Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on governance and law in condominiums rather than on broader categories of tenure such as ‘common interest’ communities and other multi-ownership property forms that overlap with condominium governance and law but are less specific. It shows a source of perpetual conflict, severe contradiction, specious exercises of power, and deeply constituted frailty. The book argues that condominium is instead – and foremost – an invented legal, social, and spatial relationship among property owners and other constituents. It explores excellent earlier collections, but is specific to the intricacies of condominium governance and law as it opens more new lines of inquiry. The book reveals new ways of thinking about condominiums as well as new governing and legal trends. It documents numerous key recent developments in condominium governance and law from across the globe and in an urban context.