From the enclosure of common lands to the City Statute: the coloniality of property rights as an obstacle to the realization of the right to the city in Brazil

After the City Statute turns twenty years old, this article discusses in what extent the legal status of the property right, despite being altered by law 10.257/01 - but maintained, in essence, as the center of the urban order - represented an obstacle to fulfill the social functions of the city and for the realization of the right to the city. The analysis focuses on how the right to property is present in the law by examining (i) the social function of property, (ii) the instruments to combat the speculative retention of idle properties, (iii) the institute of master plan and (iv) special urban usucapio for housing purposes. The method of approach is dialectical and the method of procedure is historical, as a reconstitution of the way how property was introduced in Brazil is carried out to demonstrate that the resilience of property, even in a law such as the City Statute, it is a manifestation of the coloniality of power. In a propositional exercise of alternatives for a way out of this legal and epistemic trap, the investigation focuses on discussions about the commons, the social function of property, the Community land trust and on the potential of ZEIS.