abstract: Sustainable development in an American context implies an ongoing shift from quantitative growth in energy, resource, and land use to the qualitative development of social-ecological systems, human capital, and dense, vibrant built environments. Sustainable urban development theory emphasizes locally and bioregionally emplaced economic development where the relationships between people, localities, products, and capital are tangible to and controllable by local stakeholders. Critical theory provides a mature understanding of the political economy of land development in capitalist economies, representing a crucial bridge between urban sustainability's infill development goals and the contemporary realities of the development industry. Since its inception, Phoenix, Arizona has exemplified the quantitative growth paradigm, and recurring instances of land speculation, non-local capital investment, and growth-based public policy have stymied local, tangible control over development from Phoenix's territorial history to modern attempts at downtown revitalization. Utilizing property ownership and sales data as well as interviews with development industry stakeholders, the political economy of infill land development in downtown Phoenix during the mid-2000s boom-and-bust cycle is analyzed. Data indicate that non-local property ownership has risen significantly over the past 20 years and rent-seeking land speculation has been a significant barrier to infill development. Many speculative strategies monopolize the publicly created value inherent in zoning entitlements, tax incentives and property assessment, indicating that political and policy reforms targeted at a variety of governance levels are crucial for achieving the sustainable development of urban land. Policy solutions include reforming the interconnected system of property sales, value assessment, and taxation to emphasize property use values; replacing existing tax incentives with tax increment financing and community development benefit agreements; regulating vacant land ownership and deed transfers; and encouraging innovative private development and tenure models like generative construction and community land trusts. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Sustainability 2013

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Submitted by Silvana Teresinha Dornelles Studzinski (sstudzinski) on 2015-10-26T14:52:50Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Cristina Maria dos Reis Martins_.pdf: 1918739 bytes, checksum: 87cf5f9bf676345b8b714e34dcab1462 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-10-26T14:52:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Cristina Maria dos Reis Martins_.pdf: 1918739 bytes, checksum: 87cf5f9bf676345b8b714e34dcab1462 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-06-22 / Nenhuma / Este trabalho busca analisar as estratégias de uso do solo para atração de empresas inovadoras na Região do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, onde foram implantados os parques tecnológicos Tecnosinos, em São Leopoldo, e Feevale Techpark, que inclui as unidades Valetec, em Campo Bom e Hamburgtec, em Novo Hamburgo. Adotou-se como fundamento para a pesquisa um modelo teórico desenvolvido por Friedrich e Nam (2011, 2013), cujos principais argumentos são: o planejamento de uso do solo gera oportunidades e riscos para instalação de atividades industriais, e os parques tecnológicos são uma combinação entre a política de uso do solo e a política industrial, que contribuí para o aumento da competitividade dos municípios na atração de empresas inovadoras. O objetivo principal desse estudo é analisar as estratégias de uso do solo adotadas pelos municípios de São Leopoldo, Campo Bom e Novo Hamburgo, por meio de uma análise comparativa entre eles e seus parques tecnológicos. Especificamente busca-se: verificar o grau de especialização desses municípios nas atividades inovadoras e nas atividades tradicionais da região; a análise do planejamento de uso do solo dos municípios; e a análise das características dos parques tecnológicos Tecnosinos e Feevale Techpark. O trabalho foi realizado por meio de pesquisa documental e bibliográfica e levantamento de dados estatísticos, com análises qualitativas e descritivas. Para verificar o grau de especialização dos municípios foram calculados os quocientes de localização, conforme a metodologia de Isard (1956). Para investigar as estratégias de uso do solo adotadas pelos municípios foi realizada uma análise dos planos diretores municipais e do processo de constituição e desenvolvimento dos parques tecnológicos na região de estudo. Os resultados revelaram que a implantação dos parques tecnológicos na região, em parte, foi uma alternativa para ajuste na pauta industrial local, dado o desgaste no setor coureiro-calçadista. A implantação dos parques tecnológicos também, em certa medida, cria possibilidades de mudanças na estrutura econômica local e condições para manutenção do crescimento econômico, dos níveis de emprego e de renda na região. Na comparação entre os dois parques estudados, concluiu-se que mesmo evidenciada a competição entre os municípios para atração de empresas de tecnologia da informação, os parques possuem estruturas diferenciadas, que atenuam a concorrência entre eles. / This work seeks to analyze the land-use strategies to attract innovative companies in the region of the Sinos River Valley, where technology parks Tecnosinos were implanted in Sao Leopoldo, and Feevale Techpark, which includes Valetec units in Campo Bom and Hamburgtec in Novo Hamburgo. It was adopted as the foundation for the research a theoretical model developed by Friedrich and Nam (2011, 2013), whose main arguments are: land-use planning creates opportunities and risks for the installation of industrial activities, and technology parks are a combination between land-use policy and industrial policy, which contributes to increasing the competitiveness of cities in attracting innovative high-tech companies. The main objective of this study is to analyze the land-use strategies adopted by the municipalities of São Leopoldo, Campo Bom and Novo Hamburgo, through a comparative analysis between them and their technology parks. Specifically seeks to: assess the degree of specialization of these municipalities in innovative-activities and traditional-activities in the region; the analysis of land-use planning in the municipalities; and the analysis of the characteristics of technology parks and Tecnosinos Feevale Techpark. The work was carried out through documentary and bibliographic-research and collection of statistical data with qualitative and descriptive analyzes. To check the degree of specialization of the municipalities the location quotients were calculated according to the methodology Isard (1956). To investigate land use strategies adopted by municipalities was conducted an analysis of municipal master plans and the process of constitution and development of technology parks in the study region. The results revealed that the implementation of technology parks in the region, in part, was an alternative to setting the local industrial agenda, given the wear on the leather-footwear industry. The implementation of technology parks also, to some extent, creates possibilities for changes in the local economic structure and conditions for maintaining economic growth, levels of employment and income in the region. Comparing the two studied parks, it was concluded that even evidenced competition between the municipalities to attract information technology companies, the parks have different structures, which lessen competition between them.

Societies frequently implement land use policies to regulate resource extraction or to regulate development. However, two important policy questions remain unresolved. First, how effective are land use regulations? Second, how do land use regulations affect socioeconomic conditions? Three issues complicate the evaluation of land use policies: (1) overt bias may lead to incorrect estimates of policy effects if implementation is nonrandom; (2) the policy may affect outcomes in neighboring unregulated lands; and (3) unobservable differences between regulated and unregulated lands may lead to biased assessments. Previous evaluations of land use policies fail to address these sources of bias simultaneously. In this dissertation, I develop an approach, using matching methods, which jointly accounts for these complications. I apply the approach to evaluate the effects of Costa Rica s protected areas on land use and socioeconomic outcomes between 1960 and 2000. I find that: (1) protection prevented the deforestation of only 10 percent or less of protected forests; (2) protection resulted in reforestation of only 20 percent of non-forest areas that were protected; (3) protection had little effect on land use outside protected areas, most likely because, as noted above, protected areas had only small effects on land use inside protected areas; and (4) there is little evidence that protected areas had harmful impacts on the livelihoods of local communities: on the contrary, I find that protection had small positive effects on socioeconomic outcomes. Furthermore, the methods traditionally used to conduct such evaluations are biased. In contrast to the findings above, those conventional methods overestimated the amount of avoided deforestation and erroneously implied that protection had negative impacts on the livelihoods of local communities. This dissertation contributes to policymaking by providing empirical measures of protected area effectiveness. Although annual global expenditures on protected areas are about $6.5 billion, little is known to date about the returns on these investments. This study also indicates that policymakers should give careful consideration to current proposals to compensate communities living in or around protected areas: contrary to widely held assumptions, the findings suggest that protection may not have harmful effects on socioeconomic outcomes.

Die anhaltende Entwaldung tropischer Regenwälder und die damit einhergehenden sozialen und ökologischen Folgen finden zunehmend Beachtung nationaler Regierungen und zivilgesellschaftlicher Akteure, die Initiativen zur Verringerung der Entwaldung und Strategien zum Schutz von Lebensräumen und Artenvielfalt entwickelt haben. Die Waldrestaurierung, d.h. die Wiederherstellung von Waldökosystemen, stellt hierbei, neben der Verringerung der Entwaldung, ein entscheidendes Ziel dar. Brasilien spielt in diesem Zusammenhang eine entscheidende Rolle. Der Großteildes Amazonas-Regenwaldes, der größte zusammenhängende tropische Regenwald der Welt, liegt auf brasilianischem Gebiet. Nahezu 18% des brasilianischen Regenwaldes sind bereits gerodet. Landspekulation, Bergbau, und Landwirtschaft stellen die stärkste Bedrohung für die Existenz des Regenwaldes dar. Im Rahmen des Pariser Abkommens hat sich Brasilien dazu verpflichtet die Netto-Entwaldung bis 2030 zu stoppen und 12 Millionen Hektar Waldökosysteme wiederherzustellen. Eine zentrale Rolle für die Umsetzung der Verpflichtung kommt dem brasilianischen Waldschutzgesetz (BFC) zu, der wichtigsten brasilianischen Umweltgesetzgebung, die die Rahmenbedingungen für die Landnutzung auf privatem Landbesitz regelt. Im brasilianischen Amazon verlangt das BFC den Schutz von 80% der natürlichen Vegetation, als sogenanntes Legal Reserves (LRs). In der neusten Gesetzesversion von 2012 wurde erstmals der Umgang mit denjenigen Landbesitzern festgelegt, die den Gesetzesvorgaben nicht entsprechen. Es wird erwartet, dass die Umsetzung des neuen BFCs auf der einen Seite den Schutz der Wälder in den LRs gewährleistet und auf der andern Seite, unter Mitwirkung der Landbesitzer, zu ein großflächige Waldrestaurierung führt. Vor diesem Hintergrund ist das Ziel dieser Dissertation die Potenziale des BFC für den Schutz der Ur- und den nachwachsenden Wäldern zu ermitteln. Im Speziellen habe ich in der vorliegenden Dissertation (i) die Raum-Zeitlichen Veränderungen der Waldflächen im Einflussbereich der Bundesstraße BR-163, zwischen Cuiabá und Santarém, analysiert; (ii) das Potenzial der BFC für den Schutz der des Regenwaldes und für die Waldrestaurierung bewertet; und (iii) prioritäre Gebiete für ein großflächige Waldrestaurierung, unter Einbezug von Kosten, Biodiversität und Kohlenstoffspeicherung, identifiziert. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass ein Großteil der massiven Entwaldung in der Region zwischen Cuiabá und Santarém auf privaten Grundstücken stattfand. Dies lässt auf eine weitverbreitete Nichteinhaltung des BFCs schließen. Hohe Netto-Entwaldungsraten und eine rückläufige Verbreitung nachwachsenden Waldes deutet darauf hin, dass die Region weit von einer Trendwende von Netto-Waldverlust, zu Netto-Waldzuwachs entfernt ist. Um eine Ausbreitung der Wälder voranzutreiben, ist es daher notwendig, das Management der Ur- und nachwachsenden Wälder zu verbessern. Die Ergebnisse dieser Dissertation zeigen, dass mehr als 6 Millionen Hektar der derzeitigen Waldregeneration geschützt und ein Drittel der LR-Defizite ausgeglichen werden könnten, wenn die nachwachsenden Wälder in die Schutzzonen der LRs einbezogen werden. Die künftige Regulierung der BFC-Ausgleichsmechanismen wird einen entscheidenden Effekt auf die Waldrestaurierung und den Schutz der Urwälder haben. Die Analyse möglicher Regulierungs-Szenarien hat deutliche Variation zwischen prioritären Gebieten für die Waldrestaurierung in Mato Grosso gezeigt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Waldrestaurierung auf privaten Grundstücken entscheidend für den Schutz von Biodiversität ist. Demgegenüber zeigt sich die Wiederherstellung von Waldökosystemen auf öffentlichem Land kostengünstiger und effektiver für die Kohlenstoffspeicherung. Die Ergebnisse demonstrieren die Relevanz detaillierter räumlicher Informationen zu Landbesitz und Landnutzungsänderungen, um die Auswirkungen von neuen rechtlichen Rahmenbedingungen für den Waldschutz und die Waldrestaurierung in tropischen Gebieten zu untersuchen. Die Schätzungen der derzeit nachwachsenden Waldflache, und dessen Schutzstatus, sind entscheidend um die nationalen Ziele der Waldrestaurierung zu erreichen. Die Ergebnisse verdeutlichen, dass ein besseres Management von nachwachsenden Waldökosystemen durch Bundes- und Landesgesetze notwendig ist, und neue Strategien und Mechanismen, die den Schutz nachwachsenden Wäldern sicherstellen, erarbeitet werden müssen. / Continued tropical forests decline has drawn concerted attention by governments and distinct sectors of the civil society, which have responded with anti-deforestation policies and conservation strategies. Alongside conservation, large-scale forest restoration is crucial for counteracting the negative impacts of deforestation on socio-ecological processes. In this context, Brazil plays a pivotal role. Most of the Amazon, the largest continuous tropical forest in the world, lies within the Brazilian territory. Nearly 18% of the Brazilian Amazon forest cover was already lost, and land speculation, mining, and agricultural expansion continue to threaten the forest. Therefore, cutting back land use change emissions is a major pillar of Brazil’s commitment to the Paris Agreement, which includes the plan to achieve zero net deforestation in the Amazon and restore 12Mha of forests countrywide by 2030. In this thesis I focused on the Brazilian Forest Code (BFC), the flagship environmental legislation governing land use in private lands of Brazil. In forestlands of the Amazon biome, the BFC requires the protection of 80% of the native vegetation as Legal Reserves (LRs). The latest version of the law, from 2012, also established the compliance conditions for past law offenders. Particularly, there are high expectations that the enforcement of the BFC will secure the protection of forests in LRs, and drive large-scale forest restoration. Therefore, my overall goal was to advance the knowledge about the potential of the BFC enforcement for the conservation of old- and regrowing forests in the Brazilian Amazon. Specifically, I (i) investigated the spatio-temporal patterns of net forest cover change for the influence area of the Cuiabá-Santarém highway, crossing the federal states of Pará and Mato Grosso in the Brazilian Amazon; (ii) evaluated the potential of the BFC enforcement for the protection of old and regrowing forests in the Brazilian Amazon, and estimated the contribution of regrowing forests for LRs demarcation; and (iii) applied a multicriteria analysis to map priority areas for large-scale forest restoration in private and public lands of Mato Grosso, contrasting the costs of restoration with the gains for biodiversity and carbon enhancement. Results show that the Cuiabá-Santarém focus region accumulated substantial deforestation, most of which on private lands, indicating a widespread non-compliance to the BFC. High net deforestation rates and decreasing prevalence of forest regrowth on deforested lands, indicates that this region is not near experiencing a turnaround from net forest losses to net forest gains. Hence, to promote forest expansion, it will be necessary to improve old- and regrowing forests governance. In this regard, results showed that if regrowing forests are included in LRs demarcation, over 6Mha of ongoing forest regeneration could be protected, and one third of LRs deficits could be offset. Also, the future regulation of BFC compensation mechanisms will be key for determining the potential of the law for promoting restoration and old-growth forests protection additionality. Finally, a substantial variation in the spatial distribution of priority areas for forest restoration was identified across Mato Grosso, and for different scenarios. Private properties were key to enhance intensively deforested habitats, while restoration in public lands was more effective in reducing restoration costs and mitigating carbon. The findings of this thesis demonstrate the importance of detailed spatial information on land tenure and land use change in tropical areas, to support spatial planning, and address the potential of legal frameworks for promoting forest conservation and restoration. The estimates of legal protection of current regrowing forests have strong implications for Brazil’s restoration targets. They call for an improved treatment of second-growth forests by federal and state legislations, and the creation of policy and mechanisms able to secure the protection of high-value regrowing forests.

The modern global agrifood system has had significant negative impacts on consumers and producers. This has precipitated the rise of local food systems that are purported to improve the health and livelihoods of consumers and producers. High expectations have led to significant public and private resources dedicated to the development of local food systems. Despite this, there has been little systematic research exploring the social and institutional conditions that facilitate or frustrate local food system development. Using a comparative case study approach, this study explored the ways local structural conditions, collective action, food system policies, and the political context affect the development of local food systems. Findings suggested truly robust local food system development requires either collective action or public policies and are more likely to exist and be successful depending on the political climate and the balance of power between land use interests in the community.

Concerns related to global environmental changes due to land use changes have been driving international communities towards more sustainable land use systems. Brazil is a country of global strategic importance in this matter considering that it is the nation with the largest extension of preserved tropical native vegetation, recognised for its ecosystem services and high and unique biodiversity. Expansion of forestry and agriculture is taking place rapidly in Brazil, partly over degraded pastureland, but also over native vegetation. Regulating policies to govern and limit this expansion is crucial to ensure the preservation of the ecosystems services provided by native vegetation.  This thesis aims at improving the understanding of the potential impacts of prevailing public and private policies in the conservation of nature in Brazil. For this end, the Land Use Policy Assessment (LUPA) model was employed to evaluate potential pathways of implementation of the land use policies. Paper 1 evaluated the effects of current private and public command and control regulations in the protection of above-ground carbon stocks, identifying the most relevant stakeholders holding carbon stocks. The findings suggest that about 10% of carbon stocks are unprotected, where other policy instruments based on the market will be mostly required. Paper 2 performed an assessment of the mechanism for offsetting the legal deficit of native vegetation among landholders, evaluating the different offsetting implementation practices and their impacts on nature protection and socio-economic development. The results indicate that the offsetting mechanism may have little or no additional effects on protection of native vegetation and its ecosystem services because most of the offsetting is likely to take place where native vegetation is already protected by current legislations. However, it is viable to maximise environmental and socio-economic returns from the offsetting mechanism. / <p>QC 20170510</p>

Like other countries of the world, Costa Rica faced the challenge of dealing with a variety of trade-offs when implementing sustainability goals in agriculture. Very often, economic promotion is in conflict with goals regarding human and environmental health protection. Organic farming practices could provide strategies to overcome some of these trade-offs. However, in Costa Rica, the majority of farmers still relies on conventional farm practices. In this paper, I investigate the potential for a sustainable transformation in Costa Rica’s agriculture by focusing on organic farming policies. I shed light on the role local actors and organizations play in this process compared to other actor types. I argue that local actors are “the agents of change” in these processes, as these are the target groups of organic farming policies and are the ones who are asked to change their farm practices. Based on survey data and network analysis, I was able to illustrate how differently integrated local actors are compared to other actor types in Costa Rica’s implementation of organic farming policies. Local actors show interest and willingness to further participate in land-use implementation processes when institutional barriers are alleviated, and further promotion instruments are available.

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Zu Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts ist die Waldpolitik zahlreichen neuen, auch widersprüchlichen Politikzielen ausgesetzt. Der Wald wird vom Klimawandel bedroht, zum anderen soll er wichtige Beiträge zum Klimaschutz erbringen. Dabei ist umstritten, ob eine forstliche Nutzung- oder ein Nutzungsverzicht am effektivsten zur Erreichung der Klimaschutzziele beiträgt. Eine ähnliche Kontroverse ist im Bereich des Schutzes der Biodiversität im Wald festzustellen. Neben diesen neuen Zielen muss der Wald weiterhin die Leistungen erbringen, die die Gesellschaft seit jeher von ihm erwartet. Die vorliegende Studie untersucht die Wechselbeziehungen zwischen den Politikzielen verschiedener Politikfelder in Bezug auf die Waldflächen. Dabei wird der Policy Coherence Framework erstmals auf drei Politikebenen (EU-, Bunds- und Landesebene) sowie auf mehr als zwei Politikfelder angewandt und weiterentwickelt. Aktuelle Programme wie die LULUCF-VO der Europäischen Union, Bundes- und Landeswaldprogramme, Nachhaltigkeits-, Bioökonomie- und Biodiversitätsstrategien wurden untersucht. Die Diskussion erfolgt entlang der prominentesten Zielkonflikte, wie bspw. dem Ziel, mindestens 5% der Waldfläche aus der Nutzung zu nehmen. Schließlich werden konkrete Lösungsvorschläge für einige Zielkonflikte vorgestellt und diskutiert. Eine übersichtliche und kompakte Zusammenfassung der waldbezogenen Politikziele aus den untersuchten Programmen findet sich im Ergänzungsband. Diese mag auch der Praxis als hilfreicher Wegweiser durch die aktuellen Politikprogramme mit Waldflächenbezug dienen. / At the beginning of the 21st century, forest policy faces numerous challenges. It has to address requirements that are more in number, novelty, diversity and dispersity as likely ever before in recent history. Among the most important of these are clearly the challenges to save and pro-tect global Climate and Biodiversity. Land-use, Land-use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) have been incorporated in these challenges through various binding international compacts, among them the Paris Climate Accord of 2015, the EU’s LULUCF Regulation of 2018 as well as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) of 1993 and their respective national instruments of implementation, e.g. the German National Strategy on Sustainability of 2002. They all aim to maintain and augment the mitigative climate effects and biodiversity of forests. Therefore, this study sets out to determine the consequences of these new requirements for forest policy. It analyses how these various new policy goals can be reconciled and integrated without inter-fering with other standing policy targets. Although the loss of tropical forests has long been identified to be one of the main driving forces for climate change and loss of biodiversity, the potential positive effects of global refor-estation and afforestation (including the global north) to reverse this trend and mitigate cli-mate change have only recently become a focus point of attention. This study therefore focuses on the policy goals which directly or indirectly influence the change of forest area. Starting from a national German perspective, policy goals at a European as well as the subnational, Thuringian level are included in the analysis, followig the federal structure of Germany within an ever closer politically united Europe. This study analyses coherence among policy goals using the Policy Coherence Framework (PCF). Following this established framework, policy coherence between the three political levels (European, national, subnational) is being investigated as “vertical coherence”. Coherence be-tween forest area policy and other policy fields on the same political level are researched and referred to as “horizontal coherence”. Within a certain policy field, coherence of programs will be investigated as “internal coherence”, whereas relations and interactions to policy goals of other areas is being referred to as “external coherence”. The framework has been adapted to this study’s requirements and amended with dimensions to analyze coherence between pro-grams with respect to the dates and departments of publication. With the analysis of policy coherence, this study pursues a philosophical understanding of “phronesis” (i.e. “prudence”, as opposed to “techne” and episteme) as the main target of social science and research. Based on a thourough assessment and using a determined set of values and goals for sustainable development of the forest sector, this study aims to contribute to the advancement of policy coherence in actual policy formulation.