Speculation, squatting and sustainability

Speculation and sustainability are central themes for anchoring analyses of the current and future challenges facing our land law systems. While we can trace the influences of speculation and sustainability to the emergence of land law in each jurisdiction, they have taken on new prominence and urgency as domestic land law systems have been opened up to the demands of (globalized) capital investment markets, on the one hand, and the pressures on sustainable land use in a context of climate and ecological emergencies. Just as traditional, rural ‘homesteading’ squatting mediated the demands of speculation and sustainability, so today’s urban squatting movements draw on similar narratives to challenge modern speculation, absentee ownership and unsustainable land (non-)use practices. Urban squatting movements draw attention to acute housing shortages in post-industrial cities, where land and buildings have been left vacant, either because the absent owner’s purpose is fully met through speculative housing market investment or pending future development plans. By demonstrating utility on the land and asserting claims based on occupation and use, these movements advocate for sustainable land use, sustainable housing systems and sustainable cities. In this chapter we explore how narratives of speculation, squatting and sustainability emerged and evolved to produce the ‘land law values’ that are embedded in constitutional, legislative and doctrinal frameworks. As jurisdictions grapple with foundational questions about ownership, investment, and use of land, speculators and squatters are sometimes encouraged, sometimes tolerated, and sometimes sanctioned, depending on the economic, political, fiscal and environmental goals being pursued in each jurisdiction, in each historical moment. We analyze the role of speculation, squatting and sustainability, from the shaping of early American property law to London’s ‘Alpha City’. Focusing on the policy of ‘de-materialization’ embedded in the Land Registration Act 2002, we develop ‘sustainable property’ as a necessary corrective to ‘speculative property’ policies. Finally, we provide a new analytical framework for developing sustainable property policies based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals. As the materiality of the climate emergency, housing, economic and inequality crises demand our attention, we urge land law researchers to look beyond the narrow frames of speculative ownership and face up to the urgent demands of sustainability.