This thesis deals with the legal procedures indicated forchanges in land-related rights, i.e. land use planning andproperty acquisitions. The rules of procedure in this field oflaw are extensive and complicated. As a first step, the rules of procedure are structured intoa number of procedural types: administrative, cadastral andjudicial. The procedural characteristics and the substantivelegal character of the decisions are clarified andcompared. In a second step an institutional perspective is adopted,based on economic theory. The different types of procedure areperceived as alternative institutional solutions to the problemof transaction costs in transformations of land-related rightstructures. An economic analysis is made of the transactioncosts arising in the different types of procedure in connectionwith, respectively, permissibility assessment and propertyacquisition assessment. The administrative procedures present distinct comparativeadvantages in the assessment of permissibility questions, e.g.utility concessions or permits for environmentally hazardousactivity. In these questions, an extensive, heterogeneouscollective of individuals is made subject to external effects.Those effects are divided into smaller value fragments. Throughthe publicity and ready availability of the administrativeprocedures, coupled with the system of politicalaccountability, important information about the preferences ofthe collective concerned can be produced and made to form thebasis of the decision. The cadastral and judicial procedures present comparativeadvantages in connection with property acquisition assessments,such as compulsory purchase of land or exaction of utilityeasements. For the limited collective of individuals involved,the right of negotiating and concluding agreements willeffectively utilise the high degree of information and thestronger economic incentives for action. The negotiation phasebecomes a low-cost procedure which at the same time acts as aselective mechanism for transactions not requiring the coerciveand more expensive procedure of official assessment. Theself-containment of cadastral and judicial procedures and theirisolation from political influences benefit the quality andcontrol of the documentation on which decisions arefounded. / QC 20100528

Reducing vehicle-miles traveled (VMT) has become an important goal for improving environmental outcomes and reducing the costs of travel and infrastructure. One way to accomplish such reductions could be to enact policies that foster more compact development. However, while it is accepted that compact development is associated with lower VMT, there remain disagreements about the efficacy of this policy lever. One issue casting doubt on the power of compact development relates to travelers' exposure to density. A conventional view holds that many travelers' neighborhoods are "locked in place" because change in established neighborhoods is slow. Additionally, conventional explanations of the effect of denser development focus on travelers' own neighborhoods, or on the metro area as a whole, failing to isolate the effect of densifying nodes near, but outside of, the travelers' neighborhoods. This study employs housing and travel data from the Seattle-Tacoma, Wash., where policies aimed at encouraging compact development have been in place since the mid-1990s. Findings suggest that 1) in established neighborhood, incremental change often results in exposure to substantially higher density, and 2) that even where localized density is constant, increases in density at intentional nodes or other areas near, but outside of, a traveler's own neighborhood, has a strong effect on VMT. The findings tend to undermine some of the key doubts about using land use as a policy lever for VMT reduction.

Ausgehend von den Thesen, dass die räumliche Planung ein Aufgabenfeld ist, welches weit über die staatliche Einflussnahme hinausreicht und kooperative Beziehungen sowie kollektives Handeln aller involvierten Akteure erfordert; die Aufgaben der Planung nicht ohne Governance und ein darauf ausgerichtet Planungssystem zu bewältigen sind; die räumliche Planung, Planungssysteme sowie Akteure jedoch nicht adäquat auf dieses Planungsverständnis ausgerichtet sind und sich deswegen weiterentwickeln müssen, fokussiert die vorliegende Arbeit partizipative und governance-orientierte Ansätze zur Weiterentwicklung der räumlichen Planung. Ziel ist es, kontextspezifisch die Implikationen einer, auf Governance ausgerichteten Planung für die involvierten Stakeholder, den Planungsprozess und das Planungssystem aufzuzeigen. Grundlage hierfür bildete ein partizipativer und governance-orientierter Ansatz zur Weiterentwicklung der räumlichen Planung. Anhand eines konkreten Falls aus dem Südosten Mexikos konnte Governance im Bereich der räumlichen Planung kontextbezogen operationalisiert werden. Indem das gesamte Spektrum der raumrelevanten Akteure in die Operationalisierung einbezogen wurde, konnten die verschiedenen Interessen, Perspektiven und Blickwinkel der räumlichen Planung extrahiert werden. Basierend auf den hieraus abgeleiteten Zielvorstellungen der raumrelevanten Akteure erfolgte eine ex post Betrachtung von zwei kürzlich durchgeführten Planungsprozessen in den mexikanischen Gemeinden Candelaria und Calakmul. Aus dieser konnten wichtige Vorschläge zur Weiterentwicklung der räumlichen Planung abgeleitet werden. Erhebt die räumliche Planung den Anspruch, an die Gegebenheiten des Raumes angepasste und an den Zielvorstellungen der Akteure ausgerichtete Verfahren einzusetzen, bietet sich eine formative Anwendung partizipativer und governance-orientierter Ansätze an. Am Anfang eines Planungsprozesses könnten somit die Zielvorstellungen der raumrelevanten Akteure gegenüber der Planung kommuniziert werden. Im selben Moment kann das notwenige Basiswissen zur räumlichen Planung vermittelt werden. Der in der vorliegenden Arbeit vorgestellte Ansatz könnte mit einigen Modifikationen die Grundlage hierfür bilden.

The lack of early integration with the planning and decision-making process has been a major problem in environmental assessment. Traditional project-based environmental impact assessment has inadequate incentives and capacities to incorporate critical environmental impacts at a broader temporal or spatial scale. While many applications have been geared towards implementing project-level environmental assessments, comparatively little research has been done to determine how to incorporate strategically critical environmental impacts into local planning. Although the principles of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) are not yet required in local planning in the United States, these principles create a theoretical framework for local environmental assessment. The objective of this study is to examine the ability of local plans to integrate and implement the key SEA principles. This study focuses on increasing the understanding of how and where to integrate environmental impacts into the local planning and decision-making process by converting the principles of SEA into specific planning tools, policies, and implementation strategies. This study develops a protocol with 112 indicators to measure the strengths and weaknesses of integrating strategic environmental assessment into local comprehensive land use plans. A random sample of 40 California local comprehensive land use plans and associated planning processes is evaluated based on this plan quality evaluation protocol. Statistical analysis and multiple regression models identify the factors affecting the quality of plans with respect to their ability to assess environmental impacts. The results identify the relative strengths and weaknesses of the ability of local jurisdictions to integrate the SEA principles. The results show that many strategically important environmental issues and tools are rarely adopted by current local plans. The regression analysis results further identify the effects of planning capacity, environmental assessment capacity, public participation and contextual variables on environmental assessment plan quality. The findings extend established planning theory and practice by incorporating strategic environmental considerations into the existing framework of what constitutes a high quality local land use comprehensive plan and suggest ways to improve plan quality.

This dissertation is primarily concerned with a number of theoretical and empirical problems in the economics of land-use control. Chapter 1 sets the stage for the review of the economic literature on zoning and neighborhood externalities. This chapter concludes that there are important research issues which need to be studied, viz. the recognition of the multi-nucleated character of the contemporary urban areas, and the need to take account of both the advantages and disadvantages of proximity of single-family homes to nonresidential activities. Since economic research so far has failed to establish conclusively that neighborhood externalities affect adversely or advantageously the market value of residential properties, Chapter 2 shall discuss household behavior when confronting neighborhood externalities, with special reference to land-use externalities. The discussion suggests, among other things, that the existence of nonsingle-family land uses in a neighborhood does not necessarily tend to depress the price of single-family homes. Chapter 3 provides a data base for the research. Then, in Chapter 4 the hypothesized relationship between neighborhood externalities and residential property value is tested econometrically using aggregate data for 52 neighborhoods in the City of Tucson. The results of the estimations indicate that the value of a single-family home depends, among other things, on its physical characteristics, its accessibility to employment and shopping, and local public services. For the first time, there is statistical evidence that over the ranges studied in this research nonsingle-family land uses exert a positive influence on residential property value. These results suggest that the time has come to redirect future research or policy efforts toward viewing mixed land uses possibly as a beneficial contribution to contemporary urban development. That is, zoning ordinances could legitimately move away from a "separate facilities" philosophy to a "mixed land use" philosophy without lowering property values. Issues of accessibility and restrictions in the availability of energy resources could have much to do with the lessening importance of conventional belief in separatory land planning doctrines.

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In the context of a deepening environmental crisis, there are growing calls for a planning framework informed by environmental ethics. In response, I locate this research in the ecocentric discourse and argue the need to challenge both ecological destruction and patriarchy. I raise feminist concerns about the marginalization of women from the processes by which we come to understand and respond to environmental concerns, and adopt a feminist methodology, qualitative methods, and a case study strategy to explore the subjective dimension of women's environmental activism in the context of growing concerns about the forests of Clayoquot Sound, British Columbia. The purpose of this research is to identify: (a) the critical insights that these women bring to their activism; (b) the patriarchal barriers they face in the course of their activism; and (c) the implications of the research findings for an action-oriented ecofeminism and ethics-based planning for sustainability. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 women and their feedback (transcripts, workshop, draft research findings) incorporated into the final report. The research findings confirm that these women have critical insights to offer and that patriarchal barriers frustrate but do not totally constrain their activism. These women offer insight into the complex set of values and structures that protect the status quo, and the forest industry in particular, expose patriarchal structures and values that constrain their activism and protect the interests of a male-dominated industry, and suggest a normative foundation for sustainability that takes seriously the well-being of human and nonhuman nature, male and female. In analysing these findings, I argue for an action-based ecofeminism that moves beyond ideal notions of the ecological self, promotes a public ethic of care, challenges both constructs and structures, and critically supports the emergence of women's insights and contributions from the economic, political, and cultural margins. Furthermore, I argue that these women's insights and experiences have significant substantive and procedural implications for planning. I propose an ethics-based planning framework committed to the ecological and social integrity of 'place' and to the well-being of all who live there—human and nonhuman, male and female. In challenging the status quo, this ethics-based planning involves struggles with both external structures and internally held values. In doing so, it links the political to the personal and contributes to both structural and personal transformation.

This research responds to Quebec’s call to new ways of thinking in land use planning to conserve the cultural significance of its rural landscapes. Based on guidance and approaches of the United Kingdom (UK), including historic landscape characterisation, a conservation strategy is developed and applied to the study site of Saint-Donat, Quebec. The story of the Saint-Donat landscape is told through historical narrative, GIS mapping and analysis both in time-slice and time-depth, and photographic images, which reveal values attributable to the landscape. Demonstration of how landscape policies and land use planning of Saint-Donat are informed to sustain these values is provided through application to two historic landscape character areas: the village and a mountainous recreational area. This research contributes to Canadian, Quebec and UK aims to develop a comprehensive conservation strategy for conserving cultural landscapes. Future research is needed to expand our understanding of how and why people value landscapes and the role values play in managing landscape change and landscape sustainability.

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