Public Law Restrictions in the Context of 3D Land Administration—Review on Legal and Technical Approaches

Intense exploitation of land implies the development of multi-level, multi-purpose, overlapping and interlocking structures on 3D space, thus resulting in complex, stratified, 3D real property rights between individual owners, as well as restrictions. Legislation regulates the ownership status and use of land by imposing restrictions known as Public Law Restrictions (PLRs). PLRs extend to various fields and various legislative frameworks, such as the protection of archaeological sites, protection and maintenance of underground infrastructures and utilities, environmental protection, flying of unmanned air vehicles, etc. PLRs are usually investigated in the context of property rights and restrictions in the various Land Administration Systems worldwide, and do not often gain specific attention. However, it is noticed that the restrictions that arise from Public Law need to be investigated and classified, so that they can be better utilised in the property status of land ownership. This review paper investigates the legal statutes on PLRs within the context of 3D land administration and the stipulations used to provide unambiguous modelling of PLRs, as provided by the relative literature. Moreover, the PLRs applied in the 3D space, to clearly depict rights, restrictions and responsibilities on the relevant spatial unit (land, air, marine parcel, mine, utility network, etc.), are particularly examined. Therefore, this work is to critically review and assess the aforementioned approaches on PLRs’ registration, modelling and organisation, as provided by a literature survey, and provides an overall view of the requirements and challenges within the development of 3D Land Administration Systems also considering standardisation developments.

Review of Land Administration Data Dissemination Practices: Case Study on Four Different Land Administration System Types

Land administration systems differ by their types and practices. The data dissemination practices are considered to be outdated, as in most cases the digitisation of land administration data was conducted to match the paper-based system. This paper reviews four different land administration data dissemination practices through four case studies, where each selected jurisdiction represents one land administration system type. The analysed LAS data dissemination practices were conducted for Croatia, England, New Zealand and Green County, OH, USA. The main goal of the analysis was to examine the differences and similarities between the respective countries’ land data practices provided by the excerpts related to one parcel. The identified differences and similarities might be of great use when it comes to further improvement and standardisation of land administration data dissemination practices.

A CONCEPTUAL MODEL FOR IFC-BASED DELINEATION OF CONDOMINIUM RIGHTS IN TURKEY: INITIAL EXPERIMENTS

Owing to the increasing existence of multistorey buildings and infrastructures in the built environment, there is a need for three-dimensional (3D) land administration systems (LAS). Regarding this, condominium rights in real-estate properties are needed to be represented as 3D for preventing misinterpretations with regards to who is responsible for or has ownership in which parts of the buildings. Digitalizing the public services appears in current strategies of governments and administrations since it contributes to transparency, speed, and accurateness in the processes. Building permitting that contains obtaining the occupancy permit is a vital one of these public services. With the even-increasing adaptation of Building Information Modelling (BIM), a whole raft of Building Information Models (BIMs) are created to use in digital building permitting. Thus, a significant opportunity for 3D delineation of condominium rights comes out of the reuse of these BIMs, especially their Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) data. In this sense, this paper puts forward an approach that includes developing the conceptual model to depict condominium rights and linking that model with the IFC schema. The applicability of the approach is demonstrated by using a floor of a simple building. The study shows that IFC-based representation of condominium rights can be beneficial for the transition to 3D LAS in Turkey.

Farmer-herder conflicts, tenure insecurity and farmer’s investment decisions in Agogo, Ghana

Owing to climate change, population growth and tenurial changes, the past decade has witnessed high interest among migrant and settler pastoralist groups in the vegetal-rich customary lands of the Agogo Traditional Area. This has resulted in lease grants of large land areas to pastoralists by traditional authorities and usufruct families, for reasons of ensuring optimum use and gaining the highest returns from lands. This paper examines the implications of consequent competing interests over land resources between farmers and herders on indigenous farmer’s agricultural investment decisions. The study uses qualitative methods and empirical evidence is given by primary data from semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions in the case study area. Results indicated that land owners exploit lapses in customary land administration systems to allocate lands in exchange for money, to pastoralists while neglecting indigenous farmers’ land use rights. Thus, indigenous farmers report land tenure insecurity and a sense of deprivation from their customary lands. Despite tenure insecurity concerns, farmer’s agricultural investment decisions remain unchanged because such changes in investment decisions may reduce incomes and compromise their livelihoods. The findings herein contradict theoretical expectations and provide new perspectives for understanding the relationship between tenure (in)security and investment decisions.

Applying the Fit-for-Purpose Land Administration Concept to South Africa

What potential will the fit-for-purpose land administration concept have of working in the Republic of South Africa? This question is asked against the existence of a high-quality cadastre covering most of the South African landmass. However, a large proportion of the people living in South Africa live outside of this secure land tenure system. Many citizens and immigrants reside on communal land, in informal settlements, in resettled communities, in off-register housing schemes, and as farm dwellers, labour tenants and other occupants of commercial farms. Reasonable estimates suggest that there are more than 5 million land occupations that exist outside the formal land tenure system and hence outside the formal land administration system. This paper looks at the current bifurcated system and considers how the application of the fit-for-purpose land administration system can expand the existing cadastral system and provide security of tenure that is beneficial and acceptable to all. It demonstrates that, not only could it work, but it is also considered to be necessary. This paper uses South Africa as a case study to demonstrate how adjustments to institutional, legal and spatial frameworks will develop a fully inclusive, sufficiently accurate land administration system that fits the purpose for which it is envisioned. These country-specific proposals may well be of international interest to assist with the formulation of fit-for-purpose land administration systems being developed in other countries.

Land Administration Maintenance: A Review of the Persistent Problem and Emerging Fit-for-Purpose Solutions

A contemporary review of land administration, from the perspective of systems maintenance, is provided. A special emphasis is placed on emerging fit-for-purpose land administration solutions. The research synthesis uses reputable sources from the contemporary era. Results show the challenges of maintaining land administration systems and the data held are long recognized. The 1970s–1980s gave the issue impetus as data and processes moved from paper-based and manual to digital and automated. The 1990s recognized concerns on maintenance, albeit as a secondary issue: system establishment was the primary concern. The 2000s placed more emphasis on more holistic sociotechnical systems but, again maintenance was supplementary. The fit-for-purpose era deliveres a vast range of new social and technological innovations; however, scaled and sustainable implementations still struggle with system maintenance. From the findings, a consolidated model for analyzing maintenance problems and solutions at jurisdictional level is developed. Maintenance of a land administration system can be understood by identifying the level of change, method for change, components to change, and options for what to change to. The United Nations-endorsed Framework for Effective Land Administration is then used to identify specific maintenance challenges and available solutions. It is suggested that due to the scope and size of what can be considered maintenance issues, there exists no single solution—instead the country should identify its persistant maintenance problems, and the most appropriate solution set from the suite of available options. Emerging solutions and challenges include ensuring interlinkage to maintenance of spatial planning, land valuation, and marine administration; exploiting survey data ‘back capture’ initiatives; supporting grassroots IT; and giving serious attention to cybersecurity concerns.

Do Design Science Research and Design Thinking Processes Improve the ‘Fit’ of the Fit-For-Purpose Approach to Securing Land Tenure for All in South Africa?

In South Africa, land tenure security is a challenge for 60% or more of the population who hold interests in land outside of the formal system of registered title. There is a need for the cadastral and land administration systems to be reshaped, and for new land tenure forms to be developed to record all land rights and interests so as to improve land tenure security for all. In this paper, we undertake a reflective retrospective of the processes of land administrative reform in South Africa using a thematic framework that includes fit-for-purpose, design science research, and design thinking processes. Literary sources are coded using the thematic framework to identify potential contributions of foregrounding design science research and design thinking in fit-for-purpose land administration (FFP LA) approaches. Design science research paired with tools of behavioral science add value in understanding the context, problems, needs, and objectives and in communicating the results of critical reflection. The design thinking process has much to offer in capitalizing on the human abilities of empathy, deep understanding, and challenging assumptions, setting the scene for unconstrained creative thinking. Design science research and design thinking within FFP LA may promote innovations in land administration systems reform initiatives that deliver restorative justice in the South African land sector.

Application of FFPLA to Achieve Economically Beneficial Outcomes Post Disaster in the Caribbean

Fit-for-purpose mechanisms for developing land administration systems have been posited to be especially effective in resource strapped economies since these mechanisms quickly create the settings for economic as well as social and environmental development. Competition for depleted resources in the face of recent deleterious events such as climate change, Covid-19, hurricanes and other natural hazard impacts, and global economic crises, among other challenges, should nudge many developing countries toward the application of Fit for Purpose Land Administration (FFPLA) as opposed to costly and lengthy standard methods. Problems arise in convincing states of the benefits of applying the FFPLA. This paper explores how fit-for-purpose methods for establishing and upgrading land administration infrastructures have become increasingly imperative to developing countries, particularly small island developing states (SIDS) of the Caribbean, in light of declining economies. The experiences of Caribbean countries, with a focus on Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Saint Lucia, and Jamaica, in implementing adjudication and titling for their land administration, are compared to FFPLA guidelines in terms of major objectives, supportive legislation, and method of application. Based on the outcomes of the evaluation, it is suggested that including more facets of the FFPLA, primarily for progressing the process toward economically beneficial success, would be an advantage.