ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the concept of law and urban development with a focus on property rights and land, exploring the potential of a new concept − that of collective rights in the public domain − to underpin a more equitable approach to the management of public space and challenge inappropriate regulation that criminalises the lives of the poor. The research draws on fieldwork in Dakar and Dar es Salaam, undertaken in 2010–12 as part of comparative research funded under the joint Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)/Department for International Development (DFID) poverty reduction programme on law, rights and regulation and street trade. The chapter then provides a brief critique of the treatment of property rights in the report of the Commission for Legal Empowerment of the Poor (CLEP) and focuses on fieldwork in Sénégal and Tanzania.
