Lincoln Institute Announces New Impact Areas and Redesigned Website

The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy recently reorganized, and we now center our work around three redefined impact areas—land and water, land and fiscal systems, and land and communities.

Land and Water

The Land and Water unit focuses on land conservation and the integration of land and water policy, housing both our International Land Conservation Network and the Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy. Through this work, we seek transformative and systemic change—leveraging land policy and planning practice to reduce energy demand; transition to more sustainable transportation and energy systems; increase community resilience; balance trade-offs; and create thriving and inclusive communities.

Land and Fiscal Systems

Our work in the Land and Fiscal Systems impact area supports efficient and equitable methods of taxation and the use of land-based financing tools to supply a full range of public services, from social housing to investment in climate resilience measures. We provide public officials with the tools and training to improve community welfare through fiscal policy, including modern methods of valuation, new techniques for gauging the land value increment due to public investment, and case studies that document successful implementation of these approaches. We also publish extensive databases that allow comparison of alternate approaches to land-based taxation, covering state-by-state property tax features and local finance measures across many categories of revenue.

Land and Communities

The Land and Communities unit supports policies and planning practices for equitable and sustainable development, poverty reduction, equitable urban greening, and community-led climate mitigation and adaptation measures. This work sees civic infrastructure, planning institutions, and community-led decisions as key for developing effective policies and securing optimal societal and environmental outcomes. Through initiatives such as the Legacy Cities Initiative and Remaking Local Economies, we explore solutions for equitable revitalization and people-centered implementation of land policy.

In addition to the three impact areas above, the Lincoln Institute also aims to promote the conceptualization, design, and implementation of research-informed practice across a variety of program areas, including housing, planning, and law. Through our Research and Cross-Cutting Initiatives (RxI) work, we rely on research to provide evidence-based recommendations for land policy, and to support learning and theory-building for practice.

With the reorganization came the overhaul of the Lincoln Institute’s website, which features a sleeker design, improved navigation, and reorganized publications and resources, facilitating an enhanced user experience. The Lincoln Institute’s privacy policy and terms of service have also been updated.

To learn more about the Lincoln Institute, visit https://www.lincolninst.edu/.