Can transfer of development rights programs save farmland in metropolitan counties?

Transfer development rights (TDR) programs have been gaining popularity as a tool for farmland preservation, as they compensate landowners at minimal public cost. This study shows that despite their wide adoption, TDR programs do not save much farmland on the urban fringe. We use Department of Agriculture data and apply two quasi‐experimental methods, synthetic control, and difference‐in‐difference, to evaluate the effect of TDR programs on farm retention for three fringe metropolitan counties in the state of Maryland. We also compare land use patterns before and after TDR implementation in these counties. The result shows limited effects of TDR programs on farm preservation, even in Montgomery County, one of the national models for TDR programs. TDR programs do contribute to low and medium density residential development. This cautions observation planners about their enthusiasm toward TDR programs and highlights the difficulty of preserving farmland on the fringe of metropolitan regions. We compare the features of the studied TDR programs, and highlight those that account for the programs’ relative success/failure. Based on these analyses, we make recommendations to planners to help improve TDR effectiveness.     

Reducing transaction costs of tradable permit schemes using Blockchain smart contracts

Tradable permit schemes (TPS) are market-based policy instruments, which are claimed to be more statically and dynamically efficient in achieving their policy objectives compared to the traditional regulatory instruments. However, some researchers argue that the high level of transaction costs associated with these policy instruments might undermine their efficiency. This paper addresses this issue through exploring the use of Blockchain technology in order to lower transaction costs that arise from TPS transactions. More specifically, it identifies the benefits of using Blockchain smart contracts in implementing TPS that include: increasing the amount of relevant information available to interested actors thus reducing uncertainties; reducing the amount of irrelevant information available to interested actors thus decreasing complexities; correcting information asymmetries among the actors involved thus limiting opportunistic behaviours; lowering the need for the involvement of intermediaries thus decreasing direct monetary costs; and facilitating the linkage between buyers and sellers thus improving trading quality. These potential benefits can increase the efficiency of TPS by decreasing policy-related transaction costs.     

Transaction Costs,Agglomeration Economies,and Industrial Location*

ABSTRACT Following an outline of the different types of agglomeration economy, consideration is given to transaction costs. Transaction costs may have a definite spatial dimension because institutional, commercial, cultural, and language characteristics are differentiated across the geographic space separating market agents. The concept of transaction space is introduced to represent the spatial differentiation of these characteristics, and this concept is used to cast light on how space can contribute to coordination and agency problems that raise transaction costs. Contractual agreements that are rearranged, so as to span a less heterogeneous transaction space, permit the reduction of transaction costs. Agglomeration can then be interpreted as an alternative to hierarchical structures within firms in economizing on transaction costs. The paper concludes with illustrations of how this framework may help to understand the spatial implications of corporate restructuring and new information technologies.     

农村集体建设用地流转的困境与对策——基于制度经济学的视角分析

为了深化农村土地制度改革,促进农村集体建设用地流转,文章运用制度经济学的相关理论对农村集体建设用地流转进行研究.研究表明,当前,中国农村集体建设用地流转缓慢主要有以下几个原因:农村集体土地产权主体不明晰、农村集体建设用地流转的交易费用较高、流转制度安排存在不足、相关配套设施缺乏等,这些成为制约农村集体建设用地流转的障碍...     

Property rights for social inclusion: Migrant strategies for securing land and livelihoods in Papua New Guinea

This paper examines the broad range of informal land transactions and arrangements migrants are entering into with customary landowners to gain access to customary land for export cash cropping in the oil palm belt of West New Britain, Papua New Guinea. Whilst these arrangements can provide migrants with relatively secure access to land, there are instances of migrants losing their land rights. Typically, the land tenure arrangements of migrants with more secure access to land are within a framework of property rights for social inclusion whereby customary landowners’ inalienable rights to land are preserved and the ‘outsider’ becomes an ‘insider’ with ongoing use rights to the land. Through socially embedding land transactions in place‐based practices of non‐market exchange, identities of difference are eroded as migrants assume identities as part of their host groups. This adaptability of customary land tenure and its capacity to accommodate large migration in‐flows and expanding commodity production undermines the argument common amongst proponents of land reform that customary tenure is static and inflexible. Before such claims are heeded, there must be more detailed empirical investigations of the diverse range of land tenure regimes operating in areas of the country experiencing high rates of immigration.     

Designing a hedgerow network in a multifunctional agricultural landscape: Balancing trade-offs among ecological quality,landscape character and implementation costs

Spatial planning aimed at multifunctional agriculture can be seen as a negotiation process on environmental, social and economic aspects of land use. Complexity arises due to the high number of stakeholders and due to the limited knowledge, which is often organized along disciplinary divides. This paper sets out from the premise that the role of agronomy in such land use planning processes can be strengthened by approaches that allow multi-objective and multi-scale evaluation of spatially explicit land use alternatives. We present an application of the explorative Landscape IMAGES framework, which employs the Differential Evolution optimization strategy and the concepts of Pareto optimality that are relatively easy to implement and to combine with spatially explicit indicator assessments. This technique yields a set of solutions, each representing a spatial configuration of hedgerows in a landscape along with the performance of the landscape in terms of Pareto rank and efficiency. The methodology was applied in a redesign of the structure of linear landscape elements in an agri-ecological zone in The Netherlands where 7 indicators representing ecological quality, landscape character and implementation costs were considered. The case study was developed in interaction with an NGO involved in landscape management planning and implementation.Spatial cohesion in the landscape was found to increase with larger total hedgerow length, but could also be improved without increasing the total length (and therefore costs of establishment and maintenance). Trade-offs existed with other objectives, since this change would involve replacing hedgerows currently positioned in the longitudinal direction (L) of the fields by hedgerows in the transversal direction (T). This change would compromise cultural heritage value as expressed in the L/T ratio, and it would require removal of mature hedgerows in some places and adding of new hedgerows elsewhere in the landscape, thereby increasing implementation costs.The approach was evaluated positively in terms of design validity, output validity and end-user validity. The role of the Landscape IMAGES framework in setting a research agenda to enhance the role of agronomy in multifunctional land use planning is discussed.     

关于城市化进程中被征地农民的权益保障问题

研究目的：在中国城市化进程中，失地农民愈来愈多，在当前的制度安排下，失地农民面临着严重的生存与发展问题，提出了维护失地农民权益的思路与政策建议。研究方法：归纳分析法和文献资料法。研究结果：分析了当前失地农民权益受损的主要原因，指出了对待失地农民利益应遵循平等与公平、按市场经济规律办事以及共同富裕的原则，提出从严格界定“公共利益”；明晰集体土地产权，合理确定各土地产权的补偿标准；实施多元化的征地补偿方式，将失地农民纳入社会保障体系等保障失地农民权益的思路。研究结论：解决失地农民的生存与发展问题，让失地农民分享城市化与经济发展的成果，这才是真正的和谐社会，才是真正的城市化。     

Twenty‐first century nomadic city: Ger districts and barriers to the implementation of the Ulaanbaatar City Master Plan

Since the early 1990s, Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, has experienced rapid rural to urban migration and population growth resulting in the growth in informal settlements across the city. The informal settlements are known as ‘ger’ districts. In response to these pressures, since the 1990s, the central government has adopted a programme of land reform and metropolitan planning. These new reforms take place in the context of a unique, post‐socialist political, economic and institutional context. The land reform process has attempted to privatise land ownership, which has traditionally resided with the state. The privatisation process was initiated under the new Constitution of Mongolia, which initiated reforms in all sectors of social and economic development, and since 2003, targeted land reform in ger districts. Running parallel, a series of urban land‐use planning schemes have been introduced to frame the development of Ulaanbaatar in the context of an emerging market economy. Although master plans for urban development have been established since the 1950s, urban land‐use planning is a new concept in this emerging market economy. The aim of this paper is to trace the rationales and challenges of implementing master plans and land privatisation processes in Ulaanbaatar. Drawing on interviews with city, national and local government officials conducted in 2009, the paper focuses on the implications of these reforms for both the government and the residents of ger districts.     

关于中国征地法律冲突引起的问题及对策探讨

从中国现行征地存在的一些法律冲突入手,导出了这些法律冲突所引起的问题,即公共利益范围的扩大化。然后,分析了中国征地实践中存在的两种征地现象:公共利益性质征地和非公共利益性质征地,并举出案例加以分析和说明。最后,针对公共利益范围的扩大化问题,提出科学合理的界定公共利益这一相应策略。     

中国农村集体建设用地产权制度改革公共性问题探析

为深入剖析和总结中国集体建设用地产权制度改革试点中出现的问题和治理经验,探索系统推进中国农村集体产权制度改革的路径。本研究运用数据、规范和比较分析方法,对中国农村集体建设用地产权制度改革的公共性缺失问题进行了反思和探讨。从公共性生产逻辑的视角,提出在协调现行市场经济条件下“城乡融合发展的公共利益、集体经济的共同利益和农民的财产权益”基础上,建构以多元主体协同共治为基础,以数字化治理技术创新为保障,以公共基础设施和公共服务改善为支撑,以城乡要素市场双向流动建设为目标的产权制度改革路径。为此,本研究建议进一步明确农村集体建设用地产权制度改革的公共性目标,从城乡融合发展的视角系统地推进各项配套改革措施的完善,并加强对其改革效果的公共性评估。     

现代农业建设的制度创新问题研究——基于福建省现代农业建设实践的分析

现代农业建设需要与之相适应的制度安排。目前对现代农业制度方面的研究,以理论层面的研究为主,以福建省为例,侧重从现代农业建设的实践层面对制度创新进行一些探讨和补充。通过对福建省现代农业发展概况和近年来比较有特色的创新土地经营制度、集体林权制度改革、推行农村"科技特派员"和"六大员"制度、加强闽台农业合作、构建农村服务长效机制等几项制度创新进行分析,提出现代农业制度创新要有利于激发内在的活力和注入外在的推力,要尊重基层和农民的首创精神,要着力于加强平台建设,从而降低成本、提高效率等启示及相应对策。     

Risques d'erosion au tiers monde: le point de vue de l'utilisateur

Recent studies of failed soil and water conservation programmes in the Third World have revealed, amongst others, serious flaws in the process of identification of the causes and consequences of land degradation. These flaws are not caused by an erroneous scientific analysis, but originate in a theoretical framework which is not targetted at the user of the land.The authors propose an alternative approach to the analysis of land degradation problems. The method is based upon the identification of the social, political and economic environment of the land user and can be divided into two parts:

• 1.(i) a study of the relationship between land degradation and development and
• 2.(ii) a study of productivity decline caused by erosion.

It is believed that this methodology permits the design of soil and water conservation programmes which take into account the knowledge, present day conditions and prospects of the land user and the society which supports him/her, hence be more likely to succeed.     

Contradictions in land development schemes: the case of joint ventures in Sarawak,Malaysia

Landowners and the private investors often have contradictory interests in joint ventures. Although development planners sometimes believe that government can harmonise these contradictions, state interests in development often lead them to support the interests of private capital. While joint ventures may be useful ways of pooling human, material and financial resources, this article draws on a case study of two pilot joint venture oil palm schemes in Sarawak, Malaysia, to show that the legal construction and administration of native customary land rights generate lower results for landowners than they do for the private sector. Information and power asymmetries constrain the ability of affected natives to realise fair benefits under a joint venture arrangement. When institutional constraints that give a measure of protection to native rights and interests are dismantled in the rush to establish commercial plantations for example, an unregulated market can be detrimental to landowners’ rights and long–term interests.     

Is environmental regulation a blessing or a curse for China's urban land use efficiency? Evidence from a threshold effect model

Severe land shortage causes a higher demand for domestic and foreign land‐intensive products. As a result, resource utilization, and related environmental issues, will increase in urban areas. To this respect, the analysis of the impact of environmental regulation on urban land use efficiency helps to identify potential points for interventions designed to ensure sustainable land use. This study first introduces a theoretical framework to investigate the micro‐transmission mechanism of environmental regulation on urban land use efficiency. Our profit decision‐making model concludes that the impact of environmental regulation on urban land use efficiency is influenced by changes in the industrial structure. Empirically, our preliminary analysis suggests that in addition to population density, both formal and informal environmental regulation can promote urban land use efficiency, with a significant spatial heterogeneity across the sample regions. Further, this study shows a remarkable double‐threshold relationship between formal environmental regulation and urban land use efficiency in China. We clarify and confirm that environmental regulation promoted urban land use efficiency only when regulation intensity was higher than 0.8612. Environmental regulation increased urban land use efficiency in high‐level industrial rationalization areas, whereas it had the opposite effect in low‐level ones. Furthermore, there was a clear marginal diminishing effect of the impact of environmental regulation on urban land use efficiency when the optimization of the industrial structure was set as a threshold variable.     

Ecological Risks of Agricultural Land Capitalization and Their Prevention

The capitalization of agricultural land as an institutional innovation in land use is of great significance to revitalize China's land resources, change land use and improve land use efficiency. With the gradual implementation of the capitalization of agricultural land, however, environmental problems brought by capitalization have restricted the sustainable and efficient utilization of agricultural land. This study, from the perspective of ecology, discusses ecological risks of agricultural land capitalization, analyzes the ecological risks of agricultural land capitalization in terms of the amount of land and land quality as well as the formation mechanism of the ecological risks of agricultural land capitalization. It is found that the logic of the capital itself, the profitability of the subject and the fragility of the ecological environment are the internal and external factors of the ecological risks of agricultural land. Thereupon authors put forward policy suggestions to prevent the ecological risks of agricultural land capitalization in terms of large-scale agricultural operations in diverse forms, the development of green agriculture, the protection of agricultural land quality and green finance, with a view to resolving the ecological risks of agricultural land capitalization and realizing the benign operation of agricultural land capitalization.     

基于DEA的黑土地水土保持综合效益评价研究——以黑龙江省为例

从2003年,国家相继实施了多项黑土地水土保持工程,有必要对这些项目的实施效果进行评价。运用DEA模型,对黑龙江省近10年黑土地水土保持综合效益进行评价,分别得出经济效益、社会效益和生态效益的综合有效性、技术有效性和规模有效性,结果表明：黑龙江省黑土地水土保持工程综合效益较好且年度平稳度高,但还没有达到最优状态,针对评价结果,提出增加农民收入、优化资源配置等建议。     

Participatory Road Planning System in Japan and Its Enlightenment

Japan has introduced public participation into road planning processes in recent years. This paper firstly describes the Japanese institutional system of public participation in infrastructure planning; then it focuses on the institutionalization of participatory road planning procedure and road planning framework. Taking Yokohama Northwest Line for an example, it explains the planning procedure and public participation techniques in detail and analyzes the special advanced characteristics of the procedure. Finally, it suggests that China could learn the following experience from Japan: the institutionalization of participatory planning procedure, detailed division of road planning stages, setup of third-party organization, full publicity of information, and adoption of public suggestion, and implementation of multiple involvement techniques.     

土地利用总体规划后评估的指标体系构建

笔者主要采用文献资料法和系统工程分析法,构建土地利用总体规划后评估的指标体系,旨在通过土地利用总体规划实施情况评估、规划实施效益评估、土地资源节约集约评估等建立规划后评估体系,全面分析和掌握现行土地利用总体规划的实施情况和效益情况,确认规划的合理性,提高土地利用规划编制的科学性和权威性,促进社会经济全面协调发展。     

Public Participation in Community Landscape Planning and Design: A Case Study of Public Participation in Planning of Danny Woo Community Park in Seattle

This paper, based on a case study of public participation in Danny Woo Community Park in Seattle, explored public participation in community landscape planning and design and analyzed the present situation, main forms and problems of public participation in development planning of community setting in China, so as to provide constructive reference for public participation in Chinese community planning and design that involves public interests.     

Public Policy and Land Conversion: Lessening Urban Growth Pressure in River Corridors

Year in and year out, flooding causes greater dollar losses than any other natural hazard. To cope with that problem, more than 17,000 communities across the US have adopted riverine floodplain management programs to reduce the amount of urban development at risk from flooding and flood-related damage. This article examines the extent to which floodplain management programs influence the investment and predevelopment decisions of owners of vacant floodplain land in ten selected cities. Such public programs are found to alleviate investment and development pressure in flood hazard areas. Community-wide factors such as the availability of non-floodplain buildable land, however, can magnify or depress this effect of public policy on investment activity. Further, landowner perceptions of the flood hazard itself have an important influence on anticipated property appreciation and investment activity.