Thirkell, Allyson
(1995)
The informal land market in Cebu City, the Philippines; accessibility, settlement development and residential segregation.
PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.
Abstract
The main aim of the thesis is to explore the nature of informal land development in Cebu City, the Philippines, and to evaluate the impacts on shelter, particularly among the urban poor. More specific objectives are to examine who gains access to informal land, how the process of informal land alienation and turnover occurs, and which actors are involved in informal land delivery. The research uses primary data from 243 household interviews conducted in 5 informal settlements in urban Cebu to assess how informal land sales influence the socio-economic composition of settlements. The research also examines whether there is evidence of residential segregation among informal settlements according to income and the implications of this for urban settlement and levels of poverty. The research also draws on detailed interviews with 25 land agents to explore their roles in these processes. Similar to other studies the research acknowledges that informal lands are undergoing significant commercialisation, mainly because of the demand imposed on informal plots by high land prices in the formal market. This has made titled property unaffordable to the urban poor and a less attractive option to middle income groups. The research particularly highlights how the behaviour of middle income buyers in the informal land market creates bottlenecks in the supply of plots (by buying large plots for occupation, leaving purchased plots vacant and also accelerating plot prices through speculation, for example). In addition, since poorer residents are vulnerable to "crisis selling" of land and generally have a lower perception of plot value, they do not always receive a fair price for their plots, which reduces their ability to repurchase land at a later date. The research concludes that these processes exacebate residential segregation between households on the basis of income and has led to great disparities in settlement densities, infrastructure and service availability. The latter are vital issues for urban policy, social development and poverty considerations.
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