GeoDesign Knowledge Portal

Legal Context

In public planning, spatial decision making regarding use of land and other resources is based on legal doctrines that interpret the meaning of property in the law, that qualify absolute property by introducing notions of fair access and fair use. Legal rules regulating property are fundamental to American, and most other economies and societies. They figure prominently in city and local governance and economic development, in areas as diverse as housing, zoning, and environmental policy. Virtually every public policy issue has a 'property angle' to it, and there are policy implications related to these various rules, doctrines and practices. In planning law and practice, property and land use law often is narrowly construed to mean only public law regulation such as zoning. However, private individuals and entities use law to regulate land use, and courts influence these supposedly private agreements through their decisions. In addition, there are multiple strands in property law emphasizing social relations between individuals, community and other actors. For example, judges and legal decision-makers may refer to non-legal justifications to reach their decisions and these justifications construct and are constructed by conceptions of culture, democracy, gender and race that inform human interactions.

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References