United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Land and Human Rights
This is a very useful resource on covenants and treaties that guide land governance internationally. It also has a repository of case laws covering important dimensions of citizenship such as forced eviction and access to land by women. The website also has reports of Special Rapporteurs on Internally Displaced Persons, Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Adequate Housing and Right to Food. The website can be accessed here: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/LandAndHR/Pages/LandandHumanRightsIndex.aspx.
World Bank Conference of Land and Poverty
Since the year 2000 the World Bank organises an annual conference on Land and Poverty. The conference website is a very useful resource to access the thousands of papers presented. The link to the most recent website is provided here: https://www.worldbank.org/en/events/2018/08/13/land-and-poverty-conference-2019-catalyzing-innovation.
Human Settlement Reports
Since 1986, UN Habitat has prepared the Human Settlements Report. So far ten reports have been produced in this series. These reports provide a status review on specific issues such as urbanisation, slums and urban mobility. There are also regional reports focusing on continents. Reports are accessible here: https://unhabitat.org/knowledge/research-and-publications.
Land Governance Assessment Framework (LGAF)
This is a tool developed by the World Bank to help countries to govern their land resources. The framework has 116 dimensions organised in nine panels namely Land Rights Recognition, Right to Forest and Common Lands, Urban Land Use, Public Land Management, Transfer of Large Tract of Land to Investors, Public Provision of Land Information (Registry and Cadaster), Land Valuation and Taxation, Dispute Resolution and Institutional Arrangement and Policies. Score cards from 39 countries using LGAF are available here: https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/land-governance-assessment-framework.
International Property Rights Index
Since 2007, Property Rights Alliance (an organisation based in Washington D. C.) has produced an index comparing different states in the world. The report ranks the states on ‘the strength of the protection of both physical and intellectual property rights in countries around the world’. In the report of 2019 a total of 129 countries is included, covering 93.8 per cent of the global population. Ten factors are considered in the creation of index from three domains. Apart from the domain of Physical Property Rights, two further domains are considered: namely, Legal and Political Environment and Intellectual Property Rights. The index and reports are available here: https://www.internationalpropertyrightsindex.org/.
The Global Liveability Report
Every year since 2016, global cities are ranked on a liveability index by The Intelligence Unit of The Economist. The measures used in the assessment primarily capture the urban quality of life through parameters of infrastructure, healthcare, education, stability, culture and environment. These reports have broadened the scope of urban planning, which had hardly paid attention to the aspirations of people in the cities. The reports are available here: https://www.eiu.com/topic/liveability.
European Observatory on Homelessness
From the point of view of access to housing in welfare states, the European Journal of Homelessness and other resources available at the European Observatory on Homelessness is very helpful https://www.feantsaresearch.org/en.
International Journal of Social Welfare (2013) Vol. 22, Issue 1
This is a special supplementary issue on how the ideas of social citizenship travel across the world. The articles included here reflect on the issues of property in land, cash transfer and human rights.
The Journal of Housing Economics (2018) Vol. 40
This is a special issue on ‘race’ and the city. The special issue addresses the question of housing segregation and discrimination in rental and owner-occupied housing markets.
International Journal of the Commons (2019) Vol. 13, Issue 1
This is a special issue on the question of common property resources with reference to feminist questions. The mission of this journal is to look at the question of access and control of property from the perspective of the commons.
The Journal of Peasant Studies (2013) Vol. 40, Issue 3 and Development and Change (2013) Vol. 44, Issue 2
These are special issues on land grabbing focusing on the continents of Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Journal of Land Use Policy (2009) Vol. 26, Issue 1
This is a special issue on formalisation of land rights in the Global South. The question of security of titles of property is examined in this special issue, in the context of traditional approaches and informal land rights.
Cities: The International Journal of Urban Policy and Planning (2014) Vol 14, Part B
This is a special issue on the question of vacant land in urban planning. As several countries struggle to release the valuable land parcels from speculative urban property holders for development purposes, this special issue discusses good practices around the world.
