Land Policy
Planning and the Spatial Consequences of Property

Good land policy provides a diversity of land uses with plural property relations. No single kind of property rules fits the purposes of all types of land uses. Neither is a de-tached single family house like a community garden, nor a highway like a retail chain. Each land use needs its own property "fingerprint." The concept of Western ownership works with home ownership, but fails with community gardens, highways, or retail chains. Western ownership also fails in informal settings, particularly in the global South, although informality does not at all entail the absence of property relations. In everyday practice, private and common property relations often accommodate a wide variety of demands made by the owners and users of land. In a stark contrast, many theories of property and land policy fail to recognize plural property relations. The polyrational theory of planning and property reconciles practice and theory.

Contents: Preface; The myths of property meet the comfort of planning; Multiple causes, uncertain effects; She told ya fun names!; Land values; A review of property in land; Property and the politics of belonging; Polyrational policymaking; The myth of planning meets the comforts of property; Bibliography; Index.

Benjamin Davy is Professor of Land Policy, Land Management, and Municipal Geoinformation at TU Dortmund University, Germany