10 Land Use Policies to Address Social, Economic, Environmental Challenges

The Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy recently recognized ten land use case studies for addressing some of the biggest challenges facing the world.

2 minute read

March 15, 2020, 11:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Bogota, Colombia

Marcelo Träsel / Flickr

The ACSP and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy have announced the winners of the 2020 Case Study Awards. 

The Case Study Awards are designed to “address the rising social, economic, and environmental challenges facing cities across the globe, planners need foundational knowledge and skills as well as opportunities to apply them in real world situations,” according to the request for nominees announced by the organizations earlier this year. 

The awards recognized case studies addressing six potential themes:

  1. Low-carbon, Climate-Resilient Communities and Regions

  2. Efficient and Equitable Tax Systems

  3. Fiscally Healthy Communities and Regions

  4. Functional Land Markets and Reduced Informality

  5. Reduced Poverty and Spatial Inequality

  6. Sustainable Land and Water Management

The ten winners, each awarded $2,000 each, are as follows:

  1. Colleen Butcher-Gollach: University of Melbourne, Australia; Idyllic possible: planning for affordable and resilient settlements in the pacific island countries

  2. Besmira Dyca and Kevin Muldoon-Smith: Northumbria University, UK; Progressive property tax on vacant land - dealing with land speculation in Sao Paulo

  3. Minjee Kim: Florida State University; Opportunity for land value capture: land use impacts of the suncoast parkway extension project in citrus county, FL

  4. Annette Kim and Andrew Eisenlohr: University of Southern California; The viability of community land trusts in high-priced urban land markets: the case of rolland curtis gardens in Los Angeles

  5. Melina Matos, Sierra Woodruff, Malini Roy: Texas A&M University and Philip Gilberson, and Sara Merrow: Arizona State University; Comparing hazard mitigation and climate adaptation plans to understand in practice instruments that foster the creation of climate resilient community

  6. Manuel Santana Palacios: University of California, Berkeley; Examining the Linkages Between Investing in Aerial Cable-Cars and the Evolution Informal Transport and Land Development: A Case Study of Ciudad Bolivar, Bogota

  7. Emanuel Preciado: University of California, Irvine; Seeds of Resistance: Combating Spatial Inequality with Community Urban Gardens 

  8. Ross Rubenstein: Georgia State University; Should the Rochester Fast Ferry Sink or Swim?

  9. Amruta Sakalker and Adrian Parr: University of Texas at Arlington; Trinity River Park Projects: Which project will be the long-desired bridge that connects the city of Dallas and the Trinity River

  10. Henry Webber, Brian Phillips and Jodie Lloyd: Washington University in St. Louis; Forest Park Southeast: One neighborhood’s strategy to flight blight and disinvestment through a mixed income community development model 

The Lincoln Institute of land Policy launched a digital library of case studies in 2017, which included 27 case studies before this recent round of awardees. The case studies are available to the public.


Tuesday, March 10, 2020 in Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

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