Holding Land in Common within Cities

In the Global South, access to decent housing and secure land tenure remains a great challenge for most urban dwellers. Yet secure land tenure is a key component of urban resilience. This paper summarizes the results of a desk-based study on collective tenure in cities in developing countries, which was conducted in 2016. This study is part of a wider research program led by AFD, which refers to the analytical framework of the Commons with the aim of renewing the vision of development aid. The present paper explores to what extent collective tenure in urban context can help build inclusive and sustainable cities.
In its first section, the paper describes the potential contribution that the analytical framework of the Commons makes to the issue of securing land rights for the urban poor.
In a second section, the paper draws lessons from three of the six case studies developed in the study: housing cooperatives, collective land titling and Community Land Trust. Finally, the last section highlights the main features and effects of collective tenure in urban context, and suggests some research questions for further research.