Private-led land assembly and urban consolidation: The relative influence of regulatory zoning mechanisms

Abstract

From the time a city is first subdivided, its structure of lots act as a precursor to all future redevelopment, forming the spatial bounds of land ownership that force buildings to develop and evolve in their place. It is therefore critical for planning systems that intend to contain urban sprawl to encourage the lot superstructure to adapt to the emerging needs of a city. This study assesses the role that existing regulatory planning mechanisms play in directing the spatial distribution and frequency of private developer-led land assembly. Drawing on two inner city local government areas in Melbourne, Australia, this research analyses the relative influence of local zone-led development controls on the occurrence of land assembly over an eleven-year period. A descriptive spatial analysis and global logistic regression model reveal that an interplay of maximum height restrictions, existing plot boundaries, and sales prices, have led to a disordered distribution of parcel amalgamations. A geographically weighted logistic regression model highlights spatial variation in the influence of these factors, with small lots in the inner city being subject to the least influence of development controls. The results are supplemented by a small sample of interviews with local planners and developers, who suggest that regulatory planning controls inadvertently turn desired built form outcomes into a tool for capital appreciation and landowner holdouts. In combination, the findings suggest that zone-led development controls do little to influence market forces in a manner that induces private-led land assembly in favour of the public good.