Land Registration in the Context of Informal Settlements

The paper is a kind of "back to basics" response to the scepticism which disciplines with a tradition for social science approaches tend to have towards land registration in context of informal settlements. The general argument is that specific efforts are needed to improve interdiciplinary discussion. The paper suggests three ways to improve the general understanding of the importance of land registration. Firstly, to emphasize that the form of formal land ownership is in principle subject to design, that formalisation does not mean any specific form of title. The example concerns whether or not land should serve as collateral in context of low income groups. Secondly, it may be possible to use theories from social science to explain the basic function of land registration especially in context of social change. As an example, land registration is explained in perspective of historical materialism. Thirdly, devicing appropriate forms of tenure and corresponding administration for informal settlements may be seen as just another case of "appropriate technology". A conceptual framework for technology transfer is related to land registration in context of informal settlements.