The challenge of facilitating economic density is fundamental for successful urbanization. Flexible and forward-looking institutions that help the efficient functioning of land markets are vital in this respect. In particular, institutional arrangements for regulating land use, managing public land and allocating land rights have significant implications for how cities deliver agglomeration economies and improve the welfare of their residents.

"The challenge of facilitating economic density is fundamental for successful urbanization. Flexible and forward-looking institutions that help the efficient functioning of land markets are vital in this respect. In particular, institutional arrangements for regulating land use, managing public land and allocating land rights have significant implications for how cities deliver agglomeration economies and improve the welfare of their residents.This book provides fresh insights into these issues, compiling selected pieces of analytical and empirical research presented at the World Bank's Fourth Urban Research Symposium on Urban Land Use and Land Markets, held in Washington, DC, May 2007. Specially commissioned papers helped develop a robust analytical foundation to clarify ongoing debates on urban land management and welfare and synthesized the political and administrative challenges of improving the efficiency of urban land markets. Among the questions that this book addresses are: Does more public intervention in land markets produce more affordable land market outcomes? Do conventional approaches to strengthening property rights bolster security of tenure and market transactions? How should governments go about integrating informal settlements with the broader city economy?"

Land Markets, Regulation, and Welfare.- Government Land Use Interventions: An Economic Analysis.- The Effect of Residential Land Market Regulations on Urban Welfare.- Land Use Regulation: Transferring Lessons from Developed Economies.- Making Urban Land Markets Work Better in South African Cities and Towns: Arguing the Basis for Access by the Poor.- Land Market Policies and the Urban Poor.- The Formalization of Urban Land Tenure in Developing Countries.- Social and Economic Impacts of Land Titling Programs in Urban and Periurban Areas: A Short Review of the Literature.- Informal Neighborhoods in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Region: Understanding the Effects of Land Regulation on the Welfare of the Poor.- Informal Rental Markets: The Low-Quality, High-Price Puzzle in Nairobi's Slums.- Assessing Benefits of Slum Upgrading Programs in Second-Best Settings.- Housing Demand, Tenure Choice, and Housing Policy in Brazil.- Housing Conditions and Income Distribution: Evidence from São Paulo.- Public Land Management.- Does Public Ownership and Management of Land Matter for Land Market Outcomes?.- Taking Land Around the World: International Trends in Expropriation for Urban and Infrastructure Projects.- Guiding Spatial Changes: Singapore Urban Planning.- Aid, Density, and Urban Form: Anticipating Dakar.