Most research to date has focused on the widespread phenomenon of “informal” construction in developing countries. However, advanced-economy countries also encounter illegal development, though probably at different scales and attributes compared with developing countries. Yet despite the...

The purpose of this chapter is to delve into housing rights as expressed in national constitutions. We report on all 189 constitutions of UN member states, describing and evaluating them in terms of what they say about the right to housing. As a benchmark for evaluation, we turn to the UN’s...

The idea of reaping the 'windfalls' in land values due to planning decisions is by no means new. The underlying rationale is that much of the value of real property is created not by the landowner's work, but by government policies that grant development rights or by broad economic and social...

Enactment of new or revised planning laws is a booming business today around the globe, including in many developing countries. As in the case of many other laws, the tendency in developing countries has been to model planning laws along the lines of those enacted and practiced in one of the...