From sleeping beauty to proven solution: The transformation of land readjustment into an informal settlement upgrading tool

Abstract

Land readjustment (LR) has undergone a significant transformation, evolving from a private-owner-centric mechanism to a proven tool for upgrading low-income, informal settlements. This article traces the efforts by multilateral and bilateral organisations, along with think tanks, to promote LR as both a relevant and implementable tool in the Global South. It delineates three distinct phases in LR's evolution: its initial unsuccessful integration into the UN's Habitat I agenda in 1976, a subsequent phase of recalibration aimed at broadening its applications and outreach in the 2000s, and finally, its endorsement in 2018 as an effective tool for informal settlement upgrading. Focusing on the roles of policy mediators, including bilateral and multilateral organisations, the article sheds light on the practices, politics, and power dynamics at play in the movement and mutation of policy models. It also examines the conditions leading to success and instances where expected policy outcomes and their mobilisation failed to materialise.