Land Governance and Land-Use Planning: Toward an Integrated Analytical Framework for the Governance–Planning Nexus
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Abstract
Land governance and land-use planning are often treated separately, yet in practice they meet wherever land rights, institutional decisions and spatial regulations shape actual places. This study develops a five-dimensional analytical framework for reading the Governance–Planning Nexus. To build it, the relevant literature was identified, synthesized and analyzed through a systematic scoping review conducted and reported following the PRISMA-ScR guidelines. Grounded in institutional planning theory and drawn from four international references (FAO-VGGT, World Bank-LGAF, UN-Habitat-IGUTP and GLTN), the framework works through five dimensions: legal, institutional, social, technical and planning. Five databases (Scopus, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, SpringerLink and Taylor & Francis Online) were searched for peer-reviewed studies published between 2015 and 2025. After three-stage screening, 30 studies were retained and coded on a three-level engagement scheme (0 = absent, 1 = implicit/instrumental, 2 = explicit/analytical). The results show clear but uneven architecture. The institutional dimension appears in all 30 studies, followed by planning (29/30), social (27/30) and legal (27/30); the technical dimension is weakest, present in 19 studies but analytically integrated in only 6. African studies cluster on institutional and legal questions, European and North American studies emphasize multi-level strategy and community-based planning, and only a few integrate all five in one explanatory frame. The study's main outcome is a replicable five-dimensional framework with its operational coding scheme. The evidence shows the central gap lies not in the absence of governance or planning, but in the partial, uneven integration of their legal, social, technical and institutional components.
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