It is somewhat difficult to find academic studies about Brazilian cities published in English. So here are some interesting papers I would recommend on Land Regulations in Brazilian Cities.
- Avila (2006) Urban Land Use Regulations in Brazilian Cities - Impacts on Urban Land Markets and Access of Low Income People to Land and Housing. This chapter starts only at page 216, buthe book as a whole is highly recommended!
- Lall; Wang; da Mata (2006) Do Urban Land Regulations Influence Slum Formation? Evidence from Brazilian Cities (I saw this paper on Richard K. Green's blog)
- Smith; Raemaekers (1998) Land use pattern and transport in Curitiba
- Dowall; Monkkonen (2007) Consequences of the Plano Piloto: The Urban Development and Land Markets of BrasÃlia (you may access the working paper version here)
If you have any other suggestions, let us know with a comment !