Property Environments (ENVS10010)

This subject introduces students to the various legal, economic and social systems that affect the environment at the level of the individual property. The subject covers theories and practices pertaining to the control, transfer, development and decisions about material goods in the built and natural environments.

A core principle underlying the subject is the development over time of property rights.
Key learning will include an understanding of land tenure systems in Australia and the way that this has developed over time as a central aspect of the functioning of our cities and regions.

Using residential property as a model the subject demonstrates:
• Real property’s role in shaping urban, rural and natural environments;
• How property is conceived in legal, social and economic terms;
• Concepts of ownership in different cultural traditions; and
• The rights, obligations and ownership limits in our society.

The subject will also consider the range of issues that need to be resolved in property rights as they relate to tensions between individual versus collective concerns. These range from Terra Nullius, individual rights, collective rights, mechanisms for contesting or modifying rights, intergenerational rights, and anthropomorphic versus ecological rights.