Analyzing Building Height Restrictions

Bertaud and Brueckner analyze the effects of building height restrictions, providing a concrete welfare cost estimate for the city of Bangalore, India. Relying on several theoretical results, their analysis shows that the welfare cost imposed on its residents by Bangalore's building height restriction ranges between 3 and 6 percent of household consumption. This burden represents a significant share of individual resources, and its presence may push many marginal households into poverty.This paper - a product of the Urban Unit, Transport and Urban Development Department - is part of a larger effort in the department to examine the effects of housing and land use regulations on poverty.

Urban Transportation Congestion and Land Use Regulations: Theory and Policy Analysis explores why, when, where, and how land use regulations are used in cities to address road transportation congestion. Dense urban areas enhance and facilitate communication and innovation but they also increase traffic congestion. Land use regulations policies are used to manage spatial externalities in these urban environments, with local governments intervening through enforcement of building size, lot size, and zoning. Urban Transportation Congestion and Land Use Regulations shows how to design optimal density and zonal regulations for efficient traffic flow in cities. It examines land use regulations using optimal control theory, offering detailed insights into the mechanisms behind the optimal regulations and the techniques for exploring spatial optimal policies. The book shows the practical usefulness of land use regulations for maximizing urban social welfare. Uniquely explores land use regulations and traffic congestion together in one volume from both a theoretical and applied perspective Reviews and summarizes the most recent academic research in urban economics, land use management, and transportation congestion Demonstrates important but less commonly used regulations such as minimum floor area regulations Provides insights for constructing smarter cities using the latest research in land use regulations

It is obvious that holding city population constant, differences in cities across the world are enormous. Urban giants in poor countries are not large using measures such as land area, interior space or value of output. These differences are easily reconciled mathematically as population is the product of land area, structure space per unit land (i.e., heights), and population per unit interior space (i.e., crowding). The first two are far larger in the cities of developed countries while the latter is larger for the cities of developing countries. In order to study sources of diversity among cities with similar population, we construct a version of the standard urban model (SUM) that yields the prediction that the elasticity of city size with respect to income could be similar within both developing countries and developed countries. However, differences in income and urban technology can explain the physical differences between the cities of developed countries and developing countries. Second, using a variety of newly merged data sets, the predictions of the SUM for similarities and differences of cities in developed and developing countries are tested. The findings suggest that population is a sufficient statistic to characterize city differences among cities within the same country, not across countries.

The author applies the methodology to the system prevailing in Morocco in 1995 and 2004. The analysis shows that the most visible subsidies might not have been the most inefficient, nor the most resource consuming for the state. Examination of policy changes since 1995 shows that while the most visible subsidies received nearly all the government's attention, large invisible subsidies remain at the heart of Morocco's housing policy. The framework used here is very general and can be used to compare the Moroccan system with those of similar countries"--Abstract.

As urbanization progresses at a remarkable pace, policy makers and analysts come to understand and agree on key features that will make this process more efficient and inclusive, leading to gains in the welfare of citizens. Drawing on insights from economic geography and two centuries of experience in developed countries, the World Bank’s World Development Report 2009: Reshaping Economic Geography emphasizes key aspects that are fundamental to ensuring an efficient rural-urban transformation. Critical among these are land, as the most important resource, and well-functioning land markets. Regardless of the stage of urbanization, flexible and forward-looking institu- ons that help the efficient functioning of land markets are the bedrock of succe- ful urbanization strategies. In particular, institutional arrangements for allocating land rights and for managing and regulating land use have significant implica- ons for how cities deliver agglomeration economies and improve the welfare of their residents. Property rights, well-functioning land markets, and the management and servicing of land required to accommodate urban expansion and provide trunk infrastructure are all topics that arise as regions progress from incipient urbani- tion to medium and high density.

This study identifies priority areas for India's policymakers as they try to harness economic efficiency and manage spatial equity associated with urbanization.