Sharing property value losses: The spatial concentration of development rights as a way to limit urban sprawl

Abstract

The examination of the literature on land value capturing and compensation shows that strategies based on the sharing of value losses deserve increased attention. This topic is relevant also with regards to the Swiss context of the study: following the entry into force of more stringent antisprawl provisions at the federal level, numerous peripheral municipalities must reduce the size of the designated building zones and withdraw development rights from landowners. Two municipal cases are presented: the first illustrates the difficulties currently faced by Swiss municipal authorities; the second shows a possible way of dealing with these difficulties. In this second case, a specific instrument that allows for the sharing of property value losses was implemented in the past. This instrument, which we will call the spatial concentration of development rights, is analyzed along with the conditions that made possible its successful implementation. The political and technical transferability of this instrument outside its original context is also addressed. The results show that the sharing of property value losses helps to deal with equity issues while being less demanding in terms of institutional change compared to the creation of a TDR system in Switzerland. Thus, the sharing of property value losses deserves being discussed as a suitable approach while implementing antisprawl policies in peripheral areas.