"Urban LandMark" is short for the Urban Land Markets Programme Southern Africa. Based in Pretoria, the programme was set up in May 2006 with seven years of funding from the UK's Department for International Development until March 2013. The initiative is now hosted at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in South Africa.

Urban LandMark was designed to play a short-term, catalytic role. Between 2006 and 2013 it was financially managed by FinMark Trust. FinMark Trust is already applying the 'making markets work for the poor' thinking in financial and housing markets, which are relevant to the urban land markets question.

What we do

Urban LandMark is working to make urban land markets work for the poor by:

• Defining what 'making markets work for the poor' means for urban land and developing a distinctive voice for this approach,
• Mobilising diverse players, including the private sector and civil society, to come up with innovative ways to achieve this objective,
• Promoting policy dialogue between people , and
• Bringing about change in government policy and implementation, and in private sector praxis.

Five areas of activity

Research 

Research projects cover four sectors: people, place, governance and the market, in an integrated way.

Dissemination 

Research is disseminated widely to industry, government, NGOs and other interested people.

Support 

Individuals affiliated with Urban LandMark are available to government and the private sector to take part in task teams.

Professional development 

To ensure industry professionals incorporate MMW4P ideas in their work, we assist with the development of courses and academic exchange programmes as well as forums and seminars.

Networking and advocacy 

We develop and maintain relationships with industry and government players, and build partnerships with academic institutions and organisations, local and international, working on urban land issues to share information and participate in joint activities.