OCTOBER 2017
PKU–Lincoln Center’s 10th Anniversary GIS-Assisted Mass Appraisal, Shenzhen-Style Sponge Cities, Panda Habitat, and the Nature Conservancy Contents OCTOBER 2017 | VOL 29 | NO 4
EDITOR Maureen Clarke FEATURES DEPARTMENTS
PRESIDENT & CEO George W. McCarthy 8 Virtual Valuation 2 Message from the President CHAIR & CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER Kathryn J. Lincoln GIS-Assisted Mass Appraisal in Shenzhen The Future of the PKU–Lincoln Center
DESIGN & PRODUCTION One of the few countries without a property tax, George W. McCarthy Sarah Rainwater Design www.srainwater.com China has developed what many consider the world’s most advanced valuation system. Marrying 5 Message from the PRODUCTION EDITOR Susan Pace computer-assisted mass appraisal with GIS tools, President Emeritus the Shenzhen Assessment Center can calculate the The PKU–Lincoln Center in Retrospect market value of a property’s view, natural light, and THE LINCOLN INSTITUTE OF LAND POLICY other transient features from a desktop computer. Gregory K. Ingram is an independent, nonpartisan organization whose mission is to help solve global economic, By Tom Nunlist social, and environmental challenges to improve 8 29 City Tech the quality of life through creative approaches WeChat Pay Shapes Street Life in China to the use, taxation, and stewardship of land. As a private operating foundation whose origins Rob Walker date to 1946, the Lincoln Institute seeks to inform public dialogue and decisions about 14 The Drone Revolution land policy through research, training, and UAV-Generated Geodata Sharpens 32 New Policy Focus Report effective communication. By bringing together scholars, practitioners, public officials, policy Land Policy from Latin America to China Revitalizing America’s Smaller Legacy makers, journalists, and involved citizens, the Lincoln Institute integrates theory and practice From Latin America to China, drones are creating Cities: Strategies for Postindustrial and provides a forum for multidisciplinary high-resolution photographs and 3-D models Success from Gary to Lowell perspectives on public policy concerning land, that help update territorial cadastres, document both in the United States and internationally. By Torey Hollingsworth and Alison Goebel informal development, recover from natural disasters, inform GIS-assisted mass appraisal of Land Lines is published quarterly in January/ property, and address other land use challenges. February, April, July, and October to report on Policy can barely keep pace as UAVs revolutionize Institute-sponsored programs. 14 and democratize data collection.
By John Wihbey Lincoln Institute of Land Policy 113 Brattle St, Cambridge, MA 02138
T (617) 661-3016 or (800) 526-3873 F (617) 661-7235 or (800) 526-3944 22 Sponge Cities and Panda Habitat
EMAIL FOR EDITORIAL CONTENT The Nature Conservancy’s Foray into China [email protected]
EMAIL FOR INFORMATION SERVICES The Nature Conservancy China is partnering with the [email protected] PKU–Lincoln Center on two major land-based green initiatives: Shenzhen’s sponge city project will www.lincolninst.edu mitigate floods by absorbing rainfall with bioswales, rain gardens, and other green infrastructure. And the Laohegou Reserve in Sichuan province will be China’s first land trust, preserving 27,000 acres of giant Shenzhen city in China. Credit: pa_YON/ 22 panda habitat. Getty Images By James N. Levitt and Emily Myron
2 LAND LINES OCTOBER 2017 1 MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT GEORGE W. McCARTHY
implications for land and housing policies in both People’s Congress, Ministry of Finance, the the megacities and the second- and third-tier Ministry of Land and Resources, Ministry of The Future of the cities that are receiving new migrants. Housing and Urban and Rural Development, State The housing market, a significant tailwind for Administration of Taxation, Development PKU–Lincoln Center economic development over the last decade, Research Center of the State Council, China has become a major impediment to growth in Center for International Economic Exchange, and recent years. China’s fast-rising house prices China Land Survey and Planning Institute in are an artifact of widespread speculation by a topical areas such as property taxation, munici- fast-growing middle class looking for good yields pal finance, land policy, housing policy, and land on long-term investments. In past years, this conservation. investment was encouraged by the national ON OCTOBER 14, WE WILL CELEBRATE THE 10TH grew by leaps and bounds using land-based government, which recognized that property It is hard to imagine a more extraordinary ANNIVERSARY OF THE PEKING UNIVERSITY–LINCOLN financing. China now has more than 100 cities with development would significantly drive up GDP. decade in China’s remarkable economic INSTITUTE CENTER FOR URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND over 1 million residents and some 15 “megacities” However, increasing shortages of affordable LAND POLICY, MORE AFFECTIONATELY KNOWN AS THE or urban agglomerations with populations over housing are now becoming a big problem in history than the last one. Ten years ago, PKU–LINCOLN CENTER, OR PLC. To commemorate 10 million. In 2007, only Shanghai and Beijing many cities, locking out first-time home buyers. China’s annual GDP growth was 14.2 percent, the occasion, we are dedicating this issue of were home to this many people, according to the This trend has been accompanied by a decline in a near-peak in the post-reform era, culminat- Land Lines to illustrate some of the PLC’s land United Nations Department of Economic and land-based financing for municipalities as land policy work in contemporary China. While it is Social Affairs. reforms have curtailed the practice. Recently, the ing a 25-year run of double-digit average impossible to cover the broad set of activities During the decade, the economy lost some central government signaled a new policy direction increases in real GDP. Importantly, this growth and issues addressed by the PLC, we hope that momentum, and policy makers adjusted to a when President Xi Jinping stated that “Houses are was fueled by land. the stories presented here will represent the “new normal” of roughly 7 percent annual real GDP built for living, not for speculation.” At the same relevance and rigor of our work. Since its growth—but this is still twice the rate of global time, lenders have begun rationing credit to cool founding, the PLC has both observed and GDP growth, positioning China to double the size housing demand. The PLC will continue to track participated in land policy formation in China. In of its economy in the next decade. The dizzying the housing sector to see whether it can help this message, I will reflect on the future of the performance of the last few decades drove major craft a “soft landing” for it. PLC in light of our experiences over the last population migrations from rural to urban areas. Urbanization in China, as in other countries, decade and the current trends we’ve observed. When the PLC launched in 2007, China was was accompanied by a dramatic decline in poverty In addition, we’ve asked Lincoln Institute urbanizing at an unprecedented pace, adding more as well as increased inequality in the early years. President Emeritus Gregory K. Ingram to provide than 20 million urban residents annually. In 2007, But in this regard, China departed from some a retrospective reflection on the Lincoln 45 percent of China’s population was urban, up international patterns: Although inequality, as Institute’s program in China. Dr. Ingram and from 20 percent in 1980. Today, the population is 57 measured by the Gini coefficient, rose steadily Peking University President Lin Jianhua were percent urban and is expected to reach 60 percent from the 1980s until 2010, it has been declining the PLC’s principal architects, bringing the by 2020. A significant share of new urban growth since 2012. We expect that this is not the only way center to fruition in October 2007. occurred in the increasing number of megacities that China’s transformation will break from It is hard to imagine a more extraordinary such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. common development patterns. The habit of
decade in China’s remarkable economic history China’s unprecedented growth and mass urban breaking from common, historic development At the Beijing Forum 2016 Panel Session II: Global Megacities, and than the last one. Ten years ago, China’s annual migration generated both intended and unintend- patterns is testament to China’s ability to study Regional Coordinated Development, Kate Austermiller, Zhi Liu, George GDP growth was 14.2 percent, a near-peak in the ed consequences. For example, the rapid expan- and learn from the experiences of other countries, W. McCarthy, Canfei He, Tao Jin, and Xinrui Shi. Credit: PLC post-reform era, culminating a 25-year run of sion of megacities is beginning to level off. Many a process in which the PLC has played a role. double-digit average increases in real GDP. This young professionals have begun gravitating toward In the last decade, the PLC contributed to growth rate, more than double that of global second- and third-tier cities instead. When policy debates by nimbly and quickly mobilizing A hallmark contribution of the PLC over the GDP, propelled the nation’s global economic surveyed, recent migrants indicated four main international experts connected to global Lincoln last decade has been knowledge dissemination stature so that China now challenges the United reasons for their moves: high housing costs in Institute networks. In the coming decade, we and policy advice on the property tax law, States for worldwide economic dominance. megacities, stress from the frenetic pace of life, expect to respond similarly to requests for property value assessment, and local tax Importantly, this growth was fueled by land. difficulty managing the care of aging parents, and high-level international exchange from govern- administration. While the National Property Tax Huge infrastructure investments facilitated air pollution. Over the next decade, the PLC will ment and institutional counterparts including the Law is not on the legislative timetable this year, industrial expansion around major cities, which observe and track this trend to determine the Budget Affairs Commission of the National there is mounting political pressure to introduce
2 LAND LINES OCTOBER 2017 3 MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT EMERITUS GREGORY K. INGRAM
a property tax. We expect that the approval of select group of cities, the way it introduces many the national property tax law will generate new policies, before establishing it on a national future demand for technical support to imple- stage. The PLC will participate in the pilot city The PKU–Lincoln Center ment the new tax, particularly in smaller cities, programs, studying implementation and suggest- especially for property value assessment and ing ways to improve policy approaches before the in Retrospect municipal administrative systems. The PLC will program is deployed nationally. promote research to lighten administrative The PLC has helped advance the evolution of burdens on municipal governments by studying, urban land and housing policies in China through for example, how combining drone technology its intellectual output—through research, and property registration data can quickly dissemination of knowledge, and international establish cadastral systems for cities with weak exchange. In ten years, the PLC built a network of technical capacity. The PLC also will investigate hundreds of urban development and land policy THE STRONG COMPLEMENTARITY BETWEEN THE of training programs, sponsorship of research the applicability of other land value capture experts through its flagship Training the Trainers LINCOLN INSTITUTE’S EXPERTISE AND CHINA’S LAND with government agencies, support of research instruments, such as negotiable developer course. The program will remain a primary way POLICY CHALLENGES PROVIDED THE RATIONALE FOR fellowships, and the organization of research obligations, as another way to build a fiscal that we expand our academic and policy networks THE LINCOLN INSTITUTE’S ACTIVITIES IN THE PEOPLE’S conferences and policy symposia. Early areas of base for local governments. in China. Currently, our networks heavily represent REPUBLIC OF CHINA. China’s rapid economic growth focus were property taxation, farmland preserva- senior scholars and policy makers. This has over the past 35 years involved the usual tion, and urban planning. The idea of creating a exacerbated a bias in China’s research funding structural changes in the economy (a declining center in partnership with a Chinese university system, which favors established scholars, share of agriculture; an expanding share of soon emerged as the travel and logistical leaving young academics with very limited funding manufacturing and services; growing trade; and challenges of managing the program from abroad opportunities. Recently, we decided to cultivate a increasing urbanization), but it has also involved became evident. In addition, the Lincoln Insti- pipeline of young scholars in China using our an institutional transformation, as the centrally tute’s change in status from an educational domestic research support. Following recommen- planned economy moved pragmatically to a institution to a private operating foundation in dations from our board of directors, we plan to greater reliance on market mechanisms. This 2006 required greater programmatic involvement hire established academics to mentor our young institutional change has been especially of its own staff in all of its activities. scholars. Beginning this year, we will bring on challenging in the case of land, because of the Preliminary discussions to explore a partner- affiliated research advisers on a part-time basis, dual land tenure system whereby land is owned ship with Peking University began in 2005 and to supervise projects and foster higher quality either by the state or collectively. China’s growth continued through 2006, culminating in a formal research from our young scholars. In addition, has produced many land-related problems agreement to establish the Peking University– we will bring young PLC fellows and graduate ranging from property rights and urban growth, to Lincoln Institute Center for Urban Development students or affiliated scholars to the Lincoln property taxation and municipal finance reform, and Land Policy (PLC) on October 9, 2007—one Institute in Cambridge to conduct research as to land conservation and housing affordability. decade ago. On the university side, this process Zhi Liu, Allan Cochrane, George W. McCarthy, Robert Yaro, and Peter visiting scholars and work closely with the U.S. The Lincoln Institute’s extensive international was overseen by the then-executive vice Wallace discuss managing megacity development at the Beijing Forum staff. Through these efforts, we hope to replenish experience with these issues and China’s president of Peking University, Professor Lin 2016 Panel Session II. Credit: PLC academic and policy networks to serve China impressive track record in using international Jianhua, who skillfully facilitated the establish- in perpetuity. expertise to inform its policy implementation led ment of the PLC. It provides support for educa- The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy is tremen- us in the early 2000s to believe that cooperation tion, training, and research in urban economics, China has encountered the limits of car- dously proud of the work of the PLC. The enor- between the Lincoln Institute and China had urban policy, land management, land policy, bon-fueled growth and is now becoming a world mous role that land and land policy have played in great potential. property taxation, local government finance, leader in renewable energy generation. This China’s unprecedented transformation over the Lincoln Institute’s activities in the People’s urban and regional planning, and urban affairs. orientation toward “green growth” also charac- last decade has fascinated, daunted, challenged, Republic of China were initiated in 2001, and its Its mission has been to study land, urban, and terizes new government policies that emphasize and sometimes overwhelmed us. We are honored China Program was formally established on July fiscal policies; to disseminate results from its qualitative aspects of economic and urban and humbled to have the opportunity to work with 1, 2003. Activities were originally carried out by studies and research; and to facilitate education, development over quantitative measures. The Peking University and its visionary leadership. We staff and consultants based in the United States training, policy analysis, and research involving “sponge cities” program, for example, illustrates look forward to future decades of collective who travelled to China. Professors Chengri Ding scholars, policy makers, and practitioners. In the national commitment to use green infrastruc- efforts to find the answers to some of our most and Gerrit Knaap of the University of Maryland mid-2007, Joyce Man was appointed director of ture to improve water management in cities. The vexing social, economic, and environmental were heavily involved in the China Program’s Lincoln Institute’s Program on the People’s national government will pilot the program in a problems in land. beginnings. These early years saw the initiation Republic of China and became the founding
4 LAND LINES OCTOBER 2017 5 director of the PLC. In late 2007, office space at Reform Commission. Chinese officials have In addition to training and education, the PLC body of empirically based research on the Peking University was quickly prepared and local proved to be skillful at drawing on good practices has supported land-related research in a variety economic geography of China’s cities, including staff hired under her direction, enabling the PLC from international experience and incorporating of ways. Using an open call for proposals and how the restructuring of China’s export- literally to open its doors in January 2008. Its them in new policies adapted to the special expert panels to review submissions, the PLC has oriented industries is affecting patterns of establishment was memorialized in an inaugura- conditions in China. annually granted about 10 dissertation fellow- urban growth. His work has improved under- tion ceremony on April 21, 2008 with featured The Lincoln Institute has a long track record ships to support the research of Ph.D. students in standing of the determinants of urban growth speakers Arnold C. Harberger, distinguished of providing education and training on land China and seven research fellowships to senior across China’s provinces. professor at UCLA, and Gang Yi, vice president of related issues directly to academics and researchers in China. Similarly, the PLC has the People’s Bank of China. practitioners. Given the scale of China, the PLC granted about three international research From its beginning, the PLC annually offered shifted audience to focus on those who train fellowships annually to scholars outside of The PLC worked jointly with Professor several specialized training courses for govern- others. This approach, called Training the China. All of these fellowship recipients have ment officials on topics proposed by government Trainers, aims to enhance the capacity and gathered to discuss their draft reports at an Siqi Zheng to develop a new housing price departments. Involved government agencies awareness of young scholars throughout China annual research conference in China, whose index based on the repeat sales method have included State Administration and Taxation, to address issues related to urban development attendees include international experts and used in the Case-Shiller housing price index Ministry of Land and Resources, Ministry of and land policy. This annual PLC program targets notable Chinese scholars of land policy. An Finance, Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural assistant and associate university professors overall objective of the training and research for the United States. Launched in 2014, Development, and the Ministry of Transportation. and professional researchers. It increases program has been to create a community of this China Quality-Controlled Urban Housing Topics have ranged from real estate appraisal competence through intensive professional scholars knowledgeable about land-related Price Index is recognized as the most techniques and property tax administration, to seminars. The one- to two-week sessions are policy issues and the state of current research on accurate index currently available. transit-oriented development and affordable generally attended by about 60 participants, the such topics, and these in-person conferences, housing. In addition, the PLC has arranged many majority of whom have doctorate degrees and a training sessions, and symposia have contributed symposia attended by international experts and high level of English proficiency. Instructors are mightily to this objective. government officials to review international leading international experts who offer partici- Staff and faculty of the PLC have also carried The PLC has done a very credible job in experience in particular public policy areas. pants an invaluable international perspective. out research on urban and land issues, and three meeting its original objectives and it has proven Topics have included local public finance, The sessions have normally taken place in contributions deserve special mention. First, in to be a sustainable institution enduring through property rights, urban transport, housing Beijing, but in recent years the sessions have 2010 PLC staff realized that municipal indebted- the many changes in China and the world that markets, and urban planning. Participating also been offered by video conference to include ness was growing and poorly understood. Many have occurred since its founding. One reason for agencies, in addition to those just mentioned, participants in other locations. Since the PLC’s municipalities had created local government its success is that the PLC is not the Lincoln include the Development Research Center of the founding, nearly 600 scholars have benefitted financing vehicles that used urban land as Institute’s “office in Beijing” but was conceived of State Council and the National Development and from this training program. collateral to borrow funds from banks. This debt and operated as a true joint center between was not included in local government accounts. Peking University and the Lincoln Institute. The PLC produced some of the first estimates of Another reason is that it has been skillfully led, the surprising size of this indebtedness, and originally by Joyce Man and now by Zhi Liu. In Gregory K. Ingram and subsequent work by the National Audit Office addition, land-related issues in China have Jianhua Lin (seated) at the signing ceremony for confirmed the magnitudes. Second, although it proven to be extremely challenging, not amena- the Peking University– was widely recognized that housing prices in ble to simple and quick solutions, and often Lincoln Institute Center for China’s major cities had been rapidly rising, linked to other policy issues. Accordingly, revenue Urban Development and available housing price indices understated from land—whether from conversion of rural to Land Policy. Credit: PLC the increase. The PLC worked jointly with urban use or from land-based taxes—is inexora- Professor Siqi Zheng, then of Tsinghua University, bly linked to local fiscal health, and land conver- to develop a new housing price index based on sion from rural to urban use is a key determinant the repeat sales method used in the Case-Shiller of the location and speed of urban growth. My housing price index for the United States. hope when the PLC was established was that it Launched in 2014, this China Quality-Controlled would work itself out of a job by helping Chinese Urban Housing Price Index is recognized as the policy makers resolve many land-related issues most accurate index currently available. Third, or at least dramatically reduce their salience. Professor Canfei He, Associate Director of the This hope has proven elusive, and it appears that PLC, has over the past several years produced a the PLC still has much work to do.
6 LAND LINES OCTOBER 2017 7 established to assist the collection of taxes on whereas modern geographical information system real estate sales and transactions—has devel- (GIS) software is capable of efficiently rendering oped what is arguably the most advanced three-dimensional (3-D) maps. The future of property valuation system in the world. It is a property assessment lies in marrying CAMA logical extension of the computer-assisted mass techniques with GIS tools in a system known, appraisal (CAMA) system that the Lincoln naturally, as “GAMA.” Institute was instrumental in developing for CAMA systems are, broadly speaking, not desktop computers decades ago. The Peking overly exciting to look at, with lots of data tables University–Lincoln Institute Center for Urban and highly detailed two-dimensional maps. GAMA Development and Land Policy (PLC) has helped by contrast is dazzling. Using GIS tools, the system several Chinese cities implement CAMA in constructs 3-D models of entire cities, with anticipation of a future property tax. What makes streets, buildings, the individual properties within Shenzhen’s system different is that it uses GIS them, landscape features, and so on. Imagine the technology and new techniques that elevate feel of an open-world video game. The aim is to be CAMA to the next level. able to appraise every property from computers in Today, CAMA is an international standard that the assessment office. has made it possible to assess entire metro areas from a desktop computer. But CAMA by VIRTUAL nature is mainly a two-dimensional system, The Shenzhen Assessment Center has developed what is arguably the most The Shenzhen assessment tool can track the sun’s advanced property valuation system in position, calculate the amount of natural light that a property receives, and assign a corresponding market the world. It is a logical extension of the value: In this screenshot, apartments in the red zone computer-assisted mass appraisal (CAMA) are the most valuable, as they get the optimal amount system that the Lincoln Institute was instru- of daylight according to local market preferences. VALUATION Credit: Shenzhen Assessment Center mental in developing decades ago.
GIS-Assisted Mass Appraisal in Shenzhen
By Tom Nunlist
CHINA IS ONE OF A SMALL NUMBER OF COUNTRIES It may come as a surprise, then, that China is AROUND THE WORLD THAT DOES NOT LEVY PROPERTY driving the evolution of valuation technology, TAX ON PRIVATELY OWNED RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES. particularly in Shenzhen—the brand-new AFTER THE COMMUNIST PARTY ESTABLISHED A southern city that has grown from a small town SOCIALIST REGIME IN 1949, CHINA ADOPTED A PUBLIC of 50,000 residents to a major metropolis of 12 LAND OWNERSHIP SYSTEM AND THEREBY LACKED A million since 1982. The Shenzhen Assessment REAL ESTATE MARKET UNTIL THE REFORM ERA. Center—a municipal statutory agency that was Since the reform, property sales, along with the economy as whole, have boomed. First-tier
cities such as Shanghai and Beijing are now Above: Using GAMA, the Shenzhen Assessment Center home to some of the world’s most expensive can model and value the line of sight from individual real estate. But taxes are imposed only at the apartments: a view of the city park, for example, is more point of property sales and transactions, not valuable than a view of neighboring high-rises. Credit: annually on ownership. Shenzhen Assessment Center
8 LAND LINES OCTOBER 2017 9 “In my view, Shenzhen is dragging CAMA Silicon Valley, it is home to some of the world’s From the desktop, the system can track a into the next generation, doing things in their most powerful tech companies, including Internet virtual sun across the sky, estimating how much valuation that nobody else can do,” says giant Tencent. George W. McCarthy, president and CEO of the As early as 2003, the central government daylight an apartment gets. And it can also Lincoln Institute. started to consider introducing a property tax. Six model sound —a lower-floor unit facing a busy GAMA generates a visual model of cities were selected as pilot experiment cities for sunlight streaming into individual traffic intersection is disadvantaged compared Shenzhen: Center of Progress mass appraisal of properties. Shenzhen was one of apartments, as seen here. Credit: to a unit facing a peaceful courtyard. them. Shenzhen’s Center for Assessment and Shenzhen Assessment Center In many ways, the development of Shenzhen’s Development of Real Estate was founded that same property assessment system is the classic story year to commence the enormous task of citywide of modern China: starting from far behind, valuation. At first, they were more or less on their absorbing knowledge from more advanced own and progress was slow. It took three years to says Dr. Wang Youjie, head of the Shenzhen headquarters of e-commerce titan Alibaba. economies, adapting to local needs, and ulti- designate basic prices in 56 neighborhoods, in center’s mass appraisal department. “They also The speed at which these two cities were mately coming to rival the best in the world. The order to assign a single price for the whole area. introduced us to CAMA.” working was sometimes astonishing. During one fact that it happened in Shenzhen—the Special The initiative coincided with the Lincoln Aided by access to a developed body of trip to Hangzhou, Lomax spent an entire day Economic Zone that launched the experimenta- Institute’s foray into China in 2003, when it began knowledge, progress in Shenzhen rapidly critiquing the assessment system built by the tion that transformed China from a largely rural developing relationships with government accelerated. By 2010, the center had evaluated local department. The next morning, they asked economy to a global power—is unsurprising. agencies and conducting research projects on prices on a per-building basis for 170,000 him to look again. “They had their programmers In 1979, as China was charting the course of its topics ranging from property tax and municipal buildings, and by 2011 had done basic evalua- stay up all night at the hotel to fix all the new reform, four cities were declared “Special finance to public land management and land tions for 1.5 million residential properties. “After problems I pointed out,” says Lomax, still a bit in Economic Zones (SEZs),” pilot projects where the expropriation. “We saw the changes as the understanding the theory better, 2010 to 2011 awe. “This might take you six months to do in the government would experiment with market economy was being opened up, and we figured was a breakthrough point for us,” says Xia Lei, West, and they did it in hours.” mechanisms. Shenzhen, a fishing town of just there would be all sorts of land policy challenges director of the Shenzhen Assessment Center. The team in Shenzhen was equally impres- 30,000 people, was one of them. Adjacent to to grapple with,” McCarthy says. Also important was the Lincoln Institute’s role sive. According to Lomax, they took the comput- Hong Kong, which was administered at that time In 2007, the Lincoln Institute and Peking as a connector, enlisting top foreign experts to erized evaluation methods to the next level. by the British and highly internationalized, University, China’s oldest and most prestigious host seminars and perform hands-on training and “They are really advanced in fine-tuning the Shenzhen was in a perfect position to perform university, endeavored to open the PLC, a research development work. To date, the Lincoln Institute mathematics,” he says. “Shenzhen is far better at the mission of SEZs—attract global companies institute staffed by both organizations. One of the has mobilized more than 20 property tax experts valuing properties dynamically, on the fly, than to trade, bring in foreign direct investment, and PLC’s early tasks was to help the Chinese govern- to China. For the assessment center in Shenzhen, British Columbia.” obtain for China the tools necessary to forge a ment understand how to create a property tax that no one was more familiar than Michael Lomax. In other words, there was a clear opportunity modern developed nation. works as a system of revenue. The PLC organized For 22 years, Lomax worked as property in Shenzhen to advance the GAMA evolution. “It training events to disseminate international assessor for British Columbia Assessment, a was Michael that gave us the idea of doing knowledge of property taxation and computer- province-wide assessment office in Canada. He GAMA,” says Wang. Imagine the feel of an open-world video assisted mass appraisal to China. The PLC invited was among the first people the Lincoln Institute game. The aim is to be able to appraise experts from the International Association of brought to China in 2007, when he joined a From Follower to Leader every property from the computers in Assessing Officers, International Property Tax government delegation. He has continued making ESRI, a global consulting firm specializing in GIS the assessment office. Institute (IPTI), Rating and Valuation Department of trips to China even after leaving British Columbia Hong Kong, ESRI Canada, and others. To better Assessment in 2012 to take a position with ESRI, solutions, is helping to build GAMA models in demonstrate how CAMA worked, the PLC launched which specializes in GIS solutions. several municipalities. There is Vancouver, where As investment poured in and factories sprang a pilot demonstration project that established a “A lot of my work in China was to illustrate, Lomax works; Maricopa County, Arizona, which up, Shenzhen became the beating heart of CAMA system for the financial district of Beijing. convey, and help them install worldwide best encompasses Phoenix; and also Shenzhen. These China’s new economy, and one of the world’s The PLC also mobilized international experts to practices,” says Lomax, who also teaches mass projects are in varying stages of development, most advanced cities. In just 30-odd years, it assist Shenzhen and Hangzhou, and funded study appraisal at the University of British Columbia. but the Shenzhen system is impressive nonethe- grew into a bustling metropolis of nearly tours for technical personnel, in the United States, Around 2011, he began working more directly with less. Sitting in on a demonstration of the system 12 million. Its official GDP in 2016 was US$284 Canada, and Hong Kong. The impact was enormous. the Shenzhen center and an appraisal firm hired is like inhabiting a painting inside a painting, as if billion (RMB 1.88 trillion), with a per capita GDP “The PLC was translating the professional liter- by the city of Hangzhou, Zhejiang, a city not far you might spot your virtual self if you peeked in of US$25,790 (RMB 171,013), more than triple ature on property valuation, and it was the first from Shanghai. Like Shenzhen, Hangzhou is also the right window. But what it can do in terms of China’s average. Sometimes called China’s time we were encountering some of this stuff,” known for its tech industry, including the assessment is even more impressive.
10 LAND LINES OCTOBER 2017 11 In this screenshot, GAMA is projecting the line of sight from two different apartments (one in level municipality, Shenzhen enjoys closer its very special borders. Delegations have been the fore, and one in the rear, identified by address); the green relationship with the central government than sent from all around China to view the system, indicates areas visible from an other prefecture-level municipalities. The central including from across the river in Hong Kong and apartment, and the red indicates government grants more freedom to Shenzhen to all the way from Taiwan. areas blocked from view. Credit: try new things. Lincoln Institute President McCarthy, for his Shenzhen Assessment Center “In Shenzhen, government agencies, such as part, is ready to see knowledge and experience the municipal commissions of planning and land, flow west. Places such as Boston, where there has and finance and taxation, are cooperating to long been controversy over building near Boston Of course, it factors in all the indicators 27,106 challenges have been made as of January share data,” says Director Xia. In a country where Common due to the shadows it would cause, could accounted for by a traditional CAMA system: this year, and of those only 282 assessments had interdepartmental data sharing is rare, it is use a system that models the sun. location, number of rooms, floor space, recent to be readjusted. difficult to understate how important this is. Actually spreading the new GAMA system will market prices, and so on. It can also estimate The Shenzhen assessment project is not “The point is to be creative.” likely be difficult, and there is no telling how long it the value of being near a subway station or without challenges. First, the market is young, so Geng Jijin, who directed the assessment might take. But nobody would have predicted that close to a school. The three-dimensional nature there is a relative dearth of transaction data. On center before Xia, when development of the a fishing village could become a metropolis in of the system boosts the functionality. Using top of that, transactions are sometimes reported model was most intense, puts a more personal three decades flat. vectors, it is possible to model the window at artificially low prices, to avert transaction spin on it: “Everybody here is from different vantage point of every single unit in a given taxes. Finally, the housing market is highly places in China. We have no choice but to figure building. From the desktop, the appraiser can heterogeneous, with fairly distinct groups of out how to get along.” Tom Nunlist is editorial director at Sinomedia and determine if a resident has a sweeping view of housing types. managing editor of CKGSB Knowledge, on behalf of beautiful Lianhuashan Park in central Shenzhen Limited property transaction data can be The Road Ahead Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in Beijing. (think New York’s Central Park, except with palm among the biggest challenges to implementing a and banyan trees), or just the boring façade of system such as this. In this regard, Shenzhen has The job of creating the GAMA system in Shen- The author extends special thanks to Carolyn Wang, a a neighboring high-rise. The system can also a distinct advantage over just about any other zhen is not yet finished. Partly because mass appraiser at the Shenzhen Assessment Center, track a virtual sun across the sky, estimating city in the world in terms of the knowledge of its Shenzhen grew at such a breakneck pace, a who helped arrange reporting in Shenzhen. This piece how much daylight an apartment gets. In properties. The whole place is brand new, and significant portion of buildings from the newly would not have been possible without her expert help addition to modeling light, it can also model this is especially true for the city center where annexed localities are rather poorly documented. and remarkable patience. sound—a lower-floor unit facing a busy traffic the slick 3-D model is most impressive. That According to Director Xia, bringing these proper- intersection, for instance, is disadvantaged means the data on all the buildings and floor ties into the system is a top priority going compared to a unit facing a peaceful courtyard. plans is existing, complete, and rendered in forward. Given the scale of Shenzhen, it will likely REFERENCES digital formats that are, relatively speaking, easy take a few years to work through the challenge. to adapt to the model. The implementation of a property tax goes Chen, Xiangming, and Tomas de’Medici. 2009. “The ‘Instant The system alone is marvelous from a The team in Shenzhen cleverly innovated beyond the purview of the Shenzhen Assessment City’ Coming of Age: China’s Shenzhen Special Economic around this with a system they call the “holistic” Center. It is a policy problem and the center does Zone in Thirty Years.” Inaugural Working Paper Series, No. 2, technical standpoint, but it is also a Spring 2009. Hartford, CT: Center for Urban and Global approach. Briefly, it treats those distinct groups not make policy, Wang says, adding “If the policy testament to the advanced nature of the Studies at Trinity College. of housing first as separate “sub-markets.” Then is put forward, Shenzhen is ready for it.” city as whole. In numerous ways, it is an by establishing relationships among those It is anyone’s guess when that might happen, The Economist. 2012. “Time for a Property Tax: A Way to “only in Shenzhen” achievement. sub-markets, they are better able to estimate given the politically sensitive nature of property Stabilise Both China’s Wild Property Market and Its Weak Local Finances.” February 4. www.economist.com/ prices across the entire market with fewer data tax in China. While there have been two pilot node/21546014. points overall. taxes in Shanghai and the southwestern city The system weights all those factors and The system alone is marvelous from a tech- of Chongqing, they have been very limited and Shenzhen Municipal E-Government Resources Center. 2017. synthesizes the final valuation of a property. All nical standpoint, but it is also a testament to the undertaken mainly as a signal that property “Shenzhen Government Online.” http://english.sz.gov.cn/. told, these factors can amount to a 20 percent advanced nature of the city as whole. In numerous taxes are coming. Pressure is, however, building. Wang, Da Wei David. 2016. Urban Villages in the New China: difference in value between two units in the ways, it is an “only in Shenzhen” achievement. In the absence of a property tax, and as the net Case of Shenzhen. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. same building. Shenzhen is unique in a purely Chinese revenues from land lease sales that local Xiao, Cai, Wang Yu, and Hu Yuanyuan. 2017. “Overall Govt The system is also being used to better context as well. Conjured by the pure political governments rely on have declined, local budgets Debt Risks ‘Under Control.’” China Daily USA, July 13. execute property transaction taxes. Through this willpower that gave life to the Special Economic have become increasingly strained. http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2017-07/13/ smaller trial, the efficacy of the tool is apparent: Zones, Shenzhen is not directly administered by In the meantime, the assessment center is content_30102302.htm. of the millions of properties valued so far, only the central government. However, as a prefecture- already helping to spread knowledge beyond
12 LAND LINES OCTOBER 2017 13 THE DRONE
By John Wihbey
DRONES ARE REVOLUTIONIZING DATA COLLECTION AND situations where informal settlement, unsanc- MAPPING, USHERING IN MAJOR SHIFTS AND NEW tioned resource extraction, or conflict is occur- OPPORTUNITIES IN THE DOMAINS OF LAND MANAGE- ring, drones can furnish proof to legal systems. MENT, POLICY, AND ADVOCACY. Latin America’s pioneering use of drones to Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) came into enrich and improve land policy and management wide use globally about a decade ago, as their is echoing across the globe. “We are doing the cost fell rapidly in the consumer market. In the same thing in China,” says Zhi Liu, China program developing world and in rapidly urbanizing areas, director at the Lincoln Institute and director of drones are quickly becoming an essential tool for Peking University–Lincoln Institute Center for securing land rights, updating maps in virtual Urban Development and Land Policy (PLC) in real-time, and understanding unplanned settle- Beijing. In East Asia, drones are aiding new ment patterns. From Latin America to South Asia, high-tech research and experiments to modernize REVOLUTION the drone is being deployed across the geospatial land registries for contemporary uses and to help information and land management sectors, by address other large-scale challenges, including surveyors defining specific urban parcels, potential implementation of property tax. appraisers determining land value over a peri-urban field, and corporate and government Cadastres: Public Land employees updating territorial information. The technical capacity of drones—which can Registries in Latin America carry multispectral small-format aerial cameras and produce images of both the visible environ- In Latin America and Asia, drones are proving ment and the infrared spectrum—provides a sub- especially useful in the evolution of territorial stantial complement to traditional aerial “cadastres”—public registries that manage photography and even high-resolution satellite information relating to land parcels and that imagery. Because UAVs can fly at very low altitude play a critical role in land use decision-making and execute tight, repeating patterns, they can throughout Latin America. produce fine-grained images of one centimeter In most of the region, existing territorial UAV-Generated Geodata resolution or better, enabling production of cadastre systems derive from an “orthodox” Drives Policy Innovation three-dimensional images. Their democratic potential is also stirring excitement, as they empower citizens, nongovern- The democratic potential of drones is ment organizations, and other smaller, more stirring excitement, as they empower informal networks. “Drones are going to make citizens, nongovernment organizations, the difference for policy and decision-making and other smaller, more informal networks. In Brazil alone, officials estimate that processes, as citizens participate in data creation 20,000 drones were in operation in 2015, at critical moments,” notes Diego Alfonso Erba, a “Drones are going to make the difference with applications mainly in agriculture, land surveyor engineer and expert in Latin for policy and decision-making processes, mining, infrastructure inspections, American land management systems. “Citizens as citizens participate in data creation at security and border control, and the can fly them, take photos of a situation, and share mapping of environmental areas and the results with authorities. In rapidly evolving critical moments.” cities. Credit: iStock.com/dabidy
14 LAND LINES OCTOBER 2017 15 model imported centuries ago from colonial transportation systems, or utility networks, and In 2016, the government launched a drone survey, technologies. Crucially, researchers must get the Europe, says Erba, who coauthored Making Land they may be organized by government and private in tandem with a street-level laser scanner, that full property rights data from the government— Legible: Cadastres for Urban Planning and organizations. The benefits can include better created a 3-D model and generated statistics on such as formal ownership information and the Development in Latin America, published by the urban planning as well as more equitable taxation, the occupation of dwellings, streets, and public dimensions of units, parcels, and buildings—in Lincoln Institute in 2016. He is working at the increasing revenues, and a broader tax base. spaces. With this more accurate picture of order to match up the 3-D imagery in accurate forefront of an effort to upgrade these land “The data integration provided by the MPC residential development, agencies and stakehold- fashion. It is unclear whether these records are registry systems to what are known as “multipur- model is the most direct way to identify and mon- ers are in a better position to transition informal fully digitized in many cities, Liu notes. Although pose cadastres (MPCs),” and drones are playing a itor the economic, physical, legal, environmental, settlers toward formal property ownership and drone-generated data cannot provide missing key role in this evolution. and social characteristics of parcels and their participation in planning processes. ownership documentation, better parcel data will Traditional, or “orthodox,” cadastres are occupants,” observe Erba and coauthor Mario Ecuador demonstrates how drone-enhanced ultimately accelerate the process of generating maintained as public registries by governmental Piumetto, a land surveyor who specializes in cadastres can promote resiliency as well. The city an accurate cadastre system. institutions. They’re inadequate for contemporary geographic information systems. “Planners need of Portoviejo has been using drones to enforce urban policy-making because they cover only this information to manage the growth of cities, rules against unpermitted occupation of public private parcels and account for limited physical, define strategies for urban financing, reduce spaces. By comparing 2010 records with recent In April 2016, this more accurate real-time legal, and economic attributes. Multipurpose informality, and analyze the impact of govern- drone-produced monitoring imagery, authorities record of settlement proved vital when a cadastres, by contrast, are maintained by ment interventions” (Erba and Piumetto 2016). By determined that more than 7,000 instances of 7.8-magnitude earthquake wreaked havoc on volunteer stakeholders in a jurisdiction who democratizing the tools of geospatial monitoring, new construction violated permitting rules. In structures throughout Portoviejo, Ecuador, commit to providing richer, more inclusive drone technology is helping to facilitate this April 2016, this more accurate real-time record of information about a city. MPCs may include movement toward multi-stakeholder MPCs. settlement proved vital when a 7.8-magnitude killing more than 200 people. Photos after the alphanumeric data and thematic or domain- Established Latin American cities with earthquake wreaked havoc on structures earthquake were compared to recent drone specific cadastres pertaining to the environment, existing cadastres are using drones to tackle throughout Portoviejo, killing more than 200 footage, aiding rescue and rebuilding efforts. challenges associated with informal construction. people. Photos after the earthquake were
In Villa 31 in Buenos Aires, a government-launched drone survey, in For example, in Villa 31, one of the most valuable compared to recent drone footage, aiding rescue tandem with a street-level laser scanner, created a 3-D model and areas of Buenos Aires, some 40,000 people have and rebuilding efforts. Chun Zhang, a professor of city planning generated statistics on the occupation of dwellings, streets, and public built informal constructions up to five stories high from the Beijing Jiaotong University and a leader spaces, creating a more accurate picture of residential development. within a 100-block area, note Erba and Piumetto. GIS-Assisted Mass Appraisal of the project funded by PLC, says drones are Credit: Javier Palmieri/Alamy Stock Photo currently using tilt-shift photography—which in China can make the features below a drone look like a miniature representation—and creating 3-D In China, drones may prove most useful in current models through the imagery captured. The efforts underway to assess property value (see project will then provide basic spatial informa- p. 8). Since 2003, China has been contemplating tion. Currently, the drone techniques are being introduction of a municipal property tax on the applied in small towns such as Jimingyi, Shexian, private ownership of residential properties—a and Gubeikou. But as the researchers experiment power that municipal governments have not had with drones, they are bumping up against for several decades. However, most cities face a technical and regulatory limits. “The survey area huge technical barrier: There is no system of cannot be too large,” notes Zhang, given the property assessment or database. Researchers limits of the drone’s battery. “The biggest hope drones can help facilitate the underlying difficulty for researchers is flight control in basis for assessment. certain [limited] areas—within the 6th ring of “The question is how we can help so many Beijing, for example.” But this should not be a Chinese cities to quickly develop a cadastre problem if the municipal governments decide to system, which is the basis of a property tax use drones to develop a 3-D property database. system,” says Liu, noting that the PLC is funding a Property valuation is beyond the scope of research project in China to provide innovations Zhang’s current research project, but it will be a in this area. The next stage is for researchers in challenge of massive scale in China. Ultimately China to merge property rights data with 3-D the work-intensive process might be solved by representations of parcels produced by drone computational methods aided by drone-generated
16 LAND LINES OCTOBER 2017 17 data. In the United States, Liu notes, local while balancing concerns over conflicts with governments have long used computer-aided manned aircraft flight paths and potential mass appraisal (CAMA) techniques to appraise all invasion of privacy and land rights. These types of properties in a certain area. “In China, we work policy debates have been playing out across the with a few cities that are refining the computer- globe, as noted above. aided mass appraisal model to incorporate big Yet many of the technologies under develop- data, so they can assess property value more ment are focused on agricultural lands, where accurately,” Liu says. That sort of work might competing interests and conflict are minimal. constitute the next phase of research. But the Farming is expected to be the primary zone for current phase remains focused on seeing how commercial use of drone technologies. Because well existing property records can be matched drone instrumentation can be used to measure with the drone data. radiation signatures and the infrared spectrum, In the context of land registries, the use of drones hold massive potential for improvements drones is proving crucial in the initial and in crop yields and farming in general (Wihbey provisional identification of physical property 2015). But the benefits have been unevenly limits in cities and jurisdictions where there is distributed over the past decade, as countries still no formal land administration system and such as Japan and Canada have opened up the land structure is unknown. farming airspace, even as the United States is debating where to open up air space policies for Pathways to the Drone agriculture (Lewis 2017). To scale the technology A drone photographed the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall in Huairou, north of Beijing. Credit: Xinhua/Alamy Stock Photo for farming, much greater latitude will be Revolution required for drones flying beyond the sight of ground operators. In any case, the idea of Drones are now functioning in a crucial capacity “precision farming” has caught on globally, with Challenges America are evolving to keep up with the prolifer- across a variety of land policy use cases, fulfilling potential environmental benefits, such as ating use of drones as tools to upgrade land cultural and legal needs, but their development reduced and more targeted use of pesticides and Drones could prove a crucial tool for managing policy in the region. In Brazil alone, officials and use obviously have a wider story. Their other chemicals. And surely the advancements extensive land use problems expected to estimate that 20,000 drones were in operation in evolution toward wider commercial and recrea- achieved for rural farm settings will have applica- emerge over the coming decades as the world 2015, with applications mainly in agriculture, tional use—including sharper definition of land tions for monitoring, for example, forest reserves rapidly urbanizes, from housing inaffordability mining, infrastructure inspections, security and policy—is in some ways a classic story of and wildlife populations, and for global efforts to to shortages of land for open space (Wihbey border control, and the mapping of environmental second-order effects of technological innovation. limit sprawling unplanned settlements and 2016). Indeed, drones might facilitate a form areas and cities, according to Erba and Piumetto. The original development and prototyping of the ensure ecological sustainability (Paneque-Gálvez of technological “leapfrogging,” similar to that In May 2017, this growth prompted the Brazilian flight technologies took place largely in the et al. 2014). of mobile phone Internet connectivity, which National Civil Aviation Agency (Agência Nacional context of military research. But some of the key Policies related to the training, licensing, and has allowed many individuals and societies de Aviação Civil or ANAC) to issue new safety and technical breakthroughs required to make certification required for drone operators across the developing world to connect to operating rules, which cite and specifically follow flight-relevant instrumentation available at a continue to evolve in many countries, and of the Web without dedicated broadband lines definitions of other civil aviation authorities such reasonable price point resulted from the “smart- course formal land surveying itself has its own to households. as those found in the United States and the phone wars,” wherein various communications professional standards that are integrating these PLC Director Zhi Liu thinks that multipurpose European Union (ANAC 2017). technology companies raced to perfect efficient new technologies. Citizen or recreational use and cadastres would enable solutions, but many In Mexico, the Civil Aeronautics General hardware and software for compasses, gyro- informal monitoring of land and urban space is Asian cities would need technical advancement, Directorate in Mexico has issued a similar set of scopes, altimeters, and more (Anderson 2017). bound to grow only more complicated, as new as well as political willingness and public rules that aims to prevent accidents and protect Still, even as the technology has been ready observational possibilities and challenges emerge support, to improve and update the cadastres of third persons and property on land and in flight. and the economics right for wide public use, the from the use of multiple drones simultaneously their rapidly growing cities. Experiments in small In Argentina, flights above 400 feet (122 meters) policy environment for drone use has needed to and “swarming” techniques, as well as the cities and towns in China might prove useful to require authorization, and there are also mature. In the United States, for example, the potential for both greater autonomy, as drones other bigger cities in the region, if not countries limitations depending on the weight of the Federal Aviation Administration has tried to become smarter through software, independent around the world. equipment, the areas overflown, and the grapple with commercial and consumer demand of human operators (The Economist 2017). Regulations throughout South and Central information collected.
18 LAND LINES OCTOBER 2017 19 Drones might facilitate a form of technological “leapfrogging,” similar to that of mobile phone Internet connectivity, which has allowed many individuals and societies across the developing world to connect to the Web without dedicated broadband lines to households.
Yet drones furnish possibilities that no other The Economist. 2017. “Drone Technology Has Made Huge aerial surveying technology provides given their Strides.” June 10. www.economist.com/news/technology- mass market deployment. “Drones will democra- quarterly/21723001-originally-military-technology- tize geospatial information gathering and drones-are-now-benefiting-rapid-advances. analysis,” Erba says. “Everybody will soon have Erba, Diego Alfonso, and Mario Andrés Piumetto. 2016. access to the tools that only satellite owners Making Land Legible: Cadastres for Urban Planning and In April 2016 in Portoviejo, Ecuador, drone footage aided had just a few years ago. Photos could be sent Development in Latin America. Policy Focus Report. rescue and rebuilding efforts after a 7.8-magnitude all the time to the cloud.” And this new capability, Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. New Frontiers for Drones earthquake wreaked havoc on structures throughout the he notes, could strengthen transparency and Lewis, Jason. 2017. “Striking a Balance on Drone city. Credit: Andes/César Muñoz/Flickr accountability of many kinds, and bring efficien- Regulation.” The Hill, July 10. http://origin-nyi.thehill.com/ Many institutions across the world have become cies to government: “Aerial photos of areas being blogs/congress-blog/technology/341300-striking-a- interested in leveraging drone technologies to invaded or deforested in real-time could be sent balance-on-drone-regulation. help solve age-old administrative problems, level, only 3 percent of the African continent has directly to the officer responsible for urban Man, Joyce Yanyun. 2012. “China’s Property Tax Reform: particularly in areas of the world that have maps at such resolution. As coastal zones are monitoring. This extremely relevant information Progress and Challenges.” Land Lines 24 (April): 15–19.
suffered under adverse conditions caused by rapidly developed for hotels and commercial/ can be provided at no cost to the state, and it Paneque-Gálvez, Jaime, Michael K. McCall, Brian M. conflict or difficult economic conditions. The residential use, drones could help communities can be used immediately for action.” Napoletano, Serge A. Wich, and Lian Pin Koh. 2014. “Small World Bank, for example, has highlighted efforts keep up with development and garner appropri- Whether such action involves more uniform Drones for Community-Based Forest Monitoring: An in the post-conflict Balkans, where areas in ate tax revenue. regulatory enforcement, better tax collection, Assessment of Their Feasibility and Potential in Tropical Kosovo have been left with lingering problems Overall, the strength of drones comes from or richer, more dynamic data for land registries, Areas.” Forests 5 (6): 1481–1507.
after property owners, mostly male, were killed in the richly detailed information they can collect at these new technologies are poised to bring Totaro, Paola. 2017. “Newest Technologies Becoming the 1990s regional war. The women left in these relatively low cost; they can even produce quality major shifts across numerous aspects of land Weapons in Fight for Land Rights.” Reuters, March 20. areas have struggled to reestablish order with 3-D models of streets and properties and policy worldwide. www.reuters.com/article/us-global-landrights- regard to property and land policy, given the lack expedite data collection. But certain weaknesses technology/newest-technologies-becoming-weapons- of formal records. The World Bank has noted: “The must be taken into account. UAVs can only in-fight-for-land-rights-idUSKBN16R2IE. time, cost, and complexity of conventional land provide limited territorial coverage, given limited John Wihbey is an assistant professor of journalism and Wihbey, John. 2016. “Boundary Issues: The 2016 Atlas of surveying and registration . . . is an obstacle for speed and autonomy of flight. Adverse weather new media at Northeastern University. His writing and Urban Expansion Indicates Global De-Densification.”Land these women. It often takes years and is too conditions are also a significant issue. research focus on issues of technology, climate change, Lines 28 (October): 18–25.
expensive to complete, leaving these women with Drones have so far proven most effective in and sustainability. Wihbey, John. 2015. “Agricultural Drones May Change the no information or legal protection of their rights” urban operations, which often require great Way We Farm.” The Boston Globe, August 22. www. (World Bank 2016). In partnership with the Kosovo detail and richness of data. Any decision to bostonglobe.com/ideas/2015/08/22/agricultural- Mapping Authority, drones are therefore being deploy drones has to weigh costs and benefits for REFERENCES drones-change-way-farm/WTpOWMV9j4C7kchvbmPr4J/ used to execute cadastral mapping activities. a given task. High-resolution satellite images story.html. ANAC (Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil). 2017. “Orien- World Bank experts have also noted that (currently down to 30 centimeters, or 1.8 inches, World Bank. 2016. “Drones Offer Innovative Solution for tações Para Usuários de Drones.” Brasília, Brazil: ANAC. drones are proving to be effective weapons in the in resolution) may suffice; if the area to be Local Mapping.” Washington, DC: World Bank, January 7. fight for land rights in underdeveloped areas on surveyed extends beyond 25 kilometers (about Anderson, Chris. 2017. “Drones Go to Work.” Harvard www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2016/01/07/ the African continent (Totaro 2017). Although 15.5 miles), satellite image files may be more Business Review, June 7. https://hbr.org/cover-story/ drones-offer-innovative-solution-for-local-mapping. 2017/05/drones-go-to-work. nearly 90 percent of Europe is mapped at a local appropriate and efficient.
20 LAND LINES OCTOBER 2017 21 SPONGE CITIES & By James N. Levitt and Emily Myron
PARADOXICALLY, CHINA IS EMERGING AS AN INNOVATIVE focus on China’s conservation strategy, policy, GLOBAL LEADER IN GREEN INITIATIVES, JUST AS IT HAS and finance. “The Lincoln Institute has done a lot OVERTAKEN THE UNITED STATES AS THE WORLD’S of research on land conservation in the United PANDA BIGGEST SOURCE OF CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS States and elsewhere around the world, and the (Global Carbon Atlas 2016). “After decades of international knowledge developed from this rapid expansion brought smog and contaminated work helps China to address its enormous soil,” noted the official Xinhua News Agency, conservation challenges,” says Zhi Liu, director “China is steadily shifting from GDP obsession of the PLC and Lincoln’s China program. to a balanced growth philosophy that puts more “For a few years, we have been looking for a emphasis on the environment” (Xiang 2017). way to engage ourselves in China’s land conser- HABITAT China generated more solar power in 2016 vation. The partnership with TNC China—starting than any other nation. In January 2017, the with sponge city development or, more broadly, government announced plans to invest RMB 2.39 conservation for cities—provides us a perfect trillion (US$361 billion) in renewable energy entry point. As one of the partnering institutes in generation by 2020, according to China’s National the sponge city pilot project in Shenzhen, we are Energy Administration. This September, the focusing on strategic and institutional frame- government also promised to ban the sale of works and long-term finance. We hope that the gasoline- and diesel-powered cars at an unspeci- work in Shenzhen will also help lay a research fied date (Bradsher 2017). And to help meet its foundation for national policy making,” says Liu. commitments to the Paris Climate Accords, China will launch the world’s largest carbon “cap and trade” market in November 2017, targeting “China is steadily shifting from GDP obsession coal-fired power generation and five other large to a balanced growth philosophy that puts carbon-emitting industrial sectors (Fialka 2016, more emphasis on the environment.” Zhu 2017). Land-based green initiatives include “sponge The Nature Conservancy’s cities,” designed to manage storm water runoff and prevent urban flooding, and conservation Sponge Cities Foray into China efforts to protect water quality and preserve wildlife habitat. The Peking University–Lincoln China’s unprecedented urban growth has taken a Institute Center for Urban Development and Land hard toll on the landscape. In 1960, it had no Policy (PLC) is collaborating with The Nature metropolitan areas with populations over 10 Conservancy’s China program (TNC China), million. Now it has 15. In 50 years, the urban providing technical support for a sponge city pilot population multiplied by a factor of six: from 131 in Shenzhen and exploring innovative conserva- million residents or 17.9 percent of total popula- tion finance mechanisms for China. tion in 1966, to 781 million or 56.7 percent by The two organizations are complementary in 2016 (World Bank 2017). And by 2030, one billion terms of expertise: TNC China has done a lot of people, or 70 percent of China’s total population, ground work to turn sciences and technologies are expected to live in cities (Myers 2016). into practice. With the Lincoln Institute providing Resulting proliferation of hardscaped roads and The Nature Conservancy China is working in Sichuan Province an international knowledge base, the PLC can building sites have created a vast expansion of to conserve giant panda habitat. Credit: Oktay Ortakcioglu
22 LAND LINES OCTOBER 2017 23 This storm event and other recent floods paving technologies, and rain gardens to absorb China’s sponge cities will spurred the Chinese government to develop storm water into the ground. The government will include green infrastruc- ture such as this wetland a series of “sponge cities.” Shenzhen and test the results of the pilot projects with the intention of replicating proven-effective practic- park in Tianjin, which collects rainwater to 29 other cities received instructions and es on a nationwide basis. irrigate vegetation on the By the government’s definition, a city will incentives to develop green infrastructure— site of a former garbage reach the “sponge” standard when 70 percent of including bioswales, pervious paving technol- dump. Credit: Kongjian Yu rainfall is absorbed into the ground, relieving ogies, and rain gardens to absorb storm strain on traditionally constructed drainage water into the ground. systems and minimizing floods. The goal is that 20 percent of urban built-up areas in pilot cities will reach sponge standard over the course of five years. Green Roof Rainwater TNC China is the key partner and technical Garden Bioretention adviser to Shenzhen’s sponge city project. TNC Facility invited the PLC and several other institutions to Forest Wetland Transparent Ground Surface join the effort, providing insight on policy, Lake strategy, and finance. The pilot demonstration project in Shenzhen includes four components: pilot demonstration sub-projects for industrial “We are investigating other countries’ for local communities and creating a mechanism plants, office buildings, schools, urban neighbor- experiences with financing rainstorm manage- to finance long-term reserve management hoods, etc.; dissemination and upgrading of past ment,” says Liu. “For example, the city of Phila- through private contributions. We believe that experiments; an education and promotion delphia imposes storm water fees based on the this new model could become an important campaign; and studies of strategy, policy, and amount of impervious surface that a parcel supplement to China’s current protected area financing mechanisms. contains. The city also offers several programs to system,” says Science Director of TNC China, Dr. “Our work on the sponge city strategy, policy, assist nonresidential customers to lower their Jin Tong. Building on this successful experience Rainwater Recycling and finance is currently underway,” says Liu. “We storm water fees through green projects that and taking advantage of access to international have looked extensively into relevant internation- reduce the amount of impervious surface on their knowledge through the International Land al experiences from the United States, Germany, properties. In the context of China, we believe Conservation Network (ILCN), a project of the Lin- the Netherlands, Singapore, and other countries. that the long-term financial solutions will require coln Institute, the PLC is exploring land conser- impervious surfaces that prevent storm water The sub-projects of the Shenzhen pilot demon- some careful consideration of fiscal policy reform vation finance for China more broadly. from seeping into the earth to replenish ground stration give us a great sense of which technolo- at the local level,” he says. Land trusts are an American innovation. As water sources and mitigate the threat of major gies are most feasible, as well as their benefits chaitable organizations, land trusts leverage the flooding. In recent years, increasingly severe and costs,” he adds. Nature Sanctuaries and Land power of the private and nonprofit sectors to storms and other surface water running at street The major challenge is how to develop conserve land by acquiring it outright, and level in Chinese cities have presented life-threat- long-term financial mechanisms for sponge city Trust Reserves owning title or fee ownership to it; by acquiring ening peril to urban residents, such as the 2012 development. Sponge infrastructure is costly, conservation easements, also known as conser- flood in Beijing that killed 79 and caused RMB estimated at over RMB 100 million (US$15.08 TNC China is also active in the conservation of vation restrictions or conservation servitudes; or 11.64 billion (US$1.76 billion) in damages, million) per square kilometer of built-up urban resources beyond China’s cities. In the past by serving as the stewards or managers of according to Xinhua News Agency. area. It is a public good in nature. The question several years, TNC China has adapted the protected lands owned by others. Indeed, about This storm event and other recent floods is who will pay for it. Today, Shenzhen’s sponge American land trust model to local conditions 56 million U.S. acres (about 23 million hectares) spurred the Chinese government to announce a city project is supported by central government to protect land, biodiversity habitat, and ecosys- have been protected in the United States by national program to develop a series of “sponge subsidies, the municipal budget, and businesses tem services, from air and water purification local, regional, and national land trusts as of cities.” Shenzhen in the Pearl River Delta and 29 volunteering to build sponge infrastructure to flood and drought mitigation. “We’ve been year-end 2015, according to the 2015 Land Trust other cities, from Wuhan in Central China to facilities, such as rain gardens and rain roofs testing this localized land trust model as a way Census compiled by the Land Trust Alliance in Baotou in Inner Mongolia (Leach 2016), received on their own properties. But the available to expand society’s ability to protect and sustain- cooperation with the Lincoln Institute of Land instructions and incentives to develop green financial resources are far from adequate to ably manage China’s most important lands and Policy. The United States is believed to be the infrastructure—including bioswales, pervious meet the target. waters, while providing green livelihood solutions global leader in private and civic land conserva-
24 LAND LINES OCTOBER 2017 25 tion, though no comprehensive figures compare potential to help reshape the way that China nations around the world in terms of private and approaches the creation and management of civic land conservation. Land conserved by NGOs protected areas. Currently, more than 15 percent and other private and civic actors complement of China’s land is designated as a protected area, the 7.9 billion acres (3.2 billion hectares) and more than 2,700 nature reserves have the protected, principally, by governments around highest level of legal protection in that nation. the world (UNDP-WCMC 2014). However, significant challenges continue to The world’s first regional land trust was daunt the Chinese network of protected lands. established in Massachusetts in 1891. Known Many protected areas lack adequate financial today as The Trustees of Reservations, that group resources, enforcement and governance mecha- continues to protect exceptionally beautiful, nisms, and management staff. In order to naturally important, and historically significant strengthen and expand the existing network of properties in Massachusetts through fee protected areas, TNC China and its partners are ownership and conservation easements. From working to develop land trust analogues that that small beginning, more than 1,000 land trust work in the Chinese context. The Nature Conservancy China aims to work with partners to create 10 land trust reserves in China by 2020. organizations are now spread across the United A 2008 Chinese policy that allows private Credit: The Nature Conservancy China States. They exist in every state of the union and individuals and organizations to assume continue to improve the pace, quality, and management rights on collectively owned forest permanence of protected lands across the nation, land opened the door for a conversation about vation lease, allowing it to manage the parcel for entity, the Laohegou Nature Conservation Center, providing multiple public benefits. This work land trusts. In 2011, TNC China initiated a the next 50 years. which has in turn hired nearby residents to greatly benefits from U.S. federal tax credits for collaboration with the local government of The local government, TNC China, and the administer and execute management, enforce- conservation easements to land trusts. Sichuan Province’s Pingwu County to explore the foundation promptly designated the leased land ment, and ecological monitoring workplans. establishment of the country’s first land trust a county-level nature reserve, named Laohegou Several entities supporting and managing reserve. In keeping with the local nature of the Land Trust Reserve, thereby conserving over the reserve are also piloting mechanisms to The local government of Sichuan Province’s land trust movement, TNC China then catalyzed 27,000 acres (about 11,000 hectares) of important increase income in communities bordering the Pingwu County, the Nature Conservancy the birth of a new local entity—the Sichuan giant panda habitat. This reserve’s strategic reserves and to fund the reserve’s ongoing China, and the Sichuan Nature Conservation Nature Conservation Foundation (SNCF)—which location connects existing protected areas for management. For example, outside Laohegou Foundation designated a county-level nature was later renamed the Paradise Foundation. In endangered species, such as the giant panda Reserve, the Paradise Foundation has set up a 2013, the SNCF signed the nation’s first conser- and the Sichuan snub-nosed monkey, thereby system in which they sell the community’s reserve, named Laohegou Land Trust Re- establishing a large conservation corridor. The eco-friendly agricultural products and honey interconnected corridor effectively creates a wine to high-end markets. Revenues from these serve, with over 27,000 acres (about 11,000 China’s first land trust reserve, The Laohegou Land Trust large territory within which anti-poaching sales augment community income and reduce hectares) of important giant panda habitat. Reserve, conserves more than 27,000 acres (about 11,000 hectares), strategically connecting existing protected regulations can be rigorously enforced. Similarly, the pressure from local residents who want to areas for endangered species, such as the Sichuan within the corridor, local streams that run free hunt and forage within the reserve. The Paradise The practice of land conservation by private snub-nosed monkey and the giant panda. Credit: The can be protected from diversion into hydropower. Foundation and others are also exploring the individuals and civic organizations has also Nature Conservancy China The reserve is also important from a research potential for limited ecotourism into the re- spread across the world. Private and civic land perspective. Scientists have carried out a serves, as well as online fundraising for individu- conservation groups exist in more than 130 baseline inventory of wildlife and set up dozens al projects. Finally, project managers are also countries and territories in North and South of camera traps to learn more about the numer- optimistic that China’s growing philanthropic America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ous important species present. Already, the sector will take interest and support these according to a recent survey conducted by the cameras have captured rare footage of a giant efforts. It remains to be seen whether these ILCN (ILCN 2017). While the legal context and panda eating the remains of a takin (a goat-ante- techniques will yield profits that are widely financial incentives for land conservation in the lope found in Asian mountain ranges and dispersed through the communities near the private and civic sectors differ from country to highlands), reinforcing the relatively new discov- reserve or provide consistent, long-term funding country, the motivation to protect and carefully ery that pandas are omnivores, occasionally needed for management activities. steward land for the good of present and future consuming meat. The conservancy’s goal is to create 10 land generations is a constant across the globe. For day-to-day management of the reserve, trust reserves in China by 2020 with partners, Now land trusts, in a new form, may have the the foundation sponsored the creation of a local each employing a slightly different model to
26 LAND LINES OCTOBER 2017 27 CITY TECH ROB WALKER
demonstrate the flexibility of this approach, REFERENCES such as leasing land and turning it into a reserve, like in Sichuan Province, or assuming manage- Bradsher, Keith. 2017. “China’s Electric Car Push Lures WeChat Pay Shapes Street Life in China ment responsibilities of an existing reserve. Global Auto Giants, Despite Risks.” New York Times, Beyond Laohegou, the Conservancy and its September 10. www.nytimes.com/2017/09/10/business/ china-electric-cars.html. partners are also exploring other models to FIRST RELEASED JUST SIX YEARS AGO, THE CHINESE abundant online information attached to the demonstrate the flexibility of this approach, such Demographia. 2017. Demographia World Urban Areas, SOCIAL-MEDIA APP WECHAT IS ONE OF THE MOST offline world.” For sellers, there’s no need for as civil societies assuming complete or partial Thirteenth Annual Edition. Belleville, IL: Demographia, POPULAR IN THE WORLD, WITH A REPORTED 938 anything as complicated or expensive as the April. www.demographia.com/db-worldua.pdf. management responsibilities of an existing MILLION ACTIVE MONTHLY USERS. It caught on as a special devices a vendor typically needs to reserve. To date, four land trust reserves, Fialka, John. 2016. “China Will Start the World’s Largest messaging service, and has kept adding features. accept credit-card payments (or, for that matter, including Laohegou, have been created around Carbon Trading Market.” Scientific American, May 16. One has become wildly popular in ways that have Apple Pay); anybody can print a QR code. the country in partnership with various local www.scientificamerican.com/article/china-will-start- attracted widespread attention: payments. Visit That’s one reason WeChat Pay caught on entities, and interest continues to grow. the-world-s-largest-carbon-trading-market/. any Chinese city today and you’ll quickly discover not just with larger established businesses, Borrowing the idea of the Land Trust Alliance Global Carbon Project. 2016. “Global Carbon Atlas: that the option to pay for practically anything by but also everything from small restaurants to in the United States, the Paradise Foundation CO2 Emissions.” www.globalcarbonatlas.org/en/ using a smartphone is pretty much inescapable. street vendors. “It’s impossible not to use,” says and TNC China aligned 11 other international and CO2-emissions. The upshot is that WeChat Pay has emerged Kate Austermiller, program manager for the domestic environmental NGOs to launch the ILCN (International Land Conservation Network). 2017. as a powerful example of a digital-payments China program of the PKU–Lincoln Center in China Civic Land Conservation Alliance in 2017, “Locations.” www.landconservationnetwork.org/ ecosystem taking hold through a unique intertwin- Beijing. Skeptical at first, she now relies on aiming to catalyze the “China land trust move- locations. ing of mobile technology and the built environ- WeChat Pay even for minor transactions like
ment” by providing a platform for communica- Leach, Anna. 2016. “Soak It Up: China’s Ambitious Plan ment. Along with a rival service called Alipay buying water or a piece of fruit from a vendor. tions, funding, standards, policies, and capacity to Solve Urban Flooding with ‘Sponge Cities.’” Guardian, (offered by e-commerce giant Alibaba), it’s at the “It’s almost faster than fishing through my purse building. The long-term vision of the Alliance is to October 3. www.theguardian.com/public-leaders- center of a digital phenomenon shaped in part by for cash—my phone is always in a pocket,” she collaboratively protect 1 percent of China’s network/2016/oct/03/china-government-solve- the city context—and one that may, in turn, affect says. Even buskers use it to accept “tips” via a terrestrial land by civic and private organizations urban-planning-flooding-sponge-cities. elements of that urban context in the future. QR code, as easily as they might collect coins and individuals. Myers, Joe. 2016. “You Knew China’s Cities Were Growing, The general notion of digital payment is tossed into a hat. “The Conservancy will soon enter its twenti- but the Real Numbers Are Stunning.” Geneva, Switzer- nothing new. PayPal has been around for years; eth year in China,” says Jin Tong. “We’ve complet- land: World Economic Forum, June 20. www.weforum.org/ your credit card details are likely on file at a slew ed a lot of work on the ground that draws on our agenda/2016/06/china-cities-growing-numbers- of online retailers; a solid and growing base of WeChat Pay has emerged as a powerful are-stunning. science-based approach and international users rely on Venmo to make person-to-person example of a digital-payments ecosystem expertise to find viable solutions to China’s most UNDP-WCMC (United Nations Environment Programme payments; Apple Pay has forged deals to enable pressing environmental challenges, such as the World Conservation Monitoring Centre). 2014.“Mapping smartphone payments at a number of major taking hold through a unique intertwining of sponge city pilot project and the land trust the World’s Special Places.” www.unep-wcmc.org/ retailers in the United States and beyond. And so mobile technology and the built environment. reserves. In collaboration with PLC, we could featured-projects/mapping-the-worlds-special-places. on. But while 2016 mobile payments in the United amplify the success of demonstration projects to Xiang, Bo, ed. 2017. “Chinese Vice Premier Stresses Green States totaled US$112 billion (RMB 742.7 billion), make larger-scale impacts and create enabling Development.” XinhuaNet, September 8. http://news. the figure in China was a reported US$5.5 trillion The Better Than Cash Alliance—a United conditions to trigger systematic changes through xinhuanet.com/english/2017-09/08/c_136595063.htm. (RMB 36.47 trillion). Beyond the numbers, the Nations–based organization focused on financial
research on China’s conservation strategies, Xinhua. 2013. “Rainstorms Affect 508,000 in SW China.” sheer ubiquity of WeChat Pay and Alipay has inclusion, with business, government, and other policy, and finance,” she says. China Daily, July 10. http://africa.chinadaily.com.cn/ made the smartphone-as-virtual-wallet idea collaborating members—recently published an china/2013-07/10/content_16758256.htm. more overtly visible, something woven into the extensive case study focused on the rise of fabric of city life. digital payments in China, and what that trend World Bank. 2017. “World Bank Open Data.” Accessed James N. Levitt is the manager of land conservation September 2017. Washington, DC: World Bank. https:// Accepting payment via WeChat requires a could mean globally. “Digital payments are very programs at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=CN. vendor to do little more than print out a unique closely linked to financial inclusion,” observes director of the Program on Conservation Innovation at the QR code—essentially a more advanced form of Camilo Tellez, the head of research and innova- Zhu, Lingqing. 2017. “China to Launch Carbon Emissions Harvard Forest of Harvard University. Emily Myron is bar code—and link it to a digital account; to tion at the alliance. In China, Africa, and else- Market this Year.” China Daily, August 16. www.chinadaily. project manager of the International Land Conservation com.cn/business/2017-08/16/content_30686774.htm. make a payment, a customer can scan that code where, he explains, mobile payment systems Network at the Lincoln Institute. with a smartphone. Pony Ma, the CEO of WeChat have given millions of people their first direct parent Tencent, has called the QR code “a label of link to the formal financial system.
28 LAND LINES OCTOBER 2017 29 out, and a kind of alternative universe of connect- products and services that made the company a ed innovation has evolved. And in the case global powerhouse. Its Alipay app was early to of these payment services, at least, Chinese target brick-and-mortar merchants with an regulators have so far allowed a fair amount of offline, QR code–based payment system. But it is latitude for experimentation. (Current government widely acknowledged that when WeChat creator planning around financial development through Tencent put its payment feature on the map with 2020 includes the specific encouragement of a major marketing push a couple of years ago, it extending financial services to micro-businesses was a game-changer. and low-income groups.) Cleverly, the campaign played off a tradition To accept WeChat Pay, And in China, digital payments arrived as an of making monetary New Year’s gifts of cash in vendors like this Beijing option in a fairly cash-based society—certainly red envelopes. WeChat offered a digital Red grocer print a unique compared to the deeply entrenched credit and Packets promotion, and an estimated 5 million QR code and link it to a debit card culture of the United States. (Some users participated—learning in an instant to digital account; customers simply scan that code with observers suggest that a Chinese aversion to associate the social network with payments. For a smartphone to pay. debt makes digital payments preferable to the Tencent, the payment feature isn’t necessarily Credit: Tao Jin plastic alternative Americans in particular are so conceived of as a profit center, but as another fond of.) The leapfrog from cash to digital seems attraction keeping WeChat users locked in to a to be happening elsewhere in the developing service that profits from games and advertising. world, with the rapid rise of mobile as a driving The company has subsidized third-party While 2016 mobile payments in the U.S. totaled US$112 billion (RMB 742.7 billion), factor. This has been amplified by population developers to help more businesses adopt the figure in China was a reported US$5.5 trillion (RMB 36.47 trillion). Beyond the shifts toward urban centers, where job opportu- WePay, and peer-to-peer transactions are free. numbers, the sheer ubiquity of WeChat Pay and Alipay has made the smartphone-as- nities concentrate, that make the ability to stay The more WeChat Pay took off, the more connected with family or other contacts across Alipay countered with its own competitive moves. virtual-wallet idea more overtly visible, something woven into the fabric of city life. physical distances more important. Both systems are now widely available in WeChat isn’t the only digital payment player, China—and compete with various “cashless or even the first, in China. Alibaba Group’s society” promotions involving discounts or “In China it’s become really obvious that convenience,” says Zhi Liu, director of both e-commerce platform dates back to the late rebates—and the companies are each diving into SMEs—small- and medium-sized enterprises— the China program at the Lincoln Institute of 1990s, and evolved from a business-to-business markets elsewhere, sometimes in partnership can really reap the benefits,” Tellez says. Land Policy and the Peking University–Lincoln marketplace into a variety of digital-payment with local players. “Leveraging digital payment systems can Institute Center for Urban Development and As digital payments have become a routine actually allow them to access new forms of Land Policy in Beijing. A vending machine in Shenzhen accepts WeChat Pay. part of city life, they’re already subtly shaping it. credit” unavailable to a pure-cash operation, he In fact, Liu confesses that while he’s not the Credit: Nagarjun Kandukuru/Flickr Tellez, of the Better Than Cash Alliance, points to continues, and that can have a major impact on type to jump onto the latest tech trend, this one the effect on utility cost-recovery and toll managing or even growing a business. A payment made itself irresistible, even offline. He’d start collection, particularly in developing-world system folded directly into a social network has looking around for an ATM to get the cash to, say, contexts; and, for even small businesses, the other advantages; the Better Than Cash Alliance split a bill, and his colleagues “would just use a ability to collect and leverage useful transaction report tells the story, for instance, of a hair stylist mobile phone and say ‘It’s done!,’” Liu laughs. data. And as Liu points out, the broader potential who used WeChat both to expand his customer Pretty soon, you just get on board with everyone of higher-level data collection is tantalizing. base, and to avoid carrying too much cash when else. And thus the flip side: any given urban Clearly there are privacy-related concerns about traveling among client appointments. business quickly figures out that if every rival on how such data is shared and utilized. But in an Because WeChat made it easy for all sorts of the block accepts this payment form, it’s time to academic or planning context, it may offer a online vendors to use its platform (and even do the same. window on day-to-day economic behavior that subsidized third-party developers to help them), Some country-specific factors have likely can give us a whole new way to, as Liu puts it, users can now do anything from book a flight to contributed to the digital-payment explosion in “understand the city.” pay utilities to reimburse a friend for a shared China. Its Internet ecosystem is distinct in part meal, without ever leaving the app. “People because familiar entities like Google and responded to it rapidly—it really provided a lot of Facebook, among others, are essentially locked Rob Walker (robwalker.net) is a columnist for the Sunday Business section of The New York Times.
30 LAND LINES OCTOBER 2017 31 NEW LINCOLN INSTITUTE POLICY FOCUS REPORT
Revitalizing America’s Smaller Legacy The report recommends eight • Build on an authentic sense of • Strategically leverage state policies: strategies for revitalization that have place: Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Ohio authorized counties to create Cities: Strategies for Postindustrial shown promise in some places: converted part of a closed steel local land banks to respond to the plant into an arts and cultural vacancy and foreclosure crisis, and Success from Gary to Lowell • Build civic capacity and talent: campus, and Scranton encouraged Massachusetts is collaborating with Cities like South Bend, Indiana, and former residents who had moved a statewide think tank to direct Hamilton, Ohio, created fellowships to New York or other large cities resources to targeted legacy cities. By Torey Hollingsworth and Alison Goebel to place talented young workers in to return home, emphasizing management-level positions in the quality of life. Revitalizing America’s Smaller private and public sectors, and Legacy Cities is a follow-up to the Hamilton recruited a city manager • Focus regional efforts on Lincoln Institute’s 2013 report, FROM GARY, INDIANA, TO LOWELL, mills and factories, and vacant houses from outside the city to change the rebuilding a strong downtown: Regenerating America’s Legacy Cities, MASSACHUSETTS, SMALLER POSTIN- and storefronts. culture of City Hall. Syracuse prioritized downtown which focuses on larger cities such as DUSTRIAL CITIES ARE TAKING STRATEGIC “The challenges faced by smaller August 2017 / Paperback / $15.00 / 72 pages revitalization efforts to help Detroit, Baltimore, Cincinnati, and STEPS TO REGENERATE—with the legacy cities loom large in the American ISBN: 978-1-55844-370-9 • Encourage a shared public- and create jobs and attract talented Pittsburgh. It marks the latest step in PDF / Free / 72 pages / ISBN: 978-1-55844-371-6 chance to follow their larger rebounding imagination,” authors Torey Holling- private-sector vision: In Lancaster, workers, and York, Pennsylvania, the Lincoln Institute’s ongoing initiative Pennsylvania, the private sector led created a business improvement to help build the capacity of legacy counterparts like Pittsburgh and sworth and Alison Goebel of the Greater To order, visit www.lincolninst.edu/publications/ Cleveland—by building on downtowns, Ohio Policy Center write in Revitalizing policy-focus-reports/revitalizing-americas- the deployment of a plan that district to re-create the down- cities to thrive in the 21st century, and capitalizing on a unique sense of place, America’s Smaller Legacy Cities: smaller-legacy-cities reimagined the city as a tourist hub, town as a retail center. to ensure that all residents enjoy the and focusing on workforce develop- Strategies for Postindustrial Success and in Grand Rapids, Michigan, benefits of revitalization. ment, according to a new report from Gary to Lowell. “It’s no coincidence business leaders created an • Engage in community and stra- published by the Lincoln Institute of that Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen organization that revitalized the tegic planning: Dayton, Ohio, central business district. and Flint, Michigan, have engaged Land Policy in partnership with the chose Allentown, Pennsylvania, and The cities differ greatly—some ABOUT THE AUTHORS Greater Ohio Policy Center. Youngstown, Ohio, respectively, as benefit from proximity to big cities like residents in tough conversations • Expand opportunities for low- These smaller cities, with popula- symbols of the demise of a certain kind Philadelphia and New York, while about future land use after Torey Hollingsworth is the manager of income workers: Lima, Ohio, has tions of 30,000 to 200,000, are reeling of American dream.” others are more isolated—but they extreme population losses. research and policy at Greater Ohio created an umbrella organization to from the same loss of population and The report makes the case for share much in common. They are Policy Center, where she manages and coordinate workforce development manufacturing jobs as Baltimore or reinvesting in smaller legacy cities and grappling with persistent poverty, • Stabilize distressed neighbor- carries out research projects, contrib- efforts, and in Syracuse, New York, Detroit, but they often lack the big explores strategies that have shown inequality, and blight, which were hoods: Youngstown used data to utes to policy development, and works the regional chamber of commerce universities, hospitals, or philanthro- promise in some places. It examines 24 compounded by the Great Recession. pinpoint struggling neighborhoods with partner organizations statewide. tied a redevelopment project to pies that have boosted larger cities. cities across seven midwestern and They seek to attract young profession- and prioritize funding to triage Alison Goebel is executive director of high-paying jobs and skills training. They gained national attention when northeastern states: Michigan, Indiana, als and startups to become affordable housing in poor condition. the Greater Ohio Policy Center. President Trump’s message resonated Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, New alternatives to hot market cities, but with voters who had long supported Jersey, and Massachusetts. It measures they also need to nurture their existing Democrats in cities like Scranton, each city’s progress from 2000 to 2015 populations across all incomes and Pennsylvania, hometown of former Vice using a range of indicators, from skill levels. They first rose to prosperity As part of New York State’s President Joe Biden. Once powerhous- employment to population change, and amid a wave of immigration, and many Tech Valley, Albany has es of the American economy, some now describes revitalization strategies that recognize the role of immigrants in their collaborated with Troy and conjure images of abandoned steel have succeeded thus far. resurgence a century later. Schenectady to promote the region’s strong “No two places are alike, but technology companies, smaller legacy cities can learn from vibrant neighborhoods, and each other as they reposition them- low cost of living. Credit: “Smaller legacy cities can learn from each other as they selves, whether as a regional service iStock.com/kickstand reposition themselves, whether as a regional service center, a competitor on the national center, a competitor on the national or global stage, or or global stage, or a tourism hub,” the authors said. “They will need to a tourism hub. They will need to build teams from the build teams from the public and public and private sectors who share a spirit of private sectors who share a spirit of collaboration and the will to lead their communities collaboration and the will to lead their communities through a period of through a period of great transformation.” great transformation.”
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2017 Publications Catalog
The Lincoln Institute’s 2017 Publications catalog features more than 130 books, ebooks, Policy Focus Reports, and multimedia resources. These publications represent the efforts of Institute faculty, fellows, and associates to help solve global economic, social and environmental challenges to improve quality of life through research on property taxation, valuation, and assessment; urban and regional planning; smart growth; land conservation; housing and urban development; and other land policy concerns in the United States, Latin America, China, Europe, Africa, and other areas around the globe.
All of the books, reports, and other items listed in the catalog are available to purchase and/or download on the Institute’s website, and we encourage their adoption for academic courses and other educa- tional meetings. Follow the instructions for requesting exam copies at www.lincolninst.edu/exam-copies. To request a printed copy of the catalog, send your complete mailing address to [email protected].
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