Geography 4742 Land Use

Lecture Notes

Geography and Law of Land Use

Platt Chap. 2.

Land use geography explains the patterns and functional inter-relationships of units of land and land uses.

Platt proposes 5 questions:

1. What? What is the state of the parcel of land?
2. Where? What are its locational/spatial situation.
3. Why? Is it used in a particular way.
4. How best used? (and, of course, by what rubric is best defined? Market, law, etc.)
5. Who? Gets to decide on use of the land (the owner, society?) Issue here: this is prescriptive epistemology: What are desirable land uses, how might they be achieved, and who has the authority to decide?

Platt offers a theoretical world of total Laissez-Faire land use: the owner gets to do anything that makes sense physical and economically. This is absolute domain

If economics were all that mattered (von Thunen’s pure land rent theory): then we would have one sort of pattern (von Thunen suggested concentric rings of increasing intensity of development, from ag to cbd).

Of course, there are physical irregularities to land (and water) that would affect even unregulated land use.

But he points out the “the state” has always regulated land use in one way or another, so there is no purely laissez faire land use out there.

Why Platt’s focus on law? (besides fact he is also trained as a lawyer?)

Because the state has long had a big role to play in land allocation and use, and thus to explain patterns one must understand not only physical and market forces, but also legal institutions.

Private right ---- public values ---- public power

WHY?

The Geographical Landscape (spatial organization of land uses):

Physical factors

Economic, cultural explanations: land rent, technology, cultural roots, traditions, goals, desires, NIMBY, etc.

Legal/political (institutional): JURISDICTION:

A. owner–

B. local (minor civil division) like municipalities, counties, special districts

C. state

D. federal

Scale and Hierarchy:

Human: e.g., urban commercial function: Primary, secondary, tertiary

Physical: e.g., drainages, watersheds, etc., bio-region, ecotone, community, habitat,.

The Legal/Institutional Landscape:

Struggle of private interests and private vs. public interests:

owner vs owner; (neighbors fight)

owner vs. public; (owner claims violation of right)_

public (gov) vs. public (gov.) (Boulder fights with Erie on annexation)

Fundamental dichotomy: Ownership (private) vs. Jurisdiction (public)

Or: rights to use, held by the owner, vs. right to regulate use, held by the state.

Let’s focus first on public regulation:

Right to regulate land use: Anglo-American common law legal tradition/doctrine

Constitutional law: federal and state constitutions: especially "takings"

Fifth Amendment: due process, compensation,

Local: statutes, regulations, ordinances

How the "law" and federal policy affect land patterns: surveys, parcels, riparian, etc.

The Legal process:

We need to be aware of different types of laws:

Constitutional (fed and state)

Legislation (legislative acts, known as statutes)

Judicial decisions (case law)

Administrative regulations (details regulations of land use are here)