This case will study the history and evolution of governance and land administration in Aizawl town to understand the changes being brought in by new land administration (shift from communally owned to private property ownership), new governance (the first ULB with women’s’ reservations fitted on top of a village council system) and new planning systems (from little or no building controls to the formation and implementation of building control regulations). Through a study of traditional and new governance institutions animated by customary rights and formal laws, this study explores both how state-driven, top-down mechanisms for inclusion and struggles for inclusion from the bottom up function. The case also presents an opportunity to understand the inclusion of (cultural) norms and regimes of rights alternative to those of the market and private property in governance institutions and the costs and benefits associated with these.