Institute Announces Contracted Research Projects (Land Lines Article)

Publication Date: September 1997

Inventory ID LLA970910; English

Article

The Lincoln Institute awards research contracts in each of its three program areas to encourage and support investigations that contribute to the body of knowledge about land use and land-related tax policies. We are pleased to announce these projects by scholars from throughout the United States and Latin America whose work os being supported by the Institute during the 1997-1998 academic year.
** denotes research projects in the Latin America Program

Program in Taxation of Land and Buildings

We are interested in the special nature of taxes on real property, particularly those based on market value. We address the economic effects of such taxes, including their legal structure and interpretation with regard to valuation. We are also interested in political aspects of implementing property taxes as instruments of fiscal decentralization. Research in this program area provides practical assistance to policymakers dealing with existing tax systems, and also explores current tax reform efforts around this country and overseas.

Actual Value Assessment in the Greater Toronto Area: Impacts and Policy Implications David Amborski, School of Urban and Regional Planning, Ryerson Polytechnic University

To evaluate the impacts of actual value assessment on various classes of property and the extent to which assessment reform will address the issue of commercial and industrial property tax differentials between Toronto and nearby municipalities.

Measuring the Tax Subsidy Produced by Use-Value Assessment of Open Space on the Urban Fringe John Anderson, Department of Economics, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

To measure the tax expenditures related to both property tax relief and preservation of agricultural land within cities or at the urban fringe through preferential property tax associated with use-value assessment.

Land Taxation in South Africa
Michael Bell, MEB Associates and Institute for Policy Studies, Johns Hopkins University, and John Bowman, Department of Economics, Virginia Commonwealth University

To develop a comprehensive strategy for the study of site value taxation versus a flat rating system in South Africa, including an initial reconnaissance of data availability and identification of potential in-country research partners.

Redistribution of Fiscal Stress: Long-Run Consequences of Proposition 13
Jeffrey Chapman, School of Public Administration, University of Southern California

To study the long-run effect of property tax changes, the diminishing fiscal autonomy of local government, and the continuing redistribution of fiscal stress in California communities since the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978.

Valuation of Open Space
Charlie Fausold, Cornell Cooperative Extension Association of Schuyler County, New York

To develop a case study of how different towns in western metropolitan Boston value conservation land, considering differences in the negotiation process, characteristics of the parcels, terms of final agreement, priorities of the towns, and what compensation was sought by each town.

School Finance Reform and Property Tax Revolts
William A. Fischel, Department of Economics, Dartmouth College

To investigate the use of the property tax as an efficient means of funding local public services, and the link between judicial decisions on school finance and dissatisfaction with the property tax.

Efficiency and Equity of a Forest Site Value Tax
David Klemperer and Gregory Amacher, Department of Forestry, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

To examine the implications of instituting site value taxation on forest lands in the United States by exploring issues of neutrality, efficiency, equity and fiscal feasibility within existing local and regional tax structures.

Land Taxation and Land Use in Asia
Alven Lam, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

To examine land tax reform proposals and land use regulations and policies in Asia in order to understand how mechanisms used at the local government level are affected by the international economy. The research will also examine the increasing coherence between land and tax policies in some Asian cities.

Land Taxation and Value Capture Initiatives in Britain
Nathaniel Lichfield, Department of Economics, University College of London, and Owen Connellan, Centre of Research in the Built Environment, University of Glamorgan

To explore and propose potential improvements in the planning and development process arising from introduction of site value taxation principles, with a view to making recommendations to improve government land policy.

Property Tax Appraisals and the Reuse of Inner-City Properties
Emil Malizia, Department of City and Regional Planning, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

To document the discrepancy between market value and assessed value for a sample of commercial properties in North Carolina. The research explains how appraisal methods may lead to overvaluation and explores ways to modify appraisal methods to eliminate this impediment to the reuse of inner-city properties.

Property Taxation in Transitional Economies: Case Studies
Jane Malme, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

To compile comparative case studies on the development of property taxation systems in transitional economies of Eastern Europe, including problems encountered in developing complex tax policies, laws, administrative arrangements and valuation methods.

Land Tax Systems: Comparative Issues, Strengths and Problems
William McCluskey, Department of Surveying, University of Ulster at Jordanstown, Northern Ireland, and Riël C. D. Franzsen, Department of Mercantile and Labor Law, University of South Africa, Pretoria

To critically evaluate the effectiveness and sustainability of land tax systems within a fiscal environment. This analysis will investigate the linkages of the land tax in promoting land policy decisions and explore the range of legal definitions of unimproved land value across several international jurisdictions.

The Two-Rate Tax: The Amsterdam, New York, Experience
Donald Reeb, Department of Economics, State University of New York-Albany

To study the process through which the two-rate tax was approved, implemented and later appealed. By presenting a chronicle of the events that led to the adoption of the tax and interviewing leaders of the reform movement, this study will present a profile of actions and attitudes concerning the tax reform and its failure.

** The Latin American Experience with Value Capture
Martim Smolka, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

To compile and analyze trends and experiences concerning the use of taxation and regulatory instruments to respond to increases in land value due to public investment and development in 12 Latin American countries, based on research by 12 scholars.

Infrequent Assessments Distort Property Taxes: Theory and Evidence
Koleman Strumpf, Center for Urban and Regional Studies, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

To consider the influence of assessment practices upon property taxes and on related issues such as tax limits and capital gains taxes. The focus is explicitly on the rate-setting decision under majority rule and the resulting lags between reassessments which can distort the equilibrium.

Program in Land Use and Regulation

We focus on the process, plans and policies that affect the development of land, especially in urban "fringe" areas most at risk from changing land uses. We also investigate issues around the reuse of vacant and underutilized land and the conservation of land. While we are interested in the economically efficient use of land, we take a more comprehensive perspective for evaluating land use and its regulation. We seek to understand how the development, reuse and conservation of land affect other public values and goals, such as access to land, the character of society and the quality of life.

Politics of Megaprojects
Alan Altshuler and David Luberoff, Taubman Center for State and Local Government, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

To study the political and institutional history of Boston's Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel project and other megaprojects across the country. The researchers plan to examine the place of large-scale transportation projects and other public infrastructure investments in urban land use and development politics.

Growth and Spread of Vacant/Underutilized Land and Land Value Depression in Buffalo: 1946-1996 Alex Anas, Department of Economics, and Elizabeth Kent, Barry Lentnek, Jean-Claude Thill, Department of Geography, State University of New York-Buffalo

To examine the process of vacant and underutilized land accumulation in rust-belt cities. The study is based on a cross-sectional regression analysis of the market price of vacant and underutilized parcels using variables that measure location, accessibility, ownership, and physical characteristics of the parcels and the surrounding neighborhood.

Use of Growth Management Tools to Achieve Sustainable Development
Philip Berke, Department of City and Regional Planning, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

To show the relationship between the use of certain growth management tools and policies and their actual outcomes through the use of both domestic and international case studies and a conceptual framework for understanding communities' efforts at achieving sustainability.

Developing Model Solutions to Recycling Brownfield Areas
J. Thomas Black, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

To review the existing "state of the art" regarding the market for reuse of urban industrial areas, focusing on medium to large U.S. cities. The final output will be a set of model strategies and related action programs to restore urban brownfields to productive uses.

Government and Vacant Land: Creating Cityscapes
Ann O. Bowman, Department of Government and International Studies, University of South Carolina, and Michael A. Pagano, Department of Political Science, Miami University, Ohio

To study the availability and use or reuse of vacant and fringe land in U.S. cities, to analyze successful and less-than-successful city policies that affect the use of vacant land, and to link the analyses of vacant and fringe land to a broader understanding of city development.

Public Policy and Sprawl: Implications of Existing Development Patterns
Patricia Burgess, Planning and Urban Design Services, The Urban Center, and Thomas Bier, Housing Policy Research Program, Levin College of Urban Affairs, Cleveland State University

To analyze the public policy implications of sprawling development adjacent to Cleveland as part of a statewide examination of metropolitan development patterns. The results will serve as a model to aid researchers and government officials in six other Ohio cities.

** Vacant Land In Latin American Cities
Nora Clichevsky, CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina

To undertake a comprehensive study of vacant land in six countries of Latin America, based on an in-depth case study of Buenos Aires. The research will be incorporated into an international seminar on vacant land problems in Latin America.

State-Level Growth Management
John DeGrove, Joint Center for Environmental and Urban Problems, Florida Atlantic University/Florida International University

To investigate state and regional growth management systems and their approaches to planning objectives, including consistency of statewide planning and provisions for adequate infrastructure, affordable housing, economic development and funding.

** Urban Transformations and Land Use Regulation
Mabel Fernandez Gonzales Silvano, School of Architecture and Urbanism, University of Belgrano, Buenos Aires, Argentina

To analyze land use changes in Buenos Aires as a consequence of globalization and economic restructuring. The research investigates the shift from a European to an American model of metropolitan development, which emphasizes extensive transportation networks that support gated communities, office complexes and other development on the urban fringe.

Changing Character of Public Spaces in Contemporary Metropolitan Areas
Ann Forsyth, Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning, University of Massachusetts at Amherst

To analyze and classify formal and informal regulations for major types of public and semi-public spaces in the Springfield-Hartford metropolitan area, and then to examine the changing nature of these spaces and the implications for the character of public interactions.

Changing Organization of Work
Genevieve Giuliano, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Southern California

To examine how trends in the changing organization of work may affect household location choice, travel patterns and urban structure, using the Los Angeles area as a case study.

Land Use Patterns, Social Justice and Environmental Improvement
William Goldsmith, Department of City and Regional Planning, Cornell University

To study problems of metropolitan land use, social justice and environmental improvement, building on both scholarly literature and practical concerns of local officials and activists.

Non-Profit Developers and Vacant Land
James Goldstein, Tellus Institute, and Greg Watson, Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, Boston

To develop course materials on vacant land reuse for community development corporations across the country. Two components of the project are a case study of the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative and suggested processes for bringing community stakeholders together to identify common goals in overcoming barriers to redevelopment.

Boston as a Global City Region
Rosalind Greenstein, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

To document the spatial form of metropolitan Boston in order to understand the process of urbanization and the particular form it takes in this region. As part of a comparative investigation of 13 global city regions, the study will use mapping and statistical analysis to isolate the forces that operate at regional, national and international levels.

Impact of Housing-Related Tax Expenditures on Residential Land Use Within the Metropolitan Area
Joseph Gyourko, Department of Real Estate and Finance, The Wharton School , University of Pennsylvania, and Richard Voith, Federal Reserve Bank, Philadelphia

To study how federal tax policy related to housing has influenced the nature of urban form and, in particular, residential land use intensity in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The primary issue under investigation is the relationship between decentralization and housing-related tax policies.

Limitation on Development Impact Exactions as a Means to Limit Social Policymaking
James Holloway and Donald Guy, Department of Finance, School of Business, East Carolina University

To examine two recent U.S. Supreme Court takings decisions which applied a means-ends analysis that protects the property rights of real estate developers and that subjects municipal land use policymaking to heightened scrutiny.

Does Planning Matter?
Gerrit Knaap and Lewis Hopkins, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Illinois-Urbana

To analyze the effects of changes in urban growth boundaries and local zoning ordinances on land values, land transactions and development activity in Portland, Oregon. The researchers use dynamic visualization and statistical tests and create a GIS database on property sales transactions, zoning and plan designation changes, subdivisions, and building permits over a one year period.

The Influence of New Flexibility and Technology Requirements on Weak Commercial Property Markets
Nancey Green Leigh, City Planning Program, Georgia Institute of Technology

To explore changes in land use demands and the context for reuse of central city office and industrial properties in Atlanta and Chicago, stemming from an increased emphasis on flexibility in the organization of manufacturing production and in the delivery of producer services.

Overcoming Regulatory Barriers to the Reuse of Urban Land
George W. Liebmann, Law Offices of George W. Liebmann, Baltimore

To review the methods of removing barriers to the adaptation and reuse of urban land in the U.S. and internationally, and to develop an annotated model ordinance or state enabling law allowing for more effective urban land use policies.

Contested Terrain: Land Ownership and Land Use in Jerusalem
Najwa Makhoul, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University

To map out the structure of land ownership and regulation in Jerusalem as it relates to land values. The researcher will document the forces acting on land values and the mechanisms through which they are being transformed.

Edge Cities
Patrick McGovern, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Michigan

To explore the relationships between environmental regulation, racial change and edge city growth through examining the ten largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. and the dominant edge city in each.

** Poverty, Urban Environment and Land Segregation
Sonia Regina deBrito Pereira, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

To study problems of environment and land segregation caused by socio-economic and spatial disparities in developing countries, in particular in Latin America. The project includes a case study of squatter communities in the Baixada de Jacarepagua region of Rio de Janeiro, with the aim of developing programs to train community leaders to deal more effectively with local land use conflicts and environmental risks.

Growth Management Case Study on Boulder, Colorado
Peter Pollock, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, and Planning Department, Boulder

To discuss the history and effects of growth management efforts in Boulder, as an example of the process that communities follow to attain suitable and effective institutions for growth management.

** Evaluation of Recent Reforms Regarding Land Policy in Latin America
Fernando Rojas, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

To study institutional changes, new intergovernmental fiscal and managerial arrangements, and decentralized planning and budgeting in Latin American cities.

** Urban Social Segretation in Santiago: Trends, Problems and Opportunities
Francisco Sabatini, Institute of Urban Studies, Catholic Univeristy of Chile, Santiago

To understand the social impacts of urban spatial segregation based on an analysis of public transportation commuting times and the 'social pathologies' prevalent in lower-income areas.The research will help project trends in the morphological pattern of the city and the social implications of those trends.

** Comparative Patterns of Intra-Urban Segregation
Francisco Sabatini, Institute of Urban Studies, Catholic Univeristy of Chile, and Martim Smolka, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

To develop terms of reference for an international comparative study of patterns of segregation in Latin American cities. The focus of this empirically oriented study is less on urban form than on the concrete processes affecting segregation associated with commuting patterns and residential mobility.

Growth Management in States Without Legislation
Patricia Salkin, Government Law Center, Albany Law School

To examine states and regions which have invested significant fiscal and human resources in the effort to coordinate planning strategies, yet in the end failed to enact meaningful legislation. The research focuses on the political, social and fiscal problems that hindered reform initiatives.

** Land Transformation in Peripheral Areas
William Siembieda, Department of Urban Planning, University of New Mexico

To help improve policy frameworks for dealing with issues of land management and infrastructure by concentrating on the dynamics of land transformation at the periphery of secondary cities in Mexico.

** Legislation, Markets and Access to Housing in Sao Paulo, Brazil
Helena Menna Barreto Silva and Carolina Maria Pozzi de Castro, Laboratory of Housing and Urban Settlements, School of Architecture and Urbanism, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil

To examine the barriers to expanding access to legal housing by low-income populations which are traditionally forced into informal and illegal markets. This paper stimulated discussion at a Lincoln Institute workshop on low-income housing markets in Sao Paulo in August.

Future Form of Global City Regions
Roger Simmonds, School of Planning, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, England

To examine to what extent the emerging socioeconomic and physical forms of global city regions represent a new type of human settlement for the 21st century. Each of 13 research teams focuses on one city region and produces data on its decade-by-decade growth, linking mapping exercises to changes in key social and economic indicators and investment in transportation and communications infrastructure.

** Urban Land Management Case Studies
Nadia Somekh, Intermunicipal Consortium, Metropolitan Sao Paulo, Brazil

To select and develop three case studies where innovative land use control instruments were used (successfully or not) in the contexts of public/private actions, preservation of urban landmarks and environmental features, and policies aimed at low-income areas. The cases will be prepared as training materials for planning professionals and students throughout Latin America.

Consensual Approaches to Land use Decisionmaking: An Analysis of Recent Experience
Lawrence Susskind, Consensus Building Institute and Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Marshall Kaplan, Graduate School of Public Affairs, University of Colorado-Denver

To develop an evaluative framework and apply it to cases of land use decisionmaking in which professional facilitation, mediation or other forms of consensus building were used to supplement normal governmental processes.

Costs and Benefits of Metropolitan Employment Deconcentration
Wim Wiewel and Joseph Persky, Great Cities Institute and College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs, University of Illinois-Chicago

To develop an overview of employment and firm location trends in metropolitan areas, focusing on the relative positions of central cities, inner suburbs and outer suburbs. The study will also present a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of location decisions and review the relative effectiveness of various policies aimed at reducing employment deconcentration or mitigating its adverse effects.

Comparative Analysis of Vacant Land in Urban Areas in Western Europe
Barry Wood, Department of Town and Country Planning, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne

To analyze and review the causes of vacant land, why its occurrence is of policy concern, and what policy solutions have been put forward to deal with it in the Netherlands, France, Italy and the United Kingdom.

Transfer of Development Rights
Robert D. Yaro, Regional Plan Association, New York

To describe the ways in which the transfer of development rights from rural areas to town centers and designated development areas can be part of a larger physical and institutional framework for on-going, sustainable development.

Program in Land Values, Property Rights and Ownership

We study how the actions of stakeholders in both private and public sectors produce land values and distribute rights to land. We are also interested in how to develop methods to measure land value. This program area touches upon the larger issues of property rights, the operations of formal and informal land markets in creating and distributing land value, and methods for both recovering the costs of public investment in land and distributing the wealth gained from land.

Metropolitan Land Markets
H. James Brown, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

To analyze patterns of development and urban expansion in the Boston metropolitan area through the use of survey information on landowners' perceptions of the current land market and their resulting real estate decisions.

Measuring Regulation
Richard Green and Stephen Malpezzi, Department of Real Estate and Urban Land Economics, University of Wisconsin-Madison

To develop an error correction model of housing prices, with special emphasis on the effects of the regulatory environment on the time path of adjustment in the housing market. The researchers will also estimate the price elasticity of the supply of housing across U.S. metropolitan areas and analyze the determinants of these elasticities.

** Problems in the Estimation of Urban Land Price Indicators
Emilio Haddad, School of Architecture and Urbanism, Institute for Technology Research, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil

To analyze problems not covered in existing literature regarding the estimation of land prices in the Latin America context of uneven regional wealth and income distribution, unplanned urban growth, and informal and illegal markets.

Parcel-Based GIS for Land Supply and Capacity Monitoring
Anne Vernez Moudon, Cascadia Community and Environment Institute, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Washington-Seattle

To develop a "protocol" of GIS attribute data, repeat inventory requirements, and related analytical techniques, which are essential for urban and suburban land planning and monitoring. This protocol will help improve communication and increase efficiency and accuracy of data, allowing for a better understanding of the forces that impact land supply and capacity.

Formal and Informal Mechanisms in Housing Production in Developing Countries
Ayse Pamuk, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Virginia

To study the role of informal arrangements in land delivery and transfers in developing countries. The importance of private arrangements made in informal land markets will be examined, using Trinidad and Tobago to assess the consequences of a restrictive regulatory environment.

Security of Tenure
Omar Razzaz and Bishwapriya Sanyal, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

To study informal land and housing markets with an emphasis on developing countries. The researchers will examine the contributions of the literature grounded in both "institutional economics" and the "planning perspective," identifying the gaps in the current body of research and areas for further investigation.

** Effects of the Implementation of New Land Use Controls and Regulations in Restructuring Real Estate Markets in the Cities of Sao Paulo State
Raquel Rolnik, Department of Architecture and Urbanism, Catholic University of Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil

To examine the process of implementing innovative land use control instruments and regulations and their effects on land markets and the behavior of market agents since changes were introduced in the 1988 Brazilian Constitution. Three city case studies will also be prepared.

Public Development of Publicly Owned Lands
Lynne Sagalyn, Graduate School of Business, Columbia University

To determine what types of policies underlie the strategies cities follow for the disposition of publicly owned land in order to examine the trade-offs involved in meeting multiple objectives, the influence of structural factors, and the issue of government accountability.

** Alternative Sources of Real Estate Capital in Two Latin American Historic Districts
Joseph L. Scarpaci, Department of Urban Affairs and Planning, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

To analyze the different contemporary land uses which compete in the historic districts in Cartagena, Colombia, and Cuenca, Ecuador. Of special interest is the uneven degree of historic preservation in Latin American cities, and in particular the alternative ("illicit") sources of capital used to drive real estate markets in older neighborhoods.

** The Functioning of Urban Land Markets in Latin America
Martim Smolka, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

To understand key themes in the functioning of urban land markets in Latin America. Twelve scholars analyze a theme relevant to their country and each other researcher contributes additional information based on their country's experience. This collaborative and iterative process will result in a publication that presents a comprehensive analysis of land market issues.

For information about research projects in Latin America, contact Ana Vera Wynne, research assistant for Latin America Program (avwynne@lincolninst.edu).