Nucleated Suburbanisation in a Competitive Market Economy

Abstract

Land-use planners in many market economy countries have been intrigued by the possibility of creating suburbs which are spatially distinct from each other and from their metropolitan cores . Policies have been promoted in this regard to protect large-scale `green areas' which might act partly as a visible buffer or separator between urban areas throughout a metropolitan region. Various benefits have been suggested by different proponents of this `nucleated suburbanisation' and large-scale greenarea preservation . These have included the preservation of valuable farm land or historical areas, the provision of recreation land in close proximity to urban residents, flood protection, the retention of distinctive small communities, the separation of non-complementary urban land uses, and the systematic, rational development of regional infrastructure servicing schemes . The most direct means of implementing nucleated suburbanisation is through legislation. Typically, a planning agency identifies areas in which urban growth is to be either encouraged or limited . In those areas in which it is deemed desirable to limit or prevent growth, legislation is introduced which arbitrarily removes or restricts the development rights of local property owners . Subsequent new urban development in the region is then forced to locate in those nucleated areas where growth is to be encouraged . Sometimes, incentives of one kind or another are also provided to make these locations more attractive to households and firms . The use of legislative controls over land use and development is not without problems in societies where the real property rights of individuals are constitutionally or historically protected. In these cases, compensation is often demanded and sometimes paid. In addition, the taking of real property rights is sometimes seen by citizens in general as a very serious and undesirable action. To resolve this problem with legislative controls,