Instruments for the Recovery of Value Increments in Latin America

The private appropriation of land value increments is often cited as a central factor in the literature on problems of Latin American urbanization. Researchers have been in agreement for at least 20 years on the necessity and suitability of establishing instruments through which the public sector can recover land value increments resulting from its own activities in urban areas. Despite this agreement, however, the implementation of value capture instruments has not been improved with any consistency, and the nature of their future use remains an open question.

Given this history, I have set out in this paper to evaluate the theoretical and practical evolution of value capture in Latin America and to contribute to an examination of current opportunities and limitations for the development of value capture in a regional context.