ACQUIRING ELEMENTS OF SOLAR FARM DEVELOPMENT’S APPROVAL CONSIDERATION IN JOHOR

In order to fulfil the increasing energy demand, Malaysia aims to reduce carbon emission by 45 percent by 2030, and becomes fully carbon neutral by 2050. However, promoting this energy has inevitably forced this new industry to face some drawbacks particularly related to land matters, especially solar farm development, which is still new in the country and does not have any proper guidance. As the control of land planning and development is under the responsibility of the State Authority as enshrined in Article 74 of the Federal Constitution, the implementation is different in each state due to different land policy known as the State Land Rules. Thus, selected respondents have been interviewed, and the findings have been acquired regarding the elements of solar farm development’s approval consideration from the perspectives of land administrator, planner, and developer. This leads to a direction to standardize a legal framework of the land approval consideration for solar farm development especially in Johor.

Integrating Ecology into Land Planning and Development: Between Disillusionment and Hope, Questioning the Relevance and Implementation of the Mitigation Hierarchy

Scientific research on the mitigation hierarchy has steadily increased over the past few years at the international level. While some seek to improve the application of this public action instrument, others point out its shortcomings and risks. This opinion paper—which focuses on the French context—does not provide an exhaustive overview of existing research but instead targets specific issues considered to be a “priority”. We mainly investigate the relevance and implementation of the mitigation hierarchy, especially from an ecological point of view. Part of this paper thus questions the very principle of biodiversity offsetting (BO)—the last resort of the mitigation hierarchy that brings together numerous controversies—and the adequacy of the mitigation hierarchy with the objective of no net loss (NNL) of biodiversity. The general idea underlying this paper is to show how the mitigation hierarchy has been built and based on what values (mainly economic and legal, which leads us to conclude about the lack of ecology in the policy itself). In doing so, we provide a few perspectives as to what should be done to (better) integrate ecology into land use planning and development.

Pursuing Development behind Heterogeneous Ideologies: Review of Six Evolving Themes and Narratives of Rural Planning in China

Rural planning is in a state of flux, covering a range of topics. The objectives of planning have evolved over the years. To get an overview of the evolving themes and narratives on rural planning in China, a literature review is conducted here using text mining considering 145 papers published in Web of Science. Attention is given to trends over time in terms of the topics covered. Six evolving themes are revealed, namely: providing affordable and decent life under industrialization and urbanization progress, national ecological programs and practices, building a new (socialist) countryside and rural−urban relationship in planning, land planning and restructuring, rural tourism planning and activities, and other themes. It is highlighted that strategies and knowledge of “development” are a common instructional epistemology among agro-industrialism, agro-ruralism, scientific rationalism, and “economy oriented” humanism.

Housing bubbles and land planning corruption: evidence from Spain’s largest municipalities

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to quantify to what extent the housing bubble in the early-to-mid 2000s in Spain exacerbated land planning corruption among Spain’s largest municipalities. Design/methodology/approach The authors exploit plausibly exogenous variation in housing prices induced by changes in local mortgage market conditions; namely, the rapid expansion of savings banks (Cajas de Ahorros). Accounting for electoral competition in the 2003–2007 and 2007–2009 electoral cycles among Spanish municipalities larger than 25,000 inhabitants, the authors estimate a positive relationship between housing prices and land planning corruption in municipalities with variation in savings bank establishments using instrumental variables techniques. Findings A 1% increase in housing prices leads to a 3.9% points increase in the probability of land planning corruption. Moreover, absolute majority governments (not needing other parties’ support) are more susceptible to the incidence of corruption than non-majority ones. Two policy implications to address corruption emerge: enhance electoral competition and increase scrutiny over land planning decisions in sparsely populated. Originality/value First empirical evidence of a formal link between the 2000s housing bubble in Spain and land planning corruption.

Ecocultural networks as grounds for spatial planning. A psychosocial approach applied to coastal development

PurposeThis work critiques the situation of the ecological and cultural heritage in many coastal territories and analyses how current land planning methodologies are responding to it. The study builds a new integrated approach founded on ecocultural values and local knowledge as resources for an effective territorial planning and sustainable development.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed framework was developed through: (1) analysing coastal planning needs and problems in European coastal areas; (2) identifying ecocultural values, including local knowledge, in such areas; (3) selecting best approaches and tools in spatial planning; (4) applying the selected planning approaches to use ecocultural values as resources for spatial planning and sustainable development; and (5) validating the final methodology.FindingsA dynamic approach for maritime-land planning was developed projecting coastal waters and river basins as strategic drivers for sustainable development, based on the natural capacity of water to shape and integrate the ecological and cultural territory. A participatory governance planning methodology supports the new articulations of space based on ecocultural value chains and networks as synergistic vectors, focusing on local knowledge as psychosocial capital for a collective mapping of cultural, historical, social, economic and ecological values into ecocultural littoral plans.Originality/valueThe results show the potentials of combining new approaches applying cultural and ecological heritage into an effective strategy of integration between society and territory as a powerful driver for effective sustainable planning and development.