The past, present and future of slum property regimes in Chittagong, Bangladesh

This article argues for the need to take time into account when understanding land ownership in slums. It shows that this allows comprehending more accurately the place of land law and the specific forms that legal struggles over land take. Field research in a slum in Chittagong (in Bangladesh) reveals that while contemporary practices of ownership and transfer might appear to be informal and illegal, they are not only grounded in historical forms of legal land settlement, embedded in a long-standing court battle over legal ownership, but also the product of expectations related to the (legalised) future. Finally, urban planning, with a state-sponsored vision of the future of slums, further complicates the role of the law