Urban land rights and child nutritional status in Peru, 2004

Synthesizing the links between secure housing tenure and health for more equitable cities

Millions of households in rich and poor countries alike are at risk of being unwilfully displaced from their homes or the land on which they live (i.e., lack secure tenure), and the urban poor are most vulnerable. Improving housing tenure security may be an intervention to improve housing and environmental conditions and reduce urban health inequalities. Building on stakeholder workshops and a narrative review of the literature, we developed a conceptual model that infers the mechanisms through which more secure housing tenure can improve housing, environmental quality, and health. Empirical studies show that more secure urban housing tenure can boost economic mobility, improve housing and environmental conditions including reduced exposure to pollution, create safer and more resourced communities, and improve physical and mental health. These links are shared across tenure renters and owners and different economic settings. Broader support is needed for context-appropriate policies and actions to improve tenure security as a catalyst for cultivating healthier homes and neighbourhoods and reducing urban health inequalities in cities.

Integrating Urban Land Tenure Security in Health Determinants: The Design of Indicators for Measuring Land Tenure Security and Health Relationships in Developing Country Contexts

Both urban land tenure insecurity and poor urban health outcomes are research topics of urban geographers and health experts. However, health outcomes or patterns are hardly measured in relation to land tenure security. There are no clear measures or indicators of if and how these two issues interrelate and which type of land tenure deficiency is likely to lead to which kind of health outcomes or patterns. To address this knowledge quandary, we reviewed literature to identify which characteristics of land tenure could relate to which types of health outcomes. The review found four specific land tenure security pathways which significantly influence health outcomes. For each of these, it is possible to identify a set of indicators which could measure the extent of interrelation between land tenure security and health. The result of this process is the design of a list of 46 land tenure-enabled indicators that can be applied empirically. The indicators demonstrate how to design a transdisciplinary approach that connects land management and global urban health knowledge spaces.

Synthesizing the links between secure housing tenure and health for more equitable cities

Millions of households in rich and poor countries alike are at risk of being unwilfully displaced from their homes or the land on which they live (i.e., lack secure tenure), and the urban poor are most vulnerable. Improving housing tenure security may be an intervention to improve housing and environmental conditions and reduce urban health inequalities. Building on stakeholder workshops and a narrative review of the literature, we developed a conceptual model that infers the mechanisms through which more secure housing tenure can improve housing, environmental quality, and health. Empirical studies show that more secure urban housing tenure can boost economic mobility, improve housing and environmental conditions including reduced exposure to pollution, create safer and more resourced communities, and improve physical and mental health. These links are shared across tenure renters and owners and different economic settings. Broader support is needed for context-appropriate policies and actions to improve tenure security as a catalyst for cultivating healthier homes and neighbourhoods and reducing urban health inequalities in cities.

Property rights and chronic diseases: evidence from a natural experiment in Montevideo, Uruguay 1990-2006

We exploit a natural experiment in Montevideo, Uruguay, in order to analyse the effects on human health of granting formal property rights to untitled individuals. Because of administrative mistakes committed decades ago by an institution that no longer exists, such rights may be transferred to residents of some neighborhoods but not to residents of others. We found that titling reduces the probability of suffering from hypertension and diabetes and in some cases rheumatism and asthma as well within 17 years of being offered property rights, but we did not find statistically significant evidence that the housing quality functions as a channel between titling and health.