‘It’s the hope I can’t stand’: planning, valuation and new community building

ABSTRACT

What are the recursive effects of planning on valuations of land, value capture and returns to developers and hence what urban planning can achieve in the building of new urban fringe communities? Valuations affect returns on investment in ways that impact on developer contributions while planning fuels hope in ways that land value capture instruments can never fully realise. We illustrate the discussion with reference to Melbourne, Australia drawing on research interviews with local and state and private sector planners, real estate brokers and valuers. In conclusion, we note the implications of the hope generated by planning for the capture of land value uplifts in the name of new community building; the desirability of integrating insights from the property and planning disciplines; further investigating the temporalities of planning; and the contribution of built environment professions in shaping discourses surrounding the value of planning.

KEYWORDS:

• Growth planning
• valuation
• hope values
• land value capture
• urban fringe

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. This is a reference to a line in the film Clockwise by Michael Frayn: It’s not the despair … it’s the hope I can’t stand.

2. The term englobo is used in Australia to refer to large tracts of greenfield land, capable of being subdivided and with approved zoning (Valuer General New South Wales Government, 2019).

3. We do not consider these same questions in global south nations or nations where land ownership is nationalised.

4. Textbooks commonly identify the comparative method, the contractor’s method (summation), the residual (hypothetical development) method, the profits method (or accounts, or treasury) method, and the investment (or capitalisation) method (Millington, 2013; Wyatt, 2013).

5. The research was conducted under the University of Melbourne’s ethics process under a project entitled ‘placemaking at the periphery’ (ID 1953735.1).

6. Attempts to tax land value increments directly through a Growth Area Infrastructure Charge (GAIC) and indirectly through Infrastructure Contribution Plans (ICPs) associated with each PSP exist (Kim & Kent, 2022). The GAIC typically captures no more than 15% of land value uplifts, while ICPs (Spiller, 2020) also leave shortfalls in the funding of infrastructure.

7. Elected representatives for the City of Casey were dismissed and council affairs placed in the hands of an administrator as a result of alleged zoning irregularities (Millar & Schneiders, 2019).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nicholas A. Phelps

Nicholas A. Phelps is Chair of Urban Planning and Associate Dean International in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Melbourne, VIC 3010.

Julie T. Miao

Julie T. Miao is Associate Professor in Property and Economic Development in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Melbourne, VIC 3010.