Property rights in informal settlements

Abstract

This article presents a systematic review of the literature and directions for future research on property rights in informal settlements. This research meets the academy's strategic perspectives in the current debates on the theme, with emphasis on Goal 11 of the 2030 Agenda for the sustainable development of the United Nations: “making cities and human settlements safe, resilient and sustainable.” A quantitative approach to various research results was applied by combining several techniques validated by recent literature. A total of 119 articles published in the last 58 years, available on the Scopus and Web of Science databases, were analyzed. The results included (i) studies on property law concentrated on formal tenure structures (ii) tenure systems, which are not the result of a formal lawmaking process but rather from customs, habits, and beliefs of residents of informal settlements. Future research possibilities were identified by applying the “New Institutional Economics” literature and a concept underlying the right to property, namely the perception of security of tenure. Finally, this study may provide insights, with a set of strategies extracted from the textual corpus, especially for developing countries' governments, aiming to strengthen informal settlements' secure property rights, distributive justice, and inclusive urban (re)development.