Community Land Trusts

Community Land Trusts are a unique affordable housing model predicated on radical community participation and the separation land ownership from housing ownership. This thesis explores the model's applicability in a dense urban context through a case study of the Cooper Square Community Land Trust in New York City. Affordability and community participation are the two fundamental purposes of the model. Through a series of indicators and qualitative interviews, the results found that Cooper Square succeeded in maintaining affordability and including community in the governance structure, but did not succeed in creating a larger sense of community purpose.