Transfer of development rights (TDR) is seen as an important tool for land use planning, in large part because it leverages market mechanisms. TDR extends market concepts used primarily in emissions trading programs to the arena of land use. However, with the exception of a handful of success stories, TDR programs generate few transfers. Although researchers generally attribute the weak performance of TDR to program design flaws, this study demonstrates that the unique conditions presented by urban land markets explain, in part, why TDR programs often underperform. I present a case study of a TDR program in Sarasota, Florida, to address two questions. First, what attributes of urban land markets may impact TDR program design and outcomes? Second, is TDR a planning tool that can achieve desired planning goals, given the conditions of land markets? I find that the unique features of land markets—specifically (1) the sensitivity of development to timing; (2) imperfect information, uncertainty, and speculative activity; (3) unique features of land; (4) the limited number of buyers and sellers; and (5) the development orientation of urban political and planning institutions—distort the market for transferable development rights. The Sarasota case demonstrates how local land market characteristics contributed to a set of incremental program design and implementation decisions that, in sum, amounted to significant departures from fundamental program principles and mechanisms. These resulted in imperfect market conditions and rendered the TDR program ineffective.
Sarasota County, Florida's award-winning Sarasota 2050 plan established the county as a leader in smart growth. The plan promotes a system of clustered development and open space as an alternative to sprawl beyond Sarasota's growth boundary. Although adopted in 2002, by 2011, no projects had broken ground under the plan, which critics deemed "unworkable." This article presents a case study of exurban political ecology in Sarasota to provide insight into the derailment of a promising strategy for managing exurban growth. Sarasota 2050's policies were undermined by extra-local factors, including the recession and reduced state oversight of planning, and by incompatible policy agendas pursued by local interest groups. Also problematic was the plan's cluster approach-a spatial strategy that rationalizes large landowner, planning, and conservation interests, but does little to address rural restructuring. The case points to the need for new planning strategies that mediate competing interests in exurbia.
Transfer of development rights (TDR) programs shift development intensity between land parcels. Jurisdictions, most commonly local municipal or county governments, employ TDR to protect resources such as farmland or historical properties and to encourage infill and redevelopment where deemed appropriate. However, while championed by economists and others seeking to reduce conflicts between land development and preservation, TDR program adoption has varied widely across the US. What demographic, economic, or environmental factors are associated with TDR program establishment? This paper describes a census of 375 TDR programs in the United States, documenting primary program attributes and adoption year and categorizing their functions and typology. Using logistic regression, we analyze program spatial patterns and factors predicting program implementation. We find that areas that are coastal, more liberal, have higher home values, in home-rule states, and in states with state-wide growth management programs, are all significantly more likely to implement TDR programs.
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