Paradoxes of sustainable development: Property and participation
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore two of the paradoxes arising from different views about resource limits and sustainable development.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper identifies the implications for property rights and public participation in environmental decisions. The first paradox concerns the adoption of policies of exclusion and inclusion through property rights and collective action; the second looks at the new role of the city where concentration of activities, once the cause of environmental degradation is now seen as the route to sustainable development.
Findings
Although private property is capable of securing exclusion and resource protection – it is neither necessary nor sufficient for sustainable development. Cooperation and appropriate institutions are essential; in other words a system of stable and binding rules that under some circumstances can be more effective when they are social and local than when they are national and legal. Urban renaissance principles of mixed uses and compact cities obscure traditional density relationships and point to the need for new forms of measurement to replace outdated residential density measures.
Originality/value
The paper addresses issues relevant to institutional design including private and collective property rights, and discusses appropriate measures for residential densities in relation to sustainable development policies.
Keywords
Citation
Batty, S. (2006), "Paradoxes of sustainable development: Property and participation", Property Management, Vol. 24 No. 3, pp. 207-218. https://doi.org/10.1108/02637470610660110
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2006, Emerald Group Publishing Limited