Informal Development Due to Market Pressure -- A Case Study on Cyprus and the Role of Land Administration
Results of a detailed two-year research conducted by the authors are presented in this paper. It is shown that, among other reasons, informal constructions also appear in several attractive European areas due to increased market pressure. In the first part an introduction on the current state-of-the-art of informal development in Europe is presented and the findings of the research are given in brief about three Mediterranean countries: Spain, Albania, and Greece. Although the social, economic, administrative and cultural situation and the extent of informal development vary among these countries, current identified major causes for informal development are: migration in search of work and shelter, lack of affordable housing, and increased market pressure combined with inefficient land administration and/or permitting and controlling procedures. In part two of this paper, an in-depth research on Cyprus, a country which had never experienced informal development until recently, is presented. The research aims to focus especially on the risk due to increased market interest, whose economic benefits overwhelm even the long established regulatory systems for the management and administration of land. 
This original research shows that informal development is emerging in Cyprus as well. This very new phenomenon is caused by the rapid national and international market pressure in both urban and rural areas of the island. A description of the land administration tools and the procedures regulating land development is given; weaknesses of the system to meet the current needs are identified; and proposals for its improvement are offered. Relevant statistics are derived through a research on the cadastral and planning data. It is proved that recent interest in popular areas often leads to informal development.Considerations are presented concerning the importance of a continuously upgrading multipurpose and reliable land administration and regulatory system, which is vital for the security of tenure, the support of the emerging market needs, and for providing for sustainable land-uses.
Land administration in the UNECE region : development trends and main principles
of title: a summary of documents and facts showing the ownership of a piece of land or property. Adjudication: the process whereby the ownership and rights in land are officially determined. Adverse possession: the occupation of land inconsistent with the rights of the true owner. Alienation: the power of an owner to dispose of interest in land or property. In particular land may be alienated from the State and granted to private individuals. Amalgamation: the unification of two or more basic property units into one unit in the registers. Appraisal: estimating the market value of real property. Appraiser: a person who estimates the value of real property. Assessment: determining the tax level for a property based upon its relative market value. Assignment: the transfer of property rights from one person to another, for example in a lease or mortgage certificate. In civil law, this is also known as a cession. Basic property unit (BPU): the extent of land that is recorded in the register as one homogeneous unit. Beneficial owner: the person who is entitled to the benefit of a property. Bona fide: in civil law and common law, of good faith. Boundary: either the physical objects marking the limits of a property or an imaginary line or surface marking the division between two legal estates. Also used to describe the division between features with different administrative, legal, land-use, topographic, etc., characteristics. Cadastral index map: a map showing the legal property framework of all land within an area, including property boundaries, administrative boundaries, parcel identifiers, sometimes the area of each parcel, road reserves and administrative names. Cadastral map: an official map showing land parcel boundaries. Cadastral maps may also show forms of land use such as buildings and may be held in digital form as a database. Cadastral surveying: the surveying and mapping of land parcel boundaries. Cadastre: a type of land information system that records land parcels as part of a country’s land administration, conveyancing or land registration system. The term includes: Juridical cadastre: a register of ownership of parcels of land; Fiscal cadastre: a register of properties recording their value; Land-use cadastre: a register of land use; Multi-purpose cadastre: a register including many attributes of land parcels. Caution or caveat: an entry in the registers or court records preventing certain actions being taken without notice to the person registering the caution or caveat. Charge: an interest in property for example when held as security for a debt. Civil law: the law laid down by the State regarding the rights of inhabitants. Also known as Roman law.
The development of biological systematics : Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu, nature, and the natural system
A reevaluation of the history of biological systematics that discusses the formative years of the so-called natural system of classification in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Shows how classifications came to be treated as conventions; systematic practice was not linked to clearly articulated theory; there was general confusion over the "shape" of nature; botany, elements of natural history, and systematics were conflated; and systematics took a position near the bottom of the hierarchy of sciences.