Papers On National Land Use Policy Issues

Much of the preparation of this book has been generously supported by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Cambridge, Massachusetts. It evolved from a colloquium held in October 1977, under the sponsorship of the Lincoln Institute. The three-day symposium entitled "Land Policy: Making the Value Choices" involved the preparation of major papers and formal discussions, most of which appear here in considerably revised form, along with additional pieces commis sioned later. The colloquium was an idea jointly conceived by myself and Edward Wood, a colleague at the time in the Tufts University Program in Urban Social and Environmental Policy. We were concerned about two major limitations in the literature and debates over land use. On the one hand, there was little explicit recognition of the latent values that motivated land use policy. On the other, there was no common forum where people from the different land use fields could discuss the issues and learn from one another. A small group of about two dozen people was invited to the colloquium. Each member was a leading spokesman for a different perspective and area of expertise. All participated formally in some fashion. All the papers were written expressly for the col loquium, with the exception of Ann Strong's, which was a keynote address to the American Society of Planning Officials earlier in the year. None of the papers has been published elsewhere.

The urgent need to enhance sustainable development in developing countries has never been greater: poverty levels are growing, land conversions are uncontrolled, and there is rapid loss of biodiversity through land use change. This timely book highlights the need for integrated assessment tools for developing countries, considering the long-term impacts of decisions taken today. The success of land use policies has in the past often been hampered by the fact that we simply do not know enough about their impact on sustainable development across developing countries. This book contributes to bridging this knowledge gap whilst facilitating the successful design and implementation of land use policies. The challenge of land use changes in response to changes in the policy environment – macro policy, agricultural and forest policy, environmental policy – is explored with a focus on the South. Detailed case studies encompassing seven countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America are presented via a common framework of analysis. In each case, sustainable development concerns are identified from environmental, economic and social perspectives. The interrelated causes of these problems are analysed by identifying key drivers and relevant land use policies, and the potential impact of prioritized land use policies are then discussed. This important book will prove invaluable to academics, researchers, postgraduate students and policy makers concerned with land-use planning, sustainable development and environmental studies.

- Foreword and acknowledgements - Executive summary - Spatial and land-use planning systems across the OECD - Australia - Austria - Belgium - Canada - Chile - Czech Republic - Denmark - Estonia - Finland - France - Germany - Greece - Hungary - Ireland - Israel - Italy - Japan - Korea - Mexico - Netherlands - New Zealand - Norway - Poland - Portugal - Slovak Republic - Slovenia - Spain - Sweden - Switzerland - Turkey - United Kingdom - United States - Bibliography

Land use has important consequences for the environment, public health, economic productivity, inequality and social segregation. Land use policies are often complex and require co-ordination across all levels of government as well as across policy sectors. Not surprisingly, land use decisions ...

This 2007 book surveys the global experience to date in implementing land-use policies that move us further along the sustainable development continuum. The international community has long recognized the need to ensure ongoing and future development is conducted sustainably. While high-level commitments towards sustainable development such as those included in the Rio and Johannesburg Declarations are politically important, they are irrelevant if they are not translated into reality on the ground. This book includes chapters that discuss the challenges of implementing sustainable land-use policies in different regions of the world, revealing problems that are common to all jurisdictions and highlighting others that are unique to particular regions. It also includes chapters documenting new approaches to sustainable land use, such as reforms to property rights regimes and environmental laws. Other chapters offer comparisons of approaches in different jurisdictions that can present insights which might not be apparent from a single-jurisdiction analysis.