ABSTRACT
Public urban land for housing has become a commodity that is difficult to access for most low-income earners in the developing world. This is equally true for Zambia where the majority of low-income earners are facing serious challenges in accessing public urban land for housing resulting in construction in environmentally vulnerable areas, increased squatting and the growth of unplanned settlements. For many low-income earners, barriers to accessing urban land include high plot fees, inadequate supply of public urban land, cumbersome public land allocation processes, corruption in the land sector, urbanization, and land hoarding and speculation, with the result that towns and cities are growing without a development vision, adversely affecting the urban environment. Eventually, these low-income earners invade vacant land or illegally acquire it. The result is a scarcity of land available for other legal uses such as commercial, industrial and civic and community (for example, clinics and schools).
