Preface
The pressures on cities are mounting. They must meet the demands of a growing population while responding to urgent needs arising from the digital and green transitions. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) remain an important guide in their efforts to adapt and improve urban infrastructure in response to these pressures, and local leaders are rising to the challenge. Yet public resources – which have been stretched by the response to the COVID-19 pandemic – often do not match the level of ambition that is required. Land Value Capture provides a set of fiscal instruments that can help fill that gap. Equally importantly, well-designed Land Value Capture mechanisms can do so in a tailored, targeted and fair way. Yet these instruments are still not widely used, or even widely known.
This Global Compendium of Land Value Capture Policies fills this knowledge gap. It reflects a successful collaboration between the OECD and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, building on the expertise of both organisations in innovative policies concerning land and its use. GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) also contributed their expertise and support throughout the process, making the Compendium a truly collaborative effort.
This Compendium will provide policymakers with a unique and important resource as they develop ambitious plans to make cities more liveable and sustainable. It reveals the huge potential for land value capture to unlock important new infrastructure and land uses: from social housing to transport, from water to energy. It provides numerous practical examples to illustrate key opportunities as well as the risks that must be managed. In doing so, we hope this Compendium will inspire, as well as inform, policymakers in their efforts to build cities fit for the future.
Director OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities
President and Chief Executive Officer