ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a brief review of the history of land use planning and reviews traditional and emerging land use regulatory mechanisms and their existing and potential relationships with economic development. It considers new approaches to urban planning from an economic development perspective and the tools used to promote development in special needs areas. Incentive-based land use management instruments are designed to encourage specific economic behavior among developers, investors and/or businesses – usually to overcome an obstacle to development or achieve a desired social goal. Special economic zone programs are exemplified by Enterprise Zones, which offer businesses various tax incentives, grants, or regulatory relief to encourage job creation in distressed communities. Conservation easements are lands where owners voluntarily surrender or sell their rights to develop or use for economic purposes to a government agency. When taken together, the approaches and mechanisms of land use regulation can impact economic practices, opportunities and outcomes in numerous ways, both positive and negative.
