Across every region of the world, countries of all sizes have demonstrated that land value capture is an effective tool for financing infrastructure, affordable housing, and other public goods using the land value generated by the public sector’s own actions, according to a new publication from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. 
 
The Global Compendium of Land Value Capture Policies is the most comprehensive profile of land value capture published to date. The publication identifies five major land value capture instruments and shows how they have been implemented in all 38 OECD countries and 22 additional countries. It draws on deep expertise from the two organizations and the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ), as well as surveys that shed light on the legal frameworks and policy issues in all 60 countries. 
 
“This compendium will provide policy makers with a unique resource as they develop ambitious plans to make cities more livable and sustainable,” Lamia Kamal-Chaoui, director of the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities, and George W. McCarthy, president and CEO of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, write in the publication’s preface. “It reveals the huge potential for land value capture to unlock important new infrastructure and land uses: from social housing to transport, from water to energy.” 
 
The five main land value capture instruments identified in the compendium are infrastructure levies, developer obligations, charges for development rights, land readjustment, and strategic land management. These instruments vary greatly in their design, but they all enable the public sector to recover and reinvest land value generated by two main types of activity—the creation of infrastructure, and enactment or amendment of regulations that govern land use. Often, these two types of activity occur in tandem—e.g., a rezoning that accompanies the construction of a new rail station. 
 
The compendium explores how governments use value capture instruments in different contexts. For example, it explains how large municipalities in Brazil have implemented charges for development rights as part of the master planning process. Developers pay the charges for the right to build at higher density, often in districts where the municipality is also investing in infrastructure and redevelopment. 
 
The publication explains the constitutional, legal, and administrative frameworks for land value capture, and identifies different methods for land valuation—a critical component of each instrument. It explores common challenges and considerations for policy makers who implement land value capture. Finally, it includes a detailed profile of each country. 
 
Policy makers who seek to implement land value capture in their jurisdictions can use the compendium as a guide, and scholars can use it as a platform to conduct more detailed research. It will be followed by the creation of a searchable database with additional details for each country. 

The compendium is available at no cost: https://www.oecd.org/publications/global-compendium-of-land-value-capture-policies-4f9559ee-en.htm. 

Image by R. M. Nunes via iStock Getty Images Plus.

On the South Side of Chicago, Rev. Otis Moss III, Senior Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ, has led initiatives in green building and community empowerment that are having a ripple effect across the city and beyond.

He orchestrated an extraordinary green renovation of Trinity Church, as well as the development of a nearby library, affordable housing complex, and health care center. His efforts are attracting attention for three guiding principles: that the work be in line with the best possible green building practices; that the projects are built by craftspeople from the local community; and that at least some of those workers include the formerly incarcerated. “We use the term creation care—that we are called to be stewards of creation as human beings” working in the built environment, Moss said in an interview in this latest episode of the Land Matters podcast.

Moss was the featured speaker at the Lincoln Institute’s 75th anniversary celebration outside of Phoenix last month. (The Phoenix area has a special place in the history of the organization, as the founder, John C. Lincoln, moved to the desert Southwest in the 1930s from Cleveland, where he had made his fortune as an inventor and entrepreneur. He established the Lincoln Foundation in Phoenix in 1946.) In his talk and in the interview, Moss notes some of the stumbling blocks along his way—an older congregant was miffed because he thought the planned green roof on the church was a putting green—and how a compact organization can have an outsized impact, in part by utilizing the “jazz ethic” of different individuals both playing solos and coming together as a whole.

You can listen to the show and subscribe to Land Matters on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. 

Further Reading

Otis Moss III: Care for the land is intimately tied to Black liberation (Thriving Congregations)

Faith and Social Action Go Hand in Hand For South Side Pastor Otis Moss III (WBEZ)

Voter suppression kept my grandfather from voting. It won’t stop me. (The Washington Post)

Anthony Flint is a senior fellow at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, host of the Land Matters podcast, and a contributing editor of Land Lines. 

Image: Reverend Otis Moss III delivers the keynote address at the Lincoln Institute’s 75th anniversary celebration. Credit: Scott Foust Events.