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Property from Below

Project Members
Engagement Method
Economics, Finance, Policy
Action Area
Housing
Strategic Priority
Closing the Wealth Gap

The recent years have witnessed a globalization of property rights: the extension, across all world regions, of the Western conception of property rights over land, through titling schemes and the privatization of formerly community-owned land and natural resources. This project questions the trend towards treating land as a commodity, and its allocation according to market mechanisms. As we enter an era of resource scarcity and as competition increases for land and associated natural resources, purchasing power cannot become the sole or primary criterion for allocation of land, and the law of supply and demand in increasingly financialized markets cannot become the sole metric through which the value of land is determined. This project shows that there are alternatives to these trends towards commodification and privatization. Following a diagnosis and critique of the current evolutions, the project illustrates how, on different continents, social movements are challenging the global enclosures movement that is taking place and documents alternatives to commodified property, many of which are the result of the inventiveness and mobilization of social actors.

Property Rights from Below Commodification of Land and the Counter-Movement

Recent years have seen a globalization of property rights as the Western conception of property over land has extended across the world. As formerly community-owned land and natural resources are privatized and titling schemes proliferate, Property Rights from Below questions the trend toward treating land as a commodity and explores alternatives to the Western model.

As we enter an era of resource scarcity and as competition for land and associated natural resources increases, purchasing power cannot become the sole criterion for land allocation; and the law of supply and demand in increasingly financialized markets cannot become the sole metric through which the value of land is determined. Using a range of examples from around the world, Property Rights from Below demonstrates that alternatives to this model often emerge from social innovations supported by local communities and that there is an urgent need for a broader political imagination when it comes to land governance.

This innovative cross-disciplinary perspective on the pressing problems surrounding global property rights will be of interest to academics, students and professionals with an interest in property law, development economics and land governance.

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