Empirical research in urban law: reflections on a field work in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas

Abstract

This study aims to socialize reflections on an empirical research experience, developed in two
favelas in the city of Rio de Janeiro, which had as its object to recognize and analyze the concretely operative regulatory institutions in these locations, with the control of ownership of land, as well as those regulating the right to build. The paper proposes to reflect on the methodological and epistemological challenges for the development of research which intend to deal with such empirical, discussing in particular those
aspects that would be own of what is to be its own approach to urban law.