1. Chinese Urbanism in Global Context
PLAN A6526
Columbia University
Prof. Weiping Wu
Urban Land Reform and Market

2. Some concepts Land tenure Bundle of rights Eminent domain Ownership
Use right
Air right
Mining right
Eminent domain
Public use
Just compensation

3. Land tenure Definition
Land tenure is the relationship (legal or customary) among individuals or groups of people with respect to land, water, trees/plants...
Land tenure is an institution: rules are made by societies to regulate behavior over land and access
Rules of tenure define how property rights to land and natural resources are to be allocated within societies
Types: private, communal, open access, and state

4. Land tenure types
PRIVATE
COMMUNAL
OPEN ACCESS
STATE

5. Land ownership regimes
Compensation dev. refusal
China
Lease hold
(completely)
Clearly non-compensable
Netherlands
Lease hold (partially)
Britain
Nationalized development rights
United States
Free hold
Case by case

6. Elements of private ownership
History and transition of private property
Land reform in 1950s
Restitution in 1980s
Private housing
Pre-1949 urban housing units passed on within family
Housing in rural areas or urban villages
“Small property right” housing

7. Land as driving force of expansion
Incentive for local governments to covert agricultural land to urban use to generate revenues
Urban v. rural land ownership regimes
Over-allocation of land for industrial use
About 27 percent, compared to 7 in Seoul and 5 in Hong Kong
Industrial relocation from urban core enlarges overall proportion

8. Land and housing prices in sync

9. Mechanisms of urban expansion
Redevelopment within central city
New housing construction outside central city, including gated communities
Industrial relocation
New industrial and high-tech parks
Satellite towns
Case in point – Nanjing in 1990, 2000, 2005, and 2010

10. 1990
2000
2005
2010

11. Mechanisms of land transfer
Conveyance

12. Case: SH World Expo 2010

13. Scope of Expo zone Total area: 5.28 sq km
Puxi: 1.35 sq km
Pudong: 3.93 sq km
Relocation: total of 90,000 residents and workers
about 18,000 households (by 2006)
272 companies (by 2007)
Two special taskforces
Shanghai Expo Land Reservation Center
Shanghai Expo Land Holding Ltd

14. SH Expo land reservation center
Compensation standards (in cash)
Unit area price, or
Per capita compensation cost (whichever is higher)
Compensation assessment
Old housing based on market prices
Resettlement housing based on government price
Resettlement housing

15. Resistance 2007 property rights law Urban ‘nail house’
Against rural land grabs
(53 million farmers lost land)

16. Value capture
Special assessment districts: new, special levy on properties that will benefit from provision of new/upgraded public transit
50 percent of capital costs of South Lake union streetcar in Seattle
Tax increment financing: dedicates future tax increments within a certain defined district to finance project debt
Development impact fees: use of charges that defray cost of expanding and extending public services in a particular area

17. Examples of value capture
Location
Project
Time frame
Cost (US$)
Value capture as percent of cost
Mechanism
Hong Kong
South Island Line (East)
$1.6b
100 percent
“Rail + Property” model
Kwun Tong Line Extension
$681m
London
Crossrail
$26b
7 percent
TOD/joint development
Los Angeles
Red Line Metro
Completed 1993
$1.42b
9 percent
Special assessment district
Portland
Portland Streetcar
Opened 2001
$103m
40 percent
TIF & assessment district
San Francisco
Transbay Transit Center
2009-
$4.12b
33 percent
TIF and assessment district
Washington DC
New York Ave Metro Station
Opened 2004
$110m
23 percent
Assessment district

18. “Rail + property model”
Capture of profits from activities associated with real estate development in and around transit stations
Hong Kong MTRC
Land Transport Authority and SMRT in Singapore
Transport for London

19. Types of R+P in Hong Kong
High-rise office: predominantly on small sites
High-rise residential: predominantly on small sites
Mid-rise residential: medium-density, predominantly housing projects on medium- size plots
Large-scale residential: predominantly residential uses on large sites with comparatively low plot ratios
Large mixed use: mixture of housing, offices, retail, hotels and others on large sites with medium plot ratios.

20. Transferring “R+P” model?
Can we transfer the HK practice?
Under what conditions?
Size threshold (roughly 5 million inhabitants)
Density threshold (15,000 inhabitants per square kilometer in urban core)
Integrating public transport and urban development
Station-area master planning