Imagine living in a place where climate hazards threaten not just public safety, but the very future of your neighborhood’s value and stability. Battered by repeated flooding or constant wildfire threat, homes and businesses become uninsurable, basic infrastructure deteriorates, companies relocate, and people increasingly move away to seek safety and opportunity.

Cities around the world are facing this reality, and must adapt to the impacts of climate change with purpose and innovation.

Drawing from new research by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, this StoryMap illustrates how cities can tackle these challenges head-on, using land value capture to fund essential climate action projects that turn risk into resilience.

Through more than a dozen case studies around the world, explore the dynamic relationship between climate risk and land values, the potential for land value capture to promote climate action, and real examples of how places are using this tool to build a climate-resilient future. ( Jump to the map here. )

What Is Land Value Capture?

Land value capture is based on a simple yet profound premise: public action should generate public benefit.

As cities expand and build new infrastructure, government actions often increase the value of land. The increased land value presents an opportunity to fund future development and climate resilience projects. But how?

Land value capture (LVC), also called land value return, refers to policies that allow a community to recover and reinvest land value increases resulting from public investment and other government actions — creating a source of funding for climate action and other public investments.

When public investments like parks or transit hubs, or green infrastructure and flood mitigation investments, increase surrounding property values, LVC mechanisms such as betterment levies, developer contributions, and charges for building rights ensure that part of this added value is used for community benefit.

These tools ensure that urban growth benefits the entire community, while advancing positive fiscal, social, and environmental outcomes.

Using Land Value Capture to Fund Resilience

While climate risks present significant challenges, cities around the world are beginning to realize that investments in climate adaptation aren’t just about protection – they’re also about potential.

Recognizing the potential for public climate actions to enhance property values and attract new investment, cities globally have developed innovative policy tools to convert some of those property value gains into funding for further resilience measures.

LVC tools provide the mechanisms to transform the land value benefits of climate action into sustainable funding for the challenges ahead. The following examples highlight the diversity of instruments available to advance climate resilience.

Boston, Massachusetts

Located in Boston’s fast-growing Seaport District, the city-owned, 190-acre Raymond Flynn Marine Industrial Park faces significant climate risks — including frequent flooding and the long-term threat of sea-level rise. The cost to flood-proof the industrial park was estimated in 2018 to exceed $200 million.

After considering traditional sources of capital, including grants and municipal bonds, the city realized it could tap into demand for growth in the neighborhood to partially finance the costs of the flood mitigation infrastructure.

Through planned investments in seawalls and other flood mitigation infrastructure, combined with regulatory actions to increase the allowable density of developments in the park, the city significantly increased land values that can now be recovered through the newly established Climate Resiliency Infrastructure Contribution Program (Kim 2024).

As the city allows new development to be built in the industrial park, the developers agree to pay into a fund that will be used to cover the cost of the flood infrastructure.

This approach illustrates how cities can combine strategic urban planning with value capture tools to fund critical climate resilience projects.

Barranquilla, Colombia

With a population of around 1.3 million people, Barranquilla is considered the economic hub of Colombia’s Caribbean region, yet severe flooding threatens the quality of life of its residents.

During extreme rain events, which have become more frequent and intense due to climate change, the area’s natural topography and urban expansion create torrents of stormwater that flood the main downtown streets. These floods, known as arroyos, halt traffic, damage infrastructure and property, and even take the lives of residents.

In response, the city identified the need for a massive investment in building new underground culverts for stormwater management. This required excavating existing streets in the core downtown area of the city to install pipes and culverts, and was estimated to cost around $190 million.

To fund this ambitious project, the city turned to a common land value capture tool that has been used to finance public works projects in Colombia for decades:  the betterment levy (Maldonado, De La Sala, Alterman, Macías, & Silva 2023).

To cover the costs of the investments, owners of the properties that benefit from the flood mitigation infrastructure are charged a certain amount, which varies depending on property type and income.

Given the clear benefits of the projects to individual property owners and their quality of life, the city faced little opposition to the use of betterment levies.

Santa Fe, Argentina

With a population of about 700,000, Santa Fe sits between two major rivers and is highly vulnerable to flooding from rising water levels and extreme rainfall.

Catastrophic flooding events in 2003 and 2007 brought renewed attention to reducing flood risks in the city. In addition to updating its land use plan, creating new flood reservoirs, and investing in drainage and water pump projects, the city focused on reducing stormwater runoff, a major contributor to urban flooding, from individual properties.

Using a type of developer obligation (sometimes also referred to as an exaction or impact fee), the city’s Ordinance 11.959 requires new construction projects, developments, or large renovations to install stormwater retention systems on-site in exchange for municipal approval (Maldonado, De La Sala, Alterman, Macías, & Silva, 2023).

The value generated by the city’s approval for construction or renovation is recovered by the public in the form of a decentralized stormwater retention system that mitigates flooding and adapts to climate change across the city.

In the first six years of this policy, hundreds of buildings installed new stormwater retention systems that had a capacity equivalent to more than 40 flooded street blocks.

The ordinance serves as a blueprint for integrating risk management into urban planning, highlighting how strategic regulatory frameworks can build sustainable, climate-resilient cities.

Turning Risk into Opportunity

The examples above show how cities are already harnessing land value capture tools to finance urban climate action. But public climate action can also boost property values.

New research highlights myriad other ways that public climate action, from green infrastructure to climate resilient urban design, can increase property values in different contexts — opening the door for more places to recover incremental gains in property values for additional public benefit.

With the right strategies, cities can use climate actions to not only safeguard their built environment and their residents, but also attract investment and generate new revenues.

Green stormwater infrastructure elements, such as bioswales and rain gardens that mimic natural systems to capture stormwater and reduce runoff, aren’t just environmental additions that reduce flood risks. They can also boost property values significantly.

In New Haven, Connecticut, a recent study revealed an 8.8 percent premium in home values near bioswales (Cohen, Dietz, & Huang, 2023).

This translates to a substantial $1.38 million in potential new revenue, offering a funding source for further climate resilience initiatives if recovered through a land-based finance instrument. By integrating such climate-forward strategies, communities can link environmental benefits with tangible revenue streams.

In Philadelphia, investing in green stormwater infrastructure has proven effective in boosting property values, with homes near installations appreciating by up to 15 percent, according to a recent Lincoln Institute working paper.

The study examines the impact of a variety of green stormwater infrastructure types — including rain gardens, wetlands, tree trenches (shown here), pervious pavement, green roofs, and cisterns — on nearby home values, and explores alternative financing options the city can use to recover this value in a sustainable and fair manner (Cohen, Huang, & McMillen, 2024).

Buenos Aires, a coastal metropolis bisected by multiple urban streams, suffers from severe flooding that constrains economic activity and development potential.

However, recent investments of $338 million in flood defenses have been projected to generate a net land value increase of $379 million across the urban area (Goytia, 2023).

These investments not only stabilize land markets in flood-prone areas, they also increase development potential. A recent study shows that when such flood mitigation investments are combined with zoning changes, the land value increases can be significant.

The example of Buenos Aires demonstrates how strategic flood defenses and land use regulations can enhance both public safety and economic value in vulnerable urban areas.

Copenhagen faces growing risks from intense rainfall, called cloudbursts, which overwhelm drainage systems and cause flooding.

The city’s €1.3 billion Cloudburst Management Plan enhances flood resilience through innovative projects like green corridors, retention basins, and stormwater parks (Goytia, 2023). These features channel excess water while doubling as public amenities, such as parks and community hubs.

By reducing flood risk and adding multifunctional green spaces, the plan is expected to raise property values by €188 million, which could be partially recovered through the use of LVC tools.

The case of Copenhagen illustrates how cities can use climate adaptation investments to make urban environments not just safer, but more vibrant places as well.

Looking Forward

As climate threats like flooding and storms intensify, cities face growing challenges to safeguard life, critical infrastructure, and property values.

From Mumbai to Miami, these risks are reshaping urban landscapes, forcing cities to rethink how to finance essential investments in climate resilience.

Governments should see land value capture as a viable planning and financing tool to support their climate resilience needs. The following section highlights several key themes from recent research that should be considered for mainstreaming LVC as a tool to support climate action.

Land-use planning, markets, and climate risk

Strong land-use regulations and transparent risk information are critical for markets to accurately price climate risks and to ultimately facilitate the use of land value capture tools. Creating these conditions is crucial for ensuring equitable climate adaptation.

In the Nigerian city of Lagos, the informal land market and inequality around resilience make it difficult to price flood risks accurately.

Wealthy areas like Victoria Island benefit from protective infrastructure, while vulnerable communities like Ikorodu remain unprotected.  (Goytia, 2023)

Miami presents a more developed market, where flood risks are priced into property values with discounts of up to 10% for flood-prone properties (Goytia, 2023).

However, the city’s reliance on expensive resilience infrastructure, such as seawalls, places pressure on funding.

Here, land value capture mechanisms offer a way to capture rising property values in protected areas to reinvest in future resilience projects.

Similarly, in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where persistent flooding affects over 1.5 million residents annually, flood-prone properties see a 7.5 percent price discount, compounded by a 1.5 percent decline with each additional flood event (Goytia, 2023).

Buyers with flood experience are willing to pay a 5.2 percent premium for safer properties, but rapid urbanization in high-risk areas shows the market’s underestimation of long-term risks.

These trends highlight the urgent need for scalable investments in flood management systems to protect both infrastructure and economic resilience​​​.

Equity and engagement

When implementing land value capture policies, local governments must engage the public and address equity concerns to avoid worsening existing spatial inequalities or displacing residents.

Tools like developer obligations often benefit wealthier areas experiencing ongoing investment, potentially neglecting vulnerable communities.

Without a long-term vision and public support, fragmented, property-level adaptation interventions can create isolated safe zones amid unprotected areas. To promote fairness and public acceptance, governments should collaboratively design LVC mechanisms that distribute benefits more broadly and consider exemptions for low-income groups.

When tailored to local contexts, LVC can support equity by redistributing resources, reducing public sector burden, and funding public investments more effectively.

Promising potential

Cities across the globe are already using land value capture tools to finance local climate resilience and mitigation efforts, demonstrating the concrete potential for LVC to accelerate climate finance. Still, more can be done, and practitioners globally are recognizing the potential to innovate new applications of LVC to meet local needs.

A recent survey in Accra, Ghana, for instance, found that 76 percent of built environment professionals agreed that land value capture can be used to finance green infrastructure investments in low-income urban communities (Cobbinah and Korah, 2024).

Land value capture is a powerful instrument for urban resilience, recovering some of the benefits created by public investments and reinvesting them into community resilience.

By integrating equity, engagement, and smart land-use regulation, cities can use LVC tools to transform climate risks into opportunities, creating vibrant, resilient urban spaces that foster economic growth and sustainability.

Explore the Map

Use this map to explore research and case studies from more than a dozen cities around the world — from Accra to Zhengzhou — that are using or evaluating land value capture tools to finance and promote climate action.

Em São Paulo, encravado entre arranha-céus de escritórios, lojas de luxo e hotéis sofisticados do bairro Vila Olímpia, está um conjunto habitacional de interesse social com 272 unidades. Construído no local da antiga favela Coliseu, o edifício de condomínio residencial não é apenas um novo e mais seguro lar para centenas de famílias de baixa renda que viveram na ocupação informal por décadas, enfrentando incêndios, enchentes e ratos. Segundo os defensores, essa iniciativa prova que o investimento em um bairro não precisa causar o deslocamento de seus moradores e que é possível construir moradias populares mesmo nas áreas mais valorizadas de uma cidade.

Em março, o Lincoln Institute of Land Policy convidou um grupo diverso de pesquisadores e profissionais de diferentes países para participar de uma excursão de estudo de quatro dias junto a membros da sua equipe. Combinando aulas teóricas e visitas a campo, o estudo permitiu que os participantes conhecessem de perto esse exemplo bem conhecido de captura do valor da terra. Também conhecida como retorno do valor da terra, a captura do valor da terra diz respeito a um conjunto de políticas que permite à comunidade recuperar e reinvestir o aumento do valor da terra decorrente de investimentos públicos ou outras ações governamentais, como a construção de uma nova estação de transporte ou mudanças nas normas de zoneamento.

“Em São Paulo, temos pelo menos dois exemplos importantes de favelas que foram melhoradas em áreas em que o valor da terra é muito alto”, explica Paulo Sandroni, economista que desenvolveu o curso junto com a urbanista Camila Maleronka. “Nossa ideia foi explicar e apresentar às pessoas os instrumentos que utilizamos, primeiro, para capturar o incremento do valor da terra, e segundo, para manter as pessoas que viviam nas favelas no mesmo lugar em que estavam, mas agora em apartamentos muito bons”.

O processo funciona assim: a cidade escolhe uma área para receber alguma intervenção pública como parte de uma “Operação Urbana”. Incorporadores que desejam construir edificações maiores do que o permitido naquela zona podem comprar Certificados de Potencial Adicional de Construção, ou CEPACs, que são vendidos na bolsa de valores, o que significa que o setor privado acaba definindo seu preço. A receita gerada com esses leilões de CEPACs financia obras públicas e habitação social no mesmo bairro.

Mas o fato de ser possível capturar e reinvestir o aumento do valor da terra em habitação social não significa que isso aconteça automaticamente, especialmente em bairros de alto valor imobiliário. “A comunidade do Coliseu teve que lutar contra muitas adversidades e diversas forças de incorporadores e vizinhos que não queriam que eles permanecessem ali, incluindo algumas pessoas da própria administração”, diz Sandroni. “Mas as lideranças desse movimento disseram: ‘Temos o direito de estar aqui. A legislação nos deu as ferramentas para permanecermos aqui, e há recursos para construir esses prédios’. Foi um exemplo maravilhoso de desenvolvimento urbano inclusivo”.

As ferramentas de captura de valor em São Paulo já foram tema de muitos estudos de caso, mas ver os resultados de perto, no local, ajudou a dar vida ao conceito para muitos dos participantes, vindos de organizações como a Organização para a Cooperação e Desenvolvimento Econômico (OECD), o Banco Europeu para a Reconstrução e o Desenvolvimento (BERD) e o Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa, entre outros.

“Fiquei realmente impressionada com o que vi em São Paul”, disse Line Algoed, antropóloga urbana da Vrije Universiteit Brussel. “Eu conhecia o conceito de captura do valor da terra, mas nunca tinha visto os resultados pessoalmente. Eu não conhecia os CEPACs nem os outros instrumentos usados em São Paulo. Isso coloca a cidade na vanguarda do urbanismo inovado”.

Os resultados em São Paulo não foram perfeitos, acrescentou Algoed, “mas é muito positivo ver que o governo local está tentando mitigar as consequências da especulação imobiliária desenfreada”.

Hiro Ito participou do curso movido pela curiosidade sobre mecanismos financeiros que possam ajudar as cidades a financiarem infraestruturas voltadas ao enfrentamento das mudanças climáticas. Ito é gerente de programa do Green City Action Plan do BERD, onde trabalha com governos municipais para identificar investimentos e políticas capazes de prepará-los para desafios ambientais e para as mudanças climáticas. “Já desenvolvemos planos de ação com 47 cidades”, disse Ito. “Mas muitas dessas ações, especialmente as relacionadas à natureza ou à adaptação climática, acabam não sendo implementadas”, muitas vezes por falta de financiamento.

“Soluções baseadas na natureza, proteção contra enchentes, mitigação do efeito de ilha de calor urbana, esses projetos, tradicionalmente, não geram receita”, explicou Ito. “Espero que esse tipo de ferramenta seja uma nova forma de fortalecer as finanças municipais para que cidades ao redor do mundo possam fazer muito mais nesses espaços”.

Durante uma caminhada que incluiu tanto o edifício Coliseu quanto a icônica ponte Octavio Frias de Oliveira, Ito ficou impressionado com a escala e o alcance dos investimentos da cidade e se perguntou se uma ferramenta de captura do valor da terra semelhante poderia funcionar em Ancara, na Turquia, onde o BERD está ajudando a financiar a construção de uma nova linha de metrô. Logo após a viagem, Ito e seus colegas começaram a estudar “como poderíamos, potencialmente, implementar um instrumento de financiamento baseado na terra para a Prefeitura Metropolitana de Ancar”, disse ele, já que há diversos terrenos públicos nas proximidades que poderiam ser desenvolvidos. “Será que poderíamos introduzir mecanismos como os CEPACs para arrecadar recursos a partir desse processo de reurbanização? No fim das contas, o objetivo é cobrir os custos das extensões do metrô, mas esses espaços de regeneração urbana também poderiam incorporar benefícios sociais e ambientais”.

Ito valorizou o fato de os instrutores do curso, Sandroni e Maleronka, também terem apresentado as limitações, fragilidades e desafios da abordagem adotada em São Paulo. Ele reconhece que o sucesso de uma iniciativa semelhante depende de certas condições.

“Estamos testando isso na Turquia, porque a população urbana está crescendo, então há uma forte demanda por mais moradias e faz sentido para alguns incorporadores comprarem direitos adicionais”, disse Ito. “Mas nem todos os países em que o BERD atua têm essa mesma tendência demográfica”, ele acrescentou, observando que os mercados imobiliários de cidades menores da Bulgária ou da Romênia, por exemplo, podem não ser fortes o suficiente para sustentar um modelo de financiamento baseado na valorização da terra. “Mas gostamos muito da ideia de uma abordagem baseada no mercado para definir o preço… Acho que foi uma forma muito inteligente de aproveitar ao máximo o espaço”.

O que mais marcou Kecia Rust, fundadora e diretora executiva do Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa, foi a ideia de que o direito de construir no espaço aéreo é um bem público.

“A abordagem geral que tornou possível o investimento no Coliseu e em outros projetos de habitação social, assim como a entrega da icônica ponte de São Paulo, do monotrilho, das vias, ciclovias e de outras obras públicas, é oriunda de uma filosofia fundamental de que o direito à propriedade privada pode se estender em termos de longitude e latitude, mas não em altura”, escreveu Rust em uma postagem no blog refletindo sobre o curso. “Os direitos de construir no espaço aéreo são um bem público, que o setor público vende para gerar receita e investir em obras públicas e habitação social”, continuou ela. “A cidade não precisa se endividar quando investe na construção de vias, pontes e moradias sociais”.

“Acho que o grande desafio que enfrentamos no contexto africano é que não temos, de fato, os dados nem a capacidade de gestão no nível das cidades locais para fazer algo da magnitude do que vimos sendo feito em São Paulo”, disse Rust. “Mas o que vi e compreendi foi muito inspirador”.

Vários membros da equipe do Lincoln Institute também participaram do curso. Muitos deles, fora da equipe da América Latina, nunca haviam tido a oportunidade de ver presencialmente esse importante exemplo global de captura do valor da terra. “Essa ideia de desenvolvimento sem deslocamento, de como proteger ou reduzir os riscos de remoção forçada quando se investe em comunidades, esse é um tema central em muito do que fazemos no instituto”, diz Enrique Silva, diretor de programas do Lincoln Institute. Silva fez questão de convidar integrantes de diferentes áreas da organização: “Essa ideia de aprender juntos, de compartilhar, aprender e trocar experiências, é algo que eu adoraria ver acontecer com mais frequência”.

Jon Gorey é redator da equipe do Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. 

Imagem principal: O conjunto habitacional social Coliseu, com 272 unidades, cercado pelos prédios mais altos do bairro Vila Olímpia em São Paulo, é um exemplo de captura do valor da terra. Crédito: Cidade de São Paulo.

En São Paulo, Brasil, entre rascacielos corporativos, tiendas de lujo y hoteles de alta gama del barrio Vila Olímpia, se encuentra un complejo de viviendas de interés social de 272 unidades. Construido en el terreno de la antigua favela Coliseu, el altísimo edificio de condominios no es solo un hogar nuevo y más seguro para cientos de familias de bajos ingresos que vivieron en el asentamiento informal durante décadas, en medio de incendios, inundaciones y ratas. También es, según sus promotores, una prueba de que la inversión en un vecindario no necesariamente significa el desplazamiento de los residentes, y de que las viviendas de interés social se pueden construir incluso en la zona más cara de una ciudad.

En marzo, el Instituto Lincoln de Políticas de Suelo invitó a un grupo diverso de investigadores y profesionales de todo el mundo a participar en un viaje de estudio de cuatro días junto con algunos miembros del personal del instituto. El viaje de estudio, que combinó sesiones en el aula con visitas de campo, permitió a los participantes explorar de primera mano este reconocido ejemplo de recuperación de plusvalías. También llamada captación de la plusvalía, la recuperación de plusvalías se refiere a un conjunto de políticas que le permiten a una comunidad recuperar y reinvertir las plusvalías del suelo generadas por la inversión pública u otras acciones gubernamentales, como una nueva estación de transporte o un cambio en los requisitos de zonificación.

“En São Paulo, tenemos al menos dos buenos ejemplos de asentamientos informales que se mejoraron en lugares donde el suelo es muy caro”, explica Paulo Sandroni, un economista que desarrolló el curso en conjunto con la urbanista Camila Maleronka. “Tuvimos la idea de presentarles y explicarles a los demás los instrumentos que usamos; primero, para recuperar las plusvalías, y, segundo, para garantizar que las personas de asentamientos informales sigan viviendo en el mismo lugar, pero ahora en cómodos apartamentos”.

El proceso funciona de la siguiente manera: La ciudad elige un área para realizar una intervención pública como parte de una “Operación Urbana”. Los emprendedores inmobiliarios que deseen construir estructuras más grandes de lo permitido en esa zona pueden comprar Certificados de Potencial Adicional de Construcción, o CEPAC, que se venden en el mercado público de valores. Por ende, es el sector privado quien determina el precio en última instancia. Los ingresos de esas subastas de CEPAC luego financian obras públicas y viviendas de interés social en el mismo vecindario.

Sin embargo, el hecho de que sea posible recuperar las plusvalías y reinvertirlas en viviendas de interés social no significa que suceda inevitablemente, en especial, en vecindarios caros. “La comunidad de Coliseu tuvo que luchar contra muchas adversidades y muchas fuerzas, ya sea de emprendedores inmobiliarios, de vecinos que no querían que se quedaran allí e incluso de algunos miembros del gobierno”, dice Sandroni. “Pero los líderes de este movimiento dijeron: ‘Tenemos derecho a estar aquí. La legislación nos dio las herramientas para quedarnos aquí, y hay dinero para construir estos edificios’. Fue un maravilloso ejemplo de desarrollo urbano inclusivo”.

Las herramientas de recuperación de plusvalías de São Paulo han sido el foco de muchos estudios de casos; pero ver los resultados en persona, in situ, ayudó a materializar el concepto para muchos participantes de organizaciones como la Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económico (OCDE), el Banco Europeo de Reconstrucción y Desarrollo (BERD) y el Centro para el Financiamiento de Viviendas Asequibles en África, entre otros.

“Lo que vi en São Paulo me sorprendió mucho”, dice Line Algoed, una antropóloga urbana de la Vrije Universiteit Brussel. “Sabía sobre la recuperación de plusvalías, pero nunca había visto los resultados en persona. No sabía nada sobre los CEPAC y los otros instrumentos utilizados en São Paulo, que posicionan a esta ciudad como referente del urbanismo innovador”.

Los resultados en São Paulo no fueron perfectos, agrega Algoed, “pero es muy bueno ver que el gobierno local está tratando de mitigar las consecuencias de la especulación inmobiliaria desenfrenada”.

Hiro Ito se unió al curso interesado por los mecanismos financieros que podrían ayudar a las ciudades a pagar infraestructura climática. Ito es el gerente de programa del Plan de Acción para Ciudades Verdes del BERD, donde trabaja con gobiernos municipales para identificar inversiones y políticas que puedan ayudarlos a prepararse para desafíos ambientales y el cambio climático. “Hemos desarrollado planes de acción con 47 ciudades”, indica Ito. “Pero muchas de esas acciones, sobre todo las relacionadas con la naturaleza o la adaptación al clima, no se están implementando”, muchas veces por falta de fondos.

“Las soluciones basadas en la naturaleza, la protección contra inundaciones y la mitigación del efecto isla de calor urbano no son proyectos que usualmente generen ingresos”, explica Ito. “Esperamos que esta sea otra forma de fortalecer las finanzas municipales para que las ciudades de todo el mundo puedan aprovechar en mayor medida esos espacios”.

En un recorrido a pie que incluyó tanto el edificio Coliseu como el icónico puente Octavio Frias de Oliveira de São Paulo, Ito quedó impresionado con el alcance y la escala de las inversiones de la ciudad, y se preguntó si un método similar de recuperación de plusvalías podría funcionar en Ankara, Turquía, donde el BERD ayuda a financiar la construcción de una nueva línea de metro. Al regresar del viaje, Ito y sus colegas comenzaron a estudiar cómo implementar una herramienta de financiamiento con base en el suelo para la Municipalidad Metropolitana de Ankara, ya que hay varios terrenos de propiedad pública que podrían urbanizarse en la zona. “¿Podríamos introducir mecanismos como los CEPAC para recaudar a partir de esa reurbanización? En última instancia, es para cubrir el costo de las ampliaciones del metro, pero potencialmente las áreas de regeneración urbana podrían traer otros beneficios sociales y medioambientales”.

Ito valoró que los instructores del curso, Sandroni y Maleronka, también explicaran algunas de las deficiencias, limitaciones y desafíos del enfoque de São Paulo. Reconoce que alcanzar un éxito similar depende de ciertas condiciones.

“La idea de aplicar este método en Turquía surge porque la población urbana está creciendo y hay una fuerte demanda de viviendas adicionales. Tiene sentido para algunos emprendedores inmobiliarios comprar derechos adicionales”, dice Ito. “Pero no todos los países donde opera el BERD tienen una tendencia demográfica similar”, agrega, y señala que los mercados inmobiliarios de las ciudades más pequeñas de Bulgaria o Rumanía, por ejemplo, pueden no ser lo suficientemente fuertes como para sostener el financiamiento con base en el suelo. “Pero nos gustó mucho este enfoque basado en el mercado para determinar el precio… me pareció una forma muy inteligente de aprovechar al máximo el espacio”.

Lo que más llamó la atención de Kecia Rust, fundadora y directora ejecutiva del Centro para el Financiamiento de Viviendas Asequibles en África, fue la afirmación del Estado de que los derechos de aire son un bien público.

“El enfoque general que hizo que sean posibles Coliseu y otras inversiones en viviendas de interés social, así como también la entrega del icónico puente de São Paulo, el monorraíl, las carreteras, los carriles para bicicletas y otras inversiones en obras públicas proviene de una filosofía subyacente de que los derechos de propiedad privada pueden extenderse en términos de longitud y latitud, pero no en altura”, escribió Rust en una entrada de blog que reflexiona sobre el curso. “Los derechos de aire son un bien público, que el sector público vende para generar ingresos para invertir en obras públicas y viviendas de interés social”, continuó. “La ciudad no tiene que endeudarse cuando invierte en la construcción de carreteras, puentes y viviendas de interés social”.

“Creo que el desafío clave que enfrentamos en el contexto africano es que realmente no tenemos los datos o la capacidad de gestión a nivel local para llegar a hacer lo que se está haciendo en São Paulo”, dice Rust. “Pero lo que vi y entendí fue muy inspirador”.

Varios miembros del personal del Instituto Lincoln también se unieron al curso, muchos de los cuales, fuera del equipo de América Latina, nunca habían tenido la oportunidad de ver en persona este prominente ejemplo global de recuperación de plusvalías. “Esta idea de desarrollo sin desplazamiento, de cómo salvaguardar o reducir el riesgo de desplazamiento cuando se invierte en las comunidades, es un tema que está en primer plano en gran parte del trabajo que estamos realizando en el instituto”, dice Enrique Silva, director de programas del Instituto Lincoln. Silva invitó intencionalmente a miembros del personal de todos los sectores de la organización: “Esta idea de aprender juntos, compartir y aprender e intercambiar, es algo que me encantaría que sucediera con mayor frecuencia”.

Jon Gorey es redactor del Instituto Lincoln de Políticas de Suelo.

Imagen principal: El complejo de viviendas de interés social Coliseu, de 272 unidades, rodeado por los edificios más altos del distrito Vila Olímpia de São Paulo, es un ejemplo de recuperación de plusvalías. Crédito: Ciudad de São Paulo. 

In São Paulo, Brazil, wedged among the sky-scraping office towers, luxury retailers, and high-end hotels of the Vila Olímpia neighborhood, sits a 272-unit social housing development. Built on the site of the former Coliseu favela, the high-rise condo building isn’t just a safer, new home for hundreds of low-income families who lived in the informal settlement for decades, enduring fires, floods, and rats. It’s proof, advocates say, that neighborhood investment doesn’t have to result in resident displacement, and that social housing can be built even in the most expensive area of a city.

In March, the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy invited a diverse group of researchers and practitioners from around the world to join several of its staff members for a four-day study tour. Blending classroom sessions with site visits, the study tour allowed participants to explore firsthand this well-known example of land value capture. Sometimes called land value return, land value capture refers to any set of policies that allows a community to recover and reinvest increases in land value that result from public investment or other government action, such as a new transit station or a change in zoning requirements.

“In São Paulo, we have at least two good examples of slums that were upgraded in places where land is very expensive,” explains Paulo Sandroni, an economist who co-developed the course with urbanist Camila Maleronka. “We had the idea to present to people and explain the instruments that we used—first, to capture land increment value, and second, to maintain the people living in slums in the same place they were living, but now in very good apartments.”

The process works like this: The city chooses an area to receive some public intervention as part of an “Urban Operation.” Developers who wish to build larger structures than what’s allowed in that zone can purchase Certificates for Additional Construction Potential, or CEPACs, which are sold on the public stock exchange—meaning the private sector ultimately sets their price. The revenue from those CEPAC auctions then funds public works and social housing in the same neighborhood.

But just because it’s possible to capture and reinvest land value increments into social housing doesn’t mean it’s inevitable, especially in pricey neighborhoods. “The community of Coliseu had to fight against many odds, many forces, from developers, from neighbors that didn’t want them to stay there, including some people from the administration,” Sandroni says. “But the leaders of this movement, they said, ‘We have the right to be here. The legislation gave us the tools to stay here, and there is money to build these buildings.’ It was a wonderful example of inclusionary urban development.”

São Paulo’s value capture tools have been the focus of many case studies—but seeing their results in person, in place, helped bring the concept to life for many participants, who hailed from organizations like the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and the Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa, among others.

“I was really struck by what I saw in São Paulo,” says Line Algoed, an urban anthropologist at Vrije Universiteit Brussel. “I knew about land value capture, but I had never seen the results in person. I didn’t know about CEPACs, and the other instruments used in São Paulo—it puts this city at the forefront of innovative urbanism.”

The results in São Paulo haven’t been perfect, Algoed adds, “but it is so good to see that the local government is trying to mitigate the consequences of unbridled land speculation.”

Hiro Ito joined the course with a curiosity about financial mechanisms that could help cities pay for climate infrastructure. Ito is the program manager for the EBRD’s Green City Action Plan, where he works with municipal governments to identify investments and policies that can help them prepare for environmental challenges and climate change. “We’ve developed action plans with 47 cities,” Ito says. “But many of those actions, particularly those related to nature or climate adaptation, are being left unimplemented,” often due to a lack of funding.

“Nature-based solutions, flood protection, mitigation for urban heat island effect—these projects are not traditionally revenue generating,” Ito explains. “Hopefully this will be another way to strengthen municipal finances so that cities around the world can do a lot more in those spaces.”

On a walking tour that included both the Coliseu building and São Paulo’s iconic Octavio Frias de Oliveira bridge, Ito was impressed with the scope and scale of the city’s investments—and wondered whether a similar land value capture tool could work in Ankara, Turkey, where EBRD is helping to finance the construction of a new metro line. Right after the trip, Ito and colleagues began studying “how we could potentially implement a land-based financing tool for the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality,” he says, since there are several publicly owned sites that could be developed nearby. “Could we introduce mechanisms like CEPACs to collect fees from that redevelopment? Ultimately, it’s to cover the cost of the metro extensions, but potentially those urban regeneration sites could incorporate other social and environmental benefits.”

Ito appreciated that the course instructors, Sandroni and Maleronka, explained some of the shortcomings, limitations, and challenges of São Paulo’s approach as well. He recognizes that similar success hinges on certain conditions.

“We are testing this in Turkiye, because the urban population is growing, so there’s a strong demand for more housing—it makes sense to some developers to buy additional rights,” Ito says. “But not all of the countries where the EBRD operates have a similar population trend,” he adds, noting that the real estate markets of smaller cities in Bulgaria or Romania, for example, may not be strong enough to support land-based financing. “But we did really like the idea of this market-based approach to set the price … I think that was a very clever way of getting the most out of the space.”

What resonated most with Kecia Rust, founder and executive director of the Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa, was the state’s assertion that air rights are a public good.

“The overall approach that made Coliseu and other social housing investments, as well as the delivery of São Paulo’s iconic bridge, the monorail, roads, bicycle paths, and other public works investments possible, comes from an underlying philosophy that private property rights can extend in terms of longitude and latitude, but not in height,” Rust wrote in a blog post reflecting on the course. “Air rights are a public good, which the public sector sells to generate revenue to invest in public works and social housing,” she continued. “The city doesn’t have to go into debt when it invests in the construction of roads, bridges, and social housing.”

“I think the key challenge we face in an African context is that we don’t really have the data or the management capacity at local city level to do the extent of what we saw being done in São Paulo,” Rust says. “But what I saw and understood was so inspiring.”

Several Lincoln Institute staff joined the course as well, many of whom, outside of the Latin America team, had never had the chance to see this prominent global example of land value capture in person. “This whole idea of development without displacement, of how to safeguard or de-risk displacement when you invest in communities—that’s a topic that is front and center with so much work that we’re doing at the institute,” says Enrique Silva, chief program officer at the Lincoln Institute. Silva intentionally invited staff from across the organization: “This idea of learning together, sharing and learning and exchanging, is something I would love to see happen more.”

Jon Gorey is a staff writer at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

Lead image: The 272-unit Coliseu social housing complex, surrounded by the taller buildings of São Paulo’s Vila Olímpia district, is an example of land value capture. Credit: City of São Paulo.