Tenure of Urban Land： Structure, Form and Transformation in Ribeirao Preto, Brazil

The purpose of this study is to explore the urban morphological aspects of cities governed by the juridical regime of emphyteusis, a recurrent situation in the northeastern part of the state of Silo Paulo, Brazil, with special attention to the city of Ribeirao Preto. The concession of lands to the Catholic Church was a recurring practice in Brazil during the colonial and imperial periods, when the cities were being established. As these lands were intended for the formation of patrimonial goods to show the devotion of the residents to a Catholic saint, the lands were not allowed to be commercialized. The tenure reveals a relation in which there is an owner--the landlord--who has direct control of the urban land. This owner allows another--the leaseholder--the useful domain of the land, thus giving the latter the right to use the land, the obligation to pay an annual tax and the responsibility to give the owner a percentage of the sales generated from the land. In 1845, farmers donated a tract of land to be used to glorify Silo Sebastiao. This land is now the city of Ribeirao Preto, and it is this conjuncture that defined the structure and the transformation of the original urban form of the current city.