The Mississippi River watershed has, since the administration of Thomas Jefferson, played a central role in American life. This centrality has been both literal, in a geographic sense, and figurative, in the sense that the mighty river runs through America’s agricultural and cultural heartland.

One of the nation’s greatest conservationists, Aldo Leopold, grew up along the banks of the Mississippi, in Burlington, Iowa. After gaining a forestry degree at Yale University and serving in the U.S. Forest Service in the desert Southwest, Leopold returned to the upper Midwest to teach and write his most enduring prose at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Leopold and his family also devoted themselves to the restoration of a farm and forest landscape that included a ramshackle home, affectionately known as “the Shack,” on the sandy soils adjacent to the Wisconsin River, a tributary of the Mississippi.

In his work at both the university and the Shack, Leopold gained a first-hand view of the enormous challenges Americans face in attempting to conserve the nation’s soil, water, wildlife, and landscape. As the instigator of the first “wilderness” designation of a federally owned landscape in the Gila National Forest in Arizona, and as a founder of the Wilderness Society, Leopold was a prominent proponent of conservation on public lands. Still, he understood that unless private lands were also conserved for the long term, the conservation community would not be able to effectively protect America’s natural heritage. He wrote presciently for The Journal of Forestry in 1934:

Let me be clear that I do not challenge the purchase of public lands for conservation. For the first time in history we are buying on a scale commensurate with the size of the problem. I do challenge the assumption that bigger buying is a substitute for private conservation practice … . Bigger buying, I fear, is serving as an escape-mechanism—it masks our failure to solve the harder problem. The geographic cards are stacked against its ultimate success. In the long run, it is exactly as effective as buying half an umbrella … . The thing to be prevented is destructive private land use of any and all kinds. The thing to be encouraged is the use of private land in such a way as to combine the public and private interest to the greatest degree possible … . This paper forecasts that conservation will ultimately boil down to rewarding the private landowner who conserves the public interest. It asserts the new premise that if he fails to do so, his neighbors must ultimately pay the bill. It pleads that our jurists and economists anticipate the need for workable vehicles to carry that reward. (Leopold 1991)

More than seven decades after Leopold penned those words, American jurists, economists, policy makers, public natural resource agency administrators, nonprofit conservation leaders, and concerned citizens are still working on his challenge. In October 2005 the Lincoln Institute convened more than 30 conservation leaders to consider the most effective ways to design and use such “workable vehicles.” The Johnson Foundation cohosted the conference at its Frank Lloyd Wright–designed Wingspread Conference Center in Racine, Wisconsin.

From that base the participants visited several sites in the Upper Mississippi watershed in south-central Wisconsin that showcase impressive public-private conservation efforts. Brent Haglund and Alex Echols of the Sand County Foundation led the group to an expansive site on the Portage River managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, where participants learned how cooperative public-private land management practices effectively enhanced wildlife habitat and helped restore native ecosystem functions. At the nearby Baraboo River we saw a public-private effort that had restored the river to health through the removal of several aged dams.

For historical perspective, the group visited the site of Leopold’s Shack, where we read from his posthumously published volume, A Sand County Almanac. Leopold (1949) lyrically describes the critical role of private stewardship in maintaining the long-term value of the region’s ecosystems. The participants also visited the campus of the International Crane Foundation (ICF), where we stood face-to-face with several of the world’s rarest birds and learned of cofounder George Archibald’s nonprofit efforts to restore their populations.

Over the next two days at Wingspread, the group discussed ways to enhance a broad array of conservation incentives in an economically efficient, measurably effective, and reasonably equitable manner. The participants focused on three types of incentive programs of interest to the conservation community in the early twenty-first century: tax incentives, market-based incentives, and fiscal (or budgetary) incentives.

Tax Incentives

Jean Hocker, president emeritus of the Land Trust Alliance (LTA), explained how the federal tax incentives associated with the donation of conservation easements, codified in the 1970s and 1980s, have become a key driver of growth in the U.S. land trust movement. Jeff Pidot, chief of the Natural Resources section of the Maine Attorney General’s office, and a 2004–2005 visiting fellow at the Lincoln Institute, followed Hocker with a critique of easement policy and practice, explaining how the use of conservation easements has resulted in a variety of unintended consequences. He argued that reform of easement law and regulation at the state and national levels would both reduce misuse of the tool and improve its effectiveness in achieving conservation purposes (Pidot 2005).

Responding to Pidot’s critique, the participants, led by Mark Ackelson of the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, considered a number of potential reforms, paying special attention to opportunities for strong voluntary standards, improved training and accreditation programs, stronger enforcement of existing regulations, and revision of appraisal standards. Several of these reforms have since been implemented, including LTA’s establishment of a voluntary accreditation program.

In response to persistent advocacy by the conservation community, the U.S. Congress in August 2006 approved an expansion of conservation easement tax benefits. In the opinion of James Connaughton, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the new provisions provide “substantial new incentives to landowners who want to commit their land to open space while keeping our nation’s working farms and ranches working” (The Chattanoogan 2006).

Market-based Incentives

Adam Davis, a California-based expert on ecosystem services, explained how private interests, in the context of public cap-and-trade regulatory structures, were becoming increasingly active in providing public and private goods, by employing new ecosystem service trading mechanisms for land and biodiversity conservation (Davis 2005). He noted that U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regulations for the mitigation of adverse impacts to wetlands were evolving to require all mitigators to meet measurable, relatively efficient performance standards. Such developments, he reported, would allow commercial wetlands banking firms to compete effectively and efficiently, improving the per-unit cost and quality of mitigation banking initiatives over time.

Davis’s remarks were expanded upon by several speakers, including Fred Danforth, who offered a case study of his own entrepreneurial experience in ecosystem service provision on a ranch in Montana’s Blackfoot River valley; George Kelly of Environmental Bank & Exchange (EBX) and Wiley Barbour of Environmental Resources Trust, who offered insights on the importance of clear norms and standards in ecosystem service markets; and Leonard Shabman, resident scholar at Resources for the Future and a widely respected economist, who has published several papers on the future of mitigation banking.

Recent events offer considerable hope that some of the legal and regulatory reforms discussed at the session will be implemented in the near future. Specifically, in the spring of 2006 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers published new draft regulations that appear to address many of the concerns raised about wetlands mitigation. As reported by Ecosystem Marketplace (2006), “central to the proposed new regulations is the requirement that all forms of mitigation meet the same environmental standards already required of mitigation banks … . The proposed regulations will raise accountability levels for projects funded by in-lieu fee payments and will implement a more timely approval process for mitigation banks.”

Fiscal Incentives

The third type of incentive is generally funded through governmental budgets. Ralph Grossi of the American Farmland Trust; Craig Cox of the Soil and Water Conservation Society; Roger Claassen of the U.S. Department of Agriculture; and Jeff Zinn of the Congressional Research Service offered a variety of perspectives on the complex negotiations associated with reauthorization of the Farm Bill, which offers opportunities to expand and change federal farm programs in 2007.

Whether or not the next Farm Bill provides for growth or shifts in incentive programs, achieving measurable impacts will depend on skillful program implementation. Jeff Vonk, director of Iowa’s Department of Natural Resources, offered detailed insight into the challenges of using a conservation budget to address agricultural water quality problems. He argued persuasively that even if conservation budgets increase over time, they will not achieve their intended effect without careful resource allocation analysis and follow-through.

Howard Learner, director of the Chicago-based Environmental Law and Policy Center, offered a detailed case of how a federally funded agricultural renewable energy program benefited from focused legislative design and follow-through on implementation. Andrew Bowman of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation added the idea that, if implemented in a well-coordinated fashion, the State Wildlife Action Plans submitted to the federal government by the 50 states offered another important opportunity to make progress in wildlife and habitat conservation.

Help for the Mississippi River Watershed

Recent progress in strengthening U.S. tax and market-based incentives for land and biodiversity conservation, combined with potentially significant fiscal incentives, could provide an historic opportunity to realize ambitious conservation objectives in the next decade. There are many thorny conservation challenges that might be addressed with such incentives.

One of most urgent is associated with the Mississippi River watershed where Aldo Leopold spent much of his life. Stretching from Montana to Pennsylvania to Louisiana, the watershed picks up an enormous load of phosphorus and nitrogen from farms, parking lots, and lawns. These chemicals and other pollutants are carried by the great river into the Gulf of Mexico, where they are instrumental in creating hypoxia—an ecological condition characterized by a shortage of available oxygen. It can be caused by surplus amounts of phosphorus and nitrogen that feed huge, oxygen-consuming algal blooms on the ocean’s surface. As the blooms grow rapidly, deeper ocean waters may become relatively depleted of oxygen, sometimes resulting in the death of massive numbers of fish.

A combination of innovative tax, market-based, and fiscal incentives could make a significant impact in improving the ecological character of the watershed and reducing hypoxia in the Gulf. For example, incentives targeted to encourage stream bank restoration, the establishment and stewardship of buffer strips, the implementation of crop rotation schemes that reduce fertilizer runoff, and the reduction of impervious surfaces near watercourses could, after sufficient trial and error, prove to be efficient, measurably effective, and reasonably equitable across geographic and socioeconomic lines. If implemented across the Mississippi watershed, such tools would benefit marine and bird populations, as well as the Gulf fishing industry and local economies. Aldo Leopold would likely applaud news of such an effort’s success, seeing private landowners rewarded to conserve the public interest.

James N. Levitt is director of the Program on Conservation Innovation at the Harvard Forest, and a research fellow at the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

References

The Chattanoogan. 2006. Conservation incentives pass Senate: Waiting on President’s signature, August 7. http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_90539.asp.

Davis, Adam. 2005. Mainstreaming environmental markets. In From Walden to Wall Street: Frontiers of conservation finance, James N. Levitt, ed., 155–171. Washington, DC: Island Press in association with the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

Ecosystem Marketplace. 2006. Ecosystem Marketplace Commentary: Draft mitigation regulations signal growing private sector role in conservation, Press Release, March 27. http://www.ewire.com/display.cfm/Wire_ID/3033.

Leopold, Aldo. 1949. A Sand County almanac. New York: Oxford University Press.

———. 1991. Conservation economics. In The river of the Mother of God and other essays by Aldo Leopold, Susan Flader and J. Baird Caldecott, eds., 193–202. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

Pidot, Jeff. 2005. Reinventing conservation easements: A critical examination and ideas for reform. Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

Like many schoolchildren, I learned that years ago a squirrel could cross the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean never touching the ground, using our magnificent forests as an aerial highway. After massive clearing and development for agriculture, cities, and roads, those forests are now a tattered patchwork, and are nonexistent in many places. More than a squirrel’s dilemma, though, the loss and altering of America’s forests have created both an enormous challenge to climate health and an opportunity for climate policy and action.

El plan de ordenamiento territorial de una ciudad, por lo general, describe las metas y objetivos de desarrollo mediante el uso de diferentes tipos de mapas y documentos escritos. La mayoría de los mapas y otras representaciones de diseño urbano se elaboran con una visión en dos dimensiones (2D), que luego se traducen en instrumentos regulatorios y herramientas de planificación estratégica también bidimensionales. El espacio urbano se representa en mapas que se asemejan a un rompecabezas cuyas piezas planas serían las áreas administrativas (municipales, rurales, urbanas, en crecimiento, en expansión, limítrofes), las áreas según el uso de los inmuebles (residencial, comercial, de negocios, histórico, turístico, informal, recreativo), las áreas de protección medioambiental o de uso restringido (zonas de captación de aguas, áreas inundables, colinas propensas a los deslizamientos), entre otras. Es así como el espacio urbano real 3D se gestiona mediante leyes y otras convenciones basadas en una visión 2D, lo cual evidencia que la ciudad física y la ciudad legal funcionan en dimensiones diferentes y, de cierta forma, incompatibles.

En el pasado, esta discrepancia era aceptada, ya que los mapas 2D constituían el principal recurso disponible para representar la ciudad real; no obstante, en la actualidad los gráficos computarizados pueden gestionar objetos complejos en el espacio.

Resulta necesario, entonces, reformular los aspectos legales y económicos de la sociedad urbana, pasando de la visión tradicional 2D a un enfoque 3D, con el fin de desarrollar, implementar y controlar las políticas de suelo urbano de manera más eficiente.

Cuando el espacio urbano se describe mediante mapas digitales integrados a bases de datos en un Sistema de Información Geográfica (SIG), diferentes capas de información pueden ser adicionadas para dar una visión más próxima de la realidad en 3D. Un catastro 3D es una de las herramientas que puede facilitar este proceso, pues está compuesto de un sistema de bases de datos integradas que contiene información sobre títulos de propiedad inmobiliaria, características físicas de los inmuebles, modelos econométricos que describen los valores inmobiliarios, redes de transporte, infraestructura y servicios, y atributos medioambientales.

Creación de un nuevo marco 3D

Google Earth ha popularizado la información geográfica, ya que permite a los usuarios visualizar un lugar virtual en 3D, al nivel de detalle que desee y en un entorno global. Este y otros programas geográficos pueden utilizarse con bastante facilidad para cambiar el punto de vista de la realidad. Si el usuario pasa de una vista desde arriba (que muestra la ciudad como una superficie plana) a una perspectiva oblicua, podrá observar el relieve y la altura de los edificios, árboles, redes aéreas de servicios públicos y otros objetos en el espacio.

Mediante este tipo de visualización en 3D se pueden identificar espacios sin desarrollar, edificios de diferentes alturas, viviendas suburbanas diseminadas, estructuras en áreas rurales aisladas y construcciones precarias en asentamientos informales, todo lo cual permite inferir cambios necesarios en el uso del suelo. Cuando el espacio 3D se representa en una pantalla plana o en impresiones en papel, se muestran detalles que resultan difíciles de identificar en un mapa 2D, tales como el movimiento de la sombra durante el día, diferentes vistas desde la ventana de un apartamento y las relaciones espaciales entre edificios y elementos naturales.

La tecnología 3D en constante evolución está cambiando los paradigmas de la planificación urbana y la política de suelo, ya que afecta no sólo la forma en que se ve una ciudad sino la manera en que se describen los derechos de propiedad y sus restricciones en el espacio. Como resultado, es necesario contar con un nuevo marco legal urbano basado en leyes 3D y catastros 3D que puedan describir objetos en el espacio en lugar de presentar solamente sus contornos planos. Las leyes 3D afectan a los derechos en el espacio, y no más en un plano de proyección, y sólo a través de un marco normativo con esas características resultará posible definir políticas de suelo en 3D.

Por ejemplo, una representación 3D del alcance de la edificabilidad máxima para un conjunto de lotes facilitaría el uso de los instrumentos de gestión de suelo, tales como las tasas para la adquisición de derechos de edificación para nuevos desarrollos. Para poder utilizar un marco legal en 3D es necesario que los datos espaciales se encuentren sistemizados en catastros 3D, mediante los cuales se crean y mantienen en forma actualizada bases de datos espaciales y representaciones volumétricas de ciudades, así como también un registro de la propiedad 3D donde se identifique y documente cada una de las propiedades y sus correspondientes restricciones en el espacio.

Los agrimensores, geólogos, biólogos e ingenieros tienen cierta facilidad para determinar, mediante mallas de puntos con coordenadas espaciales, la ubicación de objetos físicos en el espacio tales como depósitos minerales, masas de agua, plumas de contaminación, emisiones en el aire o en capas subterráneas, espacios de acceso restringido alrededor de cables de alta tensión, etc. Sin embargo, los legisladores y planificadores urbanos no están familiarizados con el hecho de describir e interpretar las intersecciones de esos objetos en el espacio. La complejidad creciente de la infraestructura urbana y de las áreas con un gran nivel de densidad de edificación requiere el registro adecuado de su condición legal (privada o pública), la cual puede ser realizada con los registros catastrales 2D que existen en la actualidad, aunque sólo hasta cierto punto.

A pesar de su potencial como herramienta de planificación urbana y del gran nivel de investigación y progresos logrados hasta la fecha, no existen jurisdicciones que posean un verdadero catastro 3D con una funcionalidad completa. Los conceptos en constante evolución involucrados en este nuevo proceso deberán estar basados en la norma ISO 19152 Modelo de Dominio de Administración de Suelos (LADM, por sus siglas en inglés), que brinda un soporte para representaciones 3D (van Oosterom 2011).

La ciudad virtual 3D

La primera idea que, por lo general, viene a la mente al considerar una ciudad 3D es su representación de las construcciones en formas regulares, a través de cubos, prismas y cilindros. No obstante, estas formas simples han demostrado ser insuficientes a la hora de analizar el espacio urbano. Buscando contar con un método que se corresponda más adecuadamente a la realidad, los investigadores y diseñadores han desarrollado técnicas para superponer fotografías de fachadas de edificios sobre las caras de los cuerpos geométricos. Con la popularización de los programas de diseño asistido por computadora (CAD, por sus siglas en inglés), la representación de las características arquitectónicas de los edificios en 3D se tornó más fácil.

Estos tres tipos de edificios virtuales 3D generalmente se colocaban en una superficie de referencia plana, lo cual creaba una falsa imagen de la ciudad puesto que mostraba a todos en un mismo nivel. Al agregar el relieve mediante perspectivas digitales basadas en modelos digitales de terreno, los edificios virtuales en 3D pasaron a colocarse en el nivel de altitud correcto en relación con el nivel del mar, obteniendo un posicionamiento espacial más preciso. El próximo paso consistió en superponer ortofotos aéreas sobre el relieve digital, lo cual dio como resultado imágenes 3D de las ciudades (físicas) que resultan mucho más reales aún (ver figura 1).

En la actualidad, los modelos urbanos 2D y 3D continúan elaborándose con puntos, líneas, polígonos e imágenes. Todos estos modelos son útiles, pero todavía insuficientes a la hora de llevar a cabo un análisis urbano detallado, ya que, como lo señala el geógrafo brasileño Milton Santos, “geometrías no son geografías” (Câmara 2000). De hecho, para desarrollar políticas de suelo se utilizan diferentes tipos de datos geográficos: sociales, físicos, económicos y medioambientales, todos los cuales tienen lugar en el espacio y, por lo tanto, deben ser relacionados con los elementos de la ciudad virtual.

El SIG contribuye al proceso de construir una ciudad virtual 3D, ya que permite el enlace entre los datos estadísticos y las formas geométricas para generar imágenes de información temática que pueden aplicarse a diferentes cuestiones relacionadas con las políticas de suelo. Para los fines de la planificación urbana, una imagen 3D creada en una plataforma de SIG es, por lo general, más útil que la propia fotografía del mismo sector, puesto que a través del sistema se puede resaltar datos de interés, crear posibles escenarios que anticipen los efectos económicos de ciertas decisiones en cuanto a políticas de suelo e inclusive evaluar el impacto al medioambiente de algún nuevo desarrollo.

Ciudades virtuales 3D formales e informales

La ciudad virtual 3D representada en forma geométrica resulta útil en distintos tipos de análisis, tales como los estudios sobre tránsito vehicular, la propagación de las ondas emitidas por estaciones de radio o cualquier tipo de análisis sobre redes de infraestructura. No obstante, para otros tipos de análisis, la ciudad virtual 3D no llega a ser suficiente. Por ejemplo, un abogado o un economista necesita visualizar la ciudad formal 3D – es decir, la ciudad definida en las normas urbanas y medioambientales. La figura 2 muestra dos imágenes en las que se ven manzanas de una ciudad virtual 3D: una representa los edificios existentes y la otra indica el potencial de desarrollo según las normas urbanas aplicables. Las diferentes densidades de construcción implican valores distintos de los inmuebles y, consecuentemente, diferentes bases económicas para la definición de la política tributaria y de recuperación de plusvalías. Estas dos ciudades conforman la ciudad virtual 3D formal.

En América Latina, donde la incidencia de la informalidad es emblemática en el paisaje urbano, resulta importante visualizar y definir tanto la dimensión informal como las dimensiones legales de la ciudad. Los asentamientos informales se desarrollan cuando las familias no logran acceder a las viviendas ofrecidas por el mercado o por los programas sociales. La gente necesita encontrar algún lugar donde asentarse, lo que con frecuencia ocurre en terrenos peligrosos o protegidos que resultan inadecuados para vivienda, o en terrenos vacantes, ya sean estos públicos o privados. La magnitud de la necesidad de una vivienda por lo general supera la cantidad de terrenos disponibles, lo que obliga a las residentes a verticalizar los asentamientos informales, construyendo estructuras más altas y con mayores niveles de densidad. Es así que se desarrolla la ciudad virtual 3D informal (ver figura 3).

Cada espacio ocupado es una componente de la ciudad, por lo tanto, la formalidad cuanto la informalidad deben tenerse en cuenta en las bases de datos de los catastros urbanos. La tarea de conectar la ciudad virtual informal con la ciudad virtual formal es un desafío mucho mayor en 3D que en 2D, puesto que, entre otras razones, los propietarios y los ocupantes de un mismo espacio compartido pueden ser diferentes. En estas áreas, la infraestructura también está organizada en forma diferente, mientras en la ciudad formal, las redes de infraestructura pública consisten en cañerías fijas, cables, caminos y vías de ferrocarril regulares y estables, en la ciudad informal las redes de infraestructura frecuentemente son construidas por los mismos habitantes mediantes mangueras y cables suspendidos que cambian constantemente de posición a medida que el asentamiento se va extendiendo. Un catastro 3D que integre todos los datos puede informar a los planificadores urbanos cuáles son las brechas existentes entre la oferta y la demanda de terrenos para construcción por parte de la población, lo que contribuye a definir políticas que aborden la cuestión de los asentamientos informales no planificados.

Ciudades dinámicas 3D

Los cambios que van ocurriendo en las ciudades pueden visualizarse y medirse de diferentes maneras, como por ejemplo, mediante estudios sobre la densificación, migración y expansión de las redes de infraestructura. Estos estudios se basan en la suposición de que las variables sociales, económicas y medioambientales se encuentran en constante movimiento, mientras que el terreno es estático. No obstante, otras fuerzas capaces de producir cambios en la ciudad pueden causar desplazamientos de diferentes intensidades que pueden medirse en el espacio (3D) y el tiempo (4D). Por ejemplo, las placas continentales están provocando que América del Sur, sus ciudades, sus propiedades públicas y privadas y sus redes de infraestructura se muevan lentamente hacia el oeste a razón de 2 cm por año. Estos movimientos, que parecen insignificantes, tienen consecuencias sobre las políticas urbanas puesto que, dentro de 50 años, una propiedad podrá moverse hasta 1 metro de su ubicación actual.

Por otro lado, la naturaleza dinámica de la tierra genera movimientos mucho más extremos. El terremoto que afectó la región chilena del Bio-Bio en febrero de 2010 provocó impactos a diferentes escalas. Según las mediciones llevadas a cabo por el Observatorio Geodésico Integral Transportable (TIGO, por sus siglas en inglés) en la ciudad de Concepción, la totalidad del territorio se movió durante 30 segundos inicialmente hacia el noroeste y luego terminó con un desplazamiento de 3 metros hacia el suroeste. Durante este episodio, la altura del suelo se modificó en 50 cm. El movimiento telúrico corrió propiedades y destruyó infraestructura y edificios urbanos, siendo que el daño se agravó con el tsunami posterior. Un patrón similar se observó durante el terremoto que azotó al país en 1960, el más grave registrado en el mundo, cuando el suelo se movió con tal intensidad que algunas propiedades (o parte de ellas) desaparecieron en el mar y otras emergieron.

El terremoto ocurrido en enero de 2010 en Haití produjo, en 35 segundos, una cantidad de escombros estimada en 20 millones de m3, pero no se registraron desplazamientos del suelo significativos del territorio.

Desde el punto de vista del catastro, estas dos catástrofes tuvieron impactos muy diferentes. Si la información urbana hubiera estado estructurada en capas temáticas e integrada en una plataforma SIG, el terremoto de Haití habría afectado a la capa correspondiente a las construcciones y habrían desaparecido varios edificios representativos. En Chile, la capa correspondiente a las construcciones se vio modificada principalmente por el tsunami, mientras que la capa de terrenos sufrió desplazamientos y cambios espaciales derivados del movimiento telúrico. Las catástrofes naturales de estas características que ocurren con tanta rapidez modifican el entorno y la vida de las personas en forma radical y tienen importantes implicaciones en cuanto a las prioridades de los gobiernos, tales como la definición e implementación de políticas de suelo, tanto antes como después de ocurridos dichos eventos.

Los impactos del cambio climático, la contaminación subterránea y la contaminación del aire, por ejemplo, pueden preverse mediante modelos matemáticos con buena precisión, aún antes de que ocurran. Al conectar estos modelos con las bases de datos espaciales de un catastro 3D es posible crear escenarios derivados de los impactos potenciales en el espacio 3D e identificar los barrios y propiedades que podrían verse afectados. Los fenómenos como los terremotos y las inundaciones súbitas, aún cuando sean impredecibles, pueden representarse mucho más rápidamente si los instrumentos de medición utilizados por las agencias medioambientales o los organismos gubernamentales se conectan con las bases de datos espaciales de los catastros 3D. La representación espacial del impacto puede estar disponible para los tomadores de decisión apenas ocurrida la catástrofe.

En resumen, la representación 3D puede contribuir a definir políticas de suelo preventivas para abordar los cambios predecibles, así como también permitir el reajuste de las políticas de suelo actuales con posterioridad a una catástrofe natural.

Redes e infraestructura 3D

Las redes de infraestructura y transporte se mueven a lo largo del territorio de diferentes maneras, lo que permite a la ciudad permanecer activa y fluida. Algunas de estas redes son invisibles por naturaleza, tales como las microondas emitidas por los teléfonos celulares, mientras que otras son invisibles porque son subterráneas, tales como los túneles y cañerías de infraestructura. Otras redes son fácilmente visibles puesto que están construidas sobre la superficie, tales como los caminos y los cables de servicios públicos. La figura 4 ilustra algunas de las complejas intersecciones espaciales de redes de infraestructura y transporte a lo largo de la ciudad 3D.

Las relaciones espaciales entre redes y propiedades públicas y privadas, reservas ambientales, depósitos minerales, masas de agua y otras características no se han tratado eficientemente en las normas cartográficas en 2D, por lo que requieren el desarrollo de nuevas normas específicas en 3D con el fin de hacer cumplir la función social de la propiedad con equidad y justicia. Por ejemplo, el artículo 1.286 del Código Civil Brasileño estipula que un propietario estará obligado a ceder el derecho de paso a través de su propiedad para la colocación de cables, cañerías y otros conductos subterráneos con fines públicos cuando no puedan construirse en ningún otro lugar. La ley también establece la necesidad de determinar cuál será la superficie afectada por los proyectos de obras públicas en cada lote y su correspondiente valor, a fin de calcular la compensación que recibirá el propietario. Los registros catastrales 3D pueden convertirse en un importante aporte que facilite dichas operaciones puesto que los catastros 2D actuales no están siendo eficientes.

Valor del mercado inmobiliario 3D

Una de las funciones de un catastro territorial es la de proporcionar información con el fin de determinar el valor de los terrenos útil para definir las políticas tributaria y de planificación urbana. En América Latina, los valores de los terrenos por lo general se calculan según métodos de valuación ad hoc (tales como el costo de reposición), en los que se utilizan datos de construcción y valores de terrenos para cada sector catastral (Erba 2008). Esta práctica no siempre genera valuaciones confiables, ya que resulta difícil mantener actualizadas las bases de datos catastrales y su implementación puede resultar arbitraria según el lugar donde se aplique.

Un método alternativo de valuación que actualmente se está implementando en la región consiste en el uso de modelos econométricos espaciales para determinar los valores de las propiedades con el nivel de precisión estadística deseable. Esto resulta importante debido a que los valores de los terrenos cambian según el espacio urbano y dependen de variables tales como normas urbanas, restricciones medioambientales, vistas panorámicas, infraestructura y otras características asociadas a la propiedad como, por ejemplo, elementos subterráneos o aéreos relacionados a ella.

Las plataformas de SIG más modernas desarrolladas para catastros 3D permiten al valuador “pararse” dentro de un edificio en cualquier altitud incluso antes de que éste se construya. El sistema le permite conocer la vista que se tendrá desde la ventana de la vivienda, identificar las relaciones existentes con otros edificios, percibir el paisaje natural y observar otras características relevantes de la propiedad. Dichos datos permiten determinar la importancia de factores externos al valor de la propiedad, un aspecto que con frecuencia no se tiene en cuenta en las valuaciones realizadas según los métodos tradicionales como el costo de reposición.

La figura 5 muestra una perspectiva del gradiente de la superficie de valores de terrenos por m2, obtenidos a partir de puntos de referencia correspondientes a propiedades en venta. La superficie posee el mismo sistema de coordenadas de referencia (x, y) que la ciudad y si bien la tercera dimensión espacial (z) no se encuentra relacionada con el espacio geográfico (altitud), es posible colocar la superficie debajo de la ciudad virtual legal y analizar la correlación espacial existente entre el valor del m2 de terreno y las normas urbanas respectivas. Este tipo de aplicación es otro posible aporte al desarrollo de políticas de suelo basadas en técnicas catastrales 3D.

Conclusiones

Aunque las tecnologías utilizadas para medir, representar y almacenar información actualmente están evolucionando hacia las plataformas 3D, la legislación urbana y las políticas de suelo continúan viendo a las ciudades como superficies planas. La posibilidad de visualizar en 3D los edificios y las restricciones que rigen sobre las propiedades representa un avance considerable para aquellos responsables de tomar decisiones referentes a las cuestiones urbanas. No obstante, queda un largo camino por recorrer antes de que la información 3D se integre como parte de la legislación urbana y los títulos de propiedad.

La consolidación de un catastro 3D, que registre de qué manera la propiedad 3D se cruza con las normas y regulaciones legales correspondientes, contribuiría a una mayor efectividad de la planificación urbana y medioambiental, el diseño de redes de infraestructura mejor posicionadas y la prevención de la informalidad, ya que posibilita la construcción de posibles escenarios futuros que muestren el impacto de las políticas de suelo en el espacio. El primer paso para darle a la legislación urbana y medioambiental una connotación 3D sería cambiar el término “área” por “espacio”, lo que implicaría una manera simple y relevante de iniciar el proceso de introducción de este nuevo paradigma. La estructuración de un registro de la propiedad 3D se encuentra aún en vías de desarrollo pero, una vez establecido, los propietarios finalmente comprenderán que son dueños de metros cúbicos en lugar de metros cuadrados.

Sobre el autor

Diego Alfonso Erba es fellow del Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, donde coordina los programas de educación a distancia del Programa para América Latina y el Caribe. Además, investiga, publica y dirige estudios relacionados con el catastro territorial y las aplicaciones SIG.

Referencias

Câmara, Gilberto. 2000. http://mundogeo.com/blog/2000/01/01/geometrias-nao-sao-geografias-o-legado-de-milton-santos/

Erba, Diego A. 2008. Catastro e información territorial en América Latina (CD-Rom). Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. http://www.lincolninst.edu/pubs/1542_Catastro-e-Informaci%C3%B3n-Territorial-en-Am%C3%A9rica-Latina

van Oosterom, Peter. 2011. Preface of the Proceedings 2nd International Workshop on 3D Cadastre. Delft, The Netherlands. http://3dcadastres2011.nl/

Reconocimientos

El autor agradece a los siguientes colegas y amigos su aporte al desarrollo de investigaciones en este campo de conocimientos: Anamaria Gliesch-Leebmann, I Design Concepts 4 You, Seeheim-Jugenheim, Alemania; Everton da Silva, Universidad Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brasil; João Norberto Destro, Aeroimagem S/A; Igor Bacigaluppi, Gobierno Regional de Bio-Bio, Chile; Sergio Baeriswyl Rada, Municipio de Concepción, Chile; Andrea F. T. Carneiro, Universidad Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Brasil; Eduardo A. A. Augusto, Instituto Catastral Brasileño (IRIB), São Paulo, Brasil; y Martim Smolka y Anna Sant’Anna, Programa para América Latina y el Caribe en el Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

Los fideicomisos de suelo en los Estados Unidos difieren entre sí en gran manera, ya sea en términos de antigüedad, tamaño de la superficie protegida, misión, estrategia, presupuesto y contexto. Audrey Rust, una reconocida líder conservacionista y beneficiaria de la beca Kingsbury Browne 2012 del Instituto Lincoln, es la indicada a la hora de analizar las diferencias entre dos medidas de conservación totalmente diferentes pero igualmente exitosas que se dieron en la región oeste de los Estados Unidos. Rust se desempeñó como presidente y gerente general del Fideicomiso del Espacio Abierto de la Península (Peninsula Open Space Trust o POST) en Palo Alto, California, durante 24 años hasta julio de 2011. En la actualidad es miembro del directorio de la Reserva American Prairie (American Prairie Reserve o APR) en Bozeman, Montana.

La APR es uno de los nuevos proyectos de conservación más ambiciosos del país, cuyo objetivo es lograr reunir 1,42 millones de hectáreas y crear el complejo más grande de vida silvestre de los 48 estados continentales del país en Montana, el cuarto estado más grande de los Estados Unidos, cuya población es la séptima de menores dimensiones (solamente un millón de habitantes en 2012). Por otro lado, el POST comprende sólo el 2 por ciento de la superficie proyectada de la APR, aunque se considera un proyecto con mucho éxito, ya que reúne unas 28.300 hectáreas de espacios abiertos, granjas y parques de altísimo valor económico en una región que presenta una gran densidad y que va de San Francisco al Valle Silicon, con más de 7 millones de habitantes.

A pesar de sus perfiles tan disímiles, estas organizaciones comparten una sorprendente cantidad de similitudes. En esta entrevista con el Instituto Lincoln, Rust compara las historias y características particulares del POST y de la APR en base a su experiencia de primera mano con cada organización, y ofrece además algunas lecciones universales para todos aquellos involucrados en la difícil y desafiante tarea de preservar los espacios abiertos.

Instituto Lincoln: ¿Cómo se originó el Fideicomiso del Espacio Abierto de la Península y cuál es su misión?

Audrey Rust: El POST es un fideicomiso de suelo tradicional de 35 años de antigüedad, ubicado en una densa región metropolitana y que ha crecido en forma significativa desde su fundación en el año 1977. En sus orígenes, esta organización fue una socia de conservación privada del Distrito Regional del Espacio Abierto del Centro de la Península, una agencia pública de la península de San Francisco financiada mediante impuestos (ver figura 1). El POST, trabajando en la periferia urbana, recaudaba fondos privados en nombre del Distrito y, en ocasiones, llevaba a cabo un proyecto de donación de tierras. En la actualidad, todo el territorio protegido por el POST se encuentra dentro de un área metropolitana importante.

Debido a que el POST se encuentra ubicado en un lugar de gran densidad poblacional, resultó indispensable desde el principio incluir de inmediato oportunidades de recreación pública de baja intensidad, así como también brindar la posibilidad de exposición a la biodiversidad de la península, donde, dentro de un tramo transversal de 20 kilómetros, podemos pasar a través de al menos nueve ecosistemas diferentes. La tarea del POST tiene como objetivo garantizar un sistema de terrenos abiertos interconectados en corredores a lo largo de la bahía de San Francisco, las montañas de Santa Cruz y la costa del Pacífico. No se contempla ninguna cantidad total específica de hectáreas, a menos que se esté llevando a cabo una campaña en particular; sin embargo, el hecho de brindarle a la gente un lugar donde experimentar la naturaleza es sin duda una fuerza impulsora.

Instituto Lincoln: ¿Y cuáles son la génesis y misión de la reserva American Prairie?

Audrey Rust: Desde su fundación en el año 2002, la APR ha logrado reunir 110.883 hectáreas, aunque continuamente intenta proteger otras 1,42 millones de hectáreas contiguas de praderas de hierba corta en calidad de reserva de vida silvestre en la región noreste de Montana, uno de los únicos cuatro lugares en todo el mundo donde tal medida de conservación es posible (ver figura 2). La idea 1se originó en las investigaciones realizadas por un grupo de organizaciones conservacionistas sin fines de lucro que trabajaban en la región norte de las Montañas Rocosas, quienes, en sus comienzos, obtuvieron el asesoramiento científico del Fondo Mundial para la Vida Silvestre.

La APR está introduciendo bisontes de las llanuras sin introgresión genética del ganado, y es su intención desarrollar una manada sustentable de 10.000 cabezas, a la vez que se encuentra restaurando otras especies nativas, tales como perros de la pradera, hurones de pies negros y lechuzas vizcacheras. La APR adquirió rápidamente una gran cantidad de tierras, pero le llevará décadas reintroducir la fauna silvestre e impulsar un crecimiento significativo de poblaciones de estas especies.

Los terrenos federales representan un gran porcentaje del hábitat de vida silvestre que está reuniendo la APR. Los terrenos de la reserva limitan al sur con el Refugio Nacional de Vida Silvestre Charles M. Russell y al oeste con el Monumento Nacional de la Quebrada del Río Missouri Superior, el cual figura destacadamente en nuestra historia nacional como parte de la expedición de Lewis y Clark.

Instituto Lincoln: ¿Cuáles son los desafíos clave que deben enfrentar el POST y la APR?

Audrey Rust: El mayor desafío que enfrenta cualquier proyecto de conservación es siempre el financiamiento. El primer obstáculo es identificar a los posibles donantes y captar su atención. Para ello, se necesita una visión claramente articulada, así como también la habilidad de hacer que el proyecto sea interesante para el posible donante. La validación de la misión por parte de un tercero respetado es clave en esta cuestión. También se necesitan ciertos medios para que el donante experimente el proyecto de interés y se sienta adecuadamente incluido, además de desarrollar una relación sólida que dé como resultado la posibilidad de solicitar su apoyo en forma apropiada y en el momento justo.

Instituto Lincoln: ¿Cuáles son los desafíos de financiamiento del POST en particular?

Audrey Rust: En el área de la bahía de San Francisco, millones de personas ven y aprecian el hecho de que la proximidad con la naturaleza mejora su calidad de vida, pero la mayoría no conoce el papel que desempeña el POST en esta tarea o, si lo saben, no necesariamente se sienten movilizados para apoyar económicamente el trabajo del POST. La competencia por obtener financiamiento filantrópico dentro de la pequeña área geográfica del Valle Silicon es intensa. Todas las principales organizaciones conservacionistas, además de la poderosa maquinaria de recaudación de fondos de la Universidad de Stanford, funcionan dentro de esta área.

En el POST, la recaudación de fondos se realiza de manera tradicional. Existe un programa anual de donación muy bien desarrollado que mueve a muchos donantes en los niveles de donación de capital más altos. Muchos de ellos están dispuestos a prestar sus redes de contactos para la causa y, debido al éxito que siempre tiene la organización y a su listado de donantes actuales, las personas se sienten cómodas y apoyadas por su comunidad cuando realizan una donación. El modelo del POST también ha dependido de conseguir y crear fondos públicos y, posteriormente, vender terrenos o derechos de servidumbre a una entidad pública, ya sea al mismo precio pagado por el POST o a un precio menor, lo que permite que la organización obtenga un rendimiento de los fondos del donante para que estos sean utilizados nuevamente en el futuro.

El POST también enfrenta el desafío del éxito. Con frecuencia, los donantes a nivel de liderazgo sienten que ya están listos para pasar a enfocarse en nuevas ideas y nuevas cuestiones medioambientales, ya que ven que su impacto personal no es tan visible como lo sería si comenzaran su propia organización nueva. Algunos donantes sienten que ya han hecho su parte y que ahora es el turno de que otros ocupen su lugar. Nunca ha sido tan difícil atraer a nuevos donantes de los niveles más altos de liderazgo.

Instituto Lincoln: ¿De qué manera la misión y los objetivos de la APR afectan su estrategia de recaudación de fondos?

Audrey Rust: La APR enfrenta lo que comúnmente se denomina un problema de “pipeline” debido a que la APR es una organización relativamente nueva, y en la que la población de posibles donantes se encuentra muy dispersa y a gran distancia de la reserva, encontrar a las personas correctas ha conllevado varios falsos comienzos y reuniones improductivas. Ha sido difícil exponer el proyecto ante los posibles donantes de manera que se pueda desarrollar una relación filantrópica. Aunque los miembros del directorio están dispuestos, solamente unos pocos poseen redes de contactos que hayan sido productivas para la APR. Resulta difícil y costoso evaluar el interés real de un posible donante, estimar su probable nivel de donación y desarrollar una relación perdurable con una persona que se encuentra lejos geográficamente. Por ahora, el estatus no está asociado con el hecho de apoyar la causa. Además, la enorme meta de la campaña (de 300 millones a 500 millones de dólares) hace que una donación de un millón de dólares parezca insignificante. Toda campaña práctica debería atraer una donación de entre 80 millones y 100 millones de dólares en la cima de la pirámide de la recaudación de fondos.

Desarrollar un listado productivo de posibles donantes a nivel de liderazgo sólo vale la pena si realmente podemos reunirnos y desarrollar relaciones con ellos. La geografía genera dificultades cuando no hay suficientes personas en un área en particular y no se pueden aprovechar los esfuerzos realizados. El tiempo es un elemento clave para desarrollar las relaciones necesarias.

No obstante, debido al tamaño y alcances poco comunes de la APR, esta organización puede tener un atractivo singular para personas con un alto nivel económico que, tal como ocurrió con los Rockefeller hace unas décadas, podrían crear esta Reserva solamente en base a sus obras filantrópicas. Y este es el sueño sin cumplir de todo director ejecutivo. Las probabilidades son pocas, pero la historia nos demuestra que es posible. El modelo de la APR nunca recurrió a los fondos públicos como manera de aprovechar el dinero privado, ya que los terrenos públicos arrendados están, en cierta medida, logrando justamente esto.

Otro desafío muy importante para la APR en cuanto al financiamiento es la escala del proyecto. El impacto se da en aumentos de 20.250 o 40.500 hectáreas en un paisaje en el que los biólogos conservacionistas han determinado que, para que una llanura de hierba mixta sea un ecosistema sano y funcional y pueda sostener el complemento total de la biodiversidad de praderas nativas, el terreno debería ser de aproximadamente 13.000 kilómetros cuadrados (cerca de 1,3 millones de hectáreas).

Instituto Lincoln: ¿Cómo han enfrentado los desafíos de financiamiento los líderes de ambas organizaciones?

Audrey Rust: Tanto en la APR como en el POST, el primer presidente y director ejecutivo, que también cumplía las funciones de miembro del directorio, tenía una sólida formación en negocios pero ninguna experiencia en la recaudación de fondos o en cómo llevar adelante una organización sin fines de lucro. El vicepresidente del directorio de ambas organizaciones era un exitoso inversor de capital de riesgo y se lo consideraba como fundador. Todos estos líderes eran carismáticos y poseían buenos contactos. Por último, pero no por ello menos importante, ambos directores ejecutivos fundadores debieron aportar o prestar grandes cantidades de fondos a la organización para mantenerla a flote.

El presidente fundador de la APR, Sean Gerrity, continúa al timón de la organización después de 10 años, sin que se haya reducido su pasión por el conservacionismo. Sin embargo, el tiempo necesario para realizar tantos viajes y suplir las necesidades económicas de la organización superaba el de un trabajo de tiempo completo y ninguno de los profesionales de desarrollo que contrató logró aliviarle la carga. Bajo la premisa de que los posibles donantes desean encontrarse con alguien que posea un título, hace dos años Gerrity realizó un cambio radical en cuanto al funcionamiento de la organización y contrató dos directores gerentes que son capaces de soportar una significativa carga en cuanto a la recaudación de fondos y los contenidos. Esta estrategia requiere de reuniones o llamadas telefónicas constantes a fin de mantenerse alineados en todos los aspectos de la organización, pero está funcionando. La organización de la APR en base al modelo de directores gerentes ha permitido al personal viajar más y desarrollar mejores relaciones con los donantes. El personal actual ha sido contratado hace menos de dos años, pero está logrando avances.

Instituto Lincoln: ¿Cómo ha superado usted el desafío de recaudar fondos en el POST?

Audrey Rust: Cuando el POST me contrató en 1986 para reemplazar a Robert Augsburger, director ejecutivo fundador, mi primera misión fue recaudar 2 millones de dólares en unos pocos meses para ejercer una opción de compra sobre una finca costera muy importante, que representó el primer proyecto realmente independiente del POST.

Yo entendía a la comunidad local de donantes y tenía bastante experiencia en recaudación de fondos y gestión de organizaciones sin fines de lucro. Estaba completamente abocada al trabajo y a la necesidad de cumplir con nuestras obligaciones financieras. Aunque generalmente no era necesario viajar para recaudar fondos, la proximidad de los posibles donantes convertía cada fin de semana, cada mercado de agricultores y cada evento a nivel local en una oportunidad para entablar contactos. Llevamos a cabo un proyecto importante tras otro, mientras realizábamos un buen trabajo conservacionista e íbamos tomando impulso, pero yo estaba exhausta.

A fin de resolver este problema, conseguí un personal muy bueno. No obstante, mi enfoque fue tradicional: tener la suficiente cantidad de dinero en el banco para contratar al personal adecuado y asegurarme de que uno de los empleados fuera un joven abogado con el potencial necesario para asumir mayores responsabilidades y tareas de liderazgo. Continué encargándome de la recaudación de fondos de grandes donantes, así como también supervisando la estrategia y negociación de adquisición de terrenos clave, mientras que otros empleados se encargaban de realizar las tareas y la administración diarias de la organización. La capacidad de aumentar la cantidad de empleados y delegar algunas tareas significó un gran avance, tanto para mí como para la organización.

Instituto Lincoln: ¿Cuál ha sido el enfoque básico del POST en cuanto a la adquisición de tierras y de qué manera esto ha afectado su estrategia financiera?

Audrey Rust: Tanto el POST como la APR tienen como objetivo conectar terrenos públicos existentes mediante la adquisición de propiedades privadas adyacentes, y ambas organizaciones consideran a los entes conservacionistas locales como sus aliados clave en la tarea de preservar la biodiversidad, brindar acceso público y generar una mayor visión del paisaje protegido. Sin embargo, debido a que tienen diferentes estrategias básicas de conservación del suelo, esto da como resultado patrones de financiamiento e impactos financieros a largo plazo muy diferentes.

La intención del POST es transferir todos los terrenos que protege, y la mayor parte de estas tierras se convertirá en propiedad pública en forma de parques federales, estatales o de condados, o se entregará a los distritos regionales de espacios abiertos para que se encarguen de su administración y protección de forma permanente. Las tierras aptas para la agricultura, que se encuentran protegidas por estrictos derechos de servidumbre con fines conservacionistas, se venden a los agricultores locales. El POST retiene los derechos de servidumbre junto con un fondo dotal que vela por los derechos de servidumbre a fin de garantizar el monitoreo y el cumplimiento de las normas.

El primer proyecto que emprendió el POST a fines de la década de 1970 dio como resultado la donación y posterior venta (a la mitad del valor tasado) de una propiedad altamente visible que era adyacente a la ciudad donde vivía un gran porcentaje de los posibles donantes. Gracias a los fondos que surgieron de esta venta, el POST logró salvar otras tierras. Sin embargo, la organización progresó lentamente durante aproximadamente una década, sin tener una verdadera estrategia de protección de suelos que fuera financieramente sustentable.

En 1986, a raíz de una oportunidad para comprar una finca costera de 485 hectáreas, el POST presentó una oferta de compra de la propiedad, que requería el financiamiento por parte del propietario, una importante recaudación de fondos y la posterior acción política en todo el estado. El éxito en este caso se tradujo en la creación de un fondo de capital de trabajo que le permitió al POST repetir una estrategia similar en varias oportunidades, enfocándose en proyectos de conservación importantes y ambiciosos. Debido a que se ganó la reputación de cumplir con sus promesas, el POST pasó luego a recaudar fondos en una campaña de capitales respecto de un inventario mucho mayor de propiedades. El hecho de poseer un capital de trabajo le permitió al POST estar libre para enfocarse en lo que debía hacerse en lugar de lo que podría hacerse.

Instituto Lincoln: ¿Cuáles han sido los logros y los fracasos más importantes de la estrategia del POST?

Audrey Rust: El POST logró generar un capital de trabajo y así demostrar a los donantes una rentabilidad apalancada. El éxito generó más éxito y, en la actualidad, el POST funciona con una cuenta de capital de trabajo de más de 125 millones de dólares. Las tierras protegidas nunca estuvieron en riesgo de perderse debido a problemas financieros. El tipo de fondos públicos que se utiliza, sumado a las donaciones de origen privado, brindan aún mayores garantías.

Cada uno de estos logros ha generado en el POST la confianza de pasar a otro nivel respecto de las tareas de protección, restauración y colaboración en forma directa. En la actualidad, el arsenal conservacionista de la organización comprende además la ingeniería forestal sustentable, los derechos de servidumbre activa en las tierras de cultivo, el pastoreo de conservación y la remoción de especies exóticas.

Por otro lado, nunca se articuló bien una visión amplia de lo que podría traer aparejado el futuro, ya que el POST siempre trabajó de manera gradual. Despertar la imaginación de los donantes empresariales en niveles del liderazgo (que representan la principal fuente de riqueza en el valle) se volvió cada vez más difícil a medida que transcurrió el tiempo. También resultó difícil para la organización abocarse a la tarea de restaurar y administrar las tierras que poseía para su posterior transferencia.

A medida que los fondos públicos se van agotando, resulta mucho menos probable que las agencias públicas acepten la responsabilidad que conlleva poseer terrenos adicionales. El POST está experimentando en la actualidad tanto los gastos derivados de poseer propiedades en forma indefinida como la incapacidad de vender las tierras para obtener un rendimiento de capital que vaya nuevamente a sus cuentas.

Instituto Lincoln: ¿Cuál ha sido el enfoque básico de la APR?

Audrey Rust: La APR enfrenta una situación diferente en Montana, donde las fincas privadas son mucho más grandes que cualquier parcela de las montañas de Santa Cruz, y sus propietarios controlan otros tramos de grandes dimensiones de terrenos de propiedad federal arrendados. Es intención de la APR mantener a perpetuidad estas tierras y arrendamientos privados. A fin de garantizar la gestión de estas tierras, se necesitará realizar una recaudación de fondos dotales en forma privada.

La APR quiso demostrar desde el principio que podía lograr progresos reales respecto de su gran visión conservacionista, a pesar de la falta de fondos. La APR se movió rápidamente para adquirir tierras y sus arrendamientos correspondientes mediante el financiamiento por parte de los propietarios. El liderazgo de la organización consideró que establecer firmemente nuestra posición en este asunto era la única manera de comenzar a atraer el dinero que necesitábamos para adquirir las propiedades que conformarían la reserva. Sin la suficiente experiencia en recaudación de fondos o sin un listado de posibles donantes, la lucha era enorme. Hasta hace poco, sólo teníamos unos fondos mínimos en nuestras reservas, lo que volvía extremadamente difícil cumplir con nuestras obligaciones financieras, en particular las deudas.

Instituto Lincoln: ¿Cuáles son los logros más importantes y los desafíos actuales de la APR?

Audrey Rust: La persistencia y el buen trabajo están dando sus frutos. Entre los avances más importantes se cuentan la oportunidad de adquirir cuotas y sus arrendamientos respectivos en una finca de 60.700 hectáreas y, en el año 2012, una donación muy importante de parte de uno de los mayores benefactores de la organización. La APR también comenzó a construir un lujoso “campamento safari” que abrirá sus puertas en 2013 y que permitirá atraer a la pradera a donantes del nivel de liderazgo, desarrollar relaciones y profundizar su conexión con la tierra.

La organización posee un buen historial y ha demostrado su capacidad de hacer que las cosas funcionen, por lo que puede comenzar a poner en práctica principios de gestión a fin de pronosticar las futuras actividades. Uno de los ejemplos más carismáticos es la reintroducción de bisontes genéticamente puros. En la actualidad existen extraordinarias oportunidades para adquirir importantes lotes de terrenos. Sin embargo, sin reservas de capital de trabajo significativas, el personal y el liderazgo de la APR enfrentan grandes dificultades a la hora de cumplir con sus obligaciones financieras. Esto genera un clima en el que se busca obtener un rápido rendimiento de las donaciones en lugar de desarrollar el tipo de donaciones provenientes de los niveles de liderazgo que la organización más necesita a largo plazo. Por ahora, los planes se encuentran incompletos para garantizar una protección privada permanente de los terrenos adquiridos. La organización puede comprar los terrenos bajo financiamiento de los propietarios o que estén especialmente a un muy buen precio, aun cuando no exista una gran prioridad para su adquisición. La recaudación de los fondos dotales necesarios para la administración continua de los terrenos ha sido un proceso muy lento.

Instituto Lincoln: En conclusión, ¿cuáles son los principales aspectos que estas dos organizaciones tan diferentes tienen en común?

Audrey Rust: El POST y la APR se encuentran en diferentes etapas de su crecimiento organizacional, y el futuro de cada una depende de sus diferencias más evidentes y sus historiales respectivos. No obstante, es posible identificar ciertos elementos clave que ambas tienen en común y que pueden llevarlas al éxito:

• Líderes capaces y comprometidos a largo plazo.
• Una estrategia acorde con el tamaño de la visión.
• El desarrollo de fuentes de financiamiento que llevan años en dar fruto.
• La asociación con agencias públicas para apalancar las tareas de conservación.

Ambas organizaciones continúan enfrentando importantes desafíos para financiar sus objetivos. El POST ha realizado con éxito la transición hacia un nuevo liderazgo y se encuentra abocado a iniciativas conservacionistas mucho mayores y complejas. El éxito ha dominado a esta organización por tanto tiempo que resulta difícil para los nuevos filántropos encontrar algo que “inventar” o apoyar. El POST es una organización muy bien administrada, que deja pocas oportunidades para que la nueva elite del Valle Silicon participe con su consabida frase “podemos hacerlo mejor”. El POST debe dedicarse más a identificar y atraer a aquellos pocos donantes de la cima de la pirámide. Este desafío resulta especialmente difícil debido a que la participación del gobierno prácticamente se ha detenido y a que los tres mayores donantes del POST ya no están brindando subvenciones para este tipo de tareas conservacionistas dentro del rango de entre los 20 millones y los 50 millones de dólares. Además, es difícil apuntar a una fase final y, sin ello, la organización perderá el sentido de urgencia y el apoyo de las donaciones.

La APR es una organización nueva y fascinante y ha logrado asociarse en forma creativa con National Geographic, que produjo un video de una hora de duración titulado “The American Serengeti”, con el cual se logró realzar la misión de la APR y, como consecuencia, darle a la organización la importancia nacional que necesita a fin de poder recaudar mayores donaciones a nivel nacional. Es justamente en estos tiempos que los donantes clave del nivel de liderazgo deben involucrarse en la causa. En toda organización sin fines de lucro, las pirámides de financiamiento se están volviendo cada vez más verticales. Las campañas de este tipo con frecuencia dependen de que uno o dos donantes provean fondos que igualen la mitad o hasta dos tercios del objetivo total. Sin estos donantes, el personal de la organización se desgasta tratando de recaudar fondos y los costos de estas actividades aumentan rápidamente.

Estoy convencida de que el tamaño, los alcances y la habilidad para medir la visión que tiene una organización son factores determinantes para el éxito. Los donantes y el público en general se sienten impulsados por la idea de que podemos cambiar nuestro mundo. Articular claramente esa visión y promoverla es una tarea esencial. El POST debe trabajar en los mensajes que envía para poder articular mejor su visión actual. La APR debe encontrar otras formas de comunicar su visión de forma más efectiva y desarrollar una importante masa crítica de partidarios.

Shaping the Future of the American West

Summer Waters is the third director of Western Lands and Communities—a joint program established in 2003 by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and the Sonoran Institute to inform policy related to the use of land and natural resources in the Intermountain West. Summer has a B.S. in biology from the University of South Florida and an M.S. in civil engineering, with concentrations in environmental and water resources engineering, from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Before joining the Sonoran Institute, she spent 15 years working in urban planning and natural resources for government entities including the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension and the County of San Diego, where she won an Emmy award for coproducing an educational video.

LAND LINES: What attracted you to the challenge of directing this joint program between the Lincoln Institute and the Sonoran Institute?

SUMMER WATERS: The chance to help shape the future of the American West. The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy is a thought leader in this realm, and the Sonoran Institute is well known throughout the region for its dedication to collaborative work with local communities and other organizations. Our shared mission is ambitious, but each organization has complementary attributes that make it successful. Our mutual, longstanding commitment gives the joint program depth and flexibility.

LL: Why is this job the right one at the right time for you?

SW: My interest in the natural world led me to study biology as an undergraduate, and my desire for a solutions-oriented career led me back to school for engineering. After graduation, I gravitated toward planning, because it allowed me to work with both the natural and built environments. After gaining professional experience, I began to recognize how the use of land, water, and energy interconnects with economics and community development. And I appreciated Western Lands and Communities’ holistic approach to the challenges facing the region.

LL: Both the Lincoln Institute and the Sonoran Institute have recently undergone leadership changes. What challenges and opportunities does this transition afford you?

SW: Both Stephanie Sklar, the new CEO of the Sonoran Institute, and Lincoln Institute President and CEO George McCarthy are motivated leaders who inspire me personally and professionally. Stephanie is ambitiously embarking on a strategic planning process that will guide the Sonoran Institute through its 25th anniversary as an organization. Her breadth and depth of knowledge inform the process and ensure that we both celebrate and evaluate our work. George McCarthy is a courageous and visionary leader guiding the Lincoln Institute through a similar transition. His appreciation for the West was obvious when he recently visited our Phoenix office. He comprehends the challenges we are facing and the importance of demonstration projects, such as our Colorado River Delta Restoration effort, in shaping the future of this region.

LL: How is Western Lands and Communities contributing to the Sonoran Institute’s effort to restore the ecology and economy of the Colorado River Delta?

SW: Western Lands and Communities supports the implementation of Minute 319, the binational agreement between the United States and Mexico that guides the sharing and delivery of water on the Colorado River under the 1944 treaty through 2017. Perhaps the most significant event resulting from this agreement was the release of a “pulse flow” of 105,000 acre-feet of water into Mexico in the spring of 2014. This intervention was designed to mimic what would have been the Colorado River’s natural flow cycles under spring conditions, when snowmelt from the mountains once ran through what is now seven U.S. states and two countries, ultimately to the Sea of Cortez. This historic effort breathed life into the desiccated delta, and in May 2014 the river reached the sea for the first time in years. In the spring of 2015, we will convene a group of NGO representatives, academic professionals, and agency scientists at the one-year anniversary of this event. Participants will discuss the impact of renewed flows on critical ecosystem functions in the region and evaluate the implications of this temporary agreement between the U.S. and Mexico. Through this process, we hope to inform future policies related to the allocation of this precious resource to the natural environment.

LL: I understand this project fits into your broader agenda to conserve large landscapes. Tell us more about that effort.

SW: Public land ownership in the Intermountain West is vast. At first glance, a map of the region depicts a disconnected pattern of various land agencies and managers with very different missions and approaches. Working lands and tribal lands further complicate that scenario. Landscape-scale conservation relies heavily on the full range of people who live within this picture; in order to avoid “random acts of conservation,” and to achieve more coordinated and meaningful results, collaboration among public entities, individual land owners, and tribes is key. Fortunately, Westerners—regardless of political viewpoints, upbringing, or economic status—typically unite around a shared goal of preserving a way of life that is intertwined with the landscapes they inhabit. The way forward involves capitalizing on this shared vision, engaging communities in shaping their own future, and connecting practitioners with stakeholders in a meaningful manner.

LL: How does Western Lands and Communities help communities respond better to the major challenges for the future of the Intermountain West?

SW: The West faces essentially the same challenges as other areas of the United States, but under a unique set of circumstances. We have a growing population, which triggers changing economies and demographics. Both urban and rural areas struggle to balance growth with natural resource protection. Given the sheer scale and grandeur of the natural environment in the West, it is easy to view our vast natural resources as infinite—a misperception that can lead to sprawl and other issues associated with natural resource extraction. Our expansive landscapes also create specific challenges related to transportation, which contributes to climate change—a force that exacerbates all other problems. The joint program assists communities through the development of planning tools, webinars on smart growth and sustainable development topics, and compilations of successful case studies from communities across the West.

LL: Western Lands and Communities is engaged in exploratory scenario planning—a unique approach to long-range planning that explicitly challenges communities to evaluate their proposals against an uncertain future. How is exploratory scenario planning different from traditional planning, and how is it being applied in the West?

SW: Exploratory scenario planning is a process that encourages imagination in the planning process. Through the engagement of stakeholders, community members, and experts, we develop a variety of plausible scenarios and acknowledge the complex forces, such as climate change, that could lead to a significantly different future. We help participants to view their particular issues in terms of the broader social, political, economic, and natural forces that shape communities in general. While some scenarios currently seem more probable or desirable than others, each receives equal consideration throughout the workshops. Most importantly, this process is more flexible, engaging, and dynamic than traditional planning, requiring participants to develop multiple strategies in response to a spectrum of future uncertainties. Western Lands and Communities has helped communities across the West apply this approach to General Plan updates, watershed plan development, and preparation for the economic impacts of changing climate and weather conditions. Ultimately, exploratory scenario planning is designed to help communities adapt to change better by addressing complex issues that are embedded in great uncertainties. The foresight and strategies generated through this process prepare leaders to guide their communities toward a more sustainable future.

LL: What are the special challenges of planning for climate change in the Intermountain West and how have WLC’s approaches recognized those issues?

SW: In the West, climate change affects ecosystems that are predominately arid and often exhibit high variability, compounding problems. In the past, we have built large reservoirs to cope with fluctuating water supplies due to cycles of drought. But that solution is no longer sufficient, as we are seeing droughts of unprecedented severity punctuated by extreme floods. Communities must now tackle issues that could once be left to the federal government. They must determine for themselves how to cope with diminishing water resources, increasing temperatures, migrating ecosystems, and extreme weather. The approach that Western Lands and Communities takes is to help communities identify priorities and develop policies to create resilience.

We have to be cognizant of the fact that neighboring communities can be very polarized when it comes to climate change. While some communities have embraced the reality of it, others hold onto a past way of life that is essential to the character of the region, yet leaves little room for adaptation. The West has large populations of American Indians and Latinos who are particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts. We recently began working with urban Latino communities in Arizona to address their disproportionate exposure to the effects of global warming. We do this by convening leaders, crafting messages that resonate with Latino communities, and working with organizations to train community members to educate others on this topic. Every community is a little different, so we blend replicable methods with adaptive management.

LL: The scope of Western Lands and Communities’ work has widened considerably since it started with an exclusive focus on the needs, challenges, and opportunities for state trust lands. What is the significance of that original mission and the resulting relationship, built over time, with state trust land managers?

SW: Historically, state trust lands have been poorly understood by the general public and natural resource professionals alike, particularly with respect to their fiduciary responsibilities. People rely on state trust lands for their livelihoods, as do children and young adults who need access to quality public education. Here in Arizona, we have seen unprecedented cuts to funding for public schools and universities in recent years. Our work has brought greater understanding of state trust lands as a source of funding for public schools and as natural systems with important biological functions that need to be protected. Mitigation banking and land exchanges help to integrate state trust lands into the broader context of large landscape conservation and sustainable development. But most state trust lands managers face regulatory challenges when they try to implement conservation practices. Reform is necessary to remove barriers that hinder implementation of the full array of practices that provide for both conservation and profit.

The economic and environmental benefits of state trust lands will continue to be significant. Ultimately, our commitment to western communities through our work with state trust lands will remain intact. Although the focus of the program may change as states encounter new and different challenges, the need to educate people about the state trust land mandate to create value for the trust beneficiaries will remain constant in the years to come.

Una versión más actualizada de este artículo está disponible como parte del capítulo 6 del libro Perspectivas urbanas: Temas críticos en políticas de suelo de América Latina.

La descentralización del estado, el crecimiento de las empresas y la participación comunitaria en los asuntos públicos, están presentando nuevos retos para el desarrollo de las instituciones enfocadas en las políticas de tierras y su implementación en a través de América Latina. Los alcaldes y consejos locales están asumiendo nuevas responsabilidades en las áreas de protección ambiental, transporte urbano, infraestructura básica, financiamiento local, servicios sociales y desarrollo económico. Al mismo tiempo, las empresas y organizaciones civiles encuentran nuevas vías para asegurar la atención pública de sus exigencias mediante el urbanismo participativo, la administración de presupuestos, la cofinanciación y el control a nivel local.

De este modo, la descentralización y participación democrática están construyendo un medio en el cual las alianzas publico-privadas pueden desarrollar proyectos conjuntos de interés común tanto para individuos como para el gobierno. Sin embargo, a muchas instituciones les falta mucho para adaptarse totalmente a sus nuevos papeles de planificación, regulación y evaluación.

Las culturas de apatía y desconfianza hacia el gobierno arraigadas desde hace mucho tiempo, deben transformarse en una confianza común capaz de movilizar las mejores tradiciones comunitarias de los latinoamericanos. El patronazgo político y económico y la corrupción del estado, deben reemplazarse por responsabilidad política y administrativa. Leyes municipales, de contratación y de administración obsoletas aún restringen la capacidad tanto de los gobiernos locales como de la sociedad civil de interactuar creativamente por medio de arreglos contractuales y de cofinanciación.

Los retos institucionales y los dilemas de políticas que actualmente enfrenta el Área Metropolitana de San Salvador (AMSS) ilustran las transformaciones que ocurren a lo largo de la región. Después de años de guerra civil, los salvadoreños firmaron un acuerdo de paz en 1992 que proporcionó un marco de competencia real entre los partidos políticos y estimuló una participación más activa por parte de las empresas, las organizaciones no gubernamentales (ONGs) y las organizaciones comunitarias. La AMSS comprende varias municipalidades, algunas de ellas dirigidas por alcaldes de partidos de oposición al gobierno central. El cuerpo coordinador del AMSS es el Consejo de Alcaldes, que a su vez es dirigido por la Oficina Metropolitana de Planificación.

Con asistencia técnica de ONGs internacionales, la AMSS ha preparado un plan integral de desarrollo. Instrumentos contemporáneos de planificación urbana tales como la macrozonificación, los impuestos a la propiedad de tasa variable, la recuperación de plusvalías para la protección del medio ambiente, los consorcios público-privados y los coeficientes de uso de suelo están siendo considerados en la implementación de políticas de tierra, de desarrollo y de protección del medio ambiente. De hecho, los salvadoreños tienen el apoyo de varios centros de investigación que están familiarizados con el uso e impacto de estos y otros instrumentos en otras partes del mundo. Actualmente, su necesidad fundamental es movilizar a los protagonistas metropolitanos, tanto públicos como privados, en dirección a políticas comunes y desarrollar instrumentos compartidos para su aplicación.

Cerca del final, PRISMA, una prominente ONG salvadoreña y centro urbano de investigación, invitó al Instituto Lincoln a desarrollar un taller conjunto sobre herramientas de administración urbana, mecanismos de coordinación intergubernamental para áreas metropolitanas e iniciativas público-privadas para ciudades sustentables. El taller, llevado a cabo en El Salvador en octubre, contó con la participación de representantes de alta jerarquía en el gobierno central, así como alcaldes, funcionarios de planificación y otras autoridades del AMSS; así como representantes de asociaciones de construcción y desarrollo y algunas instituciones y organizaciones comunitarias.

Los oradores del Instituto Lincoln presentaron experiencias de Taiwan, Filipinas, México y otros países de América Latina que destacaron las políticas e instrumentos capaces de armonizar los intereses de diversos inversionistas urbanos y coordinar varios niveles de gobierno para el uso de la tierra y objetivos de desarrollo urbano. Los salvadoreños explicaron sus preocupaciones inmediatas, como la falta de coordinación intergubernamental para proteger el ambiente urbano, las discontinuidades en las medidas políticas, arbitrariedades a todos los niveles del gobierno e incertidumbres legales y administrativas.

Los participantes del taller concluyeron que para fomentar el nuevo marco legal e institucional que busca el AMSS, los salvadoreños necesitan ampliar las discusiones a otros protagonistas urbanos. También necesitan continuar trabajando con instituciones como el Instituto Lincoln, que tienen la confianza y credibilidad para presentar políticas de administración de tierra reconocidas internacionalmente y pueden ayudar a construir consenso entre intereses públicos y privados.

Mario Lungo es investigador en PRISMA, el Programa Salvadoreño de Investigación y Medio Ambiente; Alejandra Mortarini es la directora de los programas para Latinoamérica y el Caribe del Instituto Lincoln; y el abogado colombiano Fernando Rojas, es miembro visitante del instituto este año.

As sprawling, low-density development patterns consume thousands of acres of natural habitat, the force of urban growth is increasingly bumping up against the need to protect biodiversity. The fastest growing states and regions in the South and West are also those with high numbers of endemic species, and species endangered or threatened with extinction.

One tool that has emerged for reconciling species-development conflicts is the habitat conservation plan (HCP). Authorized under Section 10 of the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA), HCPs allow for limited “take” of listed species in exchange for certain measures to protect and restore habitat. These plans vary in their geographical scope from a single parcel or landowner to large areas involving many landowners and multiple governmental jurisdictions.

The HCP mechanism grew out of a controversy over development plans on San Bruno Mountain in the Bay Area of California that threatened several species of butterflies, including the federally listed mission blue. A collaborative planning process generated a biological study of the butterflies’ habitat needs and a conservation plan that allowed some development in designated nodes while setting aside about 87 percent of the butterfly habitat as permanent open space. The HCP also included a funding component, procedures for carefully monitoring development and minimizing its impact, and a long-term program of habitat restoration.

The positive experience of San Bruno led to a 1982 amendment to the ESA specifically allowing HCPs. Since then, their use has grown slowly but steadily. About 40 plans have been approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and another 150 are in progress, most of them initiated in the last five years.

The Typical HCP Process

Regional habitat conservation plans usually follow a similar process. They start with the formation of a steering committee with representation from the environmental community, landowners and developers, local governments, and state and federal resource management agencies, among others. Frequently, consultants are hired to prepare background biological and land use studies as well as the actual plan and accompanying environmental documentation. The content of these plans can vary substantially depending on the species and potential threats at issue, but most create habitat preserves through fee-simple acquisition or land dedication. Plans also include provisions for habitat management, ecological restoration, and research and monitoring. Much of the deliberation in preparing a plan centers on how much habitat must be preserved, the boundaries and configuration of proposed preserves, how funds will be generated to finance the plan, and which entities or organizations will have management responsibility for the protected habitat once secured.

While the HCP process has encountered problems, the experience to date suggests it can be a viable and constructive mechanism for resolving species-development conflicts. For the development community, the stick of ESA brings them to the table and keeps them there, realizing that without a strong plan any development might be jeopardized. For the environmental community, the plan represents a way to generate funds to acquire habitat that would be difficult to raise otherwise. The HCP process, thus, provides a useful pressure valve under the ESA–a tool to provide flexibility in what is frequently criticized as being an overly rigid and inflexible law.

Successes and Concerns

From the perspective of preserving biodiversity, the plans, even those not officially adopted or approved, have lead to the acquisition of important habitat. The Coachella Valley HCP in California sets aside three preserves totaling nearly 17,000 acres of desert habitat to protect the fringe-toed lizard. Other plans preserve biologically rich hardwood hammocks in the Florida Keys, desert tortoise habitat in Nevada, and forested habitat for the northern spotted owl in California. The ambitious Balcones Canyonlands Conservation Plan in Austin, Texas, would protect more than 75,000 acres of land, including a newly created 46,000 acre national wildlife refuge. Though this plan has encountered political and financial obstacles, more than 20,000 acres have already been secured.

One of the key concerns about HCPs is the effectiveness of their conservation strategies, especially whether the amount of habitat set aside is sufficient to ensure the survival of threatened species. The long-term ecological viability of preserves is another problem, because many will become mere “postage stamps” surrounded by development. These concerns suggest that more habitat should be protected, that preserves should be configured in larger, regional blocks, and that plans should seek to protect multiple rather than single species within broad ecosystem functions. The Balcones example suggests a positive direction for future HCPs in its emphasis on a regional, multi-species approach, including endangered migratory songbirds, cave-adapted invertebrates and plant species.

Another criticism of HCPs is that they have failed to change the ways we allow development to occur because they generally accept the current pattern of low-density sprawl and wasteful land consumption. In addition, it often takes four or five years before a plan can be prepared and approved. Even given that seemingly long timeframe, plans are often based on limited biological knowledge.

One of the most difficult issues in the HCP process is funding. Habitat acquisition in fast-urbanizing areas is extremely expensive. The Coachella Valley plan cost $25 million; the Balcones plan could cost more than $200 million. Most plans are funded through a combination of federal, state and local funds, with some private funding. At the local level the plans usually impose a mitigation fee assessed on new development in habitat areas ranging from a few hundred dollars per acre to the $1950 per acre in the case of the Stephens’ kangaroo rat HCP in Southern California.

Ideas for future funding sources include the creation of habitat acquisition revolving funds (similar to state revolving funds for financing local sewage treatment plant construction) and the use of special taxing districts designed to capture land value increases of property located adjacent to habitat preserves. Greater reliance needs to be placed on less expensive alternatives than fee-simple acquisition, such as transfers of development rights, tradable conservation credits, mandatory clustering and other development controls.

The Future of HCPs

The considerable progress in habitat conservation made through this mechanism to balance development and conservation could be halted if current proposals in Congress to substantially weaken ESA prevail. Clearly it is the “teeth” of ESA that gets opposing parties to the bargaining table. Without a strong ESA, there will be little reason to expect this form of collaborative habitat conservation to occur.

The experience to date suggests that flexibility does exist under current law, and that the problems encountered with HCPs do require some fine tuning. The challenge is to make the HCP process an even more effective tool for conserving biodiversity. At the same time, if habitat conservation is incorporated into local comprehensive plans, then new development can be steered away from important habitat areas and public investment decisions can minimize potential species-development conflicts.

Timothy Beatley is chair of the Department of Urban and Environmental Planning in the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia and the author of Habitat Conservation Planning: Endangered Species and Urban Growth, University of Texas Press, 1994. He spoke at the Institute’s May 1995 meeting of the Land Conservation in New England Study Group.

Additional information in printed newletter:
Map: Balcones Canyonlands, Austin, Texas. Source: Adapted from maps by Butler/EH&A Team, City of Austin Environmental and Conservation Services, Balcones Canyonlands Conservation Plan, Preapplication Draft, Austin, 1992

Jeffrey Sundberg is associate professor of economics and business at Lake Forest College in Lake Forest, Illinois, where he has taught since 1989. He also serves as chair of the College’s interdisciplinary Environmental Studies Program. He earned his B.A. from Carleton College in 1982, and subsequently received an M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University. His current research examines various aspects of public policy toward land conservation, including tax incentives for conservation easements and factors influencing voter approval for programs to protect open space. In a recent article in Land Economics, he examined membership patterns in land trusts across the country as evidence of private willingness to provide a public good (Sundberg 2006).

Sundberg’s interest in conservation extends to his volunteer activities as well. He currently serves as the vice president of the board of directors for the Liberty Prairie Conservancy, a countywide land trust in Lake County, Illinois, and is a past member of the board of directors of the Chicago Audubon Society. He initiated and directs an ongoing habitat restoration program on the grounds of Lake Forest College. A dedicated birder, he leads bird walks annually for several different organizations and volunteers as a bird-bander every spring.

Land Lines: Conservation easements are a topic of great interest to the Lincoln Institute. What specific aspects of them are you researching?

Jeffrey Sundberg: There has been quite a lot of research on the use of easements as a tool for conservation, and there is a growing interest in various legal aspects of easement policy. However, there has been relatively little work on the economic aspects of easements. The number and value of these incentives have increased over the past 20 years, and so has the number of acres under easement. This has had a largely unmeasured effect on tax collections at the local, state, and federal levels.

In collaboration with Richard Dye, my colleague at Lake Forest College and a visiting fellow at the Lincoln Institute, I am examining tax incentives for the donation of easements to nonprofit conservation groups and government agencies (Sundberg and Dye 2006). A broad range of incentives exists, and their effects may vary with the income and assets of the property owner, and the state in which the parcel is located.

An analysis of these tax incentives suggests certain conclusions about the type of property owner who is most able to benefit financially from such a donation. These incentives are likely to affect both the number of available easements and the cost to society of accepting the donations. The easement must have conservation value in order to qualify for the tax savings, but there is no benefits test that compares the amount of conservation value to the amount of tax revenue lost.

Land Lines: What are some of your findings?

Jeffrey Sundberg: Numerous publications, including Jeff Pidot’s recent work with the Institute (Pidot 2005), have speculated that under certain circumstances it would be possible for a landowner to receive tax savings that exceed the value of the donated easement. In fact, under certain conditions a taxpayer could receive more than two dollars of tax savings for every dollar of easement donation, even when future tax savings are discounted. The largest single potential benefit often stems from various estate tax reductions that result from the donation of a qualified easement. However, a donation could create a positive net present value even without qualifying for the estate tax benefit. Many states also have substantial incentives of their own in the form of income tax credits, property tax reductions, or both.

These incentives offer both good and bad news for conservation policy. While they certainly make it easier to persuade property owners to donate a conservation easement on their land, they also create an incentive for owners to take efficiency-reducing actions by tailoring their easements to create the maximum tax benefit, rather than the maximum conservation value. In addition, land trusts and other qualified organizations may have to spend time and energy evaluating relatively low-quality easements offered by financially motivated donors, who may be able to expend considerable effort to find a willing holder of an easement.

Land Lines: What are some public policy implications of your work?

Jeffrey Sundberg: It is important to distinguish between federal and state tax incentives in making policy recommendations. Federal incentives consist of tax deductions, which are most valuable to property owners who have substantial tax liabilities and face high marginal tax rates. Many land parcels with significant conservation value are owned by land-rich, low-income individuals who are unable to take any significant advantage of income tax deductions, and who may not be subject to the estate tax. Federal tax incentives offer relatively low benefits to this type of landowner, even with the recent change that allows a longer carry-forward period until those benefits expire.

State incentives typically offer credits that can be used to offset existing income taxes on a dollar-for-dollar basis. The benefit to the donors does not depend on their marginal tax rate, though high-income donors are still more likely to be able to use their credits. Most credits are not “refundable,” which means that a donor must have taxable income to make use of them. Two states currently allow donors to sell their excess credits, which increases the likelihood that they will be able to benefit financially by donating an easement. A move toward credits, rather than deductions, would allow low-income donors to receive more benefits without necessarily reducing the benefits to high-income donors. This should increase the number of high-quality parcels potentially available for conservation.

Our research also studies the possible impact of eliminating the federal estate (or death) tax. In 48 of the 50 states, estate tax savings are the single largest source of potential financial benefits to easement donors, so elimination of the tax could have a significant chilling effect on easement donations across the country.

Programs for the sale of easement credits highlight another area of concern, the potential for fraudulent activity. Needless to say, fraud is costly in terms of lost tax revenue, in the administrative burden it imposes on governments and conservation organizations that must resolve troublesome donations, and most of all in the loss of trust and goodwill for these important programs, which currently enjoy great public support.

Land Lines: How would an economic approach to easements differ from an environmental approach?

Jeffrey Sundberg: An environmental approach might consider conservation benefits in both ecological and human terms, with an eye toward preserving significant benefits for the future. Their existence would be enough to justify creation of the easement, without the need to set a monetary value. This view is similar to current easement policy, where there is no comparison of benefit to cost.

An economic approach would attempt to place a monetary value on those benefits, not because they can be bought and sold, but because this is the only way to make any kind of reasonable comparison between the benefit of the easement and its cost. Without having at least a rough estimate of these figures, it is impossible to ensure that any particular easement creates a net benefit for society. Under most current easement programs, the organization that accepts the easement only has to certify that some conservation value exists; the organization typically has little idea of the actual cost of the tax subsidy to the easement. The primary cost to the organization is likely to be the obligation to monitor and enforce the easement, which may be a widely varying fraction of the total cost of the easement.

Both environmental and economic approaches would agree that different easements will provide differing amounts and types of benefit, suggesting that the tax incentives should be tailored to encourage the donation of easements that provide the most overall value, whether measured in economic or environmental terms.

Land Lines: Are there alternatives to tax incentives for easement donations that might be more efficient?

Jeffrey Sundberg: It’s a little difficult to answer that, since there is so little data available about our current system. We don’t know what the magnitude of the costs have been, so it would be premature to claim that it has been clearly inefficient. What we do know is that the current system does not provide incentives for efficiency.

For example, consider the case of a land trust that accepts an easement that meets or exceeds several of the requirements for qualification; it provides both ecological and human benefits that are significant. However, the land trust does not have any idea of the amount of tax revenue lost as a result of the donation. Depending on various circumstances, including location of the parcel and the income and wealth of the donor, the tax savings might range from thousands to millions of dollars. There is no way to know the net benefit to society, or even if that net benefit is positive. All we can say is that benefits have been created, and costs incurred. Such a system does not create any expectation of efficient behavior. At best, organizations will accept only easements that generate high conservation benefits, with no regard to the actual cost of the tax benefits generated for the donor.

The problem is that other systems, such as requiring that easements be purchased rather than donated, also generate efficiency problems. Given how little we know about the magnitude of the benefits and costs being created, and the difficulty of predicting responses to a new set of incentives, I favor improvements to the existing system rather than beginning a new experiment.

Land Lines: What role do you see for economic analysis in shaping future environmental protection legislation?

Jeffrey Sundberg: Easement policy is like many kinds of environmental protection legislation—it tends to be benefit-based. Economic analysis can point the way to the creation of appropriate incentives that can reduce the cost of achieving those benefits. It can also suggest the kind of benefits that have greater value to society, and which should therefore receive higher priority.

It is not realistic, or desirable, to use economic analysis to evaluate each easement before a donation is accepted. However, economic analysis can be used to create incentives that are compatible with more efficient kinds of donations. For example, most federal incentives, and those of most states, apply equally to any easement that meets one or more of several possible qualifications, including habitat for endangered species or scenic value for local residents. Economic analysis could be used to suggest which qualifications are of the highest value to society, and tax incentives could then be tailored to provide the most payment for the easements likely to offer the greatest benefit.

References

Pidot, Jeff. 2005. Reinventing conservation easements: A critical examination and ideas for reform. Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

Sundberg, Jeffrey. 2006. Private provision of a public good: Land trust membership. Land Economics 82(3): 353–366.

Sundberg, Jeffrey, and Richard F. Dye. 2006. Tax and property value effects of conservation easements. Working Paper. Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

As the world’s most populous country and its third largest economy, China and its rapid urbanization and development will represent one of the defining trends of the twenty-first century. Over the past 30 years, China has made remarkable economic and social progress, lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty and catapulting China onto the international stage.

This economic transformation has also involved an institutional transformation as China’s centrally planned economy has moved pragmatically to a broad reliance on market mechanisms. This movement has been especially challenging in the case of land, which for decades was owned by the state or peasant collectives. Progress has been made in urban areas, where the leasehold term of land ownership is now normally 70 years, but in rural areas collective land ownership continues.

Despite its noteworthy accomplishments, China is facing critical land policy issues that will determine the direction of its future economic development and urbanization.

• Property rights. The rapid growth of cities has led to government transfers of rural land to urban and industrial uses. Inadequate compensation to farmers whose property rights have been poorly defined has fueled growing civil unrest, while urban leaseholders seek to strengthen their new property rights.
• Property tax implementation. Recent tax reform has reduced local government revenues and prompted local officials to rely on land sales receipts, fees, and off-budget revenues to finance government expenditures. China’s government is seeking to implement a property tax as a local revenue source to take advantage of the rapid growth of the real estate market.
• Farmland preservation. The large amount of land removed from agricultural production by the complex forces of urbanization has exacerbated concerns about farmland preservation, especially related to food security.
• Urban planning and development. Rapid urbanization has also resulted in increased urban poverty, housing affordability problems, inequality between urban and rural population groups, regional disparities, and other social and economic challenges. China’s urban planning practices are in need of reform to better reflect market forces and economic behavior.
• Environmental sustainability. China’s economic and demographic changes over the past 30 years have been associated with severe environmental degradation. With rapid urbanization forecast over the next decade, there is growing consensus that China must find a more sustainable development model. More sustainable cities are integral to any low-carbon development trajectory.

With these diverse issues in mind, the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy’s China Program was inaugurated in 2003 and continues to focus on improving the quality of public debate and decisions concerning land policy and urban development in China through sound research and the leveraging of international experience and expertise.

The China Program has grown considerably in capacity, scope, and geographic footprint, highlighted by the establishment of the joint Peking University–Lincoln Institute Center for Urban Development and Land Policy in October 2007. The Center’s mission is to study land, urban, and fiscal policies and to facilitate education, training, policy analysis, and research. Having this joint facility in Beijing provides the China Program with an ongoing domestic presence that expands the Institute’s networks and resources and brings together government officials, practitioners, and foreign and domestic scholars to engage in dialogue and to share experiences to promote a better understanding of land policy, urbanization, and property taxation in China and around the world.

The China Program has identified six key research areas that are highly relevant to China’s future development and also offer the best opportunities to utilize the Lincoln Institute’s expertise and resources.

Adoption of a Property Tax

China’s 11th Five-Year Plan (2006–2010) elevated the issue of a property tax onto the official agenda, and pilot property tax projects are currently under way in more than 10 provinces. However, the issue’s sensitive political nature, lingering technical difficulties concerning data and valuation, and continued debate about the exact form of any proposed property tax have slowed implementation and made it unlikely that a broader property tax and related tax policy reforms will be implemented before the 12th Five-Year Plan begins in 2011.

Through close working relationships with the State Administration of Taxation (SAT), the Ministry of Finance (MOF), and the Development Research Center for the State Council (DRC), the China Program has offered a number of educational programs and provided significant intellectual and capacity building support for China’s adoption of a property tax.

For example, in October 2009 representatives of the British Columbia Assessment Office, the Altus Group, and ESRI Canada led a China Program training workshop on property tax implementation and design of computer-assisted mass appraisal (CAMA) systems. More than 50 SAT officials participated, including representatives from each of the property tax pilot cities.

Delegates from the SAT and the Lincoln Institute attended a three-day conference on valuation and mass appraisal at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, in March 2009, before traveling to Johannesburg’s valuation office to discuss the challenges of implementing a property tax in that country.

In November 2008, training on technical aspects of property valuation was provided in Beijing by property tax experts from Canada, the United States, South Africa, and Hong Kong for more than 40 administrators and assessors from China’s property tax pilot cities.

Local Public Finance

Fiscal policy reform is a key component in addressing many of the social and economic problems China faces. Restructuring the current tax system and promoting balanced tax and expenditure responsibilities at the local government level is one of the main policy objectives of the Chinese government. The underlying efforts are closely related to the future development of any property tax, a necessary and critical solution to local public finance challenges.

The China Program is focused on issues of fiscal decentralization, public service financing, land-related taxes and fees, regional inequity, intergovernmental finance, and the role of property taxation in a modern public sector finance system. Representative activities have included a January 2009 workshop in Beijing on fiscal policy and economic growth in China with leading fiscal policy scholars and experts, including officials from the MOF, DRC, and SAT.

An international conference held at the Lincoln Institute’s headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts in May 2008 focused on local public finance and property taxation. Those proceedings will be edited and published in a Lincoln Institute book in 2010, and the volume will be translated and published in China as well.

Land Policy and Land Management

The revision of China’s Land Management Law has been a sensitive issue over the past several years, as the country struggles to define rural land rights, land expropriation, and the public good. With a new land law revision on the horizon, land-related issues remain at the forefront of China’s policy agenda, particularly issues concerning urban and rural property rights, land expropriation, land use efficiency, land use planning, land conservation, and urban expansion and sprawl.

In June 2009 the China Program co-organized a roundtable discussion on the most recent draft revision of China’s Land Management Law with the Land Law Committee of the China Land Science Society in association with the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR). Experts and prominent scholars from across the political spectrum engaged in direct dialogue and discussion with government officials at MLR who are working on the revision.

The China Program is now compiling and translating several land management laws from a dozen developing and developed countries for use by Chinese officials and scholars. The Program also cosponsored a comprehensive survey of land use and farmland conservation issues in a dozen provinces in China, and is building a database for future research on land management issues.

Urban Planning and Development

Rapid urbanization has led to the explosive growth of Chinese cities and their populations, presenting an enormous challenge in terms of city planning, infrastructure, and transportation. New approaches to urban planning are fundamental to the development and management of cities, as well as a prerequisite to ensuring the efficient use of land and integrated development in China. Efforts also must be made to use land sensibly and to coordinate the spatial layout of urban areas, thereby avoiding rampant and uncontrolled urbanization.

The China Program cooperated with the Chinese Society for Urban Studies and the Urban Planning Society of China, affiliated with the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, in organizing the July 2009 International Forum on Urban Development and Planning, which featured the theme “Harmony and Ecology: Sustainable Cities.”

In cooperation with the Lincoln Institute’s Department of Planning and Urban Form, more than 20 international speakers attended a symposium on megaregions and spatial planning practice worldwide, held in Beijing in October 2008.

Affordable Housing

Housing policy, and in particular affordable housing, is becoming an important focus for China’s policy makers during this period of rapid urbanization. With upwards of 15 million new urban residents expected annually over the next decade, the growth in the supply of affordable housing is an immediate concern. In addition to a one-year joint policy research project with the DRC, the China Program is conducting original research in the field of housing policy and introducing international experience to China’s policy makers and the academic community.

For example, in July 2009 the China Program organized a symposium on low-income housing policy in China to provide a platform for international and domestic scholars and government officials from DRC, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and the People’s Bank of China to engage in dialogue and discussion. Papers from the symposium will be published in an edited volume for distribution in China. The China Program also hosted an international conference entitled Housing Policy and Housing Markets in China in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in May 2009, and is preparing an edited conference volume for publication in both English and Chinese.

Environmental Challenges

With international attention focusing on recent climate negotiations in Copenhagen, there is a pressing need for timely research on low-carbon development and the complex linkages between land, transportation, and urban and environmental policies in China and globally. The China Program is leading research on environmental taxation in China from a global perspective and developing a database of environmental tax statistics.

The Program organized a roundtable on green cities at Peking University in September 2009, which drew strong interest from domestic and international academics and signaled the need for further study of environmental policy issues in the future. And in May 2008, the Program, joined by Loeb Fellows from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and Chinese policy makers and academics, held a roundtable discussion at Peking University that addressed urban transformation and sustainability.

Building Capacity to Address the Issues

Since its inception the China Program has been committed to enhancing the capacity of both current policy makers and academics and researchers whose analysis and opinions will influence China’s future policies and reforms. This educational emphasis continues with the establishment of the Peking University–Lincoln Institute Center, which has become an important platform for reaching and engaging students and scholars at Peking University and other academic institutions through training programs, fellowships, lecture series, online education, and research publications.

Training the Trainers

This annual program aims to enhance the capacity and awareness of scholars throughout China regarding urban economics, planning, public finance, and related land policy issues. The courses target university faculty and professional researchers, as well as select government officials, with the goal to increase competence through intensive professional seminars on issues related to land policy in China. More than 70 participants on average attend each two-week training program. Leading experts in their fields from around the world offer the participants an invaluable international perspective. The China Program’s recently launched online education platform seeks to build on previous training programs and to move progressively toward more specialized trainings.

Fellowships

The China Program awards several types of fellowships to international and Chinese scholars and graduate students working on Chinese land and urban policy. Two or three international fellowships are awarded annually to leading scholars and professional researchers based at universities around the globe. In addition to producing important research on issues ranging from the spatial structure of megacities to household carbon emissions in Chinese cities, the international fellowship is an invaluable tool to increase scholarly dialogue between China and the world. These fellows are an integral component of the China Program’s other activities, such as teaching at Training the Trainers programs, reviewing other fellowship proposals, and speaking at seminars.

Fellowships for Chinese graduate students and junior researchers are administered through the Peking University–Lincoln Institute Center to bring young scholars into Chinese land and urban policy studies. Approximately 15 dissertation fellowships are awarded to aspiring scholars annually, while an additional 6 or 8 research fellowships help strengthen the capacity of scholars based in China’s leading institutions.

The China Program’s in-country presence at the Peking University–Lincoln Institute Center also facilitates interactions among the fellows, including the provision of constructive feedback on their ongoing research. All fellows are invited to Beijing for a mid-term progress report, where they share their initial research findings with peers and a panel of international experts. This event has proven to be an effective way to help domestic junior scholars and graduate students build research skills and promote studies of urban and land issues in China.

Speaker Series

The China Program also regularly invites distinguished individuals drawn from the Lincoln Institute’s network of leading scholars and policy makers to speak to the Beijing scholarly community on vital topics ranging from planning support systems to fiscal federalism and decentralization in the United States. This speaker series helps meet the demand for knowledge about international development and urbanization experiences and how these cases can be adapted to fit China’s needs.

Online Education

The Lincoln Institute has long history of employing online education as a tool to reach a broader audience and maximize its resources. Given the vast geographic distances in China and its emphasis on training and capacity building, the China Program has similarly been interested in online education for some time. The establishment of the Peking University–Lincoln Institute Center has accelerated the process of making information, analysis, and data available online, and widened the network of collaborators interested in tapping into the Institute’s expertise.

Through the Center, the China Program engaged a local online education company to develop a China-centric platform, which was inaugurated in the summer of 2009 during the China Program’s Training the Trainers session on urban economics and planning. The two-week program was recorded and translated into Chinese, and is accompanied online by Chinese transcripts of lectures and associated PowerPoint presentations and other materials.

The value of the online platform has become apparent almost immediately. During the fall 2009 program and demonstration on property taxation and CAMA, which was also recorded for later conversion to the online platform, attending SAT officials expressed their eagerness to use the platform to demonstrate the concepts to their colleagues and superiors.

Publications and Web-based Resources

As the China Program has increased its research capacity and professional support with the establishment of the Peking University–Lincoln Institute Center, it is producing a steadily increasing series of working papers, books, and training materials that are extending the Lincoln Institute’s and the China Program’s expertise on and influence in China. During 2008 and 2009, nine books were published or made ready for print, and eight other books are at various stages of development. The China Program and the Center’s fellows and visiting fellows have also produced about 40 working papers and a number of focused reports and policy briefs, which will soon be available online.

Complementing all of these activities is the Peking University–Lincoln Institute Center’s revamped Web site. It provides a window into the China Program’s mission and vision, and is an important link between the Lincoln Institute’s and the China Program’s dual educational and research objectives. Drawing together Chinese and English working papers, training and education materials, and conference proceedings from both the Lincoln Institute and the Peking University–Lincoln Institute Center, the Web site is a rich repository of impartial knowledge and an expanding platform for scholarly dialogue concerning the ascendant land, urban, and environmental policy issues in China.

In 2010, the China Program will continue to strengthen its online resources to synthesize and disseminate its recent research to a broader audience of Chinese scholars and policy makers through new publications and focused policy reports, while also striving to advance academic debate through research, demonstration projects, conferences and other activities.

About the Author

Joyce Yanyun Man is senior fellow and director of the Lincoln Institute’s China Program, as well as director of the Peking University–Lincoln Institute Center for Urban Development and Land Policy. She is also professor of economics in the Peking University College of Urban and Environmental Science.

A city’s master plan typically describes development goals and objectives through the use of multiple maps and written documents. Most maps and other representations of urban design are built with a two-dimensional (2D) vision and then transferred into regulatory instruments and strategic planning tools. Urban space is treated as being flat and divided up into puzzle pieces such as administrative areas (municipal, rural, urban, growing, expanding, fringe); land use areas (residential, commercial, central business, historic, tourist, informal, recreational); environmentally protected or restricted area (water catchments, floodplains, landslide-prone hills); and other categories.

When urban space is described through digital maps integrated with databases in a geographic information system (GIS), many additional layers of information can be considered in a three-dimensional (3D) platform. However, when real 3D urban space is managed by laws and other conventions based on a 2D vision, the physical and legal cities are operating in quite different and incompatible dimensions. This discrepancy was accepted in the past, when 2D maps were the primary resource available to represent the real city, but nowadays computer graphics can handle more complex objects in space.

Rethinking the legal and economic aspects of urban society by shifting from the traditional 2D vision to a 3D approach will be necessary to develop, implement, and control urban land policies more efficiently. A 3D cadastre is one of the tools that can facilitate that process through spatial databases and representations. The institution of a territorial cadastre is familiar in many countries, but does not exist in the same way in the United States. A modern cadastre is an integrated database system that holds information on land registration and ownership, physical characteristics, econometric modeling for property valuation, zoning, geographic information, transportation networks, infrastructure and services, and environmental attributes, all of which are linked to socioeconomic and demographic information on property owners.

Creating a New 3D Framework

Google Earth has popularized geographic information by allowing users to visualize a virtual 3D location at the desired level of detail and in a global environment. Google Earth and other geographic software can be used quite easily to change the viewpoint of reality. Moving from a top-down view, which shows the city as a flat area, to an oblique perspective permits the viewer to see the relief and height of buildings, trees, aerial utility networks, and other objects in space.

This type of 3D visualization can identify undeveloped spaces, buildings of different heights, scattered suburban housing, structures in isolated rural areas, and precarious slum construction, thus helping to infer changes in land uses. Even when 3D images are represented on a flat screen or printed surface, they show details that are hard to identify in a 2D map, such as shadow movements during the day, views from an apartment window, and spatial relationships between buildings.

The constantly evolving 3D technology is changing the paradigms of urban planning and land policy because it impacts not only how the city is viewed but the way property rights and other restrictions in space are described. As a result, a new urban legal framework based on 3D laws and 3D property registries will be needed to describe objects in space instead of just flat con-tours. The 3D laws affect rights in space, not in a plane of projection, and in this context it will be possible to define 3D land policies.

For example, a 3D image of the basic, maximum, and actual floor-area-ratio (FAR) for a set of land parcels would facilitate the use of land management instruments such as charges for the purchase of building rights for new development. To support a 3D legal framework it is necessary to have spatial data systematized on 3D cadastres, which create and maintain up-to-date spatial databases and volumetric representations of cities, as well as a 3D property registry in which every property and its restrictions are identified and documented.

Land surveyors, geologists, biologists, and engineers are accustomed to determining the location of physical objects in space by specifying attributes such as mineral deposits, water bodies, contamination or fumes in the air or underground, or restricted spaces around power lines, but legislators, urban planners, assessors, and others are not used to describing the intersections of more than two attributes in space. The increasing complexity of infrastructure and densely built-up areas requires the proper registration of their legal status (private and public), which can be provided only to a limited extent by the existing 2D cadastral registrations.

Despite its promise as a tool for urban planning and the extensive research and progress in practice to date, no country has a true 3D cadastre with complete functionality. The evolving concepts involved in this new process should be based on the ISO 19152 Land Administration Domain Model (LADM), which provides support for 3D representations (van Oosterom 2011).

The Virtual 3D City

The first idea that usually comes to mind regarding a 3D image is its representation in regular shapes such as cubes, prisms, and cylinders, but these simple forms have proved insufficient to analyze urban space. Seeking a closer match with reality, researchers and designers have developed techniques to overlay photographs of building facades on building contours, and to represent all architectural characteristics of a building using 3D computer-aided design (CAD) software.

However, even these types of virtual 3D buildings typically were placed on a flat reference plane, which created a false image because it showed all buildings at the same level. By adding relief through digital perspectives based on digital terrain models, virtual 3D buildings could be placed at the correct altitude relative to sea level. The next step was to overlay aerial orthophotos on digital relief images, resulting in much more realistic 3D images of the real (physical) city (figure 1).

Presently, 2D and 3D urban models continue to be built with points, lines, polygons, and images. These models are useful but still insufficient for detailed urban analyses because, as noted by the Brazilian geographer Milton Santos, “Geometries are not geography” (Câmara 2000). In fact, several kinds of geographic information are used to develop land policies—human, physical, economic, and environmental—and all of them occur in space.

GIS contributes to the process of building a virtual 3D city by permitting linkages between statistical data and geometric shapes to generate thematic information images that can be applied to a variety of land policy issues. The 3D image created in a GIS platform is frequently more useful for urban planning purposes than a photograph of the same sector because the 3D platform makes it is possible to highlight certain information of interest, create prospective scenarios that anticipate the economical effects of certain land policy decisions, or evaluate the environmental impacts of new development.

Formal and Informal Virtual 3D Cities

The virtual 3D city represented geometrically is useful in several types of analyses, such as vehicle traffic studies, propagation of cell phone waves, or any type of infrastructure network analysis. For other kinds of analysis, even the virtual 3D city is not sufficient, as when a lawyer needs to visualize the legal 3D city as defined by urban and environmental regulations. Figure 2 shows two sets of virtual 3D city blocks, one representing existing buildings and the other indicating the development potential of those buildings based on the applicable urban regulations. These two images show different densities and consequently variable land and property values, but in both cases the property tax base and potential value capture charge can be estimated precisely.

In Latin America, where the incidence of informality is emblematic of the urban landscape, it is important to visualize and define the informal as well as the legal dimensions of the city. Informal settlements develop when households cannot afford housing supplied by the market or by social programs. People must find a place to settle, which is often on hazardous or protected land that is inappropriate for housing, or on vacant public or private land. The magnitude of the need for housing often surpasses the amount of land available, thus forcing informal settlers to build taller structures at higher densities (figure 3).

Every occupied space is a part of the city and should be considered in the urban databases of the cadastre. The task of connecting the virtual informal city with the rest of the virtual city is a bigger challenge in 3D than in 2D due to complexities in dealing with parcels where owners and occupants are different but may share the same space. Infrastructure is also organized differently in these areas. In the formal city, for example, public infrastructure networks consisting of fixed pipes, cables, roads, and rails are regularized and stable. In the informal city, infrastructure networks are often self-built and change constantly as the settlement expands. A 3D cadastre can inform planners of the gaps between the characteristics of the population demanding shelter and the effective supply of land and its attributes, thus helping define policies to address unplanned informal settlements.

3D Dynamic Cities

Changes taking place in cities can be visualized and measured in several ways, for example through studies of densification, migration, and expansion of infrastructure networks. These studies assume that social, economic, and environmental variables are constantly changing although the land is static. However, other forces that produce change in the city can cause dislocations of different intensities that can be measured in space (3D) and time (4D). For example, the continental plates are moving South America, its cities, public and private properties, and infrastructure networks slowly toward the west at the rate of 2 centimeters (cm) per year. These movements, which seem insignificant, have consequences for urban policy if one considers that in 50 years a property could be moved as much as 1 meter from its current position.

Even more extreme movements are the consequence of the dynamic nature of our planet. The earthquake in February 2010 impacted the Chilean region of Bio-Bio at many different scales. Measurements by the Transportable Integrated Geodetic Observatory (TIGO) in the city of Concepción recorded that the entire territory moved initially toward the northwest and then ended with a displacement of 3 meters toward the southwest, all within 30 seconds. During this event, the height of land shifted by 50 cm. The telluric movement carried away properties and destroyed urban infrastructure and buildings, and the damage was compounded by the subsequent tsunami. A similar pattern was observed during Chile’s 1960 earthquake, the most severe ever registered in the world, when the ground moved with such velocity that some properties disappeared into the sea and other land areas emerged.

The January 2010 earthquake in Haiti produced an estimated 20 million cubic meters of debris in 35 seconds, even though significant land displacements were not registered. From the point of view of the cadastre, however, these two disasters had very different impacts. If the urban information had been structured in thematic layers and integrated in a GIS platform, the earthquake in Haiti would have affected the construction layer and several representative building types would have disappeared. In Chile, the construction layer was modified mainly by the tsunami, but the land itself was affected by the spatial displacement and shifts resulting from the telluric movement. Fast-moving natural disasters like these change the environment and people’s lives radically, and have important implications for government priorities, including definitions and implementation of land policy, both before and after such events.

Predictable climate change events, underground contamination, air pollution, and other such data can be mathematically modeled before they happen. By connecting these models with the spatial databases of a 3D cadastre, it is possible to create prospective 3D scenarios of the potential impacts and identify the neighborhoods and properties that could be affected. Unpredictable phenomena such as earthquakes and sudden flooding can be represented much more quickly if the measurement instruments tracked by environmental institutions or government agencies are connected to the spatial databases of 3D cadastres. The spatial representation of the impact can be made available soon after the event.

In sum, the 3D representation can help define preventive land policies to address predictable changes and also enable the readjustment of current land policies after unpredictable natural events.

3D Networks and Infrastructure

Infrastructure and transport networks move through 3D parcels in different ways and allow the city to remain active and fluid. Some of these networks are invisible by nature, such as the microwaves of cellular phones; others are invisible because they are located underground, such as infrastructure tunnels and pipes; and others are easily visible because they are built on the surface, such as roadways or utility lines. Figure 4 illustrates some of the complex spatial intersections that occur in the overlapping layers of infrastructure and transportation networks within 3D parcels.

These spatial relationships among networks and public and private properties, environmental reserves, mineral deposits, water bodies, and other features have been treated inefficiently through 2D cartographic norms, but they require the development of specific, new 3D norms to enforce the social function of property with equity and justice. For example, Article 1.286 of Brazil’s Civil Code states that a landowner is obligated to provide a right of way through her property for cables, pipes, and other underground conduits that serve the public at large and could not be built elsewhere. The law also outlines the need to determine the amount of area affected by public works projects in each parcel and its corresponding value in order to calculate the compensation due to the owner. 3D cadastral records can be an important contribution to facilitating such transactions.

3D Land Market Value

One of the functions of a territorial cadastre is to provide information to determine the value of the parcels with respect to property taxation and urban planning policies. In Latin America, land values generally have been based on ad hoc valuation methods (such as the replacement value of buildings) that use construction data and land values for each cadastre sector (Erba 2008). This practice does not always produce reliable valuations because it is difficult to keep the cadastral databases up-to-date, and the implementation of the valuation methods may be arbitrary from place to place.

An alternative valuation method now being implemented across the region is the use of spatial econometric models to determine property values with the desired level of statistical precision. This is important because land values change across urban space and depend on variables such as urban regulations, environmental restrictions, scenic views, infrastructure, and other features associated with the property, such as underground or airborne elements.

The most modern GIS platforms developed for 3D cadastres even allow the assessor to “stand” inside a building at any given altitude before the building is constructed. The software allows the assessor to see the view that will be available from the window of the dwelling, identify relationships to other buildings, perceive the natural landscape, and note other relevant characteristics of the property. Such data help determine the relevance of externalities to the value of the property, an aspect often neglected in valuations based on traditional replacement value methods.

Figure 5 shows a perspective of the surface gradient of land values per square meter obtained from sample points corresponding to properties for sale. The surface has the same coordinate reference system (x, y) as the entire city. Even when the spatial third dimension (z) is not related to the geographic space, it is possible to put the surface under the legal virtual city (as shown in figure 2) and analyze the spatial correlation between the land value per square meter and relevant urban regulations. Such an application is another possible contribution to the development of land policies based on 3D cadastre techniques.

Conclusions

While the technologies used to measure, represent, and store information are now evolving toward 3D platforms, urban legislation and land policies continue to approach the city as a flat land surface. To visualize the buildings and the restrictions imposed on properties in 3D is a considerable advancement for those responsible for urban decision making. Nevertheless, there is a long way to go before 3D information is integrated as part of urban legislation and property titles.

The consolidation of a 3D cadastre, which registers how 3D parcels intersect with the corresponding legal norms and regulations, would contribute to more effective urban and environmental planning, infrastructure network design, and the prevention of informality by permitting the construction of future scenarios showing the impacts of land policies in space. Changing the term area to space would be a first step in giving urban and environmental legislation a 3D connotation, and would be a simple and relevant way to start the process of introducing this new paradigm. Structuring a 3D property registry is still under development, but when it is established landowners will understand that they own cubic feet instead of only square feet.

About the Author

Diego Alfonso Erba is a fellow at Lincoln Institute of Land Policy where he coordinates distance education programs for the Program on Latin America and the Caribbean. He also researches, publishes, and manages studies on cadastre and GIS applications.

References

Câmara, Gilberto. 2000. http://mundogeo.com/blog/2000/01/01/geometrias-nao-sao-geografias-o-legado-de-milton-santos/

Erba, Diego A. 2008. Catastro e información territorial en América Latina (CD-Rom). Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

van Oosterom, Peter. 2011. Preface of the Proceedings 2nd International Workshop on 3D Cadastre. Delft, The Netherlands http://3dcadastres2011.nl/

Acknowledgments

The author thanks these partners and colleagues in the development of research in this field of knowledge: Anamaria Gliesch-Leebmann, Design Concepts 4 You, Seeheim-Jugenheim, Germany; Everton da Silva, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil; João Norberto Destro, Aeroimagem S/A; Igor Bacigaluppi, Regional Government of Bio-Bio, Chile; Sergio Baeriswyl Rada, Municipality of Concepción, Chile; Andrea F. T. Carneiro, Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil; Eduardo A. A. Augusto, Brazilian Land Registry Institute (IRIB), São Paulo, Brazil; and Martim Smolka and Anna Sant’Anna of the Program on Latin America and the Caribbean at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.