Institutional factors affecting urban green space provision – from a local government revenue perspective

Abstract

Statutory land-use planning allocates different uses of land resources. However, local governments may focus on economic development and financial revenue, leading to environmentally unfavourable outcomes, such as a shortage of public urban green space (UGS). Land resource allocation in planning is associated with institutional arrangements. This study aims to link the corresponding institutional factors under the themes of initial land ownership and governing instruments to the fiscal effect of UGS provision. A comparative study with different scenarios is conducted using land market data to demonstrate quantitatively the influence of such factors on government revenue. The results suggest that the situation with initial public land ownership status backed up by regulatory instruments is more advantageous for providing UGS than that with the initial private land ownership status relying on market-based instruments. The study identifies the characteristics of different institutional arrangements, outlining institutional changes and possible strategies for improving urban sustainability.