Land Policy: Planning and the Spatial Consequences of Property

Land policy is the interface between spatial planning and private property: Who owns the land? What rights do landowners have? How can these rights be reconciled with public interests? Land policy, a critical aspect of public policy, responds to such questions. This book offers a complete understanding of land policy in the context of land law and land markets, illustrating issues in question with examples from Germany. Since the 1960s, Germany has developed a successful system of land policy. Land readjustment and other instruments of German land policy have been copied worldwide, particular in Asia. Yet, there are very few books on German land policy available in English, and so this book fills the gap. It also offers a useful polyrational approach to dealing with the complexities of land policy with its interrelationships between political discourses on territory, real estate, and the environment. Frequently, these aspects are dealt with separately, but this book demonstrates the benefit of responsive land policy, arguing that spatial planning and property developments are more successful, if they respond to different voices, and different rationalities.