Administration Systems
An educational resource by Dr Ken Lyons on testing
Land Administration improvements before investing.
Stop Guessing. Start Quantifying.
About Land Administration Systems
Land Administration Systems is an educational resource created to explore how Strategy Dynamics and simulation can be used to improve Land Administration in developing economies.
The website supports the e-book by Dr Ken Lyons, which focuses on testing proposed Land Administration improvements before investing. The aim is to help governments, development agencies, land administration professionals and project teams better understand whether proposed improvements are likely to achieve their targets during Development Assistance — and whether those improvements can be sustained after aid funding ends.
Dr Ken Lyons
Emeritus Professor and Retired Land Administration Practitioner
Dr Ken Lyons has had a long and varied career across land administration, surveying, mapping, GIS, academia, consulting and development assistance.
In later years, he spent more than 20 years working on land administration development projects in a variety of roles, including technical project director, design team leader, monitoring mission member and technical advisor. His work has included projects across the South Pacific, South-East Asia, the Philippines, India, Africa and China.
Ken holds Bachelor, Master and PhD degrees. He is an Emeritus Professor of the University of Queensland, where he was Head of the Geographical Sciences Department and founded the Australian Key Centre in Land Information Studies.
After leaving academia, Ken led his own consulting company for 30 years, working across government, industry, land and mapping agencies, natural resource management, emergency services and development projects.
The Story Behind This Book
From Field Experience to Strategy Dynamics
Dr Ken Lyons’ interest in land administration in developing economies began more than fifty years ago, after field and office experience in Australia led to his first extended experience working in a developing country. That experience made a lasting impression.
Over the following decades, Ken worked across surveying, mapping, digital cadasters, land information systems and land administration. Around thirty years ago, he began spending significant time on international development assistance projects focused on improving different aspects of land administration.
Through this work, and across many countries and projects, Ken observed a recurring challenge: improvements could often be achieved during a project, but sustaining those improvements after assistance ended was far more difficult. He came to describe this challenge as the “stickability” of improvements and benefits.
Several key observations shaped the thinking behind this book. Land administration is complex and often made up of hidden systems. While many people understand individual parts of the system in great detail, fewer see how the whole system works together over time. Ken also observed that the costs of running these systems well are often high, partly hidden, and difficult to sustain in developing economies.
He also recognised that change in land administration does not happen quickly. Even in developed economies, meaningful change can take time. In developing economies, where culture, institutional capacity and funding constraints may all play a role, it can be unrealistic to expect major improvements to be achieved and sustained within the short timeframes of many aid-funded projects.
These experiences led Ken to believe there was a need for additional tools in the project designer’s toolbox — tools that could help people think about Land Administration as a system and test improvement proposals quantitatively before investing.
In his search for an additional approach, Ken became interested in system dynamics and later came across Dr Kim Warren’s Strategy Dynamics approach and modelling software, now Silico. He found the approach practical and valuable, and has used it throughout this book.
This e-book was written to share that approach and encourage others to consider how Strategy Dynamics can be applied to Land Administration.
The Case for Simulation
Common Questions About Simulation & Strategy Dynamics
Strategy Dynamics provides a practical way to test proposed Land Administration improvements before major investment decisions are made. These common questions explain how simulation works, how it supports better planning, and why it can help improve the long-term success of Development Assistance projects.
Common Questions Covered
Why use simulation for Land Administration projects?
Simulation allows proposed improvements to be modelled before major investment decisions are made. Instead of relying only on assumptions, a simulation model can show how different parts of the Land Administration system may perform over time.
This can help decision-makers explore possible outcomes, test different scenarios, and better understand whether a proposed improvement is likely to work in practice.
What makes Strategy Dynamics different from common planning methods?
Common planning methods such as the Logframe and Theory of Change are useful, but they are generally qualitative. Strategy Dynamics adds value by making the development logic more explicit, quantified and transparent.
This means it can show what is expected to happen, how it may happen, when it may happen, and how different causes and effects interact over time.
Why are Land Registry examples used in the e-book?
Land Registry examples are used because a Land Registry is one of the most important operational parts of a Land Administration system. It holds key information about land and property rights and is often central to public trust, economic development and government revenue.
If improvements cannot be achieved and sustained in a Land Registry, it may be difficult to successfully improve other parts of the wider Land Administration system.
What the Book Explores
The book explores how Strategy Dynamics and simulation can provide an additional tool for testing proposed improvements before investing.
This can help decision-makers explore possible outcomes, test different scenarios, and better understand whether a proposed improvement is likely to work in practice.
Contact the author
We invite researchers, senior administrators and development professionals to explore this material, challenge the status quo, and consider how simulation can support better planning for land governance and development assistance projects.