Supporting liveable climate sensitive cities through integrated urban land management

In January 2025 I flew to Jakarta and was struck by the seemingly endless spread of the city while enjoying the bird’s eye view – with mass skyscrapers stretching well beyond my little plane window. This glimpse of Jakarta from above gave credence to statistics from the World Bank that between 1980 and 2002, almost one-quarter of the land area of Jakarta was converted from non-urban uses (e.g. agriculture, wetlands) to urban uses for industry, commerce and housing.

On 17th December 2024 around midday, a 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck just 30 km away from Vanuatu’s capital city of Port Vila. No stranger to disasters, the nation has weathered three major cyclones in 2023 alone. But recovery from this impact has felt a little different. 14 people tragically lost their lives, and an estimated 80,000 people were impacted nationally. Some six months on, parts of the CBD still remain closed to the public as the reconstruction effort continues: many roads still require repair and demolition of unsafe buildings is ongoing. And new urban paradigms are emerging, with many businesses relocating ‘to the suburbs’ – with no intent to return. 

The world of land tenure and administration is also constantly evolving, influenced by political change, climate disruption, and technological evolution. Global official development assistance (ODA) fell in 2024 for the first time in five years, dropping by 7.1% as donor countries shifted their priorities inward and scaled back commitments. Although some countries – like Korea, Portugal, and Belgium – increased their contributions, the overall decline highlights an alarming recalibration in donor country priorities. Over the course of 2025, we will need to remain vigilant and flexible as the global development community reacts to these readjusted priorities and the growing questions around the value and effectiveness of bilateral aid.

Thanks Naia.  The acronym VARS stands for the Vanuatu Affordable and Resilient Settlements Project and focuses on both existing settlement upgrades within the town of Port Vila and a new greenfield low-income subdivision that the Vanuatu Government is developing in its capacity as a developer.  Our consultancy team of Kate Fairlie (from LEI), Jennie Day and I are providing policy, legal, marketing and advisory services to support the development of the greenfield subdivision project.

Please note that the names of those quoted in the article have been changed.

If 2024 was a day out of the office, it would have been to a theme park. We took many rides (a couple too many) on the roller coaster with tender proposals and travel, and not enough time at the picnic tables to exchange and connect. The unpredictability and sometime rapid pace of work in our field is what we have come to know. Very fortunately at LEI, we have a strong team who embrace the demands that allow us to pivot quickly and progress effectively.  We aim to find a steady pace for impactful work in 2025 as we see our projects move into implementation, wrap up and roll-over phases.

It has been a super productive and exciting time here at LEI over the past six months with tenders, international conferences and bigger still, project mobilisations. We won’t be enjoying long summer holidays like our northern partners but aiming for some crisp short winter-breaks down-under instead.

Planning and governance challenges within Vanuatu’s urban population are significant. Port Vila City Council has never adopted a master or local plan to guide and control urban expansion or land use. Likewise, there is no clear government agency responsible for land identification and infrastructure development to meet Port Vila’s growing needs. In one respect Port Vila is in a strong position – there is land that is available for development. But the majority of development to date has been private sector-led, targeting high-income bracket earners, and even this development has been limited by regulatory uncertainty and outdated land administration processes. In the 25-year period between 1996-2020 only 4,100 new residential lots were approved in Greater Port Vila – an average of just 170 new lots per year. The majority of these have targeted high-income households, with varying levels of infrastructure (that is, roads, electricity, water) provided by developers. Affordable housing units for those on lower wages are largely absent on the private market.

It creates a financial value for forest carbon, incentivising forest protection rather than forest destruction. This is critical given the mitigation potential of REDD+ is in the realm of 5 gigatons of carbon per year, coming behind only the energy sector in terms of mitigation potential.

In carrying out this assignment, LEI has partnered with Bangladesh company Environmental and Resource Analysis Centre (ENRAC), bringing safeguards, planning and design for infrastructure experience along with software systems for data analysis and planning. Another partner is Australia’s University of New South Wales, School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy (SPREE)[1], specialists in photovoltaic installations in a range of large scale national and international settings. To successfully deliver this project long-time colleague of LEI, Robert Cross, will be leading our team. He is a land specialist, with 30 years’ experience in land administration in various developed and developing countries, including Bangladesh.