Terra Nostra Press - Center for Community Land Trust Innovation

AVAILABLE NOW!

On Common Ground: International Perspectives on the Community Land Trust

A collection of twenty-six original essays, written by forty-two scholars and practitioners from a dozen countries, tracing the growth and diversification of the international community land trust movement.

AVAILABLE NOW!

La inseguridad de la tenencia de la tierra en América Latina y el Caribe

The first volume in Terra Nostra Press monograph series—and the first of several that will be translated into Spanish. Its thematic focus is the pernicious problem of land tenure insecurity in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Terra Nostra Press logo An imprint of the Center for Community Land Trust Innovation, Terra Nostra Press publishes books, monographs, and manuals in support of the Center’s work. These publications showcase the theory and practice of community land trusts, along with the stories of reflective practitioners from around the world who are laying the foundation for an international CLT movement. Related topics include: garden cities, community-led development, permanently affordable housing, cooperative ownership of land, housing, and enterprises, urban agriculture, neighborhood revitalization, reclaiming the commons, and sustainable development.

Meet the Co-Editors of On Common Ground

Contributing author (and CLT Center staff member) Dave Smith interviews the three co-editors of On Common Ground: Line Algoed, John Davis, and María E. Hernández-Torrales.

Upcoming Publications

COMMON GROUND MONOGRAPH: Why Community Land Trusts? The Philosophy Behind an Unconventional Form of Tenure: Spanish and English Editions

Digital and print-on-demand
Dates of publication: English Edition (July 2020), Spanish Edition (November 2020)
Edited by John Emmeus Davis, Line Algoed, María E. Hernández-Torrales

The six essays contained in this monograph were selected from On Common Ground: International Perspectives on the Community Land Trust, published in June 2020. They are gathered here because each explores, from a slightly different angle, various justifications for the community land trust.

CLTs are not all alike. Among the hundreds that exist in a dozen different countries, there are numerous variations in how these organizations are structured, how their lands are utilized, how development is done, and how the stewardship of housing is operationalized. What is called a "community land trust" can vary greatly from one place to another.

Despite this lack of uniformity, scholars and practitioners have advanced a similar set of moral, political, and practical arguments in favor of this strategy. Their multi-faceted case for the CLT says: When land is owned for the common good of a place-based community, present and future; when development is done by an organization that is a creature of that community, rooted in it, accountable to it, and guided by it; when stewardship is deliberate, diligent, and durable . . . justice is more likely to be achieved. And more likely to last.

Chapters

Chapter 1: Yves Cabannes &Philip Ross, “The Once and Future Garden City.”
Chapter 2: John Emmeus Davis, “Common Ground: Community-Owned Land as a Platform for Equitable and Sustainable Development.”
Chapter 3: Steve King, “Making a Case for CLTs in All Markets, Even Cold Ones.”
Chapter 4: Verena Lenna, “Preserving Urban Generativity: The Role of Porous Spaces in CLT Projects.”
Chapter 5: María E. Hernández-Torrales, “A Reflection on the Bioethics of Community Land Trusts.”
Chapter 6: John Emmeus Davis, “Better Together: The Challenging, Transformative Complexity of Community, Land, and Trust.

COMMON GROUND MONOGRAPH: Community Land Trust Applications in Urban Neighborhoods: English Edition

Digital and print-on-demand
Date of publication: English Edition (August 2020)
Edited by John Emmeus Davis, Line Algoed, María E. Hernández-Torrales

The seven essays contained in this monograph were selected from On Common Ground: International Perspectives on the Community Land Trust, published in June 2020. They are gathered here because each has a similar focus on projects and uses of the community land trust in dense urban neighborhoods within larger cities. Included in the monograph’s contents are the following chapters:

Chapter 1: Harry Smith & Tony Hernandez, “Take a Stand, Own the Land: Profile of Dudley Neighbors Inc. in Boston Massachusetts.”
Chapter 2: Dave Smith, “The London Community Land Trust: A Story of People, Power, and Perseverance.”
Chapter 3: Geert de Pauw & Nele Aernouts, “From Pressure Group to Government Partner: The Story of the Brussels Community Land Trust.”
Chapter 4: Alan Gottlieb & Aaron Miripol, “Stewardship of Urban Real Estate for Long-term Benefit: Profile of the Urban Land Conservancy in Denver, Colorado.”
Chapter 5: Susannah Bunce & Joshua Barndt, “Origins and Evolution of Urban Community Land Trusts in Canada.”
Chapter 6, Nate Ela & Greg Rosenberg, “Lands in Trust for Urban Farming: Toward a Scalable Model.”
Chapter 7: “Steve King, “Making a Case for CLTs in All Markets, Even Cold Ones.”

COMMON GROUND MONOGRAPH: The Growth of Community Land Trusts in England and Europe: English Edition

Digital and print-on-demand
Date of publication: English Edition (September 2020)
Edited by John Emmeus Davis, Line Algoed, María E. Hernández-Torrales

The four essays contained in this monograph were selected from On Common Ground: International Perspectives on the Community Land Trust, published in June 2020. They are gathered here because of a similar focus on the growth of local organizations, national networks, and cross-national communication among community land trusts in England and Europe. Included in the monograph’s contents are the following chapters:

Chapter 1: Yves Cabannes &Philip Ross, “The Once and Future Garden City.”
Chapter 2: Steven Hill, Catherine Harrington, and Tom Archer, “Messy Is Good: Origins and Evolution of the CLT Movement in England.”
Chapter 3: Geert de Pauw & Nele Aernouts, “From Pressure Group to Government Partner: The Story of the Brussels Community Land Trust.”
Chapter 4: Geert de Pauw & Joaquin de Santos, “Beyond England: Origins and Evolution of the CLT Movement in Europe.”

COMMON GROUND MONOGRAPH: Impactful Development vs. Community Empowerment: Balancing the Dual Goals of a Global CLT Movement: Spanish and English Editions

Digital and print-on-demand
Dates of publication: English Edition (October 2020) Spanish Edition (December 2020)
Edited by John Emmeus Davis, Line Algoed, María E. Hernández-Torrales

Six of the seven essays contained in this monograph were selected from On Common Ground: International Perspectives on the Community Land Trust, published in June 2020. A seventh essay, written more recently, was added as a provocative supplement to the others. They are gathered here because of a similar focus on a key challenge faced by community land trusts throughout the world: how to balance competing goals of scale and accountability.

Most CLTs hope to accumulate a large enough portfolio of land, housing, and other buildings to make a major impact on promoting equitable and sustainable development within their chosen communities. At the same time, most CLTs have an ongoing commitment to empowering residents of those communities, providing a mechanism by which they may shape the future of the places in which they live while giving them a voice in guiding and governing the CLT itself. These aspirational goals are sometimes compatible and sometimes not, pulling an organization in opposite directions. Leaders of a local CLT must a find a way to make them work together.

Some of the chapters included in the present monograph directly discuss the tension between these competing goals. Others showcase the work of local CLTs that have been especially effective in resolving this tension to bring impactful development and community empowerment into balance.

Chapter 1: Tony Pickett & Emily Thaden, “Combining Scale and Community Control to Advance Mixed-Income Neighborhoods.”
Chapter 2: Harry Smith & Tony Hernandez, “Take a Stand, Own the Land: Profile of Dudley Neighbors Inc. in Boston Massachusetts.”
Chapter 3: Brenda Torpy, “The Best Things in Life Are Perpetually Affordable: Profile of the Champlain Housing Trust, Burlington, Vermont.”
Chapter 4: Dave Smith “The London Community Land Trust: A Story of People, Power, and Perseverance.”
Chapter 5: Line Algoed, María E. Hernández-Torrales, Lyvia Rodriguez Del Valle & Karla Torres Sueiro, “Origins, Achievements, and the Proof-of-concept Example of the Caño Martin Peña CLT.”
Chapter 6: Olivia Williams, “Community Control of Land: Thinking Beyond the Generic Community Land Trust.”
Chapter 7: John Emmeus Davis, “Better Together: The Challenging, Transformative Complexity of Community, Land, and Trust.”

On Common Ground: International Perspectives on the Community Land Trust: Spanish Edition

COMMON GROUND MONOGRAPH: Community Land Trusts and Informal Settlements in the Global South: English Edition

Digital and print-on-demand
Date of publication: English Edition (January 2021),
Edited by John Emmeus Davis, Line Algoed, María E. Hernández-Torrales

Six of the seven essays contained in this monograph were selected from On Common Ground: International Perspectives on the Community Land Trust, published in June 2020. A seventh essay, written more recently, was added to provide a context for the others. They all have a similar focus on using community-owned land to regularize tenure in informal settlements.

Throughout the world, but especially in the Global South, there are millions of people who occupy urban or rural lands – or who make use of land-based resources like water, forests, pastures, and arable fields – without possessing a legally protected, formally registered right to do so. Their tenure is informal and insecure. Displacement looms as an ever-present possibility.

The chapters contained in this monograph discuss various configurations and applications of the community land trust as a strategic response to informality, promoting and protecting security of tenure for vulnerable populations.

Chapter 1: Patricia Basile & Meagan M. Ehlenz, “Examining Responses to Informality in the Global South: A Framework for Community Land trusts and Informal Settlements.”
Chapter 2: Line Algoed, María E. Hernández-Torrales, Lyvia Rodriguez Del Valle & Karla Torres Sueiro “Seeding the CLT in Latin America and the Caribbean: Origins, Achievements, and the Proof-of-concept Example of the Caño Martin Peña CLT”
Chapter 3: Tarcyla Fidalgo Ribeiro, Line Algoed, María E. Hernández-Torrales, Alejandro Cotté Morales & Theresa Williamson, “Community Land Trusts in Informal Settlements: Adapting Features of Puerto Rico’s Caño Martín Peña CLT to Address Land Insecurity in the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.”
Chapter 4: Claire Simonneau & Ellen Bassett, with Emmanuel Midheme, “Seeding the CLT in Africa: Lessons from the Early Efforts to Establish Community Land Trusts in Kenya.”
Chapter 5: Hannah Sholder & Arif Hasan, “The Origins and Evolution of the CLT Model in South Asia.”
Chapter 6: Kirby White & Nola White, “A Watershed Land Trust in Honduras: Profile of the Fundacion Eco Verde Sostenible.”
Chapter 7: Liz Alden Wily, “Challenges for the New Kid on the Block – Collective Property.”