Abstract :
G Jones and P Ward entitled their 1994 book on land policy for developing countries Methodology for Land and Housing Market Analysis (UCL Press, London). The title declares an intent to raise methodological issues to significance in land studies, and this merits intellectual attention because often methodology is pushed into the background in policy studies. But the book has wider intent and scope than concerns with methodology. It also brings to the fore matters of ‘political economy’ and the varied ideas and experiences in land studies among its contributing authors. Thus, evaluation should go beyond questions of methodological assessment to consideration of the ‘political economy’ of land studies and the nature of the ideas and experiences represented among some of the contributing authors. This sets out the aims and themes in this article. It will draw upon related publications associated with Wardʹs post-1989 research programme in land studies. This programme will be referred to as the ‘Cambridge studies’. The programme occupied the years 1989–1991 and consisted of doctoral studies by students at the Geography Department at the University of Cambridge, including Jonesʹ in Mexican land research and Macolooʹs in Kenyan housing and land research. This article presents interpretation, critique and correction.
