**1. Introduction**

Peri-urban land is conceptualized as a third space between the urban and rural hinterlands where urban land development processes meet, mix and interact on edge of the cities [1]. It has ever changing characteristics of land uses and land ownership with time and investments changes [2]. It is also a zone where periurban dwellers and other actors are confronted with both urban and rural laws and institutions [3]. It is a space crying out for attention [4].

Peri-urban land is of capital importance in any society. It is place where transformations resulting from the dynamics of rapid urbanization are concentrated [5]. Much of the current urban growth is taking place at the peri-urban areas. Similarly, the competition for land between agriculture and non-agriculture (urban housing) is intense in the peri-urban areas [6]. Thus, peri-urban areas are centers for almost all new land developments and changes in property right systems both formally and informally [7].

From property rights perspective, peri-urban areas are places where new urban property rights emerge to replace traditional or customary rights [8, 9]. As urbanization is penetrating into the countryside, agricultural lands are increasingly converted into non-agricultural uses or urban built-up properties. Moreover, urbanization in sub-Saharan Africa is often accompanied by the termination of existing local land rights in the peri-urban areas and the birth of new and urbanized form of land/property rights [10].

In the transitional peri-urban areas, competition for land between local rural settlers engaged in agricultural practices and urban actors interested in this land for residential purposes is fierce. The competitions for land during transition could instigate institutional changes need to regulate the emerging land rights. It is obvious that peri-urban areas are largely characterized by a wide range coexistence of formal and informal land transaction practices. Consequently, they serve as a breeding ground for new types of land tenure systems (which can be either semi-legal such as occupation of state land or non-legitimated totally) and land transaction processes which exist side by side with formal and customary systems [5].

Peri-urban land from the Ethiopian context involves an agricultural rural land adjacent to municipal boundaries, often held by local peri-urban farming communities. It is also a land under constant threat of expropriation of by the government agents and with a very high possibility of being converted into urban built-up property [11]. Peri-urban areas in Ethiopia can also be described as mushrooming place for new unauthorized/informal settlement without basic utilities. Therefore, peri-urban land in Ethiopia is a fascinating arena displaying complementary and conflicting interests.

Moreover, land in the peri-urban areas in Ethiopia is in a rapid process of change from rural agricultural land to urban built up [11]. New urban built-up properties and associated rights are being evolved at the expense of rural agricultural land rights [12]. The process of new property and property right formation in Ethiopia is not well studied and explored. This book chapter primarily explores the process of new urban built-up property formation in the peri-urban areas of Ethiopia. Details on the peri-urbanization process are discussed in this chapter under six sections. The first section details with the conceptualization of periurban land. The second section discusses the property right system of Ethiopia focusing on the strength and limitations. The third section focuses on how the research was conducted. The fourth section covers about urban built-up property formation based on empirical analysis and debates. The reason for why the formal and informal channel of land development co-existence in the peri-urban areas is also explored in the fifth section of the book chapter. The final section covers the conclusion of the study.
