For Immediate Release
Contact: Anthony Flint 617-661-3016 x116
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (September 25, 2009) – The unique role of large landowners in planning and land use strategies in metropolitan regions is examined in a new book published by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
The Impact of Large Landowners on Land Markets, edited by Raphael W. Bostic (2009 / 240 pages / Paper / $30.00 / ISBN 978-1-55844-189-7), includes analysis ranging from major hospitals as large landowners to the development of the vast land holdings of the St. Joe paper company in Florida’s panhandle.
Both tensions and synergies can emerge when a single owner or institution has significant control over the local land market. In examining the many forces that interact and converge to shape outcomes, governance, and institutional form, the contributing authors focus on three aspects: land supply decisions, economic productivity, and the planning process.
In the United States, large tracts of land held by private owners are often situated on the fringes of metropolitan areas. Frequently this land is in transition from agricultural to urban uses, and represents a source of income or a legacy for the next generation. Many universities and other nonprofit institutions own large parcels of land; because they contribute to the urban economy, they often hold the bargaining advantage in comparison to other actors when town-gown issues arise. In Nigeria, like much of Africa, a considerable portion of land is held privately, albeit communally. Here, land ownership and land supply decisions have more to do with family or clan marriages than with the logic of city building.
Understanding the interests represented by large landowners can be an important step in conducting broader benefit-cost analyses of land use policies and decisions. This volume serves as a catalyst for the development of new frameworks for characterizing these complex arrangements.
Praise for The Impact of Large Landowners on Land Markets
Around the world, large landowners are significant players in economic development and land markets. Yet, remarkably little is known about their objectives when developing or selling their land, or the strategies they deploy when engaging with the community, planners, and land use regulators. Into this near vacuum of study comes this excellent collection that sheds important light on the behavior of landowners in the United States and abroad.
-- Eric S. Belsky, executive director, Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University
This book offers the first in-depth look at planning and development issues related to large landowners within and at the edge of urban areas. The research represented in the book is complex and provocative. This is an important read for scholars interested in the effects of the large landowner, whether private, public, or nonprofit, on neighborhoods and on broader urban development patterns.
-- Victoria Basolo, associate professor, University of California, Irvine, and editor, Journal of Urban Affairs
About the editor
Raphael W. Bostic is a professor in the School of Policy, Planning, and Development at the University of Southern California. He is currently on leave to serve as assistant secretary for policy development and research at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, to help create a new blueprint for housing policies.
The Impact of Large Landowners on Land Markets
Edited by Raphael W. Bostic
2009 / 240 pages / Paper / $30.00
ISBN 978-1-55844-189-7
Review copy requests can be emailed to anthony.flint@lincolninst.edu. The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy is a leading resource for key issues concerning the use, regulation, and taxation of land.
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