Land and development in metropolitan planning: The case of Moscow region, Russia
Objectives:
Land use and its implications for climate change mitigation and development have been representing the key issue on the economic and political agenda of governments throughout the world. Land use planning in the largest country in the world, Russia, will have a major impact on global climate change and energy development and deserves careful consideration. State and local governments in the Russian Federation have sought to preserve open-space and farmland, but such programs operate within a complex and often disorganized public choice environment. This paper offers a theoretical and econometric framework for evaluating the links between land-use decisions, tax and spending policies, intergovernmental grants, and geographic characteristics regarding location, land surface features, and other variables of relevance in transition economy of Russia.
Data/Methods:
As a part of the examination of land use issues and development in Moscow metropolitan region, a unique set of data has been collected in 2012-2013. It contains the information on socio-economic, demographic and spatial geographic data as well as important statistics from the official Cadastre of Land in the Russian Federation. Econometric analysis of this data set is used to analyze the interdependencies between governmental policies and land development. The theoretical framework is based on a simple demand –supply model applied in the context of the economy in transition.
Results:
Econometric analysis shows that higher-level fiscal policies influence local fiscal and land-use policies, and that both the magnitude and direction of these effects are sensitive to underlying community characteristics (location, geographic size, etc.), historical trends and socio-economic conditions.