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As population grows, industries blossom and demand for space increases, cities become the centre point for myriads of challenges for urban administrators. This chapter investigated challenges of urban development, land use changes and environmental impacts resulting from pressure on urban land. The study was primarily qualitative in nature and adopted a case study approach. The city of Ndola was selected for this purpose. Four institutions, namely, Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA), Water Resources Management Agency (WARMA), Kafubu Water and Sewerage Company (KWSC) and Ndola City Council (NCC), were used for data collection. At each institution, one official was purposively selected by management based on their knowledge and experience on the subject. The primary data were collected mainly through semi-structured questionnaires in face-to-face interviews. The chapter concludes that pressure for development land has resulted in increased demand for change of use, allocation and construction in environmentally vulnerable areas such as the Kafubu and Itawa River basins and their tributaries. This has further resulted in serious threats to the environment due to pollution of water sources from domestic and industrial waste. The chapter though argues that tools for overcoming these challenges are already provided for in the legislation, it is the implementation and effective coordination among agencies charged with planning, land allocation, water distribution and protection of the environment, such as ZEMA, WARMA, KWSC and NCC, which is lacking. Considering the foregoing, it is recommended that land and water administrative systems should be improved through among other things, effective consultation between various agencies involved in environmental management, zero tolerance to illegal land allocation and effective implementation of statutes.

Challenges of property data in developing markets have been reported by several authors. However, a deep understanding of the actual nature of this phenomenon in developing markets is largely lacking as in-depth studies into the actual nature of data challenge in such markets are scarce in literature. Specifically, the available literature lacks clarity about the actual nature of data challenges that developing markets pose to valuers and how this affects valuation practice. This study provides this understanding with focus on the Lagos property market.

This study utilises a qualitative research approach. A total of 24 valuers were selected using snowballing sampling technique, and in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted. Data collected were analysed using thematic analysis with the aid of NVivo 12 software.

The study finds that the main data-related challenge in the Lagos property market is the lack of database of market property transactions and not the lack or absence of transaction data as it has been emphasised in previous studies. Other data-related challenges identified include weak property rights institution with attendant transaction costs, underhand dealings among professionals, undocumented charges, undisclosed information, scarcity of data relating to specialised assets and limited access to the subject property and required documents during valuation. Also, the study unbundles the factors responsible for these challenges and how they affect valuation practice.

The study has implication for practice in the sense that the deeper knowledge of data challenges could provide insight into strategy to tackle the challenges.

This study contributes to the body of knowledge by offering a fresh and in-depth perspective to the issue of data challenges in developing markets and how the peculiar nature of the real estate market affects the nature of data challenges. The qualitative approach adopted in this study allowed for a deep enquiry into the phenomenon and resulted into an extended insight into the peculiar nature of data challenges in a typical developing property market.