Development of an informal cadastre using social tenure domain model (STDM): A case study in Kwarasi informal settlement scheme Mombasa

Abstract

The Kenya government together with development partners has embarked on the development of informal settlements. Mombasa County has more than 70 informal settlements; information about the settlements and their relationship to the existing cadastral spatial layer covering the entire Mombasa County needs to be determined in order to support decision making for sustainable development. This study evaluates the Social Tenure Domain Model (STDM) land tool in the development of an informal cadastre by capturing, storing, and manipulating social and spatial information in Kwarasi informal settlement in Mombasa. This case study is an example that can be replicated to the rest of the informal settlements in Mombasa forming a single informal cadastral database for the entire county. Participatory enumerations and the STDM tool were used in this research to present the situation of Kwarasi informal settlement. The housing structures were adopted as the spatial unit for the informal Cadastre over which the rights of the inhabitants were adjudicated, customized and uploaded into the STDM where social tenure relationships were created to form the cadaster in the STDM system. The spatial component of Kwarasi informal cadaster was overlaid on the Mombasa cadastral layer and their relationship determined. It has been demonstrated that the relationship would be useful for decision making to support sustainable development intervention, and ease land administration by maintaining a detail record of the informal settlements.