Many Polish cities are faced with a dilemma: to enact their local land-use plans and be exposed to the immediate financial consequences of their adoption, or to protect their budgets against these costs and give up control of the development of the cities.

Population growth leads to growing land scarcity and landlessness in poor agrarian economies. Many of these also face severe climate risks that may increase in the future.

Youth unemployment and migration is a growing challenge that needs more political attention in many countries in the world, particularly countries with rapid population growth and economic transformation.

The paper examines the pace of land acquisitions in terms of creating legislative and policy options to safeguard local communities that are directly affected, including compensation for land that is taken, and protecting community interests in the socio-economic and environmental continuum of in

The project aims to create actionable policy proposals to make spaces of participation more effective in five countries in Latin America, and to contribute to the needs of existing social movements within their local contexts.