ABSTRACT
This chapter presents four complementary 'shifts' or 'turns' that took place in the planning field – the resourcial turn, the institutional turn, the actorial turn, and the instrumental turn – and shows how they have paved the way to the land policy approach. It defines land policy. The chapter discusses the resourcial turn in planning. It also discusses the human factor, which explains the difference between formal rules and their implementation. The chapter explains why an instrumental perspective in planning makes it possible to evaluate the different 'tools' or instruments that actors can use to either reinforce plan implementation or to delay it. It also presents land use planning as a regulating intervention taking place within a tight web of existing rights and interests. However, the growing scarcity of land available for development in cities led to deep changes in the planning field.
