The Impact of Large Landowners (Book)

on Land Markets

Editor(s): Bostic, Raphael W.
Publication Date: August 2009

$30.00; 240 pages; Inventory ID 189-7; English; Paperback; ISBN 978-1-55844-189-7


The Impact of Large Landowners on Land Markets - Introduction	282 KB

Abstract

What happens when one owner or one institution has significant control over the local land market? What tensions might this create between public and private interests?

The chapters in this volume examine these issues by looking at large landowners in various contexts. In the United States, for example, the large tracts of land held by private owners are often situated on the fringes of metropolitan areas. Frequently this land is in transition from agricultural to urban uses, and represents a source of income or a legacy for the next generation. Many universities and other nonprofit institutions own large parcels of land. Because they contribute to the urban economy, they often hold the bargaining advantage in comparison to other actors when town-gown issues arise.

In Nigeria, like much of Africa, a considerable portion of land is held privately, albeit communally. Land ownership and land supply decisions have more to do with family or clan marriages than with the logic of city building.

How do the actions of individual landowners affect our capacity to create cities that work for all? How well can these individual actors balance the competing interests of those living in neighborhoods, towns, cities, and regions? Each chapter highlights the behaviors of the actors in the land market. Despite the tensions that can arise between the stakeholders during the development process, the tensions are not the problem. Rather, they are the challenge and the opportunity for us to collectively shape our cities.