Essays on land banking praxis in Ghana : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Massey University, School of Economics and Finance, Palmerston North, New Zealand
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2024-12-09
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Massey University
Journal articles in Appendix G are reproduced with the publisher's permission or under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 international (CC BY 4.0) licence
Journal articles in Appendix G are reproduced with the publisher's permission or under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 international (CC BY 4.0) licence
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Abstract
This thesis uses relational complexity conceptualisation to explore how private and semi-public land banking practices shape the functioning of Ghana’s informal land markets. To achieve this, the study subjects the land banking and the functioning of Ghana’s informal land market question from three independent but related perspectives: (a) optimal locations, (b) price of land, and (c) the advancement of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These perspectives were presented as three independent essays that revolve around the study’s common theme of land banking and the functioning of land markets.
The first essay proposes a conceptual framework for assessing optimal locations for land banking practices in informal land markets accustomed with legal pluralism. Analysed data from the study’s four case study regions show land title security as the primary factor determining optimal locations for land banks. This essay emphasises how the market complexities of Ghana’s informal land market render issues of uncertainties of spatial planning requirements and the risk associated with future hope value dynamics of land bank sites less influential on developers’ optimal local choices. This essay further shows how locational choices for land banking are intrinsically related to the distinct development climates, regulations, and land market transaction complexities within a region.
In the second essay, the study uses relational complexity to unpack how associations among land bank actors (i.e. landowners, developers, and states) shape land prices in four Ghanaian informal land market communities, purposely selected from the study’s four regions. Reflective of the general trend in the existing literature on land banking and the price of land, this essay reveals that land banking praxes are associated with rising land prices. However, these resultant land prices are shaped by the ongoing land banking practices that are distinctive in terms of their market actor relationships. The relational complexity captures how customary land managers and developers have shaped land price outcomes through the displacement of state-mediated market forces’ directing roles (controlling land hoarding). It further explains how oligopolistic traits of developers (that is, who gets access to land and at what price) are largely becoming the preserve of developers.
The final essay investigates how developers’ optimal locations for land banks and prevailing land price dynamics advance or inhibit the SDGs. The essay conceptualises a relational complexity framework and analyses primary and secondary datasets from the same communities as Essay Two. The analysis shows how rising land values emanating from the presence of developers’ land banks, regulatory measures guiding large-scale land transactions and, diverse motives and power of land bank market actors influence SDGs. This essay further highlights the risk that private sector efforts to achieve SDGs may prioritise profit for a few, over the well-being of many, if regulatory and policy frameworks fail to account for country, regional, or local contexts. The relational complexity underscores how diverse motives and complex nonlinear multiple relationships are breeding varying responses from land bank actors in the face of laws enacted to enhance the attainment of SDGs in the selected communities.
The foregoing results of the entire study demonstrate that, if we are to successfully mediate the functioning of informal land markets within the circles of land banking practices, attention must be paid to the multiple nonlinear relationships between land bank actors. Using only state hegemonic powers (regulations) often fails to establish the interconnected nonlinear issues needed to enhance policy response success. Conceptually, the study illuminates the concept of relational complexity as an alternative for exploring land markets from its socially constructed tenets within the spheres of land banking practices. Further research is recommended to understand how similar land bank projects of civic and faith-based organisations like churches and universities influence the functioning of similar land markets.
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land banking, land banks, informal land markets, Ghana, customary lands, relational complexity