Search

Transfer of development rights (TDR) programs are introduced as an alternative institutional innovation to the traditional regulatory instruments for land development. They meet the demand for development and conservation while balancing the conflicts between public and private interests with minimal use of public funds. Most TDR literature is about nature conservation and there is little focus on the complicated process and diverse stakeholders' interests of urban land use in dealing with built heritage conservation. Previous studies show that the success of TDR programs depends on various elements, especially policy design and implementation approaches. The design and implementation of TDR programs involves transaction costs that can reduce the efficiency and effectiveness of these programs. This paper aims at developing a framework for analyzing TDR programs. This proposed framework not only takes transactions costs into account, but also provides a basis for decision makers to decipher the process of informal TDR. Using Hong Kong as a case study, three TDR implementation modes are selected to examine how different informal institutional arrangements have resulted in specific transaction costs in practice and hindered TDR projects. Our findings, which are informed by transactions costs economics, provide practical insights in order to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of TDR programs, particularly in informal contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The important factors for successfully implementing transfer of development rights (TDR) programs have been explored. However, these factors are not yet adequate to guide the practice directly, especially for those cities at the early stage of exploring TDR. This research aims to find out how different cities/counties put these successful factors into practice to achieve sustainable conservation of built heritage by adopting a successful TDR framework to conduct a systematic comparison of 15 cities/counties internationally. The research identifies six key factors included in most policy approaches in practice. Interviews are carried out with local experts in Hong Kong as a case study to understand how these factors can be implemented in the local context. Through coding of the interview data using NVivo, the analyses also show how these factors are interrelated to each other. The results have not only contributed to better understanding of the theory of implementing TDR in general, but also provided useful guidance for sustainable TDR practice. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the transfer development rights (TDR) is not a new concept in the context of built heritage conservation in cities around the world, it requires a well-integrated management system to implement the TDR programs. In densely populated cities like Hong Kong, it has been demonstrated that there is certain a potential for the use of TDR to preserve the built heritage. However, TDRs have only been used as a case-by-case method to deal with the privately built heritage conservation, which is not a sustainable approach. Internationally, especially in the U.S., many researchers have addressed TDR from the policy and programming perspectives. Some authors have proposed a range of factors that affect the TDR success, based on the empirical data from farm land projects or environmentally sensitive areas. However, a successful framework for using TRDs for built heritage conservation is lacking, in particular in densely built and populated cities, such as Hong Kong, due to the high land price. This study aims to overcome these shortcomings by developing a framework that can be applied to appraise the factors affecting the TDR pertaining to built heritage conservation. Using the theoretical basis, an initial framework is developed, and is subsequently refined through the Hong Kong case study. The study adopts a qualitative method to select the most important factors, identified through expert interviews, while quantitative analysis is conducted to ascertain the ratings of the selected factors. This approach has yielded 22 critical success factors under seven criteria that are most relevant to the success of TDR programs for built heritage conservation. The framework, together with the identified factors and criteria, provides valuable reference for city government to formulate policy pertaining to the use of TDRs for built heritage conservation in densely populated cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]