Land Lines July 2009
The University’s Role in Urban Development
For most of its history the American university has been treated as an enclave—a scientific and reflective ivory tower removed from the subjective turmoil of the city. More recently, the university has come to be viewed by many public officials and analysts as a driver of urban development.
Mapping Property Taxes in Africa
A joint venture between the Lincoln Institute and the African Tax Institute has begun to research data on property taxes. This information is extremely difficult to obtain in many nations, yet it could provide a basis for policy debate that has not been possible in the past.
Law and Land Policy in Latin America
Legal systems have contributed to informal development in two main ways—through the exclusionary land, property rights, and registration legal provisions, and through flawed planning systems adopted in many large cities.
This issue explores the American university’s evolved role as a driver of urban development; a joint venture between the Lincoln Institute and the African Tax Institute to shed light on African property taxes; and Latin American land laws and policies as they pertain to the continent’s troubled urban planning systems.