The built environment is not neutral. It is produced through systems of settler colonialism, racial capitalism, and financialization that create spatial conditions of disinvestment, dispossession, and extraction. What does it take to build a counterproject to status-quo development? This seminar examines the foundational logic of land ownership in the United States and the role ownership has played in shaping both historic and contemporary notions of the “American Dream.” It explores who benefits from these systems, who is excluded from them, and how the built environment reflects and reproduces broader structures of domination. Rather than focusing solely on critique, the course investigates whether alternative models of community ownership can redistribute power over land, governance, and capital, and under what conditions they can move beyond isolated projects to become durable institutional alternatives. Students will examine community ownership not simply as a collection of legal and financial tools, but as a project capable of transforming the political economy of place.

The seminar unfolds across four modules. Module 1 examines the ideological and historical foundations of community ownership, tracing how settler colonialism, racial capitalism, and speculative development have shaped urban space, while surfacing the traditions of resistance and alternative ownership that emerged in response. Module 2 introduces the contemporary landscape of community ownership–including community land trusts, limited-equity cooperatives, community investment vehicles and other emerging models–and compares them across their legal structures, governance systems, financial architecture, operational strategies, and theories of change. Module 3 follows the full arc of community-owned real estate development, from site acquisition and feasibility analysis through capital stack formation, design and construction, operations, and long-term stewardship, paying particular attention to the tensions that arise when the developer is also the community. Module 4 asks what it would take for community ownership to function not as a niche intervention but as a structural alternative to speculative development. Students will weigh competing theories of scale, including growth, replication, federation, field-building, and policy change, and evaluate the conditions necessary for community ownership to become a durable component of a more democratic urban economy without succumbing to co-optation.

Ultimately, the seminar evaluates the real potential and limitations of community-owned real estate as a viable alternative to capitalist development — one that redistributes power through ownership while expanding the imaginative and material possibilities for just urban futures. The course format will include lectures by instructors and invited guests, as well as in-class workshops and student presentations that engage historical precedents, contemporary practice, and the sociopolitical context of each model. Assignments will combine individual and collaborative work, including critical essays, comparative case studies, and applied analyses that encourage students to connect theory with contemporary practice. With student consent, select work may be compiled into a published volume contributing to the field.

Note regarding the Fall 2026 GSD academic calendar: The first day of classes, Wednesday, September 2nd, is held as a MONDAY schedule at the GSD. This course will meet for the first time on Wednesday, September 9th.