Community Land Trust as an Instrument for Abolition Democracy

Keywords: community land trust, abolition democracy, urban planning
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Sunday
Session Start / End Time: 2/27/2022 11:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/27/2022 12:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 6

Abstract

From chattel slavery to the racialized housing crisis, private property has been central in reconfiguring a political structure that excludes BIPOC from decision-making on land use and planning. The first Community Land Trust (CLT) was the civil rights leaders’ attempt to undermine racial regimes of ownership and to realize Black liberation through collective ownership and democratic governance of land. In this paper, I investigate the challenges and struggles of CLTs in New York City for acquiring and developing publicly owned, underutilized land. I examine how they attempt to reshape the local policy and political structure to accommodate their democratic governance model. I argue that the CLTs transform the vacant lots into space for abolition democracy by engaging the surrounding communities in planning to envision their collective experiences of freedom and self-determination. The case study provides policy implications for building policy infrastructure in hyper-gentrified cities that support a community-driven plan that centers on the perspectives and participation of historically marginalized communities.