Land and Value
Land and Value
Housing
Food Security
Public Benefits and Private Profits: Negotiating Public Private Land Development and Equity in New Taipei City and New York City
This report examines rezoning decisions, transfer of development rights (TDR), and density bonusing as planning tools, investigating both the processes and outcomes through which they operate and the ways their mechanisms shape—and are shaped by—public-private land development. The analysis addresses three areas of inquiry: (1) planning tool mechanisms, (2) public benefits, and (3) impacts on equitable development.
Two case studies are juxtaposed to generate comparative insights and recommendations. Each case study contributes a detailed inventory of the infrastructure, services, and agreements generated through these planning mechanisms, offering a comparative basis for evaluating their equity implications. Central North, in New Taipei City, Taiwan, represents a case of farmland deregulation governed by predetermined, formula-based planning tools. The analysis finds that in the absence of planning intervention and community participation, profit logics predominate; social housing—the public benefit most capable of addressing affordability and equity concerns—was the least produced outcome. East Midtown, in New York City, represents a case of rezoning undertaken to sustain the district’s global competitiveness. Developed in response to earlier opposition to intensification, this process involved more robust stakeholder participation and yielded a combination of in-kind benefits and public realm improvement funding.
The Politics of Land and Value
Mi Shih and Kathe Newman’s new edited volume, The Politics of Land and Value: Case Studies from Across the Globe, explores global case studies about land, market logic, negotiation and community values.
Transfer of Development Rights
With a grant from the Progress & Poverty Institute Professor Mi Shih and Kathe Newman along with doctoral students Yu Wang, Bridget Fisher, Buket Ozdemir and Yuhao Zheng are exploring are exploring transfer of development rights efforts in Taipei, Taiwan and New York City.
Urban Studies Foundation Knowledge Mobilization Grant
Professor Mi Shih and doctoral student Yu Wang’s Knowledge Mobilization Grant-funded work seeks to engage in diverse forms of knowledge mobilization and to create a digital life for the public engagement work building on the theme of Mi Shih and Kathe Newman’s previously funded Urban Studies seminar series about the politics and value of land. While they continue their research, Professor Shih and Ms. Wang have been exploring and testing visualization ideas that transform the research outputs into more accessible and stimulating formats such as a website.
Professors Shih and Newman Publish Themed Journal Issue
Professors Mi Shih and Kathe Newman published a themed issue of Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space (September 2024, Issue 56, Volume 6) focused on land and value.
Professors Shih and Newman Publish Article in Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space
As part of a special themed issue on land and value, Professors Mi Shih and Kathe Newman published an article in Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space discussing land value capture and the role of value in negotiating the city’s social future.
Negotiating Social Futures Action Grant
Profs. Mi Shih and Kathe Newman received an Urban Studies Foundation Knowledge Mobilization award in 2021. The objective of this funding is to transform critical urban scholarship to social engagement actions in Taiwan. The local partners of this project include the Lab for Integrated Socio-Spatial Science and Information (LISSI) at National Chengchi University and the Organization of Urban Re-s (OURs). OURs is an influential NGO in Taiwan that has been involved in urban policy making and civic engagement for decades. Collaborating with Dr. Yinghui Chiang at LISSI and Mr. Yang-Kai Peng, Secretary General of OURs, we organized a series of three virtual events on July 30 and 31, 2022. The first was a public talk and the second two were discussion panels. Dr. Shih and Dr. Chiang gave a presentation titled Land’s Social Values: What Kinds of Markets and Urban Futures Have Density Tools Created? That was based on their research on the politics of land development and value capture. Each of the discussion panels was comprised of four scholars and practitioners who have long paid close attention to issues related to land development regulatory tools and affordable housing. Each event attracted more than 120 participants and featured a lively Q&A session.
Negotiating Social Futures Seminar Series
Professors Mi Shih and Kathe Newman received support from the Urban Studies Foundation for a series of events to bring global researchers in conversation about the politics of land and value and to provide training and support for early career faculty and students. More than 90 people attended a virtual paper conference in September 2021. The team hosted a case study workshop in January 2022 and is hosting an-person case study conference in September 2022 at the Bloustein School. Professors Shih and Newman wrote the introduction and edited a themed issue of Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space (September 2024, Volume 56, Issue 6) based on a set of papers from the conference. A book proposal has also been submitted to publish the collected case studies.