After building an argument that land assembly is key to reinventing cities for a new era, a new study identifies the impact of the landowners standing in the way of that progress.
Tim Hyde shares the news of a new study in the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy measuring the impact of "holdouts" (i.e., landowners who refuse to sell property in the face of land assembly efforts) in Los Angeles County. Hyde also describes holdouts as a "problem" when development interests can't assemble large enough parcels to reinvent the city for more density, new transit, or other investments.
One of the key assumptions of the "Today's City to Tomorrow's City: An Empirical Investigation of Urban Land Assembly" study is that when developers can’t assemble enough land to make large development projects profitable, "the city stays more spread out than it otherwise should."
According to Hyde, the authors of the study "develop a model of land assembly and show that, if there is no holdout problem, that land selling into an assembly should be no more valuable than other land…because the intrinsic value of otherwise equivalent land – land in the same neighborhood and of the same size – should not depend on whether the land is bought for assembly or not."
The findings of the study: "that people in Los Angeles County want more dense development than the market is currently providing, but problems with land assembly are preventing the market from equilibrating."
FULL STORY: Is it too hard for cities to get denser?
Boulder Eliminates Parking Minimums Citywide
Officials estimate the cost of building a single underground parking space at up to $100,000.
Orange County, Florida Adopts Largest US “Sprawl Repair” Code
The ‘Orange Code’ seeks to rectify decades of sprawl-inducing, car-oriented development.
Density and Disorder: The Imaginary Link
A recent article tries to tie public transit and walkability to social disorder — but in fact, sprawling Sunbelt cities like Memphis are as likely to have high crime rates as transit-rich metropolises such as New York and San Francisco.
Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly
Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
San Francisco Suspends Traffic Calming Amidst Record Deaths
Citing “a challenging fiscal landscape,” the city will cease the program on the heels of 42 traffic deaths, including 24 pedestrians.
Half of Post-Fire Altadena Home Sales Were to Corporations
Large investors are quietly buying up dozens of properties in Altadena, California, where a devastating wildfire destroyed more than 6,000 homes in January.
Opinion: What San Francisco’s Proposed ‘Family Zoning’ Could Really Mean
Mayor Lurie is using ‘family zoning’ to encourage denser development and upzoning — but could the concept actually foster community and more human-scale public spaces?
Jacksonville Launches First Autonomous Transit Shuttle in US
A fleet of 14 fully autonomous vehicles will serve a 3.5-mile downtown Jacksonville route with 12 stops.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Gallatin County Department of Planning & Community Development
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
JM Goldson LLC
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Jefferson Parish Government
Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Claremont