The myth of planning meets the comforts of property

Urban Farm DB summary

This essay argues that when spatial planners and other policymakers promote or preclude certain land uses, they interfere with the rights of land users, most notably property rights. It frames "land policy" as the concept connecting land uses, planning, and property, arguing that good land policy provides for a diversity of land uses through plural property relations, since no single kind of property rule fits the purposes of all land-use types — a detached single-family house, a community garden, and a highway each need their own property "fingerprint." It states that when planners find existing property rules do not suit their goals at all, they need to understand the extent to which property obstructs the implementation of their plans, noting that property rules are often more helpful than planners initially expect.