Akkuzu, I., Sookhoo, D., Sönmez, N.O., 2025.

Negotiating Design: How Architects and Community Land Trusts (CLTs) Collaborate for Land-based and Community-based Housing Developments

Community Land Trusts (CLTs) are nonprofit entities that retain ownership of land, oversee its development through collaborations with architects and public/private stakeholders, and allocate housing rights to homeowners. Within this framework, land is positioned as a communal resource. Ideally, CLT-led housing developments are expected to operate, be designed, and be implemented in a manner distinct from conventional housing models. However, from a design perspective, many CLT-led projects closely resemble conventional multi-story housing developments that create physical and conceptual distance from the land. This raises critical questions: Is the "spatial potential" inherent in CLTs being overlooked? Does affordability take precedence over the land and community? A key but understudied dimension of CLT-led developments is the negotiation process among architects, CLT representatives, and governmental authorities. This study is guided by the central research question: How do architects, community-led organizations, and government regulations negotiate design governance to reclaim the spatial potential of CLT developments?