Land readjustment
Land readjustment is a collaborative way for local communities to pool and replot land so that new streets, parks and homes can be built. This community-led process could help deliver more homes and better neighbourhoods through building resident support.
Under land readjustment, landowners in an area temporarily pool their land and redraw boundaries. This means that where there were irregular plots and small roads, space is used to build roads and infrastructure. Homeowners are then rewarded with a new plot of land from the pool. A modest plot of land is retained for the community: it is redeveloped, sold and the proceeds fund the infrastructure. Land readjustment creates a renewed local area, greener streets, and space for more homes – all achieved through local power and support.
How does land readjustment work?
- Project formation and governance.
Local government or an infrastructure developer will propose an area for readjustment. Residents form a formal association so that residents can agree a plan, vote on key decisions and appoint professional advisers. - Fair starting positions.
Independent valuers establish each owner’s ‘before-scheme’ land value and convert that value into shares. - Planning for streets and place.
The association works with local SME experts to design the ideal layout with connected streets, utilities, trees and public space, under a design code that sets building details appropriate to the area. - Replotting and entitlements.
Each owner receives a new plot or, where appropriate, the right to finished floorspace in a new building that corresponds to their shares. The scheme’s rules may also provide for owners who prefer to move away to be compensated in cash. - Funding the public works.
A small proportion of land or floorspace (the ‘reserve’) is set aside by the association and sold to pay for streets, drainage, parks, schools and other facilities. - Registration and delivery.
The new plots are registered, utilities are installed and serviced parcels are brought forward for delivery by local builders, housing associations and self-builders.
Popular support
Effective methods of altering land-use must command popular local support to be sustainable. Levers such as compulsory purchase or site-by-site deals are often strongly opposed locally, controversial and highly costly. Land readjustment, however, replaces the opposition created by blunt policy mechanisms with a cooperative approach that empowers residents to change their own neighbourhoods as they see fit and that they benefit from.
Land readjustments gain public confidence for the following reasons:
- Neighbourhood cooperation ensures that ownership is respected and benefits are shared.
- Public goods like walkable streets, parks and services are embedded in the readjustment.
- Fragmented small sites become buildable by local SME builders, accelerating delivery and boosting small business opportunities
Land readjustment around the world
Japan
Japan has used land readjustment to build or renew approximately 3,700 square kilometres of urban area – around 30 per cent of its total urban land. These projects have delivered about 11,500 kilometres of city-planned roads, roughly 150 square kilometres of parks, and around 950 station plazas, representing about one third of all plazas at stations with more than 3,000 daily passengers.
Germany
In Baden-Württemberg, approximately 84 per cent of all building plots in the 1980s were brought forward using land readjustment. Typical schemes fund local roads, pavements, green space and parking by reserving a share of land and capturing a modest uplift in value, thereby reducing the need for direct public expenditure.
South Korea
In Seoul, 41 land readjustment projects covered around 115 square kilometres, meaning that between one quarter and one third of the city’s developed area was delivered through land readjustment.
Support for land readjustment
There is growing support for land readjustment policies.
