Harvey M. Jacobs

Property Rights: The Neglected Theme of 20th-Century American Planning

Problem: Planning affects individual property rights, which have a special cultural significance in the United States, and it has often protected the interests of affluent and influential groups in the past. Thus, it is not surprising that many Americans perceive planning negatively. Purpose: We provide a perspective on the role of property rights in the history of American planning, arguing for confronting these issues as part of finding a better way forward. Methods: We reviewed primary and secondary historical sources and analyzed key legal cases and legislation. Results and conclusions: Planners should honestly acknowledge the role planning has played in protecting elite property rights and should consider taking three steps toward a more positive future. First, they should tell their own story, rather than leaving this to opponents of planning. Second, they should highlight both the rights and the duties of private property owners and of the larger community. Third, planners should not shy away from stating the impacts their proposals would have on property rights. Takeaway for practice: In order to accurately claim that planning manages property in the public interest, planners must understand and explain how planning proposals benefit and harm property owners. Research support: None.

Community-based tenure reform in urban Africa: The community land trust experiment in Voi, Kenya

Abstract The continued growth of informal settlements constitutes one of the greatest urban development problems affecting African cities. Projects intended to upgrade these settlements have not been highly successful. In Kenya, project beneficiaries receiving land under individual titles sell or lose their land rights. This transfer of property is seen as stimulating informal settlement construction and growth. This paper reviews the use of a community-based land tenure form in an upgrading project in Voi, Kenya. The paper presents the rationale for using community tenure and discusses whether the upgrading approach/tenure form provides a replicable model for informal settlement upgrading.

Social equity in agricultural land protection

Abstract It is asserted that public policy alternatives for agricultural land protection have been assessed largely on the basis of their efficiency. A social equity framework for assessing such policies is developed which stresses intergenerational, tenure and process equity concerns. This framework is used to evaluate the equity implications of four types of agricultural land protection policies — differential tax assessment, large-lot zoning, purchase of development rights and private, public interest land trusts. Sharply contrasting patterns of equity are evidenced among certain of the criteria and, under certain assumptions, the policies as a whole. In conclusion, the utility of equity assessment for policy analysis is stressed. Also, the need to further develop the social equity framework and to test the conclusions reached here via case studies of policies in place is called for.

Wetland protection as land-use planning: The impact of section 404 in Wisconsin, USA

The ability of Section 404 of the Clean Water Act to act as an effective, efficient, and equitable land-use planning tool was assessed through a survey of Section 404 permits in Wisconsin. In a six-month period of permitting, the 404 program reduced wetland losses in the state by 15%. Several factors were examined that may affect permit decisions; these factors are water dependency, alternatives, project type, wetland type, and public or agency comments. Only the water dependency of the project had a statistically significant effect on permit decisions, although development projects that were perceived to provide public good were more likely to be permitted. Environmental impacts of a proposed fill project were not adequately assessed in any of the permit decisions. Because of the way Section 404 is interpreted and administered by the US Army Corps of Engineers, increasing net benefits and achieving an equitable distribution of those benefits is difficult. The corps does not perform any functional evaluations of wetlands nor do they attempt to measure economic value and environmental impacts. In addition, the 404 review process is, in effect, inaccessible to the public. The de facto interpretations of the Section 404 regulations and a lack of program funding and trained personnel all contribute to the programs ineffectiveness.

Social conflict over property rights: the end, a new beginning, or a continuing debate?

The ownership and control of private land is a core social value in the United States. Public planning can be seen as conflicting with this value. The long-standing tension between private property rights and public planning was heightened in the 1990s with the emergence of the so-called private property rights movement. This movement seeks to limit governmental authority over privately owned land through a multi-level strategy of legal, policy, political, and public relations actions. This paper explores the historical basis for this conflict, the legal framework within which it functions, and contemporary policy battles. The paper concludes that there may be no final outcome to this debate. Property rights activists are impassioned and believe their view of history and law is correct. I argue that it may be best to see debate about land use and property rights as one of the central vehicles for a continual reframing of core values in the American experience.

Implementing local multipurpose land information systems: Political-economic research issues

Abstract This paper explores the relationship between multipurpose land information systems and the acquisition, distribution and use of political power in U.S. local governments. It is argued that local governments will be the primary adopters and users of these systems. Evidence from related research suggests that adoption of computerized land information technology will act to reinforce, rather than redistribute, the existing distribution and use of political power. However, this evidence is based on non-land information system computer adoption. The need to conduct specific political and institutional research on land information systems, and to begin conceptualizing and testing a democratic theory of their adoption is stressed.

Debates in rural land planning policy: a twentieth century history from New York State

Abstract Rural land planning has attracted much recent interest in the United States. Planners are largely unaware, however, that such planning has a legacy that stretches through the century. This paper presents an account of the history of such planning in New York State, an area where much planning occurred that was both original and innovative. It highlights the ideas encompassed in plans prepared for the state as a whole, focusing on how plans viewed the changing spatial form of the state, and the issue of which level of government should hold primary control for planning. What is revealed is a pattern of debate, consistency and change. The themes of the debate focused on the inevitability of changes in the rural landscape, with the polar positions accepting and challenging the abandonment of rural land with the advancement of industrial capitalism, and the role of local government control in this schema. The metamorphosis in planning ideas is linked to the changing nature of the planning profession. Lessons learned from this history center on the role of the planner and the plan, and the place of vision in planning. While almost all of the issues this history address remain unresolved in theory and practice, the actual circumstances of rural places seem to demand daring rather than timid responses.

All Sound, No Fury? The Impacts of State-Based Kelo Laws

The 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Kelo v. City of New London, Connecticut (545 U.S. 469 (2005)) was one of the Court’s most controversial decisions in the first decade of this century and without a doubt the most controversial in the areas of takings, land use, and property rights. That this is true can be verified by the breadth of media coverage about the case and the extent of state legislative action following the Court’s decision (see Sagalyn 2008 and Nadler et al. 2008 for discussions of media coverage; Jacobs and Bassett 2010a and 2010b and Castle Coalition 2007 for data on state legislative action). As of 2010, 43 states have passed so-called state-based Kelo laws.

The Impact of Land Value and Real Property Taxation on the Timing of Central City Redevelopment

Planners have long been intrigued with the concept of land value taxation (LVT) as a way to eliminate urban blight and sprawl. This research empirically tested the hypothesis that, compared to real property taxation, LVT will speed the rate of redevelopment in central cities. The analysis shows that from 1970 to 1987 central city redevelopment in Auckland and Wellington, New Zealand, was influenced by different population growth rates and by physical differences between the cities, but not by the taxation systems. The physical difference between the two cities, as well as low tax levels and long assessment cycles, may limit these results to this context.

Property in India: Global Perspectives, National Issues

Property—who should own and who control land—has been a central and contentious issue throughout Indian history. The long-standing tensions within Indian society were further sharpened during the time of British colonization, and then from the time of Indian independence in 1947 to the present took on strong symbolic, political, and practical content. Some of this is because of the traditional population distribution within India, with large numbers of people who continue to engage in agriculture and thus depend directly on land for sustenance. But much of it is also cultural, as it is in so many other parts of the world, where the ownership and control of land is linked to conceptions of independence of the individual and family.