In India, land continues to be of enormous economic, social, and symbolic relevance. The way in which land can be accessed and its ownership documented is at the core of the livelihood of the large majority of the poor, especially in rural and tribal areas and determines the extent to which...

By reviewing the Bank's experience with shelter lending, this paper seeks to address the question of whether the Bank has helped developing countries deal with the inevitable problems that arise with urbanization, particularly problems with the provision of shelter. It reviews the Bank's...

This study analyzes the difficulties a poor community experienced in accessing peri-urban land in South Africa. This community, composed largely of laid-off farm workers, wanted to buy their own farm in a peri-urban area west of Johannesburg to establish a mixed-use settlement. The Ethembalethu...