Contestations over land and property often connect the urban and the rural. Conflicts arise over the use of land and conversion of land uses in exurban and rural areas. These may be framed in terms of social justice, sustainability, farmland protection, nature conservation, resource extraction, excess soil, siting of urban infrastructure, protection of water, indigenous land claims, and urban development. Conflicts also arise when new forms of investment and financialization of land challenge existing uses of, and relationships with, land. Investments in and transformation of land by property developers continue to be contested, especially by opponents to urban sprawl, proponents for near urban agriculture, social justice advocates, and indigenous communities. Alternative conceptions of land beyond its commodity form underpin popular resistance by grassroots and indigenous movements, and by coalitions that bring together urban and rural interests in political and strategic engagement with the state and market actors. Competing discursive strategies vie to shape the form and content of regulatory policies that seek to address contested claims to land and property. The politics of land shape new institutional arrangements and state responses.
This panel highlights the relationships among property, land, land use and land conflicts in urban regions. Panelist are encouraged to examine these issues using a range of theoretical approaches, including political ecology, political economy, institutionalism, socio-legal studies, indigenous studies, feminist theory, and critical planning theory.
Moderator: Donald Leffers, Carleton University
Land-Based Conflicts: Contested Meanings of Land and Changes in Uses of Land Gerda Wekerle, York University
The Ground Beneath Us: Aggregate Mineral Extraction, The Duty to Consult, and Indigenous Environmental Governance Estair Van Wagner, York University
Confronting Rural-Urban Land Use Conflict with Environmental Stewardship: The Case of Milpa Alta Ecological Farming in Mexico City Tania Hernandez-Cervantes, York University
Meanings of Land and Property in Land Use Planning and Development: Urban Developers and Land Use Conflict in the Toronto Region Donald Leffers, Carleton University
