ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the legal process that led to the expulsion of about two hundred Roma from a squatter settlement in Malmo, Sweden. It begins with an overview of some theoretical perspectives on the role of spatial tactics and property regulations in the governance of homeless and otherwise marginalised Roma, followed by some brief notes on the local context and history of the settlement in Norra Sorgenfri. The chapter presents the stage for a chronological account and analysis of the administrative and legal process that resulted in the demolition of the settlement. Mariana Valverde calls for an engagement with the mechanisms of legal governance that pays close attention to the politics of legal technicalities. The chapter discusses on the entanglements and effects of property regulations and environmental law in the Norra Sorgenfri case. As a set of legal relations, property, of course, involves responsibilities that reflect norms and principles of order, propriety and public good.
