Land Governance: The Invisible Lever of Urban Form

Land governance might be one of the most underrated “design levers” I’ve encountered. Key word being "might"! Perhaps it can help explain why feasibility, infrastructure delivery, and spatial quality can play out so differently across countries."

"My reference point has long been Uganda, where private titles and plot-level agency can be strong, but tenure also varies widely, including customary, mailo, freehold and leasehold arrangements, with legacies of public or crown land in certain contexts. In many cases, land can be purchased and a title secured, giving an owner substantial control over what happens on that plot, whether that means building a home or developing apartments, depending on how planning and building rules are applied in practice. Once the scale shifts from the plot to the network, such as powerline corridors, road alignments, and drainage routes, delivery often requires acquisition and compensation. That process can introduce procedural complexity, upfront cost, negotiation, and delays, which makes network-level coordination harder, not only for the infrastructure itself, but also for the continuity of public space and mobility structures that depend on it."

"In contexts like parts of the Netherlands, where the public sector often has a stronger land position through ownership and or long-term land-use rights, it is typically easier to align infrastructure early, phase delivery, and secure public-space quality through conditions tied to land. In that Dutch setting, instruments like the GREX can function not only as a feasibility check, but also as a steering mechanism, linking land value, public investment, phasing, and spatial ambition into one implementable logic."

"China, on the other hand, is different in legal form, but similar in the sense that the public sector retains a strong land position. Development land is commonly delivered through time-limited land-use rights granted via auction and bidding mechanisms, which structurally supports early corridor reservation and coordinated phasing."

"Same urban ambitions? Maybe. But different delivery realities are often driven by the land system underneath the plan."

"#landpolicy #urbangovernance #GREX #spatialplanning #infrastructure #publicspace