An innovative means of urban land development: A case study of Trichur in India

Summary

For more than seven decades, several Indian states have used the plot reconstitution technique in managing urban land development. Recently, Kerala, a small southern state, has experimented with this technique for the first time in a scheme in Trichur. The Trichur experience is unique in that it incorporates significant innovations over a somewhat similar method of land readjustment which is widely practiced in the Asian‐Pacific region. Formulated for complete cost‐recovery, the Trichur project incorporates the active cooperation of the landowners and officials, and is a time‐bound programme to complete all land development and building construction works within six years of the finalization of the scheme proposals.

This paper attempts to explore the use of this innovative means of land development in Trichur with a view to assessing the potentiality and constraints in its use, and identifying critical areas where further refinements would be desirable. Based on fieldwork in the state and intensive interviews, the paper finds the Trichur experience to be of great importance as a viable strategy of urban land development and management. The paper concludes with some recommendations on legal and institutional aspects, and stresses the need for refinements in the scheme preparation and information dissemination for transferability and wider application of the technique.     

Exploring the evolution of land tenure and land use change in Panama: Linking land policy with development outcomes

In this paper I discuss the linkages between land use management and land use change, as well as the impacts of land use policies at the local level. Specifically, I suggest the current land tenure regime in Panama is the outcome of a path-dependent process that includes a Spanish legacy of land tenure institutions and beliefs, a policy-making process that responds to immediate or short-term development outcomes, and the broader political economic context. First, I introduce theoretical perspectives on land policy and development. These are followed by a narrative of the evolution of land tenure in Panama, in the context of develoment processes and land policies in Latin America. In the final section, with the case of lifestyle migration to Bocas del Toro, Panama, I illustrate how the pathways between land management and land use, in the context of political economic development drivers and outcomes, have significant local outcomes.     

Evaluating the effectiveness of land use master plans in built-up land management: A case study of the Jinan Municipality,eastern China

China has implemented land use master plans to strictly control built-up land usage. The effective evaluation of land use master plan on controlling construction land is the premise of monitoring and early warning of planning implementation. It is also the basis for planning revision and further implementation of territorial spatial planning. In this study, we established a comprehensive index system based on three aspects: scale management, annual growth rhythm control, and spatial layout. We then analyzed the consistency between the actual situation for built-up land and the previous land use master plan of the Jinan Municipality in the Shandong Province of eastern China. The results showed that the master plan effectively controlled the scale of built-up land sprawl, such that the annual growth rhythm control level periodically increased over time. They also indicated the low efficiency of the built-up land spatial layout control. Overall, the previous land use master plan in Jinan had notable impacts. We recommend that land policy makers should adjust control standards and implementation intensity for spatial planning in the future to achieve scientific and effective planning for the management of construction land.     

荷兰土地整理对我国土地整理发展的启示

荷兰是世界上开展土地整理较早的国家之一 ,在土地整理的立法和政策等方面都较为完善。本文回顾了荷兰土地整理从产生、发展到完善的近一百年的历史 ,同时分析了当前中国土地整理的现状和存在的不足 ,在土地整理的立法、管理机构的设置、以及将来的发展方向上提出了完善我国土地整理的一些建议。     

Governing farmland conversion: Comparing China with the Netherlands and Germany

Farmland conversion has become an increasing concern in China and other parts of the world, including Europe and the USA. Be it for environmental or food security reasons, questions arise concerning how urbanization should be governed, i.e. what rules and regulations could enhance the efficiency and sustainability of land use. Taking a first step toward answering such questions, this paper describes different governance structures for farmland conversion in the Netherlands, Germany, and China. Secondly, it compares five identified differences between these countries in the realms of land property, land use planning, the role of the market, the role of government, and the performance of governance structures. The purpose of this paper is to develop an approach for comparing governance structures for land conversion that: (a) offers some opportunities for exchange of experience between the three countries and (b) provides a framework for further research on governance structures in farmland conversion.     

Recent trends in the supply of land for industrial development in Hong Kong: A case study in planned decentralization

Summary

Although free enterprise remains the dominant characteristic of the Hong Kong economy, new land supply is controlled largely by the Hong Kong Government. Rather than establish a detailed system of development plans and controls, the Government has been able to achieve substantial decentralization of housing and industry through the location of new land release. The evidence suggests that industrial developers have been willing to build and industrialists to locate in decentralized areas, especially those close to the main urban areas. Furthermore, although vacancy rates are generally higher and rental levels lower in decentralized compared to centralized locations, the extent of the differences over time is not as pronounced as might be expected. Indeed, the overall strength of demand for industrial land, other than in the recent slump, has necessitated special policies to protect land for low‐density industrial users in decentralized locations. As planned decentralization approaches completion, attention is beginning to focus upon redevelopment in the older urban areas and upon the consequences of the Sino‐British Joint Declaration of 1985. Overall, recent land policies in Hong Kong offer the British observer some useful indications of the impact of government intervention in land use on existing property markets.     

土地征收过程中设置土地发展权的必要性和可行性

土地发展权是一项可与土地所有权分割而单独处分的财产权,该权利直接关系到改变土地用途、提高土地利用集约度以及增加对土地的投入而产生的发展性利益的权利归属和利益分配;考虑到我国土地征收制度存在的诸多问题,我国应在土地权利体系中创设独立的可转让的土地发展权,通过将土地发展权制度引入征地实践来保障农民的土地产权和保证国家耕地保护目标的实现,并整合整个制度环境,提升土地征收制度的绩效。     

Value creation in capital waterway projects: Application of a transaction cost and transaction benefit framework for the Miami River and the New Orleans Inner Harbour Navigation Canal

Waterways have many more ties with society than as a medium for the transportation of goods alone. Waterway systems offer society many kinds of socio-economic value. Waterway authorities responsible for management and (re)development need to optimize the public benefits for the investments made. However, due to the many trade-offs in the system these agencies have multiple options for achieving this goal. Because they can invest resources in a great many different ways, they need a way to calculate the efficiency of the decisions they make. Transaction cost theory, and the analysis that goes with it, has emerged as an important means of justifying efficiency decisions in the economic arena. To improve our understanding of the value-creating and coordination problems for waterway authorities, such a framework is applied to this sector. This paper describes the findings for two cases, which reflect two common multi trade-off situations for waterway (re)development. Our first case study focuses on the Miami River, an urban revitalized waterway. The second case describes the Inner Harbour Navigation Canal in New Orleans, a canal and lock in an industrialized zone, in need of an upgrade to keep pace with market developments. The transaction cost framework appears to be useful in exposing a wide variety of value-creating opportunities and the resistances that come with it. These insights can offer infrastructure managers guidance on how to seize these opportunities.     

Why the public thinks natural resources public participation processes fail: A case study of British Columbia communities

This study examines the experiences and opinions of a “public” which became involved in a government driven comprehensive land use and natural resource planning exercise in British Columbia, Canada during the 1990s. While it is generally assumed to be an inherently good thing, or at least a politically necessary thing, to involve the public in natural resources or land use planning, few studies have examined the experiences of the public or examined perceived failures from the public's perspective. This study examines British Columbia's CORE and LRMP planning processes, their successes and failures, as determined by residents of six communities that participated in these processes. Lessons on improving public processes from the viewpoint of that public are discussed.     

Discourse and practice of participatory flood risk management in Belfast,UK

The introduction of the Floods Directive signals a move from flood protection towards flood risk management in the European Union. Public participation is highlighted in the Floods Directive as being instrumental to effective implementation of this new approach. This study utilised document analysis, non-participant observation, a questionnaire survey, and interviews to evaluate the discourse and practice of participation in the implementation of the Floods Directive in Belfast, United Kingdom. Flood risk management processes in Belfast are found to be high on participatory rhetoric but low on meaningful engagement. The participatory process is lacking in transparency, does not encourage the active participation of interested parties and has not been clearly communicated to key publics. Opportunities to increase meaningful public participation in the process remain underutilised, and the establishment of local flood forums has provided little opportunity for meaningful engagement. Some actions of governance agencies could be best characterised as facilitating the responsibilisation of risk and are designed to manage risk to agencies rather than address flooding issues.     

How imbalanced land development affects local fiscal condition? A case study of Hubei Province,China

Aiming at realizing the efficacy and fairness of spatial allocation of land resources, zoning is one of the most widespread tools adopted by governments around the world. However it also brings imbalanced land development which will lead to the "windfall-wipeout dilemma" of stakeholders. Local government regarded as the regional governor and economic driver, is an important part of stakeholders, and will fall into fiscal dilemma when the land development is restricted. In this paper, we discuss how imbalanced land development affects local fiscal condition based on the theory of farmland preservation externality and finance and taxation system. Taking Hubei Province as an example, the degree of imbalanced land development, and the relationship between local fiscal condition and imbalanced land development are quantified by employing a panel dataset of 88 local jurisdictions (counties or districts) from 2009 to 2014. The results show that: (1) The degree of imbalanced land development in Hubei Province is 0.260 with characteristics of temporal decrease and spatial increase from high urbanized eastern areas to middle, northern agricultural dominate areas to low urbanized western mountainous areas. (2) The imbalanced land development aggravates the local government fiscal difficulty, the higher degree of imbalanced land development, the more serious the fiscal condition is. Therefore, innovation of trans-regional fiscal payment on the basis of the degree of imbalanced land development can effectively address the local fiscal dilemmas and achieve regional coordinated development.     

Urban land management in China: A study of the present system and an investigation of current issues and problems

Summary

The paper commences by describing the statutory basis for land tenure and management. It examines the constitutional basis for land ownership and occupation rights, as amended by land administration law. The legal system and procedures at both central and local government level are introduced, with particular mention made of the special measures for land requisition. This is followed by a study of the organizational structure for land management in China at state and local government levels. The roles and responsibilities of the major agencies of government at both levels are explained, and related to the organization of urban planning. A separate section is then devoted to those areas such as Special Economic Zones and Open Coastal Cities which have been selected for preferential treatment, particularly in respect of the transfer of land use rights.

The paper concludes with a study of the main issues and problems that currently confront China in the field of urban land management. And some suggestions are made where further reform is required and additional research of potential benefit.     

Spatio-temporal pattern and driving forces of construction land change in a poverty-stricken county of China and implications for poverty-alleviation-oriented land use policies

Sustainable land use, targeted poverty alleviation (TPA) and integrated urban/town development are key issues for the poverty-stricken counties of China. This paper explored the spatio-temporal pattern and driving forces of construction land change in Longzhou, a typical poverty-stricken border county in southwest China, based on high-resolution remote sensing images and field investigations. The results showed that, from 2011 to 2016, the construction land in Longzhou increased by 10.08%. The largest increase shown by urban built-up areas (37.74%) followed by rural residential (25.48%), industrial and mining (20.96%), and transportation areas (15.49%) as well by tourist facility areas (0.33%). The accelerated urban development, rural housing construction, and construction of industrial parks and transportation facilities are main factors driving construction land expansion, while the implementation of TPA strategy and the booming of border trade activities are important policy drivers of the construction land expansion. Some of the major implications for improving poverty-alleviation-oriented land use policies were further discussed. The authors argue that land use policy innovation could play a key role in breaking the Matthew effect (poor get poorer, rich get richer) of China's uneven regional development and generating and accelerating the transformation development of poverty-stricken counties. It is fundamental to meet the demand of construction land for TPA, meanwhile raise the intensive level of land utilization. The authors suggest that the government need to further improve and implement preferential land use policies for poverty-stricken counties from the provincial level, appropriately increase the quotas of construction land, and effectively strengthen the rational, efficient and intensive use of the quotas of construction land, and provide solid land policy support for poverty alleviation and thus achieve the Sustainable Development Goals with higher quality.     

黑龙江省西部沙地农业经济可持续发展探讨——以泰来县为例

根据黑龙江省西部沙地农业在我国农业经济中的地位,具体分析了泰来县沙地农业经济可持续发展的抑制因子;针对这些障碍因素,提出了现阶段实现沙地农业经济可持续发展的战略措施及具体建议:探索治沙模式,改善生态环境;以市场为导向,发展特色农业带动农业产业结构调整;以生态农业为指导思想,大力推广和发展可持续农业;合理控制人口数量,提高人口素质,进行制度创新。     

Agricultural land in the Eastern Caribbean: From resources for survival to resources for development

The main effects of existing socioeconomic arrangements for agricultural land development in the Eastern Caribbean are discussed and changes aimed at improving both the efficiency and equity of the land development process are identified. The author argues that the existing ‘plantations-small holders’ structure is incapable of providing an efficient way of developing the available land resources and of improving the standard of living for the vast rural population. A new set of export oriented agricultural enterprises is pinpointed as a requirement in any viable solution aimed at taking land away from its present role as a resource for survival for the many and an economic benefit for the few and to reinstate agricultural lands as one of the key resources for more egalitarian, environmentally sound and efficient socioeconomic development.     

Economie development and land policies in the highlands and islands of Scotland

This paper explores the complex relationship between economic development and land use in a remote part of the UK — the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. It is suggested that the essential link between land reform and economic development is obscured in the Highlands and Islands. The historic reasons for this are given in detail and attached to the argument that the problems of the area have never been fully addressed. The authors state that many government policies in the area have been on an ad hoc basis and the background and achievements of the Highlands and Islands Development Board are given. The authors conclude with a plea for further legislative changes.     

The role of land planning policies in supporting housing affordability: The case of the Gaza Strip

The Gaza Strip suffers from a limited amount of land compared to the population growth rate. This imposes several challenges on urban planners in managing housing land in a way that protects housing affordability, especially for the low-income category. In general, housing in the Gaza Strip is unaffordable, for several reasons, including a recent abnormal rise in urban land prices. The study investigated this issue based on a survey of local housing specialists in addition to residents. The study found that to support housing affordability in Gaza, planning solutions that ensure efficient use of urban land in the first place need to be implemented. Furthermore, two parallel actions are required: (i) to implement measures that increase housing land supply and improve security of land tenure; and (ii) to establish a robust and effective housing finance system that fits the socio-economic situation in the Gaza Strip.     

我国陆海经济发展现状、问题及对策分析

文章通过数据调查与分析对我国陆海经济发展的现状及存在的问题作详细阐述。从我国整体与沿海11省市两个角度分析宏观经济总量与经济结构的变化与发展趋势;从经济总量、经济结构、主要海洋产业的发展三个角度对我国海洋经济的发展展开叙述,幵做出2001-2013年各产业产值变化图;从制度、科技、不平衡性等多个角度提出我国陆海经济发展存在的问题。最后就我国陆海经济协同发展问题给出相应的对策与建议。     

Integrated landscape approaches in the tropics: A brief stock-take

Continued overexploitation of natural resources and the associated impacts of climate change threaten the sustainability and biodiversity of our global social-ecological systems. ‘Integrated landscape approaches’ are governance strategies that attempt to reconcile multiple and conflicting land-use claims to harmonize the needs of people and the environment and establish more sustainable and equitable multi-functional landscapes. Such approaches have gained prominence in recent conservation and development discourse, but critics have suggested a need for evidence of effectiveness to bridge knowledge-implementation gaps. Here we review the recent literature to provide a brief update on developments in the science and practice of landscape approaches, primarily in the tropics. We show that despite considerable enthusiasm for landscape approaches, the evidence base within the scientific literature remains poorly developed. Future application of landscape approaches requires concerted transdisciplinary actions that connect scales of governance to address the complex political economies in contested tropical landscapes. We highlight important challenges and opportunities for landscape approach implementation, particularly related to bridging sectorial and disciplinary divides, engaging the private sector, and monitoring landscape performance.