Publications and Multimedia

The authors offer an insightful look at an increasingly important phenomenon in local government: the use of exactions and similar tools not just to regulate development but to fund infrastructure and essential services. Their political and economic analyses of exaction financing consider the social effects and overall fairness of such tool...

The authors present an informative, entertaining and often irreverent examination of the personalities, controversies and compromises that have created zoning districts around special areas in New York City, Chicago and San Francisco. They also share fascinating insights into the benefits and problems associated with this unique regulatory tool and the roles of community, political and...

In this classic of zoning literature, Babcock’s astute and witty observations about American zoning practices in the suburbs of the 1960s still ring true today. Planners, lawyers, developers, judges and citizens are the key players in this zoning game that seeks to mediate between private and public land development and the public interes...

More than a sequel to The Zoning Game, this rich and fascinating collection of eleven case studies on local land use politics offers behind-the-scenes analysis of decision making on zoning controls and land development. Designed for the general reader as well as lawyers and planners, the cases illuminate many lessons that can be learned from well-documented land use disputes in eight state...

Across the nation, Americans are “forting up”—retreating from their neighbors by locking themselves behind security-controlled walls, gates and barriers. This book studies the development and social impact of this phenomenon by exploring various gated communities and the reasons for their popularity. The authors examine the social, political and governance dilemmas posed when millions of...

Can today’s policy makers and researchers effectively draw on the ideas of 19th-century philosopher Henry George to help solve 21st-century problems? This compendium presents eight essays by scholars who demonstrate that many of George’s ideas about land use and taxation remain valuable today. Policy makers still face Henry George’s fundamental challenge—to balance private property rights and...

Economics and Tax Policy was published by the Lincoln Institute as a book in 1986. The book is now out of print, but the complete text is available here as a free downloadable pdf document. This clear and concise explanation of the basic principles of microeconomic theory shows the implications of property tax policy for individual enterprises. The first section introduces the basic notions of...

Contributors: K. Case, R. Cervero, R. Einsweiler, J. Feagin, S. Hobart, S. Honey, C. Lindstrom, J. Petersen, M. Quinn, D. Teater, J. Youngman U.S. land and real estate markets went on a roller coaster ride in the 1980s and early 1990s. The combination of economic growth, demographic change, and federal tax and banking policies that stimulated this boom-bust cycle affected regional economic...

Since World War II, rapid population and economic growth has transformed the American landscape. Efforts to improve land use have not kept pace with improvements on other environmental fronts, such as air and water quality and the recovery of certain endangered species. The authors analyze the issues and present a ten-point agenda to help America's communities accommodate future growth in more...

Can rival community groups ‘get to yes’ when it is in the public’s interest to resolve disputes arising from LULUs (locally unwanted land uses)? NIMBY responses to facilities such as landfills, prisons or low-income housing may be symptomatic of deeper problems confronting local governments. The contributors review case studies and offer strategies to resolve controversial land...

American's preference for low-density development has generated severe traffic and pollution problems for central cities and has driven both urban and suburban housing prices beyond affordable levels. Downs offers thoughtful insights on the social and political problems facing metropolitan areas across the U.S. He proposes three alternative visions that reverse the trent to sprawl by emphasizing...

Flooding is a natural hydrologic occurrence, but flood-related damage to property and the risks to human life are exacerbated by urban growth and other intensive development in floodplains. The conventional response has been to construct ever-larger flood control systems, but floodplains are not fixed and they defy simply structural solutions. The report considers ecological, economic and legal...

Since the early 1980s, a group of planners, architects and developers have been rebelling against “conventional” suburban development as practiced in the United States since the end of World War II. Once mostly theoretical, the New Urbanism movement is beginning to yield tangible results, as communities based on New Urbanist principles are being built all over the country. But, can these...

Subtitled "An Inquiry into the Cause of Industrial Depressions and of Increase of Want with Increase of Wealth...The Remedy," this classic book, published originally in 1879, presents George's theories based on the concept that equality of access to land is the principal solution to economic injustice. George proposed removing all taxes on labor, business and trade, and taxing only the value of...

What works and what does not in local balanced-growth policies for California? This book summarizes how 443 of the state’s cities and counties dealt with problems caused by rapid growth in the 1970s and 1980s. Numerous maps, charts and graphs illustrate the distribution of different types of growth control measures throughout the state. The data collected and analyzed for this report are valuable...

Environmentalists and resource users have banded together behind the common goal, or at least the common slogan, of “sustainable development.” What are the economic, political and social costs of existing systems for conserving endangered species and wetlands? How would reform proposals for broad-scale habitat planning and mitigation reduce these costs? The report examines the fundamental...

This innovative book brings methods of land market and land price analysis to the foreground. A dozen case studies on housing and land markets in Africa and Latin America and a community in California examine how the research design and methodology can shape the analysis of the problems and lead researchers to certain frameworks, conclusions and policy prescriptions. Copublished with UCL...

What can policy makers and citizens in other states learn from Oregon’s innovative land use planning? A great deal. This book examines the effects of Oregon’s comprehensive Land Use Act of 1973 on economic activity, housing, agriculture and land values. Urban growth boundaries, public services planning and farmland protection also are analyzed. The authors document statewide planning and land use...

This nontechnical book evaluates economic thinking on the nexus between local land use and tax policies. Ladd summarizes the literature and clarifies issues such as the use of land use regulation as a fiscal tool, the effects of taxes on economic activity, and tax policies to promote economic development. Other contributors present new research on issues such as the impact of growth on tax...

Land banking usually connotes large-scale government acquisition of property to control the pace and type of development. This study analyzes the innovative use of small-scale land banking to preserve open space and redevelop blighted urban areas. ...

Many contemporary scholars and practitioners question whether land value taxation is a serious contender as an important revenue source. But, whatever its political potential may be, economists continue to be intrigued by the theoretical case for a land tax. This collection of eight scholarly papers and ten commentaries is derived from a conference sponsored by the Lincoln Institute in January...

Metropolitan communities across the country face similar problems: the concentration of poverty in central cities; declining older suburbs and vulnerable developing suburbs; and costly sprawl, with upper-middle-class residents and new jobs moving out to a favored quarter. This book tells the story of how demographic research, state-of-the-art mapping and pragmatic politics in the Twin Cities...

How did our current understanding of land ownership arise in different parts of the world? This book traces the evolving rights and obligations linked to the land and its various uses, spanning the centuries from ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Rome to the modern era in Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia. ...

In critically reappraising ideas about social learning and economic development advanced by Hirschman, twelve distinguished economists, development theorists, social scientists and practitioners show how his innovative ideas bear on the theory, policy and practice of development in the 1990s. Copublished with the Brookings Institution. ...

The only complete state-by-state analysis of programs to conserve farmland in New England, this book shows that local support and active cooperation of farm owners are keys to success. In evaluating a broad range of farmland protection programs, the authors also examine the role of federal, state and municipal government. ...

How have California’s local governments coped with the severe revenue restrictions of Prop 13? What effects has the property tax revolution had on urban growth patterns in the state? Has the act produced viable and lasting reform, or was it a tragic mistake? The experts’ analyses in this ten-year review still have relevance today. ...

This report presents two case studies and a handbook on the process of overcoming political obstacles to build a consensus for affordable housing. In spite of greater public awareness about the need for affordable housing, local officials, citizens and developers can learn about the difficulties of implementing new housing in their communities and the benefits of various mediation techniques to...

This report describes several techniques of delineating the economic value of open space, explaining their strengths and limitations. The report also analyzes the effectiveness, practicality and fairness of numerous tools used to finance open space conservation, such as impact fees, dedications of land, transfer fees, conservation easements and floodplain zoning. With this information, planners,...

The radical increase in the scale of human settlement in Latin American cities causes social distress and physical development problems that frustrate urban planners’ efforts to guide growth and improve the human environment. The authors offer an historical and comparative perspective on urban planning in the region and suggest how innovative urban policies could have a positive role in solving...

Brownfields are abandoned or under-used industrial and commercial facilities where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination that may present direct public health hazards. In most cases the more serious threat is to the economic health of the host city due to lost jobs, abandoned industrial sites and the expansion of blighted neighborhoods....

In a cooperative project between the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, 19 towns and cities along the Connecticut River were involved in developing practical planning standards to balance community preservation and future development. This critically acclaimed manual uses striking perspective drawings, plans and photos to explain...

Sprawl is not a recent phenomenon. There is general agreement that it began in the construction boom of the post-World War II eyars and really came into its own with the initiation of the Interstate Highway System in the 1950s. There is general agreement, also, that it entered a new and much more destructive phase in the "boom" years of the past decade. As the boom has turned to bust, citizens...

This study summarizes and compares property taxation and administration in 14 nations, including several countries that have undergone recent reforms. It summarizes and compares the elements of the different systems in simple charts and tables, and analyzes important underlying trends in contemporary property taxation issues around the world. Copublished with Kluwer Law and Taxation...

Americans’ preference for low-density development has generated severe traffic and pollution problems for central cities and has driven both urban and suburban housing prices beyond affordable levels. Downs offers thoughtful insights on the social and political problems facing metropolitan areas across the U.S. He proposes three alternative visions that reverse the trend to sprawl by emphasizing...

The authors offer an insightful look at an increasingly important phenomenon in local government: the use of exactions and similar tools not just to regulate development but to fund infrastructure and essential services. Their political and economic analyses of exaction financing consider the social effects and overall fairness of such tools. Copublished with the Brookings Institution. ...

The first Chairman’s Roundtable explored wide-ranging land use and taxation issues with a small group of respected scholars and policy makers. Five essays supplement excerpts from the roundtable dialogue and provide a deeper analysis of several key themes that emerged from the discussion: the social and economic impacts of sprawling urban development, recent experiences with regional governance...

In critically reappraising ideas about social learning and economic development advanced by Hirschman, twelve distinguished economists, development theorists, social scientists and practitioners show how his innovative ideas bear on the theory, policy and practice of development in the 1990s. Copublished with the Brookings Institution. ...

The conservative land use movement that emerged in the 1990s to promote the interests of private property owners has pursued a vigorous legislative agenda at all levels of government. All 50 state legislatures have introduced bills to protect private property rights, and 26 states have passed such laws since 1991. While the specific impacts of these laws have been minimal, they have succeeded in...

This publication is based on the second Chairman’s Roundtable, which focused on the property tax as the primary instrument used for appropriating a portion of private land value for public purposes. Seven scholars in public finance and property tax policy considered the property tax from perspectives of economic theory, political experience and governmental structure. This publication includes...

As land use issues become more complex, it is difficult for public officials to balance the contending forces of environmental protection, economic development and local autonomy. This guidebook, developed by the Consensus Building Institute, offers step-by-step advice on assisted negotiation based on a study of 100 local land use disputes. It answers questions about why and how to use assisted...

Contributors: K. Foster, P. Gottlieb, B. Harrison, M. Hughes, J. Perksy, A. Scott, A. Summers, R. Voith This volume captures work by policy analysts and researchers in urban and regional planning, political science, economics and related fields. By looking at issues such as economic interdependencies, global competitiveness and intergovernmental relationships, the book is an attempt to...

Land use planning in America began with a concern for the efficient allocation of land, but has shifted to a concern for procedural fairness in allocating public resources, which requires increased stakeholder participation. This creates conflicts but also suggests a basis for more effective resolution of land use disputes. Research has shown that consensus building produces outcomes that are...

Contributors: R. Burchell, R. Ewing, J. Landis, D. Myers, A. Nelson, K. Small, J. Thomas, R. Voith, S. Wachter The Institute’s third Chairman’s Roundtable examined the interaction of public policy and private preferences in shaping metropolitan development patterns. Nine scholars and practitioners in urban economics, planning and public policy debated public interests versus private interests;...

Editors Michael E. Bell and John H. Bowman have assembled the first comprehensive overview of the challenges of adapting property taxation to the many changes brought about by the end of apartheid in South Africa. This volume brings together the perspectives and insights of researchers who collectively have spent many yeares studying and analyzing the fiscal issues facing South Africa, as well as...

Contributors: R. Atkinson, E. Burns, A. Gillespie, T. Horan, D. Hurley, C. McDowell, M. Moss This Chairman’s Roundtable focused on the impact of advanced information and telecommunications technology on the changing spatial form of urban and metropolitan areas. Seven scholars and practitioners discussed their views along a spectrum ranging from sprawling deconcentration to centralization in...

Vacant urban land is the produce of many combined factors, including the functioning of land markets, the actions of private agents and the policies of public agents, and it constitutes an important challenge for the government and policy makers of Latin America. Vacant lots located on the urban frings and in central and interstitial areas have been a determining factor in the growth patterns of...

The fundamental debate about urban growth—no growth, slow growth, go growth—will never be resolved, but there is a general agreement that it will occur, that it needs some type of management and that such management requires public policies. Disagreements revolve around how many and which policies to use, and how extensively to apply them. This book is motivated by the belief that measures such...

In the past decade, interest in and experience with U.S. metropolitan regionalism have mushroomed as public officials, civic leaders and metropolitan residents seek to address complicated regional problems, including urban sprawl and inequities in housing, education and tax capacity. However, the task of brokering tradeoffs and crafting a regional vision and agenda, and delivering regional...

Current steps toward deregulation signal a new environment for the taxation of public utility property. This book compiles the formal papers and commentaries from a Lincoln Institute seminar held in October 1999 that brought together experts with varying perspectives on the taxation of deregulated electric utility facilities. The participants considered the enormous impacts of deregulation on the...

The paper begins to examine some of the long-run implications of the passage of Proposition 13-a significant California property tax reduction initiative that passed in 1978. The particular focus is on fiscal stress and local government fiscal autonomy. The paper first advances definitions of stress and autonomy. It then derives some potential consequences for local autonomy if fiscal stress...