Law and the Urban Environment: Using the Law to Resolve Conflicts Over Land

This case study considers conflicts over urban land, a problem prevalent in many densely settled environments today, and advocates for the use of the law and its mechanisms as a way to balance competing interests in land. The case study, based on two legal cases in South Africa, approaches the problem from two perspectives: an occupier of land forced out of her home through an illegal eviction and a landowner dispossessed of his property through an unlawful occupation. The overall study demonstrates how both parties approached a court of law to further their interests and how the court subsequently sought to balance these interests in resolving the respective urban land conflicts.