Category Archives: special issue

The Theme

Urban conservation has become a thorny task in many developing economies. While the general public recognizes the value of heritage preservations, under rapid urbanization, there exists misalignment of incentives among the building owners, communities, governments, politicians and policy makers. As far as the building owners are concerned, the existence of rent gap between the existing and potential use is the major driving force for redevelopment. (more…)

Theme

Urban planning and land development legislative frameworks in the developed economies evolved constantly during the 20th century, changing roughly every decade in the UK for example. In fast urbanizing Asia, governments are rapidly putting into place their own institutions to support the conversion of agricultural land and adaptation of redundant urban land into high density habitats. China’s experience in particular provides a fascinating laboratory for the comparison of old and new ideas. In this special issue, we wish to bring together contributions that reflect on the efficacy, efficiency and equity of a wide variety of urban planning and land management instruments. It will explore what could work, what might have worked, what did not work, what can be improved and what might be a dead end. It is high time for scholars from countries with a century or more of experience in legislating for urban growth to share experiences with the newly urbanising countries.

We seek for evaluations, empirical studies and proposals of institutional innovations in the 20^th and 21^st centuries.  Topics may include, but not limited to, the following:

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