PEDAL -> Portobello Transition Town

There is a strong nat­ural justice argu­ment for expand­ing rural land reform so that urban com­munit­ies also gain the right to buy areas of land that are sig­ni­fic­ant to the live­li­hood and well-being of local com­munit­ies. The push for rural land reform came hand in hand with the push for par­tic­u­lar rural com­munit­ies to reclaim own­er­ship and their futures (e.g. Assynt and Eigg). A push for urban land reform could go hand in hand with a com­munity identi­fy­ing and cam­paign­ing for a bet­ter future.

Rural land Reform suc­ceeded because it tapped into a power­ful pop­u­lar sense that people should be able to con­trol their own des­tinies rather than suf­fer at the whim of absentee landown­ers or those who simply seek profit at the expense of loc­al­it­ies well-being. Rural land reform suc­ceeded because such com­munit­ies were and are com­mit­ted to ensur­ing the social and eco­lo­gical sus­tain­ab­il­ity of their loc­al­ity. Are we? And if we are, how should we go about this?

Land Reform

- Why is it so popular?

Portobello Plan P

- a 2005 talk on the poten­tial of Land Reform for Portobello