Communities, Land and Social Innovation

Book excerpt: This timely and thought-provoking book examines the contemporary struggle of communities over land ownership and use rights in rapidly urbanising areas. Analysing 12 key case studies from across four continents, it demonstrates changes in land and housing tenancy systems, showing how communities have revolted against the land hunger of speculators, agrobusiness and technocratic local authorities. Contributions from an international team of researchers, policy analysts and experts explore both neoliberal urban development policies and socially innovative initiatives, discussing different modes of solidarity action and commons building to ensure both access to land and housing security. Chapters also introduce a critical governance perspective to land tenure dynamics and examine the increasingly prominent hybridisation of land use rights systems and land markets, providing a state-of-the-art reflection of the field and contributing to an agenda for future research, policy and practice. Academics studying urban and regional planning, social innovation, and commoning will find this book to be essential reading. It will also interest policy makers and civil society organisations looking for a stronger understanding of land dynamics and urbanisation in order to set up new forms of land governance. Contributors include:P. Abramo, A.M. Brown, N. Busscher, N. Carofilis, C. Collado Solís, V. d'Auria Anitha, C.E. Estrada, L.A. Flores Hernandez, E.T. Gbeckor-Kove, A. Hasan, I. Hiergens, R. Krueger, A. Mehmood, L. Miranda, F. Moulaert, O.A. Nyapala, B. Pak, C. Parra, G. Payne, O. Peek, M. Quintana Molina, A. Sadiq, K. Scheerlinck, A. Suseelan, PVK Rameshwar, C. Tavares e Silva, G. Testori, S. Ud Din Ahmed, P. Van den Broeck, H. Verschure