Land Matters

The leader of UN-Habitat details solutions to the global housing crisis, the predominant topic at the 13th session of the World Urban Forum, hosted in May in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The latest installment of the Mayor's Desk interview series features Fairbanks, Alaska Mayor Mindy O'Neall, who reflects on the special challenges of governing in a "land of extremes," on matters ranging from affordable housing to climate change.

Zoning got constitutional blessing 100 years ago in the Supreme Court case Euclid versus Ambler Realty. Dartmouth College economist Bill Fischel explains how the rules guiding development came to be – and are now being blamed for a shortage of affordable housing.

Urban planners are trying to figure out the future just like everybody else. The 2026 Trend Report for Planners looks at the top issues—from artificial intelligence to the future of work—that planning professionals must keep an eye on as they help guide growth in the world's cities and towns.

The oftentimes fast-tracked construction of data centers across the US has raised concerns about land use and water and energy consumption, as communities try to balance the promise of jobs and economic activity with long-term sustainability.

At a particularly challenging time to work in government, the Lincoln Vibrant Communities fellows program, an initiative of Claremont Lincoln University and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, builds capacity and broadens horizons for local leaders and innovators.

A conversation all about density, on the occasion of the return of an online resource, Visualizing Density, at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy website. Density is in the spotlight as cities and towns seek to build more multifamily housing to help address a stubborn affordability crisis.

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, in an interview for the Mayor's Desk series, details work on housing affordability, homelessness, and other growing pains amid the city's increasing popularity. Solutions include reducing building costs, incentivizing new construction, and taking better advantage of the metro region's extensive light rail network for transit-oriented development.

Demand for walkable urbanism is stronger than ever, according to Mallory Baches, president of the Congress for the New Urbanism, an organization that has been promoting compact, mixed-use, transit-oriented development for more than three decades.

At the helm in Providence,Rhode Island after 30 years of steady revitalization, Mayor Brett Smiley hopes to keep up the momentum while also addressing affordability and fiscal challenges. The latest municipal leader to be interviewed in the Mayor's Desk series, he also talks bike lanes, nightlife, and the vagaries of community engagement.

Rob Walker, author of City Tech: 20 Apps, Ideas, and Innovators Changing the Urban Landscape, reflects on how artificial intelligence could transform urban planning, along with other advances in technology that are poised to improve quality of life in cities.

Community Land Trusts, where homebuyers purchase homes but not the land underneath, is an affordable housing solution that deserves more attention, say the authors of a new report that reveals the critical ingredients for success.

St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones talks about regeneration strategies for the Gateway to the West, a postindustrial legacy city trying to bounce back from manufacturing and population loss. The interview is the latest in the Lincoln Institute's Mayor's Desk series, highlighting municipal chief executives from around the world.

Technological advances in satellite imagery and data management have boosted the field of geospatial mapping, making it possible to show all kinds of land uses across parcels, blocks, neighborhoods and regions. Jeff Allenby at the Center for Geospatial Solutions explains how the tools are helping local decision-makers understand property ownership patterns and the potential for much-needed new housing.

As the US marks Juneteenth, self-described "death and dirt" attorney Mavis Gragg recounts efforts to secure title and reclaim legal ownership of Black-owned land, in the burgeoning field of heirs property.

An interview with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who has led a pioneering zoning reform effort to increase housing supply, beginning with banning single-family-only zoning. As part of the "Mayor's Desk" series of Q&A's with municipal leaders, he also reflects on bike and bus lanes, regional governance, value capture for urban infill redevelopment, return to work, and the city's infamous system of skyways.

Highlights from the Lincoln Institute's Journalists Forum: Innovations in Affordability reveal emerging solutions to the extraordinary challenge of the housing crisis—reforming statewide zoning to increase supply, outmaneuvering institutional investors, shifting the property tax to a land value tax, and changing the home financing system.

An assessment of what was accomplished at the recent COP28 climate summit in Dubai, including more prominence for the critical issue of land use and cities, by four members of the Lincoln Institute staff who were there

Mayor Paige Cognetti is guiding the postindustrial reinvention of Scranton, a coal-mining crossroads in northeastern Pennsylvania that is President Biden's hometown—and has gained notoriety as the setting for the TV comedy series "The Office."

Jim Holway, who retired as director of the Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy this summer, reflects on decades of trying to solve the puzzle of sustainable water resources in the West, and looks to what the future may hold.

Record-breaking heat, out-of-control wildfires, and eye-stinging smoke have made the impacts of climate change inescapable for millions of people this summer. Containing the destructive fires is mostly a matter of land use management, says Canadian science journalist Ed Struzik.

The job of the urban planner is getting tougher these days, as cities confront climate change and a shortage of affordable housing, amid increasingly divided constituencies. Veteran journalist Josh Stephens shares insights from his interviews for the book Planners Across America.

The former President and First Lady of Costa Rica, taking a year in the United States after being in power from 2018 to 2022, reflect on their home country's record of leading by example on climate, from rainforest conservation to electric buses.

As a relatively affordable city protected from some of the worst effects of climate change, Cincinnati is poised for growth. In the this episode of the Land Matters podcast, Mayor Aftab Pureval reflects on the challenges he is confronting—including fending off predatory real estate investors—and discusses how the city can grow thoughtfully and equitably. For links and resources related to this episode, please visit our show notes at https://www.lincolninst.edu/publications/articles/2023-03-land-matters-podcast-pureval-housing-hope-cincinnati

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Three scholars retiring from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy – Armando Carbonell, who led programs in urban planning and land conservation; Daphne Kenyon, an economist studying the property tax and municipal finance; and Martim Smolka, director of the Latin America program – share thoughts on what it takes for a nonprofit organization to have real-world impact.

The mayor of Freetown, Sierra Leone, Yvonne Aki-Sawyer, explains her appointment of Africa's first chief heat officer, fighting climate change with land use planning and planting a million trees, and an overhaul of the property tax system to ensure fiscal sustainability.

Zoning may not be something most people think about every day. But behind the scenes, local land use rules have been blocking affordable housing, hindering climate action, and exacerbating racial segregation, according to author M. Nolan Gray and Cornell University professor Sara Bronin.

Berkeley, California, is a classic case of a built-up city facing tensions over future development. In this candid interview, Mayor Jesse Arreguín talks about the need to make the city more affordable by clearing the way for new housing and discouraging speculation among owners sitting on vacant lots and properties.

Thirty journalists on the climate beat came to the Lincoln Institute recently to consider global warming's impact on land, whether deforestation, inundation, or drought. The conclusion: new policies and practices in land use planning will be required to head off a worsening crisis. A full recap of the 2022 Journalists Forum is available here.

On the South Side of Chicago, Rev. Otis Moss III has led initiatives in green building and community empowerment that are having a ripple effect across the city and beyond. This interview follows his delivery of the keynote address for the Lincoln Institute's 75th anniversary celebration.

Burlington, Vermont – already sourcing 100 percent of its energy from renewables – is pledging to end all use of fossil fuels by 2030. Mayor Miro Weinberger says he has the political support to eliminate planet-warming emissions across all sectors.

Randall Woodfin, Birmingham's "millennial mayor" and rising star in Alabama politics, has launched an urban mechanic's agenda for revitalizing that post-industrial city: restoring basic infrastructure on a block-by-block basis, setting up a command center so federal funds are spent wisely, and providing guaranteed income for single mothers.

The big technology companies could do big things to address climate change, says Silicon Valley chronicler Kara Swisher, host of the "Sway" podcast at The New York Times. New inventions await in manufacturing, materials, batteries, growing food, sequestering carbon – and using artifical intelligence to understand climate data and land use changes.

The cane toad, introduced in Australia in the 1930s to control pests, quickly became a major problem itself – one of many examples of human interventions in natural systems that scientists should keep in mind while trying to tackle the climate crisis, says New Yorker staff writer Elizabeth Kolbert, author of Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future.

Bogota Mayor Claudia Lopez talks about local climate action, land value capture for more equitable urban development, and the importance of supporting women in society, in an interview as she was en route to the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.

As world leaders descend on Glasgow, Scotland for the COP26 climate summit, the critical role of land and water isn't getting enough attention, says former Arizona Governor and Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. The destruction of forests is spewing emissions and taking away natural carbon sinks. And dwindling water supplies – seen in real time in the looming crisis in the Colorado River Basin – demands immediate action, he says.

City planners are emerging from behind the scenes to help address some of society's most complex challenges, including building equity and fighting racism. This summer a coalition of planners came together to acknowledge past discrimination in urban development policies and commit to becoming "change agents" to help create more racially equitable communities. For links and resources discussed in this episode, please visit our show notes at https://www.lincolninst.edu/publications/articles/2021-10-land-matters-addressing-structural-racism-urban-planning

In this summer of 2021, land is being ravaged. Wildfires burn in the western U.S., Canada and elsewhere, and the Amazon rainforest has been scorched so much for ranching and agriculture it now emits more carbon than it absorbs. Land conservation veteran Jim Levitt explains the central role of land, land management, and land conservation in confronting climate change, now and in the future.

Mayor Frank Jackson is happy about the myriad efforts to revitalize Cleveland – from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame to the University Circle cultural center and the recent "innovation hub" activity in tech and life sciences. But as he finishes out his fourth and final term, Jackson says that the city's ultimate success should be defined by one standard only – whether future regeneration is equitable for all. For links and resources, please visit our show notes at https://www.lincolninst.edu/publications/podcasts-videos

Home to global tech companies and a record number of millionaires, Cambridge, Massachusetts has been trying to make the city more accessible for all. Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui talks about recent strategies, including an innovative affordable housing overlay that awards extra height and density and includes a streamlined permitting process for below market-rate residential projects. For links and resources discussed in this episode, please visit our show notes at https://www.lincolninst.edu/publications/series/land-lines-magazine

As the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy marks its 75th anniversary, Board Chair Kathryn J. Lincoln and President George W. "Mac" McCarthy reflect on the past, present, and future of an organization that recognizes the central role of land in solving some of the world's greatest challenges, from confronting climate change to making global cities better places for all.

Rising rents are straining family budgets now more than ever, says NYU professor Ingrid Gould Ellen, co-author of the Lincoln Institute report "Through the Roof" – and the pandemic has both revealed and exacerbated the affordability crisis. Local governments should establish comprehensive plans to create more housing, she says, but action at the state and federal level will help as well.

In the first of the year's shows marking the 75th anniversary of the Lincoln Institute, environmentalist and author Bill McKibben breaks down the actions of the incoming Biden administration to confront the climate crisis, from rejoining the Paris accord to halting the Keystone XL pipeline. Land use and land policy, he says, are critical components as the planet readies for inevitable impacts such as rising seas, which is expected to trigger massive migration.

As the world prepares to bid farewell to 2020, taking stock of an unprecedented year involves both understanding the devastation of the coronavirus pandemic and looking ahead to what the future may hold. New York Times reporter Emily Badger and author Diana Lind reflect on the prospects for cities, housing, and transportation in the times ahead.

Recently reelected Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego reflects on a supercharged election season – and how, among other changes, Phoenix is becoming a more sustainable, and more urban, place. The nation's fifth-largest metropolis is battling COVID, stepping up measures to conserve water, and providing new housing and transit options for its growing population.

With revenues down and pandemic-related expenditures up, state and local governments are facing a fiscal meltdown this fall and beyond. Experts from the Lincoln Institute talk about the options, including layoffs and cuts in services, and explain how leaving cities and states to struggle on their own might actually worsen a recession.

To make sense of the current discussion of affordable housing in cities or in suburbs, it is necessary to understand the history of discrimination that has been part and parcel of US housing policy and programs, says Lisa Rice, president of the National Fair Housing Alliance.

The coronavirus pandemic and growing outrage about racial injustice have underscored the centrality of healthy, well-located, and affordable housing in society. Author Kim Vermeer and smart growth advocate Andre Leroux assess efforts to create more housing options to address longstanding economic and racial disparities.

For Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, the coronavirus crisis began in earnest when California Governor Gavin Newsom asked to allow sick passengers to disembark from the Crown Princess cruise ship, in the West Oakland port area. And life as mayor of this Bay Area city of 435,000 has not been the same since. Schaaf oversaw a successful lockdown, placed the homeless in vacant hotel rooms, and closed sections of streets to vehicular traffic to encourage biking and walking. Now she is focused on making Oakland more sustainable and equitable than before the pandemic struck.

The coronavirus pandemic has utterly changed virtually all aspects of urban life, both now and for the foreseeable future. Cities like Detroit – before the crisis, arguably on the brink of a rebound -- now must make a wide range of adjustments in programs and initiatives in their quest for equitable regeneration. The long recovery ahead will move from near-term responses to a more holistic re-imagining of how communities function, according to two leaders at the Lincoln Institute's Center for Community Investment.

Financing urban infrastructure and promoting decent, affordable housing were both big topics at the United Nations global cities summit, the World Urban Forum, recently held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Architect and urban planner Claudio Acioly helps explain the worldwide effort to improve conditions in fast-growing cities in the developing world, where one of four people live in slums.

The new year is a time to set goals for the future. But what happens when an entire planet tries to make a common pledge? Economist and Lincoln Institute President George W. "Mac" McCarthy takes stock of an impressive roster of global agreements, from the ozone-repairing Montreal Protocol to the Paris climate accord and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, in the spotlight at the World Urban Forum 10 in Abu Dhabi.

A classic post-industrial city on the brink of bankruptcy, Hartford, Connecticut has overhauled its zoning and turned abandoned factories into craft breweries and makers spaces. Can the city be just as creative in replacing a crumbling 1960s-era highway through downtown? Planning commissioner Sara Bronin talks about the cutting-edge urban planning practices she hopes will put the city back on the map.

Cities around the world are hard at work on traffic congestion. Boston has established multi-modal street layouts and special drop-off zones for Uber and Lyft in high-volume areas such as around Fenway Park, for example. But the task is about to get more complex, with the advent of driverless vehicles, delivery robots, and AI-enabled trackless trams -- all of which will require a more wholesale transformation of the cityscape. In this episode, the Lincoln Institute's Heather Hannon explains how the emerging practice of scenario planning can help design the future city.

Climate change can seem like an insurmountable challenge. But many tools and policies to decarbonize the economy and build resilience are readily available, says Billy Fleming, director of The McHarg Center and one of the editors of the new Lincoln Institute book Design with Nature Now. The green and blue infrastructure systems detailed in the book are proven solutions that need only be implemented on a larger scale – in a national mobilization similar to preparing for war or sending a man to the moon.

Minneapolis may seem like an unlikely place for the start of a revolution. But as City Councilor Lisa Bender explains, the Midwestern city has passed some of the most progressive housing policies and zoning reforms in the country. The measures, including banning single-family-only zoning, are based on one important idea: that when local government changes the rules of the game to allow more building, the public should get something back in the form of more affordability.

Slums have been a feature of cities for centuries, and accelerating global urbanization has led to an unprecedented number of people living in substandard conditions. Cities have responded with a range of policies including eviction and relocation. But some suggest that cities should stop thinking of slums as a problem to be solved. In this episode, the Lincoln Institute's Enrique Silva and Theresa Williamson, who has worked for years in Rio's favelas, exchange ideas about how to make improvements in existing communities while promoting alternatives for future settlement. More on slums: https://www.lincolninst.edu/publications/articles/sustainable-development Theresa Williamson's lecture on community land trusts https://www.lincolninst.edu/publications/multimedia/potential-community-land-trusts-rios-favelas

Episode 3: Water Meets Land As the global water crisis intensifies, the Colorado River Basin is poised to become a model for how to bring together stakeholders representing agriculture, urban areas, and the natural environment. In this episode, we've put together highlights and takeaways from the 2019 Journalists Forum (#WaterMeetsLand) – including the importance of considering the central role of land use in the management of a dwindling resource. For more: https://www.lincolninst.edu/publications/articles/water-planning

Those in the "Yes in My Backyard" or YIMBY movement have a simple goal: increase the supply of housing in cities across the US, and sky-high prices should come down. But they face a growing backlash from neighborhood activists fearful of gentrification and displacement. In California, a bill to fast-track more height and density near transit stations was derailed, even with a provision to require affordable homes through inclusionary housing, a land value capture mechanism. In this episode, Randy Shaw, a San Francisco-based tenants advocate and author of "Generation Priced Out: Who Gets to Live in Urban America," talks about the multi-pronged efforts needed to confront the affordable housing crisis in cities nationwide. For further reading, see Backyard Brouhaha in Land Lines magazine.

Tax increment financing is one of the most widely used – and least understood – public finance mechanisms in the U.S. today. David Merriman, author of the Lincoln Institute report Improving TIF for Economic Development, talks about what communities can do to avoid the pitfalls. For further reading, see also The Hidden Costs of TIFin Land Lines.