his report considers how land use is changing in developing countries, and how these changes are linked to urbanisation It uses the term “land-use conversion” to describe the transformation of cultivated or natural spaces into a land that is destined for economic purposes and other than agricultural activities, such as property development, self-builds, hoarding or speculation. The different stages of the conversion process are considered: changes in ownership, acquisition of land rights, land transactions, plot divisions, productive use through construction and property development (housing estates, building projects of various sizes, etc.), and fallow land (demarcated parcels that remain undeveloped). These changes are taking place on different types of land, from cultivated fields to common areas and environmentally sensitive spaces. The sequencing of the stages and the actors involved in land conversions vary according to the context in which they occur. Large-scale land conversions generated by major development and infrastructure projects, industrial and extractive activities, and large-scale land grabs in rural areas have been widely examined over the past decade. But little has been written about how ordinary actors – residents, local land rights holders, local economic operators, local elected officials – acquire plots of land and change the way they are used to build houses, develop economic activities or accumulate capital. Even though this is a huge phenomenon, the different regulatory frameworks and public actors behind it have yet to be identified. These changes in land use are the result of dynamics that began several decades ago with urban development at various scales, changes in local legal norms governing access to rural land, the growth of rural and urban land markets, and the increasing role and power of private and financial actors in urban planning, land delivery and property production.