The Dynamic Impacts of Informal Settlement Land Regularization on Community Transformation and Land Governance in Peri-Urban Tanzania: Evidence from eight settlements in Mbarali District

As urban expansion accelerates across sub-Saharan Africa, informal settlements have become both a challenge and a focus for land governance reform. In Tanzania, land regularization initiatives have been promoted as a pathway towards improved governance, and community development. Yet, the social, political, economic, cultural, and environmental consequences of these reforms remain underexplored particularly from the perspectives of grassroots communities experiencing these changes. This study adopts a broader and more grounded lens to examine the multifaceted impacts of land regularization in eight peri-urban areas. The study investigates how land regularization processes reshapes community life beyond formal tenure security. The study draws from in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, participant observation, and document analysis. The study demonstrates that land regularization in peri-urban Tanzania functions as transformative socio-political process with deep ramifications for community identity, participation, and equity. The study argue that, land governance is a deeply political and cultural process that affects power dynamics, identity, and collective well-being. The study recommends for a rethinking of land governance frameworks to integrate social and cultural dimensions more explicitly. Therefore, policymakers and practitioners must move beyond legalism and adopt a more inclusive, context-sensitive approach that accounts for the lived realities of communities on the urbanizing frontier.