Land use management: local institutions and the power to shape?

This chapter discusses the influence of local institutions in the design, implementation and outcomes of land use policies. It begins with a synthesis of three generations of land use policy tools. Next, the chapter describes the political market framework as an explanation for the adoption of land use policies. The framework accounts for land use choices as the result of supply decisions made by local authorities as policy makers, demand pressures by competing pro-development and pro-conservation interest groups, and the mediating effects of local institutions. Illustrating the usefulness of the framework, the chapter reviews the empirical literature on the role played by executive, legislative, and participatory democracy institutions in shaping land use decisions and extracts lessons to better understand this role.