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Workshop hosted at University of Ghana, Legon.
By Martina Manara and Monica Martin Grau
06 November 2025
On 30 September 2025, the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) of University of Ghana (Legon), hosted a hybrid workshop on “Urbanisation and Institutional Transition”. In collaboration with the International Growth Centre (Ghana), the workshop was led by Dr. Martina Manara, Lecturer at the Bartlett School of Planning at the University College London (UCL), with BSP Strategic research Support. The event brought together a diverse group of researchers and practitioners working on land rights, urban governance, and policy in Ghana and beyond. Contributors included scholars from the University of Cape Coast, the University of Ghana-Legon, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, the SD Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies, creating a vibrant interdisciplinary space for debate on the challenges and opportunities surrounding land governance in rapidly urbanising Africa.
As urbanisation accelerates and land remains a central resource for livelihoods, housing, and development, the discussions in Legon offered timely reminders of the urgency –and the possibilities– of governing land in ways that are equitable, transparent, and responsive to social realities.
Introducing MetRe: Measuring Land Rights and Social Regulations
The session opened with Dr. Martina Manara introducing MetRe: a new study designed to measure de-facto land rights and social regulations in African cities. Drawing on her past research that highlights the inadequacy of one-size-fits-all policy approaches, MetRe aims to provide fine-grained knowledge on how rights are defined and contested on the ground, so as to inform tailored policy approaches responding to local needs. The presentation outlined MetRe’s novel empirical approach to unpack de-facto land rights and regulations as systems of social relations, expectations, relationships, and negotiations that shape what people can or cannot do with urban property in their communities.
Unfolding in three stages, MetRe will capture these dynamics by analysing the lived experiences and perceptions of rights in diverse contexts.
Stage 1(2023-24) reviewed existing toolkits and frameworks used by international organisations and other stakeholders to understand de-facto land rights and regulations, highlighting key gaps in how current frameworks address land rights realities.
Stage 2 (2025-26) will address these gaps by piloting a novel toolkit with innovative questions that probe the social construction of land ownership, the heterogeneity of rights and policy needs, and local demands for tailored government interventions. Implementation will begin in seven settlements of Accra, where the team has already conducted focus groups with local authorities in preparation for the household survey starting in January 2026.
Building on these initial tests, Stage 3 will expand the research into a comparative study between Accra and Dar es Salam, where Dr. Manara has been carrying out research on land issues for more than seven years. Drawing on these initial applications, the MeTre approach will be refined for broader comparative use.
The MetRe project received generous and constructive feedback from the workshop participants, reflecting on their own experience of research on aligned topics from the context.
Perspectives from the field: hybrid systems, technologies, and urban pressures
Participants’ contributions to the workshop also mapped out the diverse realities of land governance in Ghana, often underscoring the limitations of legislation and policy in understanding and addressing de-facto land rights. Recurring themes included:
Hybridity of land administration. Chiefs, family heads, customary secretariats, and state institutions all claim overlapping land authorities and roles. This pluralism offers flexibility but also generates conflict, elite capture, and uneven protection of rights. Women and marginalised groups are frequently sidelined.
Technology. While digital innovations have been introduced into land administration, their rollout has been highly uneven. Weak technological infrastructure and high data costs reinforce inequalities between urban and rural areas, contributing to widespread mistrust in the practices of land registration.
Urbanisation. Ghana’s rapid demographic transition has fuelled demand for land in both cities and peri-urban zones, intensifying speculative practices, fragmented land ownership, and informal settlements’ proliferation at the urban fringes. Land values are rising, but governance systems have not kept pace, leading to shortages of affordable housing and poor service provision.
While urbanisation is thought to potentially increase well-being, participants noted that regulatory gaps, weak planning enforcement, and contested land markets can instead reproduce inequality and environmental stress in urban Ghana, as well as many other African contexts. Leading the institutional transition to strengthen land rights and governance systems according to local needs is critical to achieve and distribute positive outcomes of urbanisation.
Discussion and ways forward
The concluding discussion brought these threads together into a critical reflection on institutional transition and the politics of land. Participants noted how overlapping mandates in urban Ghana –for instance between the Land Commission, local authorities, and traditional leaders– can create opportunities for leakage, rent-seeking, and loss of accountability.
Yet, solutions are possible. The debate underscored potential paths forward, such as strengthening transparency in land transactions, diversifying funding sources for planning authorities, and engaging communities more systematically in decision-making. There was recognition that land tenure arrangements are dynamic and must be studied in context, capturing the voice of all stakeholders, including those who are less visible and more vulnerable. .
These exchanges provided valuable insights to refine the MetRe’s design for Accra. The workshop has also succeeded in fostering a sense of collective purpose: connecting Ghanaian and international scholars, bridging research and policy, and opening space for future collaboration.
In person participants (in pictures):
Dr. Irene Appeaning Addo (University of Ghana); Prof. Collins Adjei Mensah (University of Cape Coast); Dr. Austin Dziwornu Ablo (University of Ghana); and Prof. Rudith King (KNUST). Facilitated by Dr. Martina Manara (UCL)
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