On Common Ground
23 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 4 years ago -ON COMMON GROUND is a collection of original essays, written by 42 scholars and practitioners from a dozen countries, tracing the growth and diversification of the international community land trust movement.
A community land trust (CLT) is a transformative strategy of community-led development on community-owned land that has taken root in the Global North and is now spreading to the Global South. CLTs produce and preserve affordably priced homes, community gardens, retail spaces, and a variety of neighborhood facilities – all developed under the guidance of the people who live nearby; all managed to remain permanently affordable for people of modest means.
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Episodes
Introduction - On Common Ground - María E. Hernández-Torrales, John Emmeus Davis, and Line Algoed
May 26, 2020 22:30 - 33 minutes - 45.5 MBThe book’s editors explain why they decided to produce On Common Ground, what it contains, and how they hope the book will be used. They acknowledge the variety of ways in which CLTs are being organized, operated, and applied throughout the world, while pointing to values and commitments that are shared by most CLT practitioners and scholars, including the 42 contributors to the present volume.
Chapter 1 - In Land We Trust: Key Features and Common Variations of Community Land Trusts in the USA - John Emmeus Davis
May 26, 2020 22:15 - 36 minutes - 33.1 MBThe global CLT landscape is one of enormous diversity, even in the United States where the “classic” CLT was conceived. Defining ownership, organizational, and operational features of this “classic” model are detailed in the present chapter, along with the most common variations in each. Five “causes of continuing variation” are considered as well.
Chapter 2 - The Once and Future Garden City - Yves Cabannes and Philip Ross
May 26, 2020 22:00 - 26 minutes - 36.3 MBCabannes and Ross revisit the Garden City, originally proposed by Ebenezer Howard over 100 years ago, to ask how his vision might be delivered in a modern setting. Community land trusts, they argue, provide a partial answer, serving as “a vehicle for gradually assembling land and putting Garden City principles into practice – now not later.”
Chapter 4 - Making a Case for CLTs in All Markets, Even Cold Ones - Steve King
May 26, 2020 21:00 - 40 minutes - 37 MBArguments justifying CLTs tend to focus on their effectiveness in preserving affordability and preventing displacement in strong real estate markets where prices for land and housing are rising. Most justifications regularly overlook the multiple roles that CLTs can also play in improving conditions and empowering residents where real estate markets are weak. The executive director of the Oakland Community Land Trust in California endeavors to correct this rhetorical imbalance, makin...
Chapter 6 - From Model to Movement: The Growth of Community Land Trusts in the United States - John Emmeus Davis
May 26, 2020 20:00 - 58 minutes - 79.9 MBHow did an experimental “model” of community-led development on community-owned land grow from a single CLT prototype in 1969, seeded by African-American activists in a remote corner of the USA, to a national “movement” of over 280 CLTs today? The answer is to be found in five “growth factors”: message; champions; performance; policy; and hybrid vigor. Despite a steady rise in the number of CLTs and the size of their holdings, however, key features of the model and core values of the...
Chapter 7 - Origins and Evolution of Urban Community Land Trusts in Canada - Susannah Bunce and Joshua Barndt (read by Bob Rose)
May 26, 2020 19:30 - 1 hour - 59.3 MBSusannah Bunce and Joshua Barndt (read by Bob Rose) The development of community land trusts in Canada occurred over a 40-year period in two distinct phases. The first generation of Canadian CLTs (1980 – 2012) either combined community-owned land with multi-unit housing cooperatives in Toronto and Montreal or promoted individual homeownership in western and central Canada. More recently, a second generation of CLTs has emerged in cities throughout the country in response to an escal...
Chapter 8 - Messy Is Good! Origins and Evolution of the CLT Movement in England - Stephen Hill, Catherine Harrington, and Tom Archer
May 26, 2020 19:00 - 1 hour - 124 MBThe authors are joined by five guests to map the trajectory of CLT development in England, covering three periods: “Origins of CLT thinking and practice” (1986 – 2008); “a decade of consolidation and growth” (2008-2018); and “potential futures for CLTs” (present and beyond). In the chapter’s conclusion, the question is asked and answered, “What are CLTs really about?”
Chapter 9 - Beyond England: Origins and Evolution of the Community Land Trust Movement in Europe - Geert De Pauw and Joaquin de Santos (Read by Michael A. LaFond)
May 26, 2020 17:46 - 1 hour - 35.7 MBSince the formation of the Brussels Community Land Trust in 2010, interest in the model has been steadily growing throughout Europe. The chapter takes stock of the current state of the European CLT movement, examining CLT developments in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, and central and eastern Europe. Although the focus is on Europe, recent developments in Scotland and Ireland are included as well. The chapter concludes with a descriptio...
Capítulo 10 - Tenencia colectiva de la tierra en América Latina y el Caribe - pasado y presente Pierre Arnold, Jerónimo Díaz, and Line Algoed
May 26, 2020 16:00 - 55 minutes - 51.2 MBMuchos activistas en América Latina y el Caribe consideran la propiedad colectiva de la tierra como un factor importante para la protección del territorio primigenio, para la promoción de la producción del hábitat, y para la consolidación de comunidades urbanas. Con excepción del Fideicomiso de la Tierra del Caño Martín Peña en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el modelo de los fideicomisos comunitarios de tierras aún no es muy conocido en la región. No obstante, ha habido modelos precursores...
Chapter 10 (en español) - Collective Land Tenure in Latin America and the Caribbean, Past and Present - Pierre Arnold, Jerónimo Díaz, and Line Algoed
May 26, 2020 16:00 - 55 minutes - 51.2 MBCollective land tenure is considered by many activists in Latin America and the Caribbean to be a key factor in protecting indigenous territory, promoting the social production of habitat, and consolidating urban communities. With the exception of the Caño Martin Peña Community Land Trust in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the CLT model has yet to be widely applied in the region, yet there are precursors and modern-day equivalents in the ejidos of Mexico, the communal territories of Ecuador, and in st...
Capítulo 11 - Propagación de los fideicomisos comunitarios de tierra en América Latina y el Caribe: orígenes, logros y el Fideicomiso de la Tierra del Caño Martín Peña como prueba de concepto - pasado María E. Hernández-Torrales, Lyvia Rodríguez Del Valle, Line Algoed, & Karla Torres Sueiro - presente María E. Hernández-Torrales
May 26, 2020 15:00 - 1 hour - 70.5 MBEl Fideicomiso de la Tierra del Caño Martín Peña en San Juan, Puerto Rico, ganador del Premio Mundial del Habitat de las Naciones Unidas en 2016, se ha convertido en una inspiración para activistas comunitarios en países del sur global que buscan una forma nueva de regularizar la tenencia de la tierra y de asegurar viviendas para residentes en asentamientos informales. Este capítulo examina los orígenes y la estructura organizacional de este fideicomiso comunitario de tierras y su p...
Chapter 11 (en español) - Seeding the CLT in Latin America & the Caribbean Origins, Achievements, and the Proof-of-Concept Example of the Caño Martín Peña Community Land Trust
May 26, 2020 15:00 - 1 hour - 70.5 MBHow the CLT model has grown throughout Latin America & the Caribbean, and the story of the Caño Martín Peña CLT
Chapter 13 - A Watershed Land Trust in Honduras: Profile of Foundation Eco Verde Sostenible - Kirby White and Nola White (Read by Susan Alancraig)
May 26, 2020 14:47 - 21 minutes - 9.71 MBSusan Alancraig is a photographer, librarian and gardener. She has lived in Honduras, was a Peace Corps volunteer in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Uganda, has been on the board of Honduras Community Support Corporation since its inception – and she loves reading aloud!
Chapter 16 - Take a Stand, Own the Land: Dudley Neighbors Inc., a Community Land Trust in Boston, Massachusetts - Harry Smith and Tony Hernandez
May 26, 2020 14:45 - 36 minutes - 33.1 MBThe rallying cry of a campaign launched by the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative in 1989, “Take a Stand, Own the Land” was aimed at forcing the transfer of 30 acres of blighted, vacant land into the hands of a CLT subsidiary created the year before. Half was owned by the City of Boston and half by private individuals or corporations. The success of this grassroots campaign is the centerpiece of the story told by Hernandez and Smith in describing DSNI’s efforts to construct perman...
Chapter 17 - Lands in Trust for Urban Farming Toward a Scalable Model - Nate Ela and Greg Rosenberg
May 26, 2020 14:30 - 43 minutes - 40 MBCommunity land trusts preserve affordability and protect security of tenure for homeowners and renters, but CLTs are not only about housing. They are also being used to meet the challenge of providing and protecting land for urban agriculture. Ela and Rosenberg cite leading examples in the United States, while offering guidance on “eight strategic questions” that urban farmers should consider when seeking long-term access to land. They also discuss roles that a “central server” might...
Chapter 18 - The Best Things in Life are Perpetually Affordable: Profile of the Champlain Housing Trust, Burlington, Vermont - Brenda M. Torpy (read by Susan Alancraig)
May 26, 2020 14:20 - 40 minutes - 18.8 MBIn 1984, the administration of Mayor Bernie Sanders helped to create the Burlington Community Land Trust, the first municipally initiated and municipally supported CLT in the United States. Now known as the Champlain Housing Trust (CHT), it has grown into the country’s largest CLT with a real estate portfolio of over 3000 units of permanently affordable housing and over 160,000 square feet of nonresidential space, scattered across a three-county service area. CHT’s story is told by i...
Chapter 19 - Stewardship of Urban Real Estate for Long-Term Community Benefit: Profile of the Urban Land Conservancy in Denver, Colorado - Alan Gottlieb and Aaron Miripol
May 26, 2020 14:15 - 36 minutes - 33.9 MBEstablished in 2003 with a service area encompassing an entire metropolitan area, the Urban Land Conservancy has become a major player on Denver’s real estate scene. An integral part of its success comes from the organization’s adoption of key features of the CLT, including permanent ownership of land, long-term ground leasing, and permanent affordability of housing and other buildings located on its land. More than most CLTs in the USA and elsewhere, ULC has taken advantage of the m...
Chapter 20 - London Community Land Trust: A Story of People, Power, and Perseverance - Dave Smith
May 26, 2020 14:00 - 37 minutes - 51 MBThe founding executive director of the largest CLT in the United Kingdom traces the process and politics behind the establishment of the London Community Land Trust. At the center of this story is a 10-year campaign that was waged by LCLT to acquire and to convert a former NHS hospital into affordable housing. Drawing on this experience, which was ultimately a success, he offers three lessons that are “relevant to the CLT movement worldwide.”
Chapter 21 - From Pressure Group to Government Partner The Story of the Brussels Community Land Trust - Geert De Pauw and Nele Aernouts (Read by Nele Aernouts and Line Algoed)
May 26, 2020 13:30 - 52 minutes - 72.5 MBIn 2013, the first community land trust in Europe was established by grassroots housing activists in Brussels with financial support from their regional government. Geert De Pauw, an organizer and coordinator of the Brussels CLT, and Nele Aernouts, a researcher and teacher at the Vrije Universiteit, describe the process of starting this urban CLT and completing its early projects. Discussed, too, are the CLT’s prospects and plans for future growth.
Chapter 22 - The Burden of Patience in a Long March Toward Racial Justice - Tony Pickett
May 26, 2020 13:00 - 33 minutes - 45.8 MBThe African-American activists who created the modern CLT intended it to be a platform for increasing the prosperity and power of people of color. Progress has been made, but more remains to be done. This is an historic moment in the march toward racial justice, argues the executive director of the Grounded Solutions Network, requiring self-examination among CLTs in the United States – and elsewhere. CLTs must do a better job, in particular, of going to scale and of making room for t...
Chapter 23 - A Reflection on the Bioethics of Community Land Trusts - María E. Hernández-Torrales (read by Susan Alancraig)
May 26, 2020 12:45 - 39 minutes - 36.5 MBOver the last fifty years, bioethics has become one of the most highly developed fields in the study of applied ethics. María E. Hernández-Torrales applies the general principles of bioethical analysis to make the case for a right to housing. She then applies the same principles to argue that the CLT is an “ethical model” insofar as it secures safe decent, and affordable housing for individuals, even as it takes into consideration the environmental, cultural, and social needs of the ...
Chapter 24 - Community Control of Land: Thinking Beyond the Generic Community Land Trust - Olivia R. Williams (read by Susan Alancraig)
May 26, 2020 12:30 - 29 minutes - 26.7 MBAs the CLT model has grown and proliferated in the United States, it has strayed from its original purpose, according to Olivia Williams. Instead of being a mechanism for collective decision-making and long-term control by poor, working class, and marginalized people over the development of land, the model is increasingly perceived and promoted primarily as an economically efficient strategy for producing affordable housing. How did this happen? And what can now be done to return CL...
Chapter 26 - Better Together: The Challenging, Transformative Complexity of Community, Land, and Trust - John Emmeus Davis
May 26, 2020 05:00 - 28 minutes - 39.2 MBA community land trust is a vehicle with many moving parts, a clever assemblage of multiple adjustments to the way that land is owned, housing is operated, and a nonprofit developer is organized. Separately, each innovation is an improvement over the way that community development is normally done. But they are better together. More than the reinvention of ownership, operation, and organization, it is their combination that gives a CLT the vitality, resilience, and power to transfor...