This work analyses the impact of landownership on the physical development and other factors affecting settlements in south-west Cheshire between 1750 and 2000, seeking to demonstrate the hypothesis that landownership was the overriding influence on settlement growth or decline. To assist in this the work also addresses the related problem of how most accurately to analyse landownership in townships. It therefore presents an original methodology using the Herfmdahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) in an historical context to determine the amount of landowner concentration in a township. The use of HHI as a measure of landownership concentration (indicating the extent of large landowner control) is presented as a more accurate, easy to use, quantifiable method of analysis than the traditional distinction between 'open' and 'closed'. Following a demonstration of HHI's superiority over the traditional terms using examples in south-west Cheshire, HHI is used to analyse the effect on settlement development of landownership trends in the area. HHI is then used to analyse the effect of dominant landowners on the main population trends, transport infrastructure, farming, enclosure and twentieth-century planning and legislation in relation to settlement development in the area. HHI supports the main conclusion that decisions made by large landowners and subsequently planners in south-west Cheshire had a continuous and profound effect on settlement patterns and development from the mid-eighteenth century up to the end of the twentieth century. The intervention and influence of the major landowners and twentieth-century planners hindered settlement growth. Landowners had both a direct influence on settlement development through the buying and selling of land and an indirect influence through their role in determining the transport infrastructure and their bequest of a prevailing pattern of land use, which in turn was preserved via modern planning decisions. Following the decline of major landowners during the early twentieth century, planning laws restricted building in agricultural areas with the aim of preserving agricultural land. Analysis of land tax records in conjunction with HHI shows that although landownership consolidation took place, the number of smaller landowners was maintained and even increased in places and such building as took place was focussed on the increasing number of smaller plots. HHI also demonstrates the discernible trend that in south-west Cheshire the settlements that were the larger, more open settlements of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were those that increased in size both physically and in terms of population throughout the period while the smaller closed settlements tended to stagnate or decline. Overall the research has demonstrated that settlements flourished in low HHI townships with less control by large landowners, that settlements in high HHI townships were rarely allowed to grow, and that patterns established in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were perpetuated into the late twentieth and early twenty-first century by a conservative approach to planning.

This study focuses upon elements of continuity and change in the developing landscape of the parish of Baschurch in north Shropshire during the period c.1550-2000. In considering a relatively neglected part of the English rural landscape, the writer examines whether landscape change in this area was unique or mirrored experiences in neighbouring parishes and the county as a whole. Shropshire as a county is understudied in terms of its landscape history and so this research project aims to redress this balance, whilst at the same time contributing to the growth of knowledge regarding rural landscape studies generally. The writer examines the themes of population, farm and fieldscape, land use, settlement and buildings, and transport. Analysis draws upon a wide range of documentary sources including a large collection of probate inventories, existing primary and secondary literature and oral testimonies, alongside an examination of structures and features in the present landscape. Analysis reveals the diverse nature of the landscape of the parish. It exhibits varying patterns of landownership, enclosure, field systems, land use and settlement. Research shows that in some instances experiences mirror those exhibited by neighbouring parishes: for example with regard to the enclosure of open arable lands, the rise of dairy farming and the emergence of settlement in areas of former woodland. Overall, this research demonstrates the importance of landownership during the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries in influencing the extent of landscape change. Landowner involvement affected field systems, farm size, land use, settlements and emerging transport networks. Research shows that single landownership of a township has often led to landscape change, whereas change has occurred more slowly, or has been inhibited, in areas exhibiting multiple landownership. This study reveals that during the twentieth century the role of the dominant landowner as a major influence on the landscape has been superseded by local government planning departments. Although subject to landowner involvement, the importance of transport developments in understanding landscape change is also highlighted. In addition to enhancing our knowledge of the rural landscape of north Shropshire, this research project reveals that through its varying patterns of landownership, field systems and settlements, the parish of Baschurch is a microcosm of the west midlands and borderlands landscape as a whole.

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No description available.

No description available.

This study provides a spatial and temporal examination of land use change in a southern Illinois wilderness area. The study area is the Clear Springs and Bald Knob Wilderness areas. Land patent and Forest Service acquisition records were compiled with spatial and temporal elements of land transfers examined utilizing a geographic information system (GIS). Current wilderness recreation site impacts and opportunities for solitude conditions were inventoried. Land-cover data for 1938, 1965, 1993, and 2005 were created and analyzed utilizing a geographic information system (GIS). Results indicate that land use change and land ownership have varied both spatially and temporally. First, land ownership transfers were influenced by land costs, availability of funds and topography. Lower land costs resulted in increased land transfers. Bottomlands remained in private ownership for longer periods of time. Second, minimal developments or human improvement for visitor convenience were evident in the wilderness areas. Remote areas offer ample opportunities for wilderness visitors to seek solitude. Wilderness management efforts should continue to monitor areas on a five-year basis to capture status and trends. Third, intensity and temporal human-initiated landscapes have varied. Upland forest dominated the land cover in 1938 with some evidence of grass and croplands located predominantly on bottomlands. By 1993, grass and cropland had virtually been removed from this landscape replaced by forests. Evidence of past land use change exists on the landscape.

I chose for my diploma thesis the theme which is called "Creation and cessation of the land ownership right - legal forms". The aim of the work is to give complex and complete description of basic legal forms of acquiring ownership right to land. The presented work is divided into ten chapters. The first part (second chapter) of the diploma thesis determines the concepts of "ownership", "real estate", "land", "plot" etc. According to Czech law concept of "real estate" means mainly under grounds and buildings firmly linked to ground. Property right as one of the basic human rights protected by Human rights act which for example says that the property right could be restricted or taken away only according the law, inter the legal bounds and for compensation. The current legal order of the Czech Republic regulates the ownership in three types of legal regulations: the Civil Code or the Commercial Code represent the general regulation, the Czech Republic Property Act represents the special regulation and moreover, there are numerous laws mentioning the land property. Third chapter consists of the historical overview on the development of the land's ownership in the Czech Lands in period 1918 - 1989. First I described both Land Reforms governing the considerable transfers of the state property after...

Land ownership in South Africa has long been a source of conflict. The history of forced removals and a racially skewed distribution of land resources have left the new government, which took over in 1994, with a complex and difficult legacy. The new government has developed a land reform programme with three major elements to address the situation of landlessness, tenure insecurity and poverty among black people. The three major elements can be defined as follows: <ul> <li>The redistribution of land to the disadvantaged and poor for productive and residential purposes;</li> <li>Land restitution, which covers restitution of land to those who had been forcefully removed from land after 1913 as a result of racially discriminatory laws and practices and</li> <li>Tenure reform to those whose tenure of land is legally insecure.</li> </ul> The specific purpose of this study is to review the redistribution of land in terms of the implementation of the LRAD (Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development) Sub-programme, which was launched in August 2001. In the first few years of the delivery of LRAD (2001 to 2003), the sub-programme made substantial progress and the DLA (Department of Land Affairs) referred to LRAD as the DLA’s flagship redistribution sub-programme. However, according to academics (Hall, 2003 and 2004; Jacobs, 2003; Wegeriff, 2004 and Lahiff, 2003) and the media (Black Business Quarterly, 2006 and Business Report: Sunday Independent, 2006), the pace of the implementation of LRAD is also slow and the sustainability of many land redistribution projects is poor. The purpose of this study is to review the pace of implementation and the quality of projects transferred through the LRAD Sub-programme in Gauteng Province. Three main factors are identified in this study that contribute to the slow pace of land redistribution in terms of the LRAD Sub-programme. These factors are the bureaucratic processes that government follows to implement LRAD projects, the limited size of the LRAD grants and the formation of group projects. The mentioned critiques and the results of this study also show that there are a variety of factors that have an impact on the sustainability/quality of projects. These factors are: limited financing of projects, lack of start-up capital, lack of agricultural skills, poor design of projects, lack of post-transfer support, group dynamics, crime, and a disregard for environmental factors. To obtain the relevant research information for this study a variety of documents and books regarding land reform and the LRAD Sub-programme were reviewed. Additional information was obtained from the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) and AgriSA with regard to agriculture in Gauteng. Beneficiaries from a sample of 15 LRAD projects and three officials from the Gauteng Provincial Land Reform Office were also interviewed to get their opinions about the pace of implementation of redistribution of projects through the LRAD Sub-programme and also the sustainability of these programmes. The reason for studying land reform in Gauteng is because of its unique features of farming. One of the unique features is the fact that farmland in Gauteng consists mostly of small farms and plots, which are easier for beneficiaries to purchase by means of the limited-size LRAD grants than are big farms in Limpopo, North West, Northern Cape, etc. Other positive features are the good quality of agricultural land, the availability of output markets and supply of inputs. There are also a number of negative factors, which include the facts that 97% of province is urbanised, and that farmland is scarce and expensive. However, a detailed description of the study area is given in section 1.4. Eventually the conclusion was reached that the implementation of LRAD projects in Gauteng is indeed slow because of certain problems in the process of land transfer through the LRAD Sub-programme, the limited LRAD grants compared to the increased land prices and the size of group projects. The mentioned factors that have an impact on the sustainability of LRAD projects are also reviewed through the fieldwork and it has been discovered that it indeed has a big impact on the quality of these projects. The case studies provide a number of recommendations to address the factors impacting on the pace of land redistribution in the province and the factors impacting on sustainability. Some of the recommendations can be implemented by the Gauteng Provincial Land Reform Office itself. The other recommendations will need to be addressed nationally which can then have a positive influence on the delivery and the quality of the implementation of LRAD projects on a national basis as well. Copyright / Dissertation (MInst Agrar)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development / unrestricted

Submitted to the Faculty of Arts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in the Department of Social Work at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2002. / This study investigated the strengths and weaknesses of the rural women's agricultural productivity and problems facing the farming women in the Nkonjeni area. It looked at the issues like deprivation of land ownership for the rural women, lack of appropriate education, not having access to working capital and an overload of household chores as the contributory factors to poor agricultural production of women in rural areas. The study considered the possibility of empowering rural women through capacity building as the method of improving their production of agricultural crops. The characteristics that were investigated were the socio-cultural factors, economic, educational and infrustructural factors mat would influence their empowerment process. The study engaged a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods. Various sources of data like books and journals were used. Also a number of methods of collecting data were utilized to find the information from the selected sample of the farming population. The study was conducted among the farming women of Nkonjeni area in Mahlabathini district. The findings revealed that their illiterate position poses a threat in their empowerment and the overload is really crippling their efforts towards their development. It also revealed that the gender discrimination towards rural women is still a problem though the government has repealed laws that are depriving women of equal opportunities. It was also found that the lawlessness of the community members contributed enormously on their farming problems because unattended livestock that is owned by their neighbours destroys their produce. Recommendations that emanated from the study focussed on the empowerment of women through the change of attitude towards development. The people need to be supported as individuals to give the sense of pride towards the project they are concerned with. Women need to be helped in solving their education problems in their own neighbourhood to avoid exposing them to dangers of travelling long distances at night. Development programmes should focus on taking women on board as active participants in their own development not the silent recipients.

Crises of food production, poverty and deepening inequality are common problems around the world and constitute the distinctive features of the global social landscape including the poorer regions. In the poorer regions and in Southern Africa particularly, land is a key asset in sustaining livelihoods. Ironically, the majority of the people in these poorer regions are landless. The land resource is however of crucial importance to the economies of the Southern African region contributing a major share of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employment. Colonial land policies institutionalised racial inequality with regard to land in southern Africa. Recent attempts to confront the consequences of historical land expropriation and to redress contemporary land-based inequities, discriminatory legislation and institutions have generated renewed racial conflict in the sub region and created a life of insecurity on the continent, particularly in the southern African region. The objective of human security is to achieve safety from chronic threats such as hunger, disease etc, and secure protection from sudden and hurtful disruptions in the patterns of daily lives. Land policies are of paramount importance in pursuit of human security. Access to land in this regard determines who lives or dies. The study explores post independence and post apartheid land policies in southern Africa using South Africa and Zimbabwe as case studies. It interrogates the linkage between land policy and human security; in particular determining how land policies affect human security. Recent activities in both countries - land invasions and economic collapse in Zimbabwe and high rate of unemployment, inequality and poverty in South Africa - attest to the land issue and clearly spell out the need for land reform. The study shows that Africa’s disadvantaged position (in power and wealth terms) in the international system has made it difficult for African states to address local or national preferences on the issue of land access. Major donor countries and international finance institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF have tended to prevail on African governments to adopt market liberalization mechanisms in tackling the land question. The argument behind this is that land should be given to those who can work it the most and productively while the returns can be distributed to all. As such, the market should be left to determine who has access to land. But the market oriented economic policies which African governments are often forced to adopt through structural adjustment programmes are essentially designed to strengthen multi-national corporations and to integrate elites in the southern African region into the international capitalist system. The reward-and-punishment system facilitated by the free market economy may benefit the local elite but it alienates the poor and undermines human security. Human dignity, food security and poverty reduction demand development agencies, governments and other organisations responsibly devise policies and strategies that will enable assets building and promote self-reliance of poor people and communities. Human security comprising food security, environmental security of individuals, and social and political security among others is critically affected by access to land.