Applying the theory of planned behaviour to cadastral systems

Planners of cadastral systems need to predict how formalising land rights will affect communities that are supposed to benefit from them. In particular, it is important to evaluate if the intended beneficiaries are likely to use the cadastral system. If they do not, addressing the consequences may be costly in time, money and resources. The theory of planned behaviour was adapted, developed and tested as a framework for analysing and predicting land registration and legal boundary usage in a number of urban settlements in Cape Town, South Africa. A study of the upgrading of the Marconi Beam informal settlement to a formal housing project confirmed existing theory - that is, when dealing with informal settlements, predictive models such as the theory of planned behaviour should be applied with caution. The complex social and political dynamics of informal settlements suggest that in volatile situations investigations should include comparative case studies of actual usage behaviour. Otherwise, the results are not likely to serve as an accurate predictor of usage of the cadastral system. However, the theory of planned behaviour does provide a structure for designing a study and it provides the classes of data that should be collected and analysed.