Transforming Informal Settlements: A New Policy Brief on Community Land Trusts

More than 1.2 billion people currently live in informal settlements worldwide, and that number is projected to grow to three billion by 2050. Conventional responses—individualized titling and top-down upgrading programs—too often deliver public investment straight into the hands of speculators, displacing the very residents they were meant to help.

The International Center for Community Land Trusts, the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) invite you to a conversation on the community land trust as a tool for transforming self-built informal settlements without displacing the people who live there. The session previews the upcoming policy brief, “Community Land Trusts: A Tool to Transform Informal Settlements to the Benefit of Resident Communities,” ahead of its publication. Drawing on the Caño Martín Peña CLT in Puerto Rico and emerging initiatives elsewhere in the Global South, this policy brief provides an overview of how CLTs can secure tenure and enable upgrading of informal settlements, and describes both the benefits to and challenges of implementation.

Speakers will bring legal, institutional, and on-the-ground perspectives to the conversation. The discussion is designed for public officials, CLT practitioners, community activists, and researchers working on land tenure and informal settlements around the world. The event will be conducted in English, with live captions available in 60+ languages to support accessibility.

Speakers

Enrique Silva, Chief Program Officer, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy (US)
Francesca Lionetti, Associate Expert, Housing Rights, Diversity and Inclusion, UN-Habitat (Germany, Kenya)
María E. Hernández-Torrales, Attorney, Community Economic Development Law Clinic, University of Puerto Rico; founding member, Caño Martín Peña CLT (Puerto Rico)
Ricardo Carneiro, Architect and Researcher, Estúdio Periférico; co-leading the Cova de Moura CLT effort
Tarcyla Fidalgo, Lawyer; Favela CLT Project Coordinator, Catalytic Communities; Program Lead, Global South CLT Initiative, International Center for CLTs; lead author of the policy brief (Brazil)