Earth Rights Institute - The Vancouver Action Plan

The Vancouver Action Plan

64 Recommendations for National Action
Approved at Habitat: United Nations Conference
on Human Settlements, Vancouver, Canada
31 May to 11 June 1976

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR NATIONAL ACTION

A. Settlement policies and strategies
(Agenda item 10 (a))

B. Settlement planning
(Agenda item 10 (b))

C. Shelter, Infrastructure and Services
(Agenda item 10(c))

A, B, C are not yet typed from the hard copy. You can now find the complete version here.

D. Land
(Agenda item 10 (d))

E. Public participation
(Agenda item 10(e))

F. Institutions and management
(Agenda item 10(f))

For sections A-C, visit the complete version of the The Vancouver Action Plan.

D. LAND
(Agenda item 10 (d))

Preamble

Land, because of its unique nature and the crucial role it plays in human settlements, cannot be treated as an ordinary asset, controlled by individuals a subject to the pleasures and inefficiencies of the market. Private land ownership is also a principal instrument of accumulation and concentration of wealth and therefore contributes to social injustice; if unchecked, it may become a major obstacle in the planning and implementation of development schemes. Social justice, urban renewal and development, the provision of decent dwellings and healthy conditions for the people can only be achieved if land is used in the interests of society as a whole.
Instead, the pattern of land use should be determined by the long-term interests of the community, especially since decisions on location of activities and therefore of specific land uses have a long-lasting effect on the pattern and structure of human settlements. Land is also a primary element of the natural and man-made environment and a crucial link in an often delicate balance. Public control of land use is therefore indispensable to its protection as an asset and the achievement of the long-term objectives of human settlement policies and strategies.
To exercise such control effectively, public authorities require detailed knowledge of the current patterns of use and tenure of land; appropriate legislation defining the boundaries of individual rights and public interest; and suitable instruments for assessing the value of land and transferring to the community, inter alia through taxation, the unearned increment resulting from changes in use, or public investment or decisions, or due to the general growth of the community.
Above all, Government must have the political will to evolve and implement innovative and adequate urban and rural land policies, as a corner-stone of their efforts to improve the quality of life in human settlements.

Recommendation D.1

Land resource management

Land is one of the most valuable natural resources and it must be used rationally. Public ownership of effective control of land in the public interest is the single most important means of improving the capacity of human settlements to absorb changes and movements in population, modifying their internal structure and achieving a more equitable distribution of the benefits of development whilst assuring that environmental impacts are considered.
LAND IS A SCARCE RESOURCE WHOSE MANAGEMENT SHOULD BE SUBJECT TO PUBLIC SURVEILLANCE OR CONTROL IN THE INTEREST OF THE NATION.
This applies in particular to land required for:
1. The extension and improvement of existing settlements, the development of new ones and, in general, the achievement of a more efficient network of human settlements;
2. The implementation of programmes of urban renewal and land-assembly, schemes;
3. The provision of public shelter, infrastructure and services;
4. The preservation and improvement of valuable components of the man-made environment, such as historic sites and monuments and other areas of unique and aesthetic social and cultural value;
5. The protection and enhancement of the natural environment especially in sensitive areas of special geographic and ecological significance such as coastal regions and other areas subject to the impact of development, recreation and tourism activities.
Land is a natural resource fundamental to the economic, social and political development of peoples and therefore Governments must maintain full jurisdiction and exercise complete sovereignty over such land with a view to freely planning development of human settlements throughout the whole of the natural territory. This resource must not be the subject of restrictions imposed by foreign nations, which enjoy the benefits while preventing its rational use.
In all occupied territories, changes in the demographic composition, or the transfer or uprooting of the native population, and the destruction of existing human settlements in these lands and/or the establishment of new settlements for intruders, is inadmissible. The heritage and national identity must be protected. Any policies that violate these principles must be condemned.

Recommendation D.2

Control of land use changes:

Agricultural land, particularly on the periphery of urban areas, is an important national resource; without public control land is a prey to speculation and urban encroachment.
CHANGE IN THE USE OF LAND, ESPECIALLY FORM AGRICULTRUAL TO URBAN, SHOULD BE SUBJECT TO PUBLIC CONTROL AND REGULATION.
Such control may be exercised through:
1. Zoning and land-use planning as a basic instrument of land policy in general and of control of land-use changes in particular;
2. Direct intervention, e.g. the creation of land reserves and land banks, purchase, compensated expropriation and/or pre-emption, acquisition of development rights, conditioned leasing of public and communal land, formation of public and mixed development enterprises;
3. Legal controls, e.g. compulsory registration, changes in administrative boundaries, development building and local permits, assembly and replotting;
4. Fiscal controls, eg. property taxes, tax penalties and tax incentives;
5. A planned co-ordination between orderly urban development and the promotion and location of new developments, preserving agricultural land.

Recommendation D.3

Recapturing plus value

Excessive profits resulting from the increase in land value due to development and change in use are one of the principal causes of the concentration of wealth in private hands. Taxation should not be seen only as a source of revenue for the community but also a powerful tool to encourage development of desirable locations, to exercise a controlling effect on the land market and to redistribute to the public at large the benefits of the unearned increase in land values.
THE UNEARNED INCREMENT RESULTING FROM THE RISE IN LAND VALUES RESULTING FROM CHANGE IN USE OF LAND, FROM PUBLIC INVESTMENT OR DECISION OR DUE TO THE GENERAL GROWTH OF COMMUNITY MUST BE SUBJECT TO APPROPRIATE RECAPTURE BY PUBLIC BODIES (THE COMMUNITY) UNLESS THE SITUATION CALLS FOR OTHER ADDITIONAL MEASURES SUCH AS NEW PATTERNS OF OWNERSHIP, THE GENERAL ACQUISITION OF LAND BY PUBLIC BODIES.
Specific ways and means include:
1. Levying of appropriate taxes, e.g. capital gains taxes, land taxes and betterment charges, and particularly taxes on unused for under-utilized land;
2. Periodic and frequent assessment of land values in and around cities, and determination of the rise in such values relative to the general level of prices;
3. Instituting development charges or permit fe4ees and specifying the time-limit within which construction must start;
4. Adopting pricing and compensation policies relating to value of land prevailing at a specified time rather than its commercial value at the time of acquisition by public authorities;
5. Leasing of publicly owned land in such a way that future increment which is not due to the efforts by the new user is kept by the community;
6. Assessment of land suitable agricultural use which is in proximity of cities mainly at agricultural values.

Recommendation D.4

Public ownership

Public ownership of land cannot be an end in itself. It is justified in so far as it is exercised in favour of the common good rather than to p