Yu–hung Hong

Cities in developing countries are experiencing unprecedented urban growth. Unfortunately, this is often accompanied by the negative impacts of sprawl as a result of rapid motorisation such as congestion, air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, inefficient use of energy and time, and unequal accessibility. As these cities are often under severe fiscal constraints, they face great challenges in financing capital-intensive mass transit systems to reverse the course of these negative trends. Development-based land value capture (DBLVC) financing schemes being practiced in Asian megacities like Hong Kong SAR, China, and Tokyo have helped them not only to generate funds for transit investment and operational and maintenance costs but also to promote sustainable urban development through transit-oriented development (TOD). Many rapidly growing cities in developing countries have the conditions for introducing DBLVC - namely, strong economic growth, rising real incomes, and increased motorisation and congestion levels - all of which cause land value appreciation within proximity of transit stations or corridors. If adapted well to local contexts, DBLVC schemes have great potential to become an important strategic apparatus of urban finance and planning for cities in developing countries. Through a careful analysis of various case studies, this book provides strategies, policies, and methodologies that policy makers and practitioners can apply in developing their own DBLVC schemes for transit financing.

Based on the proceedings of Lincoln Institute of Land Policy's fourth annual cross-disciplinary land policy conference, this volume collects scholarly work by a wide range of experts in land policy, tax policy, economics, and urban planning. Municipal Revenues and Land Policies offers analysis of a variety of municipal revenue instruments such as intergovernmental transfers, property tax, tax increment financing, and local option sales and income taxes. Other nontraditional public good financing mechanisms including business improvement districts, homeowners' associations, impact fees, certificates of additional construction potential, debt financing, and public-private partnerships are examined. The analysis focuses on comparing the viability of these municipal revenue sources in the face of fiscal uncertainty.

The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy collaborated with 14 leading land use researchers and planners to measure and compare outcomes in four states with statewide smart growth programs (Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, and Oregon) and four states without such programs (Colorado, Indiana, Texas, and Virginia).

The Lincoln Institute's third annual land policy conference explored the connections between property rights and land policies in developed and developing country contexts. The chapter authors discuss a range of topics including regulatory takings, the use of eminent domain and expropriation in land assembly, the emergence of private property rights in transition economies, marketable emission permits, natural resource management, and the impacts of tenure choice on land and housing development.