New Directions in Land Reform

Dear Colleagues,

Land reform formerly referred mainly to breaking up large land holdings by collectivisation into state farms (and sometimes later decollectivisation), and attempts to redress inequalities in land ownership continue, making land reform still unfinished business. Population growth, changing attitudes to ecology and environmental concerns, and climate change pressures are affecting land reform initiatives, especially in many low-income countries, changing social relationships within and between communities, and between communities and the state. Land reform requires reform of the legal regulatory framework for that both the ownership and use of land, which are highly political issues often involving intense debate and conflict. Since 2015 the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have contributed to new approaches in these areas, and refer to land as a 'cross-cutting' policy issue, while UN-Habitat’s Global Land Tools Network (GLTN) supports 'A world in which everyone enjoys secure land rights'. The global population shift towards a majority now living in urban rather than rural areas is giving rise to land reform initiatives that affect both, as reflected in the New Urban Agenda (2016) and SDG 11.

The Special Issue invites submissions from relevant disciplines or across multiple disciplines (eg law, geography, history, planning, politics, economics, surveying, social anthropology). They may be general, or relate to any country or region, but proposals particularly welcome from the 'global south'. Potential topics include (but not limited to):

1. Land law reform
2. Titling of land ownership/use,
3. Land consolidation and readjustment,
4. Women's access to land,
5. Role of religious and communal institutions,
6. Eviction and alternatives,
7. Climate impacts, refugees and displaced people
8. Environmental and ecological aspects of land reform.

Prof. Dr. Robert Home
Prof. Dr. Robert Dixon-Gough
Dr. Sandra Bhatasara
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Land is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• land law reform
• land titling
• land consolidation/readjustment
• women access to land
• climate refugees
• environmental and ecological approaches