Land Use Planning Principles and Practice

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- Briefly explain the concept of land ethics (Aldo Leopold). Select any two of Leopold’s ethical options, and for each one of the two, state two obstacles that you see in implementing the ethics in your society.

In his book, A Sand County Almanac (1949), Leopold argues that there is a need for a new land ethic, which deals with the relationship of humans to land and to all the biotic community living upon it.

According to Leopard, there are five perspectives to viewing land ethics:

- Economic

- Utilitarian

- Libertarian

- Egalitarian

- Ecological

The Egalitarian perspective favors equity in land entitlement and/ or access to land. Obstacles in implementing Egalitarian ethics in our society include:

- Egalitarian ethics may be challenged by the economic perspective in a society which is driven by economic self-interest.

- The Egalitarian perspective promotes equity in share and/ or access to land for everyone. This right is accompanied by negative rights (i.e. responsibilities). In other words, if everyone had equal right in the land, then everyone should have equal responsibilities to supply land. However, this may be difficult to achieve in our society since, for example, the responsibility of the government towards land cannot be the same of the individuals.

The Libertarian perspective argues that owners are entitled the maximum amount of freedom to do whatever they want on their land as long as it does not interfere with other people’s freedom. Obstacles in implementing Libertarian ethics in our society include:

- Even if they do not directly intrude the freedom of others, owners who make decisions entirely based on self-interest may cause ecological and economical disasters.

- Land goes under specific regulations set by the government. Even individual owners do not have the maximum freedom to develop on their land and must undergo the government regulations for the benefit of the community.

- Critical as GIS is as a tool for decision making in LUP, cities face some potential risks or challenges in its implementation and use. List any five of these risks or challenges.

- Violation of privacy such as intrusion to others’ seclusion and public disclosure of private facts.

- Its technical nature can make results appear more reliable than they are; it may lead operators to be blinded with science and not apply their usual standard practice to review and question the information provided.

- Data may be difficult to acquire at the required scale and at a reasonable cost.

- Advances in the field of GIS occur in a rapid pace which may be difficult for the average worker to cope with, causing inefficiency in the systems.

- Providing universal standards for GIS data which allows easy transfer of information among countries and systems.

- Land rights and uses are best discussed in the context of other rights. List and briefly describe each of these other rights. Justify why it is best for land use laws to address these rights concurrently.

The 3 rights that should be addressed when talking about property rights are:

- Air Right: The right to occupy, control, or use the vertical air space above an owned property, subject to necessary and reasonable use by others.

- Surface Right: Landowner's rights of a land that are limited to the exterior or upper boundary of the land, excluding the air above (air rights) or minerals below (Subsurface rights).

- Mineral/ Subsurface Right: Land owner’s rights to the water, mineral and other substances below the surface of the land.

In the Land Information System, these rights go under “land policy inventory”, and it is best for land use laws to address them to set policies in the municipality that are statutory (policies de jure/constitutional) and case-based (policies de facto).

- (a) List ALL the fundamental levels at which land use conflicts can be resolved.

The three fundamental levels at which land use conflicts can be resolves are:

- Individual level

- Court/Judicial level

- Governmental/ Municipal level

(b) Identify and/or describe the specific ‘mechanisms’ by which land issues are resolved at each of these levels.

The following tools/ mechanisms are used to resolve land issues:

- At the individual level:

- Deed restriction

- Usufruct

- Hereditament (Property may be bequeathed to inheritants, but restrictions may be put on the property)

- At the Judicial level:

- Statutory law

- Case (common) law

- At the municipal level:

- Policies de jure (no wiggle room)

- Policies de facto (use experience to allow wiggle room as long as your creative effort is not injurious to Public Interest)

- In a matrix, and using the sustainability pentagon framework, list any two LU initiatives and/or tools you would use to achieve EACH of the sustainability principles in your city.

The sustainability pentagon consists of the 3 classical E’s defined by the Brundtland Commission as Environment, Economy and Equity, with the additional E’s as Enlightenment and Engagement.

Sustainability Principles

LU initiatives and /or tools

Environment

- Infield development to fill up abandoned areas and achieve compact development.

- Urban Growth Boundary

Economy

- Impact Fee

- Fee in Lieu