A pathway to urban sustainability: Understanding the challenges of unpopulated allocated residential lands in Oman

• Published in: Cities 2024-06, Vol.149, p.104921, Article 104921
• Main Authors: Al-Hashim, Aliya, Alalouch, Chaham
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Contributing factors; Focus group; Land allocation; Residential land; Unpopulated neighborhood
• ISSN: 0264-2751; 1873-6084
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2024.104921

The right to adequate housing is recognized as fundamental human right as per the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It is globally agreed that access to land is the core foundation for realizing the right to housing. However, policies related to access-to-land right has varied between different countries resulting in multiple urban challenges. Several oil-rich countries, such as Oman, address access-to-land right by means of land-allocation. In Oman, lottery system is used whereby citizens participate to get a residential plot form the government for minimum fees. This particular policy has resulted in a large number of land plots being unbuilt, which in turn resulted in fragmentation in cities. To address this issue a facilitated interactive focus group study, based on the social constructivism paradigm, was conducted in Oman aiming at identifying the factors that influence individuals' decision to build on the allocated land. The study concludes by identifying obstacles that prevent citizens from making building decision after receiving the land, which are in order of their significance: Need, Financial Capability, Location, Services and Neighborhood Quality. This will provide evidence-based guidelines for policy makers to overcome this challenge and achieve better urban sustainability aligned with the country's 2040 vision. •In Oman, lottery system is used whereby citizens participate to get a residential plot form the government for minimum fees.•The Omani government has distributed an estimated around 613,552 plots from 2001 to 2020. Over the past 10 years, 17,412 plots have been distributed in Muscat Governorate. Out of which 5,563 plots (32 %) were sold and 3,195 plots (19 %) were built on and remaining 8,654 plots (50 %) are kept as is, owner has not yet built on it.•This study designed a systematic framework to extract the contributing factors that affect the citizens’ building decision on government allocated land.•It was concluded from the study that the factors that impacted the citizens' building decision were Need, Financial Capability, Location, Services, Neighborhood Quality.