Developing a framework for mitigating violence and extortion from sub-urban inter-communal residential land conflicts via soft system methodology

Purpose: Access to affordable residential land in fast-developing sub-urban locations is challenging. This may have triggered an inter-communal land crisis that has enhanced violence and extortion in fast-developing sub-urban locations. Developing a framework to prevent or mitigate the crises may proffer solutions, and studies are scarce, particularly in developing countries. Thus, this study investigates the impact of violence and extortion emanating from inter-communal residential land conflicts on housing developers in Nigerian cities and develops a framework using soft system methodology (SSM) to prevent or mitigate them and, by extension, improve the achievement of sustainable development goal (SDG) 11. Design/methodology/approach: The researchers utilised an SSM to understand the impact of violence and extortion emanating from inter-communal residential land conflicts in southern Edo State, Nigeria. This study also employed a phenomenology type of qualitative research design via face-to-face, semi-structured 28 interview sessions across 2 sub-urban communities. The adopted interview method aligns with the seven phases of the SSM, and the findings were presented. Findings: Findings show that violence and extortion emanating from inter-communal land conflicts threaten the achievement of SDG 11. Physical harm, psychological harm, economic instability, undermining of the government’s legitimacy, erosion of social trust and bribery and corruption are the most significant impacts of violence and extortion on housing developers. Originality/value: There are a few studies of violence and extortion emanating from inter-communal residential land conflicts on housing developers using data from developing countries, but none regarding how a framework using SSM can prevent or mitigate them and, by extension, improve the achievement of SDG 11.