Urban and environmental management challenges considering transformations in property law in Brazil

Abstract

Hegemony of private property in Brazil is undergoing transformations which have made its absolute nature relative. Both in the urban and environmental fields, notions arising from reflections and practices, and mirrored in a number of legal frameworks, have brought new ideas to debate, as well as land and environmental management practices. The contributions made by the National Environmental Policy Act of 1981, the Federal Constitution of 1988, the City Statute of 2001, among other normative regulations, have led to different consequences, including in the field of private individual rights, collective rights and diffuse rights. Based on the guiding principle behind legislation, we attempt to discuss the conflicts and contradictions found in different types of property rights and their close ties with land ownership and home ownership, affecting the universe of reflections and practices of planning, as well as land and environmental management.