The document outlines a symposium on land pooling as an alternative to eminent domain for urban redevelopment, highlighting its potential benefits for property owners and cities. Land pooling is a voluntary process where property owners collaborate to optimize land use, facilitating equitable development and reducing opposition to urban changes. The document also discusses successful case studies from around the world, including the U.S. context in Hampton, Virginia.

1. Land Pooling: A Possible Alternative to
Eminent Domain and Tool for
Equitable Urban Redevelopment
May 11, 2011, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm

2. About MAPC
The mission of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council
(MAPC) is to promote smart growth and regional
collaboration in Metropolitan Boston, through public policy
research and advocacy, technical assistance, mapping and
analysis, and regional planning. Our work is guided by our
regional plan, "MetroFuture: Making a Greater Boston
Region."
The MAPC planning area consists of 22 cities and 79 towns
that include coastal communities, older industrial centers,
rural towns and modern cities.

3. MetroFuture Regional Plan

4. About Lincoln Institute of
Land Policy
The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy is a leading
resource for key issues concerning the use,
regulation, and taxation of land. Providing high-
quality education and research, the Institute strives
to improve public dialogue and decisions about land
policy.

5. Agenda
• Welcome (10 minutes)
• Overview of Land Pooling (40-45 minutes)
• Land Pooling Process in a U.S. Context (40-45 minutes)
• Break (10 minutes)
• Land Pooling in Massachusetts: Discussion and Q & A
(40-50 minutes)
• Next Steps (10-15 minutes)

6. Why Land Pooling?
• Cities must transition in order to meet current
needs and future demands
• We need options that engage – not marginalize
– property owners
• We need solutions that create less opposition on
compensation and other matters important to
residents

7. Boston’s West End
1955 2005

8. Land Pooling for Economic Development
Eminent Domain Land Pooling
• Top-down: government • Bottom-up: stakeholder
driven driven
• cash based: property • Equity-based: property
owners paid out owners contribute in
• Judicial-administrative • Democratic-participatory
Process process

9. Overview of Land Pooling
William A. Doebele
Author and Professor of Urban Planning and Design
Emeritus, Harvard University

10. Overview of Land Pooling
Land pooling is a land assembly process that is
used for developing and redeveloping real estate.
Other names:
• Land Readjustment (South Korea and Japan)
• Land Consolidation (Europe)
• Land Pooling (Australia)
Google “Land Readjustment” for a literature review on the topic

11. Overview of Land Pooling
Before After
(Source: Larsson, 1997)

12. Overview of Land Pooling
Property owners work with local government or
developers to reconfigure parcels for more
optimal development and redevelopment in such
a way that increases total land value.
During an actual land pooling process, a number
of private parcels is temporarily put into
common ownership and later reallocated to a
new highest and best use.

13. Overview of Land Pooling
Land pooling was
conceived in 1791
when George
Washington
(a former land
speculator) and his
associates used it to
finance and build
the new capital in
Washington, DC
Plan of the City of Washington," March 1792
(Source: Library of Congress)

14. Overview of Land Pooling
1791 Land Pooling Process in Washington, DC:
• Farm owners transferred titles to Mr. Washington in trust
• Mr. Washington authorized a plan outlining street
layout, public sites, private urban lots, etc.
• Federal government paid landowners for sites of public
buildings
• Half of remaining lots were returned to original owners;
half were retained by the federal government

15. Overview of Land Pooling
The legislative
origins of land
pooling was
established in 1902
by Franz Adickes,
mayor of Frankfurt-
am-Main, Germany
with the goal of
improving the
efficiency of
farmland.
(Frankfurt-am-Main, Wikimedia Commons)

16. Overview of Land Pooling
Land pooling process for farmland in Germany:
• Farmers temporarily put land titles in a common
pool
• Plan for more rational farmland boundaries was
made
• Titles were assigned back to farmers according to
the plan

17. Examples of Land Pooling
First major urban
uses of land
pooling: After the
1923 Great Kanto
earthquake (Toyko),
land pooling
allowed the city to
address a medieval
street pattern and
rebuild with
minimum use of
public funds. (Source: Yokohama Central Library)

18. Examples of Land Pooling
First major urban uses of land pooling (continued)
• Japan: Rebuilding of Nagoya, Osaka, Hiroshima and
Yokohama after World War II. It was also used for land
acquisition for ―Bullet Train‖ lines and stations.
• South Korea:
• 60% of the urban expansion of Seoul was
accomplished through land pooling (1984 data).
• 30% of the urban expansion of Daegu was
accomplished through land pooling.
• Today, 35% of the urban expansion in Korea (1990
data) is accomplished through land pooling.

19. Overview of Land Pooling
Land Pooling has also been used in Bhutan, France,
Finland, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel/Palestine,
Nepal, the Netherlands, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, and in
many other parts of the world.
Historically it is has been used as a means to:
• Capture land value increments to cover urban
development costs
• Adjust outmoded property boundaries

20. Overview of Land Pooling
It has also been recognized as a tool to:
• Facilitate land acquisition for urban development –
speeding up the development process
• Allow existing landowners to share the wealth
generated from urban development
• Promote housing development
• Avoid gentrification
(Home, 2002 and Hong, 2010)

21. How Does Land Pooling Work?
Before After
(Jabatan Perancangan Bandar Dan Desa - Senanjung, Malaysia)

22. How Does Land Pooling Work?
(Source: Hong, 2010)

23. How Does Land Pooling Work?
1. Landowners volunteer to pool. Law provides: If a
super-majority agree, minority must participate.
2. Agreement on development plan
3. Every fourth lot designated as ―cost-equivalent‖ lot
4. As lots are sold, money from ―cost-equivalent lots‖ pay
off infrastructure costs.
5. If calculations are correct, land will be urbanized or
redeveloped at no public cost.
6. Remaining urban lots are returned to to original owners
of land, as close to original locations as possible.

24. How Does Land Pooling Work?
Before After
(Source: City Planning Bureau of Nagoya, Japan, 1982)

25. How Does Land Pooling Work?
Projects can be initiated by private owners or public agencies
LR Projects in Japan Initiated by Different Entities
(% of total land area: 1954-2000)
(Source: Kiaytaka, 2002)

26. How Does Land Pooling Work?
Sample Calculation of Net Gains
Value of ten acres of undeveloped land $1,000,000
Total cost of planning, subdividing, servicing $600,000
Total value of urban lots created $3,000,000
Net gain in value $2,400,000
Sale of 25% of urban lots would pay cost of infrastructure

27. Elements Essential to
Successful Land Pooling
• Premise of a strong land market
• Land owners must believe final profits will be
greater and land is worth the negotiating time
• Reliable ownership records (cadastres)
• Trained and credible assessors
• Resolution of potential disputes through
agreement or addressed by enabling legislation

28. Questions?
Before After
(Source: Kaohsiung Municipal Government, 1979)

29. Land Pooling in a U.S. Context
James Freas
Regional Planner, Metropolitan Area Planning Council
Yu-Hung Hong
Senior Fellow, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and Assistant
Visiting Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

30. Land Pooling in a U.S. Context
Case Study: Land Pooling in Hampton, VA
Goals:
1. Illustrate the various features of land pooling
2. Explore the applicability of the ideas in a U.S.
context

31. Background: Hampton, VA
Visual from Buckroe Master Plan (Source: City of Hampton, VA)

32. Background: Hampton, VA
Visual from Buckroe Master Plan (Source: City of Hampton, VA)

33. Background: Hampton, VA
City Owned
Three
Cooperating
Landowners
Large Property
Owners
Remaining
Property
Owners
Public Park

34. Enabling Conditions for LP in Hampton
Property Characteristics:
1. High differential increments in
land values before and after
land pooling project.
2. Government already owns
area in yellow
3. Major landowners in blue
agreed to sell land together.
4. Landownership (in blue,
orange and red) is fairly
concentrated. Two major
property owners own area in
red.

35. Enabling Conditions for LP in Hampton
Landowner Characteristics:
1. Affected landowners
have motivation to stay
in the neighborhood.
2. Planning for
redevelopment in the
neighborhood has been
participatory.

36. Enabling Conditions for LP in Hampton
Technical, Legal, and Political Characteristics:
1. Technical skill is available for property assessments
before and after land pooling.
2. There was a precedent that treated parts of the area
as a unified unit for redevelopment.
3. The city is eager to revitalize the entire neighborhood.

37. Reflection
Strengths
1. Developers with real estate development expertise
can be involved in the early stage of redevelopment.
2. Land Pooling that requires the approval of the
majority of landowners to execute land assembly is
more democratic than is eminent domain.
3. Land pooling can avoid the heavy up-front capital
requirement for property acquisitions by the local
government.
4. Land pooling may allow urban redevelopment to be
self-financing.

38. Land Pooling Development Financing
Profits
Development
Costs
Project Value
Property Cost Property Cost

39. Reflection
Challenges
1. There is no precedent of land pooling legislation.
2. Participation in planning and negotiation is time
consuming for property owners.
3. Public or private initiators of land pooling must have
good negotiation skills.
4. All participating parties—land owners, the city, and
developers—will have to share redevelopment risks.
5. Anticipated capital gains for participating
landowners will not be realized until they sell their
property.

40. Reflection
Visual from Buckroe Master Plan (Source: City of Hampton, VA)

41. Pooling Process for Hampton
1. Discussion with large property owners
2. Community meeting to discuss process
3. First participation vote – 50% threshold
4. Create entity to lead development
process
5. Engage development consultant team
6. Market Study, Financial Feasibility,
Initial Design work

42. Pooling Process for Hampton
7. Draft development pro-forma
8. Final participation Vote – 75%
9. Final development plan, contracts
signed, land titles pooled
10. After redevelopment, property owners
receive final compensation and Land
Pool entity dissolved

43. Break (10 minutes)
Next on the Agenda:
• Land Pooling in Massachusetts:
Discussion and Q & A (40-50 minutes)
• Next Steps (10-15 minutes)

44. Land Pooling Symposium
Land Pooling in Massachusetts:
Discussion and Q & A

45. Land Pooling Symposium
Next Steps

46. Resources
MAPC Land Pooling Toolkit
http://www.mapc.org/resources/lptoolkit
MAPC – James Freas et. al: landpooling@mapc.org
Lincoln Institute – Yu-Hung Hong: hong@lincolninst.edu