Relentless urbanisation has fundamentally changed the composition of Brazil’s population – today 70 per cent of Brazil’s people live in cities compared to 30 per cent in 1900.

Due to poor planning, this process was often unfair and chaotic, leading to the creation of vast urban slums. This Research Summary shows how a national urban reform movement – The Right to the City Campaign – emerged in the 1980s and successfully campaigned for legislative change. The Statute of the City was finally approved in 2001 and, despite certain shortcomings, it is increasing the slum dwellers’ access to urban land, public goods and housing.