Urban Legal Guide for Sub-Saharan Africa: Making progress

Over the course of two days in January 2016, the reference group guiding the writing of the Urban Legal Guide for Sub-Saharan Africa gathered at the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town to discuss the second draft version of the Urban Legal Guide for Sub-Saharan African Countries which is being written by Stephen Berrisford.  Earlier drafts of the Guide were co-authored by Stephen and the late Patrick McAuslan.  The Guide is funded by Urban LandMark (using DfID funds), Cities Alliance and UN-Habitat.  The project was initiated by the African Centre for Cities (‘ACC’).

Background

The Guide evolved from support given by the Rockefeller Association in 2009-2010 to the ACC to ‘build a platform for urban legal reform in Africa’.  In 2012 the ACC convened a Bellagio workshop entitled Building a Platform for Urban Planning Law Reform in Sub-Saharan Africa.  One of the outputs of that meeting was a commitment to, amongst other things, develop a guide to urban legal reform in the region. In 2012 a concept note for the Guide was presented to the reference group in Nairobi by the authors. The first draft of the Guide was then drafted in 2014.
 
Outline of the work

The purpose of the Guide is to assist those involved with the urban legal reform process (including government officials, political leaders and legislators) to achieve better outcomes from urban law reform, as well as to empower citizens and civil society to engage and participate in the urban legal reform process more effectively. The Guide draws from seventy years of combined professional and personal experience of its two authors, who have worked at different times and in different capacities in different parts of the region, on different aspects of urban legal reform.  The Guide comes at a pressing time; pressures from rapid urbanisation in the region are compounded by existing legal frameworks that are unsuited to the current urban and legal context.  The premise on which the authors began writing the Guide is that, without an appropriate and inclusive law-making process, it is highly unlikely that an appropriate and inclusive, or effective, law will emerge.

The Guide emphasises the important role of urban law as a vital tool for implementing sustainable and equitable urban environments. Urban law can do this by embedding mechanisms which foster transparency, are grounded in the realities of existing institutional capacity and that encourage and enhance emerging processes, such as small scale property developers.  The Guide discusses the context of urban law in sub-Saharan South Africa and the different triggers that tend to drive urban law reform.  It provides guidance on managing the detailed aspects of formulating policy and translating it into legislation, and unpacks considerations around implementation.  This is done in a tone that is accessible and conversational but also authoritative, in that the Guide draws extensively on illustrative examples that reflects the authors’ experience in the region.

Outcome

The recent meeting provided invaluable input through in-depth commentary on the style and content of the second draft version of the Guide. The reference group generally agreed that the document had made good progress since its previous version and was nearing completion. The author indicated that he was aiming to complete the Guide by July 2016.  The meeting concluded by outlining a strategy for the way forward in terms of completing and disseminating the Guide, and in terms of how it could be leveraged to assist in foregrounding urban law reform on the global urban agenda.  The Guide will be produced in both English and French.In Memorium