ABSTRACT
Many governments have taken it upon themselves to manage the land. In so doing, they have spawned top-down systems of control that are inefficient, vulnerable to corruption, and take responsibility away from local people – excluding or marginalizing many groups. Half a century of professional development planning has demonstrated the shortcomings of the top-down approach. Plans drawn up by outsiders, with little or no reference to the priorities of the people who have to implement them, are not implemented – at least not in anything like the shape envisaged by their architects.
