Sunday, April 25, 2021

Peri-Urban : Contested land /DH Main Article

 

   Land   as an economic variable is exceedingly hard to get at. The fact that   land is open and above board, physical and concrete, and legally divided into neat, carefully described parcels or lots does not help one determine the supply of land.”- Schultz

Peri urban areas signal the outward movement of the edges of cities. Land resources in the peri-urban areas undergo rapid changes   due to   multiple   land uses, rapid population densification, frequent land transactions and incipient rises in land values. Land is a multifunctional and multidimensional physical resource at the heart of complex processes that define territories and regions ( Anseeuw & Alden, 2010). There is rapid changes in the land resources in the   peri-urban areas, it further leads to land use changes. Over the years the influence of the city has spread to the peri urban zones. In course of time IT parks, industries are set up in the peripheral areas of the city. Therefore   peri urban areas emerged as the engine of   economic growth. There is dynamic changes in the peripheral location with the establishment of IT parks and subsequent developments   and creation of external economies. 

As cities spread and expand further into the countryside, they always absorb farmland and villages. As a result, the extent of   land transactions increase in the peri urban areas because supply of land at CBD is limited. Land Market is centered   in the peripheral areas of the city .It include mainly residential commercial and industrial land transactions. In general, peri-urban areas experience unprecedented levels of land transactions to prospective buyers and developers for various land use purposes (Chirisa, 2010a; Chirisa, 2010b). There is a rapid growth of real estate activities in the peri urban land market though there is a general neglect of the peri-urban areas by the responsible authorities, lack of appropriate administrative policies, as well as the nature of the peri-urban spaces themselves. The unprecedented growth of fringes bring dynamic changes and frequent land transactions. The peripheral land markets surrounded   the CBD invites buyers and sellers for various residential, industrial and commercial transactions. The prevalence of land transactions in the periphery of cities and its complexities   are    always a debatable research topic.

 The World Bank’s World Development Report, Reshaping Economic Geography (2008) emphasizes that the policy problem of achieving greater economic density remains fundamental for areas at all stages of urbanization. And it identifies the main market failures related to  urbanization policies  associated with land markets and to improve  functioning of (rural and urban) land markets and the provision of (rural and urban) social services. In peri-urban areas (PUAs) the interface between urban and rural areas, common and interlinked characteristics exists, transition leads to land markets expanding and land becoming increasingly commoditized.  As a result, land transactions in peri-urban areas become more frequent, and pressure increases to sub-divide land into smaller parcels in order to increase supply and financial returns. Authorities in peri-urban areas tend to be thinly spread and unable to carry out land governance and administration functions effectively in line with the transitional nature of those areas (Siechiping et al. 2015, Wehrmann and Antonio 2015). This undermines the capacity of the land administration   and land management practices in the peri-urban areas.

Enforcement of contracts and economic transactions are at the core of well-functioning market economies. As emphasized by North, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Economics, “the inability of societies to develop effective, low-cost enforcement of contracts is the most important source of both historical stagnation and contemporary underdevelopment in the Third World”. Cross-country empirical research shows   where the social and legal institutions that support land and real estate transactions are weak, as in Africa, Latin America, and South Asia, the most urgent urban land policy issue may be to establish institutions (rule of law) that facilitate economic transactions and lower transaction costs. The critical question at this context is   what happens to the land rights and land tenure relations as the local peri-urban communities themselves become part of the city; as their farm lands are turned into urban built-up properties and as the area become residence to large number of urbanities both formally and informally? The   peri urban land market research   seeks to reveal the nature   of   land markets located in the fringe areas of the metropolitan cities like Bengaluru where IT industries are located in the peripheral areas of the city. There is more demand for land resources at the city center, the supply of land is limited.

Studies on peri urban land transaction   at global level and in India   estimates   the extent of land transactions, demand  and supply relationship ,effects of land markets . Peri-urban areas, where there is a rising demand of land for non-agricultural or urban land uses ,there is competition for land resources for agricultural and non   agricultural purposes . The unprecedented growth of urban population causes   an exceptionally rapid increase in the demand for urban land. The rising demand for urban land therefore tends to be met primarily by converting peri-urban agricultural land at the periphery of the existing built-up area. Peri urban   villages   of major metropolitan cities of  India    are   subject to frequent land transaction in the past two decades , this drives up the land prices and the land markets are thriving in the peripheral locations. There is mounting competition for peri-urban land located adjacent to towns and cities by people of diverse backgrounds. As a result of these pressures and rapid socio-economic change, space in the peri-urban area is becoming scarce and conflicts over land rights are also becoming very noticeable.

The peri urban edge is the most active frontier of urban development. In the last decade   the urbanization of these rural fringes has proceeded with high momentum due to the growth of IT corridors in major cities like Bengaluru. This   uncertain dynamic of peri urban is explained in the context of contested land in the major cities of India.

 /http://www.deccanheraldepaper.com/ DH Main article/ 13.12.18

 

 

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