“Where to draw the line?” That is a land use planning question for the land surveyor and the town planner
Year: 2014
Type: article
Abstract: Inspired by the pioneering work of Bleakley and Ferrie (2014) informed by Libecap and Lueck (2011), this paper develops the thesis of Lai, 1996, Lai, 1997 that spatial partition of land is a basic land use planning activity, whether by governments or private bodies, which involve decisions on boundary delineation. The primaeval foundation of this activity is laying out private property boundaries, which is a metonymic land unitisation exercise that defines “clearly defined property rights” in the Coase Theorem and has often been forgotten as a bona fide planning one. All major constitutional changes in nations commence with such a layout exercise, in which the land surveyor plays a principal role; and all land use planning innovations build upon and property development are constrained by this primaeval foundation, which has huge transaction cost implications. A Colonial Hong Kong example, the Kowloon Walled City, is used to demonstrate the importance of the proper state ordering of property boundaries. The actual postwar-boundary of this City has hitherto been ignored by all commentators. The emergence of modern “cross-boundary” issues resulting formally from overlapping formal land boundaries and created by industrialisation and information technology does not alter this characteristic of planning generically as drawing and redrawing of boundary lines. Some land use policy issues related to cross-boundary environmental problems and land registration are discussed.
Source: Land Use Policy
Author: Lawrence W.C. Lai
Institution: University of Hong Kong
Language: English
Subfield: Geography, Planning and Development
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,830
OpenAlex ID: W2014486842