Urban Land Market Research Articles

Characteristics of land value variation and the urban land market in Kathmandu, Nepal1

This paper examines the characteristics of the urban land market in Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal, in two stages by analysing land value variation in 2002 and 2009. In the first stage, it captures the characteristics of urban spatial structure, using the extended land value gradient model which includes not only the distance from the city centre but also zoning, road accessibility and planning variables as the determinants of land values. The estimates show that urban growth in Kathmandu has recently been characterized by neither centralization nor suburbanization with little shift in urban land demand between central and peripheral areas. Instead, land values have increased significantly across all urban areas, indicating the possibility of overall excess demand for urban plots. Correspondingly, in the second stage whether the supply is sufficient in urban land market is tested using two methods. First, by investigating the data on land pooling projects, urban land value after the project turns out to be greater than the sum of agricultural land value before the project and rural-to-urban conversion costs. Second, the actual or physical distance of urban-rural boundary turns out to be shorter than the theoretical or economic distance derived from the estimates of the extended gradient model. Both results confirm that urban land supply is in a shortage in Kathmandu.

Determinants of urban land market outcomes: Evidence from California

Our understanding of the effects of land use regulations and other aspects of urban form has been hindered by limited aggregate data and gradual temporal changes in policies. More widely available GIS data on land use and land economics presents opportunities to overcome these obstacles. This study was undertaken to explore the potential for land economics research that draws on parcel level spatial data for urban land markets, and uses differences across a sample of cities as the source of variation. Policy obstacles such as protected open spaces and other land use regulations, like the limitations caused by land forms such as water bodies and mountains, can be expected to alter the supply of land in ways that will be reflected in land market outcomes across cities. Based on a sample of data for 46 California cities, this exploratory analysis analyzed land market outcomes as a function of population, income and other factors in a closed-economy model, including a ratio that measures the concentration of developed lands within a city's radius or perimeter. The approach produced robust relationships consistent with other studies, and results consistent with expectations not just in terms of the signs of the estimated coefficients but in terms of their magnitudes as well. Indeed, the elasticity of land development with respect to population has been estimated to be 0.79–0.82 based on open city models. The evidence suggests that both land forms and land use regulations have a positive effect on land prices; however, it was not possible with the current data to distinguish the amenity effects of proximity to oceans and mountains from the supply constraints on radial city expansion. The analysis, nevertheless, provides encouraging evidence for future research of this kind.

Rural to urban land conversion in China — How large is the over-conversion and what are its welfare implications?

The current system of converting farmland to urban land use in China can be characterized as a hybrid system that combines government controls with market-based transfers. In this paper we argue that this hybrid governance structure causes an over-conversion of farmland from the rural to the urban sector, as compared to a competitive market situation, and a welfare reallocation that discriminates against farmland owners. We develop a partial equilibrium model that can be used to examine the impact of the current hybrid governance structure on the over-conversion of farmland and to analyze the welfare changes for different groups of actors and the resulting net social welfare loss. Using a dataset with detailed information on farmland acquisitions and urban land transactions in Yingtan City in Jiangxi Province, we illustrate how this framework can be applied. Our results indicate an over-conversion of 33.5% of the total converted farmland in this city between 1999 and 2003. The welfare of farmland owners affected by the conversion decreased by 1.38 billion RMB, while the net social welfare loss equaled more than 270 million RMB during the same period. The local government obtained 380 million RMB of revenues by re-selling farmland as urban land through competitive conveyance mechanisms between 2002 and 2005, while the manufacturing sector gained an estimated 280 million RMB from buying land use rights at relatively low prices. We conclude that the current policy of increasing urban land conveyance through competitive mechanisms does not address two major underlying causes of over-conversion, and that protection of farmland would be better served by replacing the current hybrid rural to urban land market structure by a competitive land market. ► The current system of converting farmland to urban land use in China combines government controls with market-based transfers. ► We present a partial equilibrium framework that can be used to examine the degree of over-conversion of farmland and its welfare implications. ► Over-conversion of farmland in Yingtan City, Jiangxi between 1999 and 2003 amounted to 33.5 % of the total converted farmland. ► The estimated welfare loss of farmland owners in Yingtan City equaled 1.38 billion RMB, and the estimated net social welfare loss amounted more than 270 million RMB. ► The current policy of increasing urban land conveyance through competitive mechanisms does not address major underlying causes of over-conversion.

Access to Land for the Urban Poor—Policy Proposals for South African Cities

The issue of land is a critical one in post-Apartheid South Africa. Growing informality and poverty in urban areas, driven to a large extent by urbanisation, necessitates greater concerted action around land use management in urban areas to ensure more equitable, environmentally and socially sustainable use of finite land resources. The operation of the urban land market has been identified as a significant obstacle preventing the urban poor from accessing affordable land. A new approach, advocated by the UK Department for International Development and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation entitled “Making Markets Work for the Poor—M4P” emerged in the 1990s. The M4P approach recognises that even successful market development will not distribute land to the poor and intervention in the land market is therefore required to promote more equitable land distribution patterns. The M4P perspective however has been accused of an obsession with economic solutions to the problem of landlessness and informality to the exclusion of other socio-political and legal remedies. The Brazilian case provides an example of a more progressive approach as it combines social policy and legal reform to regulate the use of urban land to ensure that land fulfils its “social function”. The presence of large tracts of vacant and unused land in cities is an important issue in the context of growing informality and competition for land and therefore requires urgent policy attention. The paper discusses the Brazilian case and the instruments used in that country to deal with vacant/unused land in cities. It argues that the progressive taxation of vacant land in cities could be a potentially valuable policy instrument in South African cities. Land-based fiscal instruments can be utilised by local government to manage the use of land and to access additional revenue which can be redistributed to the poor for the provision of infrastructure and services. Although these tools are not a panacea for challenges of informality and poverty in the developing world, they do have the potential to augment municipal income and to facilitate urban renewal, infill development and a more compact city. The paper argues though that these tools should be applied on a city-wide scale; part and parcel of an overall urban land reform strategy and plan for the city.

Polycentric Urban Development: The Case of Hangzhou

Despite the advantages of polycentric structure and its rich literature drawn from cities in industialized countries, little attention has been paid to the study of polycentric urban development in developing countries based on land-use information. With Hangzhou used as a case study, the authors investigate polycentric urban development through an analysis of directions of urban expansion, urban–rural gradients, and growth types. The multidisciplinary methodology employed, based on theories and methods in remote sensing, geographic information systems, and landscape ecology, has been proved to be useful in the morphological study of polycentric urban development. It was found that Hangzhou has expanded in different directions at various speeds, shifting to a polycentric urban pattern through radial expansion. Along the main transportation corridors, the values of the mean patch sizes of urban patches displayed multiple peaks, and the landscape-shape index maintained a horizontal trend in urban fringes, reflecting the formation of polycentricity. Further, as edge growth and spontaneous growth accounted for 40%–50% and 30–40% of urban growth, respectively, and infill growth was responsible for only a small proportion of urban growth, it is suggested that dispersed urban patches have been increasingly agglomerated into big ones, especially along road corridors. Hangzhou's polycentric urban development was shaped both by the planning efforts of the government and by market forces. The municipal government guided the polycentric development through drafting and revising master plans, annexing nearby districts, and establishing development zones. Nevertheless, market forces played an increasingly important role in Hangzhou's polycentric development through the implementation of an urban land market, the inflow of migrant workers, and the relocation of industries.

VIVIENDA SOCIAL EN ALTURA: ANTECEDENTES Y CARACTERÍSTICAS DE PRODUCCIÓN EN BOGOTÁ

Given the different questioning about the appropriateness of the production of high rise social housing buildings, the present research presents a state ofart hy drawing a historical line that characterizes State produced multifamily economic housing and private investment and its qualitative properties. The analysis includes ICMA approaches and its application in Latin America and specifically the case of Bogota, from State production to housing market consolidation during the 1990s. In this sense, the urban impacts of economic multifamily housing on the compact city model carried out in Bogota are identifed, as well as its relation with land use policy. In this case, the value of urban land and housing market dynamics defined by a privileged location determine the quality and accessibility to Social Interest Housing (VIS). To that effect, projects across the city are identified, both built by the State and subsidized. To finish, considerations for applications in the city are proposed according research and theories about application of high densities and high rise social housing.

Urban Land and Housing Markets in the Punjab, Pakistan

Well-functioning urban land and housing markets are critical success factors for achieving robust economic growth. This paper provides an overview of urban land and housing market performance in Punjab Province of Pakistan. It describes the characteristics of well-functioning markets and argues that the Punjab’s present markets are not performing adequately. In fact, there exists a range of impediments to efficient urban land and housing market performance: excessive public land ownership, inadequate infrastructure services, weak property rights, pervasive public- and private-sector rent seeking, counter-productive urban planning policies and regulations, costly sub-division and construction regulations, limited financing for property development and acquisition, rent controls and inadequate property-tax-based revenue-generating mechanisms. The paper concludes by suggesting that a prioritised comprehensive reform agenda is needed to improve urban land and housing market performance in Punjab Province. The analytical and conceptual approach used to research this paper is based on standard neo-classical economics. Therefore, the paper does not address broader political economy or structural issues. Consequently, the paper’s contribution should be viewed as limited in scope.

Tenure and Land Markets for Urban Agriculture

Cities are shaped by many elements, but undoubtedly one of the most significant factors is the urban land market. Urban farmers, often producing food on land with limited or no security of tenure, are exposed to the risk of being evicted in order for land to be used for more profitable uses such as housing development. In the absence of a system of land titling, advocacy groups, or secure tenure, urban farmers are pushed to the margins. It then becomes difficult to support, manage and/or regulate the sector. More importantly, without legal status, most forms of credit are inaccessible to farmers and they must rely on kinship and illicit sources for credit. The influence of land tenure on the security of urban farmers to practice their livelihood is significant. Recent IDRC supported projects suggest that banking systems and economists need to develop a methodology to value lands that are informally controlled by farmers or where there are customary legal systems in place. Moreover, evidence suggests that advocacy groups have manage to increase security and access to land for urban farmers.

Urban agriculture and urban land use planning: Need for a synthesis in metropolitan Lagos, Nigeria

The role of agriculture in an agrarian economy like Nigeria as a pathfinder to understanding the sustainability of the environment cannot be over emphasized, rapid, largely unchecked, urbanization is common in many urban centres such as the Lagos metropolis. Associated with these are the key problems of urban poverty and food security, urban land market, and issues related to sustainable urban development. Urban agriculture (UA) is in reality and in many cases a response to crisis and a coping strategy of the urban poor UA can contribute to food security in several ways. It increases the amount of food available and enhances the freshness of perishable foods reaching urban consumers. UA can also play a role in environmental conservation. However, UA production systems can pose risks to public health and the environment. These arise from the inappropriate or excessive use of agricultural inputs-including pesticides, nitrogen, and raw organic matter containing heavy metal residues. Urban land use planners should endeavour to promote multifunctional land use, and greater community participation in the management of urban open spaces as a way of integrating UA as a key concept in urban development programmes. Key words: Urban agriculture, urban land use planning, sustainable land management practices, metropolitan Lagos.

Property rights, transaction costs and institutional change: Conceptual framework and literature review

For want of appropriate and effectual methodological approaches or analytical instruments, analysis of socio-economic phenomena can sometimes be problematic. As Frances et al. have aptly noted, any analysis of social nature begs the question: ‘with what theoretical tools do we approach the analysis of events and processes?’ (p. 1). In land matters, for example, Malpezzi (1999b,c) has keenly observed that most of the studies on land reforms have focused on the rural and agricultural sectors, at the expense of the urban sector. Arguably, the paucity of land policy/reform studies on the urban sector could be explained, to a large measure, by the fact that most of the studies carried out in this area apply theoretical frameworks or models that are highly abstract (e.g. neoclassical economic models) or too simplistic in approach. 1 1 On the methodology of economics, Case (1986: 5) asserts that: ‘To answer real-world questions one must deal explicitly with the institutional, social and political context within which economic forces operate.’ Consistent with Coase (1992a), Case notes, however, that for the sake of simplicity of understanding of the underlying economic factors, economists strip off the institutional details from their theories or models. Such models or methodological frameworks may not be readily applicable or efficacious in explaining the convoluted urban land market realities. The narrow option for alternative tools of analysis for studying land market ‘events and processes’ (to use Frances et al.’s (1991) terminology) may well have hindered land policy/reform research in the urban sector. Against that background, this paper advances an eclectic, property-rights-based approach that is robust and versatile enough to have wide application. An empirical study conducted under the framework attests to the relevance of such an approach to land use policy and urban land market analysis.

Non-Diversifiable Risk and Quantity Discounts in Taiwanese Urban Land Markets

Land assembly and subdivision costs are negligible in residential land markets in certain land readjustment districts of Taichung City, Taiwan. Our empirical investigation finds evidence for significant quantity discounts in the case of land sales in these post-consolidated markets. This finding contradicts the prediction of the Le Chatelier-Braun Principle put forward in the work of Lin and Evans (2000). Moreover, the discounts are larger for land sales zoned in R-2 districts than those zoned in R-1 districts. These results are consistent with Brownstone and De Vany's (1991) non-diversifiable risk hypothesis.

El Método de los Valores Tipológicos (MVT): Ideas para un método de identificación y de prevaloración cualitativa de áreas a urbanizar

The studies of city planners, geographers, economists and sociologists, including the comprehensive experience of real estate promoters, bring us to hand an important and relevant amount of data; respect the urban land market with their availabilities. The research that supports this paper has had the opportunity to analyze all this available data. This permitted us to identify parameters that express qualities values for this urban land availability: like orientation, level of security, accessibility and others. Altogether, we are considering 22 parameters. This paper proposes a methodology of analysis of those parameters with the purpose of obtaining future urban land availability. This validation will constitute an important urban growth prospective tool for state investment planning.

Empirical evidence from Hangzhou's urban land reform: Evolution, structure, constraints and prospects

China's urban land reform is a gradualist process of transforming a planned land allocation system to an open land market system, while the ownership of the land remains under the control of the state. Through a series of reforms in institutions and policies, urban land markets have emerged rapidly. This study aims to analyse the evolution of urban land reform in Hangzhou, one of the spearhead cities in China's urban land reforms, to discuss its emerging structure of urban land market—its legal, institutional and financial frameworks, to identify the current urban land management characteristics and the principal constraints, and to propose relevant recommendations for urban land reform with emphasis on rural land rights and expropriation, interactions between central and local governments, and non-government sector's participation in urban land use management. Besides the policy implications, the study concludes that urban land reform in Hangzhou has been actively interacting with economic reforms in other fields in a variety of ways; that a monopolized supply mechanism of urban land is not necessarily a detriment to the development of a market system in the urban land economy; and that a government-led land use management model with little civil society and public participation is one of the most significant constraints in China's urban land reforms.

Place Remaking under Property Rights Regimes: A Case Study of Niucheshui, Singapore

From the perspective of institutional analysis, this paper evaluates the place-remaking process of Niucheshui in Singapore. It is found that the redevelopment of Niucheshui since the 1960s has been substantively shaped by the property rights regime over land and buildings. As property rights are defined by the state in the forms of statutory land-use planning, compulsory land acquisition, rent control, land leasing, and conservation of historical buildings, the free market for land redevelopment is reined in heavily by the state. The built form of Niucheshui before 1960 was by and large the product of many private individuals' and communities' initiatives. Those players have faded from the scene since the 1960s, and the redevelopment of Niucheshui is the result of interactions between the state and market forces, though public participation is practised in the land-use planning process. In view of the urban land market behaving and performing within a framework defined by institutions, and property rights being one of the most important institutions, we argue that, not warranted by rhetoric public participation, pluralism and diversity in the built environment are protected by a diverse structure of land property rights which should be incorporated into the place-remaking process.

Consequences of the Plano Piloto: The Urban Development and Land Markets of Brasília

Much has been written about what is perhaps the largest and most important city built entirely in the 20th century. By some, Brasília is seen as the epitome of modernism's failure and, by others, simply an example of an overregulated city unable to cope with rapid urbanisation and population growth. This paper argues that Brasília is not a typical case. The spatial structure of the metropolitan region of Brasília is completely different from comparable regions in Brazil and its land market exhibits several distinct patterns. Furthermore, it is argued that the region's unique origin and restrictive urban land development policies have led to the current sprawling form of the region. It is concluded that the urban form of Brasília is detrimental to the quality of life of its residents as it leads to higher housing and transport costs.

Estimation of the bid rent function with the usage decision model

This paper examines whether the bid rent function model is a valid description of a mechanism of the urban land market. We estimate the function that decides land usage and price using the full information maximum likelihood (FIML). It finds that land usage on average follows the rule that is consistent with the bid rent function model: whichever usage outbids the others occupies the land. However, the evidence also suggests that there is a systematic departure from the model. Namely, the distance from the second city center may directly affect land usage even though it is not reflected in land prices.

Urban land administration and planning in China: Opportunities and constraints of spatial data models

China's economic reforms over the past decades have given rise to the development of a rudimentary urban land market. Although one cannot speak of a land “market” in the strict sense of the word, there is an urban land allocation system in which land lease rights can be acquired through the payment of a land-use fee. If the urban land market is to develop in a sustainable manner, new credible institutions need to be established that can safeguard greater legal security and transparency. For these purposes, it is necessary to establish a management system that can support the legal (tenure security), economic (leases, taxes) and broader aspects (spatial and environmental land use policies) of land administration. To make an urban land administration system socially credible and functional, land-related information should be registered and structured at a detailed spatial level, such as parcels. There is no parcel-based information system in China, but the country has developed a population registration system at a detailed spatial level that could be a starting point to develop integrated information systems, or a so-called “local spatial data infrastructure”. This paper reviews China's population registration system and their spatial units and presents a proposal for an information system that can be expanded or adapted to meet the requirements of an effective land administration system.

The Structure of Social Space in Beijing in 1998: A Socialist City in Transition

The 1984 urban reforms in China introduced an urban land market and a housing market to Chinese cities and had profound impacts on urban structures. Using data from a 1998 survey and other sources in Beijing at the subdistrict (jiedao) level, this research found that differentiations of social areas were taking place in Beijing after over a decade of urban reforms. Unlike western cities with socioeconomic status and family status as dominant forces in forming social areas, Beijing began to experience the impact of differentiation of socioeconomic status (e.g., income gaps), and the family structure factor was ineffective in Beijing because of decades of family planning. Factor analysis revealed four factors that underlay the social-spatial structure in Beijing: (1) land-use intensity as the dominant factor displaying a concentric zonal pattern, (2) neighborhood dynamics, mainly composed of the floating population ratio, featuring a sectoral pattern, (3) socioeconomic status exhibiting a combination of sectoral and zonal patterns, and (4) ethnicity resembling a multiple nuclei pattern. Superimposing the four factors generated a complex urban mosaic in Beijing. Cluster analysis was used to classify the subdistricts into nine different social areas.

Urban Land Administration and Planning in China: Opportunities and Constraints of Spatial Data Models

China’s economic reforms over the past decades have given rise to the development of a rudimentary urban land market. Although one cannot speak of a land ‘‘market’’ in the strict sense of the word, there is an urban land allocation system in which land lease rights can be acquired through the payment of a land-use fee. If the urban land market is to develop in a sustainable manner, new credible institutions need to be established that can safeguard greater legal security and transparency. For these purposes, it is necessary to establish a management system that can support the legal (tenure security), economic (leases, taxes) and broader aspects (spatial and environmental land use policies) of land administration. To make an urban land administration system socially credible and functional, land-related information should be registered and structured at a detailed spatial level, such as parcels. There is no parcel-based information system in China, but the country has developed a population registration system at a detailed spatial level that could be a starting point to develop integrated information systems, or a so-called ‘‘local spatial data infrastructure’’. This paper reviews China’s population registration system and their spatial units and presents a proposal for an information system that can be expanded or adapted to meet the requirements of an effective land administration system.

El acceso al suelo y a la vivienda de los sectores informales: el caso de la ciudad de México.

The informal sectors in Mexico City face great troubles in their attempt to become part of it. The high number of inhabitants concentrated in this mega city, unskilled workers, a global economy which does not include them and pushes them to informality and poverty as well as the lack of coordination between actors, keep the gap and the inaccessibility to land and housing. Land availability and land management are some of the key problems in the urban development of Mexico City. Due to its importance this paper devotes its first part to the main concepts on the topic and then it describes the laws dealing with land market in Mexico from a federal, state and county hall point of view, especially in the area of urban planning, land offer, transactions legal reliability and public services management. The main forms of land ownership in Mexico are also described. The third part shows the case of the Metropolitan area in Mexico Valley. The conclusions mention the main problems of its urban land market and how they lead to a lack of land availability. This in turn affects the efficient provision of housing and the growth of the cities since they do so without any plan and this of course influences the consolidation of human settlements.