Land remains a highly complex issue, and often forms a cause for conflict at regional, national, local and personal level in view of its value as an economic resource in relation to social, political, cultural and often religious systems. The failure to adopt, at all levels, appropriate (urban and rural) land policies and land management practices remains a primary cause of inequity and poverty.
The consequences often take the form of difficult access to land Information, unawareness of land policies and legal frameworks, ignorance about land transactions and prices, mis-allocation of land rights, land grabbing and abuse. Many of the general governance principles thus appear highly relevant to the management and administration of land. When in place, this in turn strengthens confidence in governments and public agencies, and has a positive economic impact, also on economic development.
Research
At ITC, we focus on fundamental and problem-solving research where spatial information can make a real difference. Our scientific staff en PhD candidates in the field of governance research topics such as mapping cadastral boundaries in UAV imagery, slum mapping and managing settlement growth.
Education
ITC is known to be one of the top institutes worldwide in the field of Geo-information science and earth observation. At ITC, we train students to engineer approaches for designing future-oriented solutions to the world's biggest challenges. We encourage our students to participate in public-private partnership projects initiated by ITC and other organizations.