This publication, Monitoring Security of Tenure in Cities: People, Land and Policies, presents an innovative method to ascertain the extent to which security of tenure can be measured at three main levels. Targeting cities in developing countries, the methodological framework presented in this publication is entrusted in the concept of continuum of land rights where tenure can be realised at various levels: individual, household, settlement or community, city and national levels. Various options to measure tenure security at each of these levels are presented. You will also find in this publication a review of the experience of several agencies and individual academics in measuring tenure security. From these reviews, lessons are drawn and gaps are identified, which then formed the basis of the range of methods presented in this report.

The methodological framework presented here makes use of the SMART principle of indicators development and reporting. One of the innovative approaches put forward in this framework is the community or settlement-based security of tenure which can be mapped, assessed, evaluated and analysed. The framework also demonstrates how one can best make use of household surveys to measure the range of tenure arrangements and security of tenure. At the policy level, the results of the pilots of Legal and Institutional Framework Index (LIFI) are presented to show how LIFI can be used to measure security of tenure at various levels.

It is anticipated that the methodology developed and presented in this publication would service the global reporting to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, inform local and national security of tenure policy formulation; and contribute to ongoing regional initiatives such as the African Union-led Land Policy Initiative, and the World bank-led Land Governance and Administration Framework. Urban actors, economists, development partners working on land policies, land administration and information will find this publication of great interest.