Dispute Resolution Research in Latin America

Send this page
Published January, 2000
Keywords:
CBI Practitioners: 
David Fairman
CBI Practitioners: 
Merrick Hoben
Clients: 
Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

 

Development challenges associated with growth are all too familiar in Latin America. In most cities, rapid urbanization, concentrated patterns of spatial growth and illegal settlements on the urban peripheries have strained the availability of housing, sanitation, transportation and infrastructure for development. The result is a metropolitan landscape of wealthy enclaves surrounded by squatter settlements, informal and illegal patterns of land use and lack of infrastructure and basic services. Municipal responses to these pressures have been hampered by limited institutional capacity to develop and implement land use plans and manage conflict. Resolving these conflicts in ways that improve economic efficiency, social equity and environmental stability is one of the most critical challenges facing municipal governments in Latin America today.

 

Study Objectives
To address these issues, The Lincoln Institute for Land Policy supported a CBI study, led by CBI Managing Director David Fairman and Senior Associate Merrick Hoben, to pursue research on the following questions regarding urban land use conflicts:

  • What are the most commonly used institutional mechanisms for planning urban land use and resolving disputes in Latin America?
  • To what extent have government agencies, foundations and NGOs in the region attempted to convene multi-stakeholder groups to plan urban land use and resolve site-specific disputes?
  • How have multi-stakeholder dispute resolution and consensus building efforts been designed and implemented?
  • Compared to traditional methods, how well have multi-stakeholder approaches succeeded in resolving disputes on land use plans and specific sites?
  • How do the cost, time and human resources required for dispute resolution / consensus building compare to traditional processes?
  • What political, institutional and technical factors appear to be most critical to success?

 

To accelerate the research effort, CBI attended the first Brazilian Conference on Urban Law held in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, in December 2000, and met a number of key contacts in the field. CBI subsequently focused its research on Brazil, where significant opportunity exists to examine a diverse range of participatory policy tools implemented since the return of democratic institutions in the mid-1980s.

 

Case Studies
CBI worked with Brazilian researchers to develop two case studies in the cities of Belo Horizonte and Recife. In each of these cities, a different decision making tool — participatory budgeting and multi-stakeholder land zoning strategies – is being used to address conflicts over squatter settlements. Within each case, CBI compared and contrasted examples of successful and failed consensus building processes. The cases draw policy lessons for government agencies, advocates for the urban poor and land use planners.

 

For more information on this case, please contact Managing Director David Fairman.