Urban land policy and new land tenure paradigms: Legitimacy vs. legality in Brazilian cities

This article provides a historical overview of land use policies and urban development in Brazil, especially during the period when the country experienced high rates of urbanization. Since most land use policy is enacted at the national level, a synopsis of Federal legislation regulating property rights and land tenure is presented, including a recent law known as the City Statute, which institutes new parameters and tools to advance the regularization of informal settlements in urban areas. A description of how urban planning tools have been used by several local governments, in isolation and in combination with land use policies, to regularize informal settlements follows an exploration of new land tenure paradigms that focus on legitimacy rather than legality. The paper concludes with an analysis of prospects for land ownership and security of tenure for the urban poor in Brazil.