The Economic Consequences of Planning

Abstract

Land-use planning systems have a variety of objectives such as protecting the countryside, improving the quality of the physical environment, locating new housing where it is needed and producing patterns of land use that minimize incompatible uses and maximize compatible uses. These might be termed intended consequences; but there will also be many unintended consequences. These might be higher house prices, lower rates of increase in housebuilding and higher costs of development. The empirical evidence on the overall impact of planning is thin and typically open to variable interpretations, and much of the academic commentary on the consequences of planning is therefore based on conjecture. This relates to alternative views of the interactions between planning, development, the behaviour of individuals and firms and the overall economy. Exploring this area is thus more about exploring ideas and modelling relationships than it is about identifying facts.