Democratization of the access to the urban land in Colombia and Brazil: normative scope and limits

Abstract

This article aims to examine the role of the Law and, specifically, Brazil and Colombia’s urban regulations in the democratization of access to urban land and housing. From a market logic point of view, low-income populations cannot access housing, which reinforces socio-spatial segregation and evidences the need for management in public urban land. The analysis of the scope and limits of the regulations was made from the historical contextualization and evaluation of land management instruments in accordance with their capability to contribute to the acquisition of properties for the implementation of social housing. It can be affirmed that the existing instruments in both countries seek to guarantee the social function of property, to face speculative retention of properties and to promote the equitable distribution of burdens and benefits of urbanization. However, the materialization of these instruments is limited by the weakness of the municipal territorial management and judiciary conservatism. In short, the proposed analysis can contribute to build new strategies based on the needs and specifics of each country to construct more inclusive territories.