988278,
abstract = {{The rapid urbanisation in Namibia led to the fast expansion of informal settlements, which are mainly characterised by a lack of basic services, such as running water, sanitation or electricity. To counteract the poor situation of informal settlements, land ownership is often argued to be a solution. While it is assumed to be an incentive for residents of informal settlements to invest in land development, many critical views doubt that the expected benefits actually occur. Since current strategies of the Namibian government to improve the living conditions in informal settlements do not reach their goals, this thesis examines whether land ownership could be a strategy for the country to improve the living conditions. Through quantitative surveys in parts of the capital’s informal settlements, it was evaluated, whether the participants would be willing to spend money on land development, following receipt of land ownership. This was evaluated along Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach, assuming that the enhancement of capabilities fosters human agency. It was found that the willingness to spend money on land development, and therefore to exercise agency, is existent with the majority of the participants. It is, however, limited by structural circumstances. It was further found that land ownership is not the only decisive factor for the participants, to spend money on land development or not. Gender, the permanence of their stay, as well as financial resources played significant roles in their decisions whether to exercise agency or not. Land ownership can therefore be considered as a first step, but not sufficient in itself in order to improve the living conditions in Namibia’s informal settlements.}},
author = {{Hinz, Tamara}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{"The place where people do not want to live". The effect of land ownership on human agency in Namibia's informal settlements.}},
year = {{2019}},
}