Conserving inequality: How private conservation and property developers ‘fix’ spatial injustice in South Africa

In 2016, South Africa launched its National Biodiversity Economy Strategy. This strategy aims to facilitate the development of a ‘wildlife economy’ as a solution to unemployment, loss of biodiversity and rural development. Central to the strategy is the role of private conservation actors, who keenly posit their commercial model as the best way to achieve these objectives. This stands in sharp contrast to recent critiques that suggest that private conservation reinforces structural inequality by denying access to land and perpetuating unjust labour conditions. Using ethnographic data from the South African Lowveld region that includes the Kruger National Park, the paper takes these points further by arguing that a rapidly growing alliance between private conservation and property developers actively conserve inequality by maintaining and even extending spatial injustice in the region. Two popular recent manifestations of this alliance in particular, share block systems that distribute ownership of access to real estate in private reserves and wildlife housing estates, have established new conservation-property linkages that entrench capitalist socioecological fixes. Not only do these initiatives lead to further engrained spatial injustice, we conclude that this conservation-property alliance at the centre of the ‘wildlife economy’ also willingly sacrifices environmental sustainability on the altar of white conservation imaginations and private profit.

Risk management processes used in determining project feasibility in the property development process early stages by Australia/New Zealand property developers

PurposeThe purpose is to examine the risk management processes and methods used in determining project feasibility in the early stages of the property development process by Australia/New Zealand property developers, including Monte Carlo simulation, Bayesian models and real option theory embedded in long-term property development and investment decision-making as instruments for providing flexibility and managing risk, uncertainty and change.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire survey of 225 Australian and New Zealand trader developers, development managers, investors, valuers, fund managers and government/charities/other relating to Australia/New Zealand property development companies' decision-making processes in the early stages of the development process prior to site acquisition or project commencement – the methods used and confidence in their organisations' ability to both identify and manage the risks involved.FindingsFew of the organisations sampled use sophisticated methods; those organisations that are more likely to use such methods for conducting risk analysis include development organisations that undertake large projects, use more risk analysis methods and have more layers in their project approval process. Decision-makers have a high level of confidence in their organisation's ability to both identify and manage the risks involved, although this is not mirrored in their actual risk management processes. Although the majority of property developers have a risk management plan, less than half have implemented it, and a third need improvement.Practical implicationsProperty development organisations should incorporate more modern and sophisticated models of risk analysis to determine the uncertainty of, and risk in, a change of input variables in their financial viability appraisals. Practical application includes using such multiple techniques as what-if scenarios and probability analysis into feasibility processes and utilise these specific techniques in the pre-acquisition stages of the property development process and, specifically, in the site acquisition process to support decision-making, including a live risk register and catalogue of risks, including identification of and plans for mitigation of project risks, as a form of risk management.Originality/valueFirst study to examine the extent of the decision-making methods used by property developers in the pre-acquisition stage of the development process.

A QUALITATIVE CONTENT ANALYSIS OF THE DEVELOPERS’ PERSPECTIVES ON DEVELOPMENT CHARGES

The conversion of land, increment of plot ratios or density that increases the land value often comes with a development charge. While the local governments view the development charge as one of their income sources for providing utilities to the society, property developers’ communities still contend that the charge surges development uncertainty. Moreover, the existing empirical studies of the implementation of development charges in Malaysia are limited since lack of developers’ views regarding this matter. Through semi structured interviews among the property developers, this paper had explored the property developers’ perspectives on the implementation of development charges in Malaysia. Data from the interviews were analysed using content analysis techniques. Findings from the analysis revealed that the effect it has on property developers seems to have increased the developers’ uncertainties, especially on the cost of property development. This paper provides new insights for future research in the study of relevant approaches to improve the efficiency of the development charge and the effect it has on the developer’s uncertainty.

Implementasi Sistem Informasi Pemasaran Rumah Dengan Pendekatan Sistem Berorientasi Objek Pada Developer Property

Marketing in this century has developed quite rapidly and is in demand by business actors because it has promising opportunities, including in big cities such as Tangerang. Property developer is a property developer engaged in housing. Until now, the marketing system for property developers is how to sell as much housing as possible in one month. The problem that occurs in the marketing system at property developers is that it is not yet computerized or web-based because the home marketing process is still using the technique of distributing brochures and data processing so far it is still conventional and the list of booking lists and pricelists of house unit prices are not yet detailed. The purpose of the research is to build a housing unit marketing system using conceptual analysis and to find out what supporting and inhibiting factors are on property developers. The research method used is descriptive qualitative. Data collection techniques were carried out by means of observation, interviews and literature study. The results of this study are in the form of software, namely a web-based housing marketing system that can display detailed housing information including housing building specifications, price lists, housing locations, stock units, location maps and payment details

EVALUATING MAXIMUM COMPENSATION CRITERIA FOR PROPERTY DEVELOPERS ACCORDING TO THE INTERIM REAL PROPERTY REGISTER IN DUBAI

This paper presents an assessment of the criteria for setting the maximum amount of compensation given to a property developer when a buyer breaches their contractual obligations according to the law of the Interim Real Property Register in the Emirate of Dubai. The register gives the developer the power to deduct a certain percentage of the amount paid to them by the buyer, without the need to resort to justice or arbitration. Such a power is one of certain exceptional powers granted to the developer under this law to encourage property investment in Dubai. This research aims to define the type of compensation that the property developer deserves, as well as present the criteria for the maximum amount of compensation and an evaluation of them. This was achieved by analyzing Article 11 of the mentioned law for accuracy and fairness on this issue, and its success in balancing the conflicting interests of both parties. One key result found was that the legislator had not succeeded in balancing the two parties of the off-plan sale. It is strongly recommended that the legislator abolish the three criteria on the maximum amount of compensation and adopt alternative criteria.

ACTANTS INFLUENCING THE SUCCESSFUL COMPILATION OF ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY STUDIES: THE DEVELOPERS’ PERSPECTIVE

The purpose of this study is to identify and model actants that influence the successful compilation and usage of economic feasibility studies. This study investigates the elements in the feasibility process and the expectations thereof, from the perspectives of property developers. These feasibilities were found to be inconsistent in content, neglected, lack standards, and creates confusion in practice, leading to unsustainable investment decisions. A systematic literature review was conducted in addition to 23 interviews with property developers in South Africa. The literature review maps an understanding of the components in the feasibility process and the nature and occurrence of feasibilities. Using the Actor-Network Theory (ANT) as an analytical framework along with the data from the review and interviews, this study found ten main categories of actants that influence the successful compilation and usage of these feasibilities: knowledge and level of expertise; external uncertainties; the developers’ perception of a successful feasibility; dependencies; various usages; the underlying meaning of feasibility studies to developers; the developers’ relationship with the QS and professional consulting team; the developer’s expectation of feasibility indicators; the impact the feasibility has on investment-decisions; and the process. Some of these categories are further unboxed. Feasibilities involves various actants that influence the success of the document, investment decision and construction project. With a deepening understanding of the actants in the feasibility process, the compilation and usage of economic feasibility studies, for private commercial developments where profitability is key, could be enhanced globally by: improved understanding, careful compilation and successful investment decision-making.

Digitization of the property development industry: overview of current literature and research gaps

The construction industry has a high status in Germany. Property developers historically come from the construction industry. In terms of digital maturity, however, they lag well behind the general construction industry. In this paper, the author analyzes the current literature on digital transformation and digital maturity, focusing on the construction industry and property developers. The method he chose was a structured literature review. The aim is to identify the current state of research, particularly on the topic of 1) digitization of the construction industry and 2) digitization within the property development sector. The question arises as to why the topic of digitization is so underrepresented among property developers. Even without considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, recent years have seen no acceleration in the use of digitalization among builders than other industries. The literature review shows that developers need to change their business strategies to reposition their business and respond to environmental changes. The current good economic situation overshadows any further digitization pressure caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, but to achieve competitive advantages in the long term, digitization of the value chain is necessary. In this context, gaps in current research will also be identified, which will be the starting point for future research.