Research Workshop

The research workshop, 'Commodification in Contemporary Urbanisation: Global Dynamics and Local Resistances', was held from 15 to 17 October 2025. Apart from the seminar sessions, the workshop included a site visit to Lomas El Mirador in the San Juan de Lurigancho district of Lima. There, participants could learn first-hand about the challenges local communities face in protecting land of high ecological and cultural value, and gain an understanding of the housing situation of vulnerable communities.

The hybrid event took place at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP). It brought together academics from the Global North and South to analyse the current state of social science research on land commodification and access to housing. Around 30 participants joined in person or virtually over the course of the three days of the event. The discussion was organised into five thematic panels:

• Panel 1: Urban development dynamics

Panellist: Cecilia Wong (University of Manchester, UK), Helen Zheng (University of Manchester, UK) & Adriana Hurtado (Universidad de los Andes, Colombia)

The panellist discussed the significant changes in urbanisation experienced in the cases of the UK, China, and Colombia since the 2000s. While the urban population increase in the UK and Colombia can be considered stabilised, China is experiencing rapid urbanisation (a shift from rural to urban areas). In all cases, urban development is market-driven, with governments viewing private investors as key partners in providing housing and infrastructure. However, this market dependency has increased segregation and inequality, as investors' interests rarely align with the needs of vulnerable communities. Housing as a commodity has distorted real demand, prioritising second homes and tourist rentals. The panellist agreed that current urbanisation dynamics pose challenges for urban development management and exert increasing pressure on planning systems.

• Panel 2: Structural barriers to housing Access

Panellist: Anupam Nanda (University of Manchester, UK), Elizabeth Zenteno (Universidad de Playa Ancha, Chile) & Carolyn Swope (Columbia University, US)

The panellists discussed the main barriers to accessing housing in the US, the UK, and Chile. Despite these countries' different contexts, the panellists identified some common barriers: the financialisation of the property market, which has led to a sharp increase in house prices; the inflexibility of the institutional framework governing the provision of housing; households' limited ability to afford to buy a property; the deterioration of housing stock, particularly rental properties; and persistent racism in accessing the housing market. Notably, planning mechanisms that exclude Black and Hispanic communities persist in the US; the UK's system is vulnerable to dubious capital, seemingly transforming the construction and real estate sectors into businesses that could facilitate money laundering; and migrants in Chile suffer particularly from low affordability and complex procedures, forcing them to accept substandard housing as they do not feel they have a real right to decent housing.

• Panel 3: Legal systems and urban planning

Panellist: Jessica Pineda-Zumarán (URBES-LAB, Perú), Cecilia Wong (University of Manchester, UK) & Joseph Huennekens (Columbia University, US)

This session highlighted the differences in approach between the British, American and Peruvian planning systems. It was recognised that the design of each system responds to the government structure and legal framework that govern the realisation of property rights. All panellists identified institutional challenges in coordinating urban and planning agendas in different regions, cities, and towns. They emphasised the lack of a national planning framework to guide and unify policy and decision-making in these territories. The US has a fragmented system organised by counties, while the UK attempts inter-authority cooperation with limited success. Peru, meanwhile, applies uniform regulations that are counterproductive for small cities. This lack of coordination enables investors to exploit loopholes in the system. Furthermore, while the UK demonstrates political commitment to sustainable urban agendas, such as the New Urban Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals 2030, Peru's commitment remains merely rhetorical.

• Panel 4: Speculative logics in the real estate market

Panellist: Adriana Hurtado (Universidad de los Andes, Colombia) & Anderson García (Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Peru)

This panel examined the logic of speculation in formal and informal urban development. Focusing on Latin America, the panellists emphasised the fragmented nature of the institutions and mechanisms responsible for providing social housing. They noted the absence of housing planning in the region and the lack of regional-level housing provision. However, Chilean social housing policy and its financial mechanisms strongly influence social housing provision policies and programmes throughout the region, contributing to the design of systems based on capitalist principles. This transforms citizens into private owners and opens the door to both formal and informal speculation. In Colombia, large investors and families exploit legal loopholes and influence policies, while a culture of 'good business' drives purchases for resale or Airbnb. In Peru, meanwhile, residents of formalised settlements adapt their homes for rent, but tenants often experience insecurity and overcrowding, demonstrating how housing property can become a survival strategy.

• Panel 5: Resistances and communities

Panellist: Elizabeth Zenteno (Universidad de Playa Ancha, Chile), Hugo Sarmiento (Columbia University, USA) & Nekson Pimentel (Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Peru)

As with the previous panel, the discussion focused on Latin America. The debate recognised the various forms of resistance to the capitalist logic governing housing provision in the region. In Chile, for example, the increase in informal settlements challenges the state's approach to mass housing where families prioritise their needs over the expectations of financial models. In Colombia, Afro-Colombian communities are resisting forced displacement that disregards their traditional knowledge of living with water. They are doing this through counter-planning efforts and by designing their own architecture. In Peru, local farmers are defending their land from urbanisation by forming social organisations, protesting and devising economic strategies to maintain their lands productive. This challenges the official view of the planning system that sees agriculture as a failed economic activity.

The five panels provided valuable insights into the various manifestations of the commodification of land and housing accessibility in the UK, the US, Peru and other Latin American countries. A plenary session identified cross-cutting issues which, despite the different political, institutional, urban and socio-economic contexts of the countries analysed. These issues will inform the conceptual and methodological agenda for our future events.