Reconceptualising property: towards a sustainable paradigm

The conceptualisation of property may seem esoteric or remote from the practical imperative of the sustainability of human landscapes. Yet how we “see” property has important consequences for how we treat our landscape and its resources. Rather than being constrained by existing paradigms, alternative reconceptualisations present fresh opportunities for property to reconnect with place and the physicality of our surroundings, and in the process remove the shackles of abstraction. This article canvasses the expansive concept of property plurality, and its implications for recontextualising property with place. It examines the respective strengths and weaknesses of property in the diversity of its forms, and questions a number of fundamental propositions that lie at the intersection of property and the human environment.