The work that digital standardization does (or not): Exploring tensions between urban land practices and statecraft

Abstract

Digitization of land records in Kenya represents a particular moment in smart city strategies to enable rationalization and standardization. In many ways, it represents a linear, technology-driven approach, very much informed by the tenets of modernization theory. The embedded assumption here, that socio-cultural practices and emotional ties around land can be eclipsed by the intended certainty and linear rationality represented by digitation, is misguided. The paper explores two dimensions of these tensions. One, literature on land in Kenya, foregrounds the role of the state as power broker in land exchanges, often to the detriment of the urban poor. Thus, the role of the state is never politically neutral. Two, land is infused with divergent interest groups and actors, that range from customary authorities, informal occupational structures, to private development speculators. The paper concludes on why it is important to explore the tensions that emerge when considering statecraft in multiple regimes.