The Value of Place
Exploring Regional Development and Land Use Strategies
Published on 5. September 2025
Book
Hardback
350 pages
978-1-0353-4791-9 (ISBN)
Description
This perceptive book explores the complex relationship between land use and regional development. It emphasizes the importance of land as a host for ecological, social, and cultural values, challenging the conventional view that it is exclusively an economic commodity or tradeable asset.
Inspired by Professors Pavlos Delladetsimas' and Flavia Martinelli's innovative research, leading experts examine the growing dominance of market value in land allocation, demonstrating how this limits access to affordable homes and quality of services to persons and threatens sustainable development due to economic, social, and political pressures. They investigate the role of land in regional policies, illustrating how the traditional neoliberal approach has been unsuccessful in addressing inequality and providing essential services. The book reflects on sustainability, analysing detailed case studies such as tourism and social services policy in Southern Italy, sustainability issues in regional development in Croatia, and the relationship between rent, agglomeration, and the economy in London. It concludes by outlining alternative governance models, advocating for the adoption of commoning (collective use of land and resources) to enable equitable and inclusive land use.
The Value of Place is a vital resource for students and scholars of human and economic geography, spatial planning and policy making, urban and regional studies, and socio-economic development. Policymakers and practitioners in planning, sustainable tourism, and land policy will also benefit from this forward-thinking book.
Inspired by Professors Pavlos Delladetsimas' and Flavia Martinelli's innovative research, leading experts examine the growing dominance of market value in land allocation, demonstrating how this limits access to affordable homes and quality of services to persons and threatens sustainable development due to economic, social, and political pressures. They investigate the role of land in regional policies, illustrating how the traditional neoliberal approach has been unsuccessful in addressing inequality and providing essential services. The book reflects on sustainability, analysing detailed case studies such as tourism and social services policy in Southern Italy, sustainability issues in regional development in Croatia, and the relationship between rent, agglomeration, and the economy in London. It concludes by outlining alternative governance models, advocating for the adoption of commoning (collective use of land and resources) to enable equitable and inclusive land use.
The Value of Place is a vital resource for students and scholars of human and economic geography, spatial planning and policy making, urban and regional studies, and socio-economic development. Policymakers and practitioners in planning, sustainable tourism, and land policy will also benefit from this forward-thinking book.
Reviews / Votes
'Struggles around land are one of the oldest and most enduring conflicts in human history. This timely and compelling book assembles state-of-the-art research and prominent scholars to explore the multidimensional issues at the heart of land-based conflicts. Key themes addressed in the book include: the commodification of land in different modes of capitalist development, the interplay of land use, nature conservation and public services, and the multilevel and participatory governance structures that are needed to fashion models of socio-ecological development that serve the interests of people and planet rather than private profit. This book will be essential reading for every discipline in the social sciences as well as for post-disciplinary students and scholars.' -- Kevin Morgan, Cardiff University, UK 'Traditional regional development theory and policy have relied on a narrow concept of land as a monetized commodity and tradeable asset. This conception overlooks the human development and community-based values of land that are necessary for place-based sustainable and equitable development policy models. This book goes beyond the conventional view and highlights how land is not merely an economic commodity but also a host for ecological, social, and cultural values. Through a series of original contributions, both conceptual and empirical, this excellent and path-breaking book highlights the importance of sustainable and socially just land use, and the importance of land management and planning for promoting sustainability, social equity, and inclusive decision-making. In so doing, it gives land a much-needed critical role in understanding, promoting, and governing regional development. As such, it is essential reading for regional development scholars, as well as those involved in spatial planning and policy.' -- Ron Martin, University of Cambridge, UKMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cheltenham
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-0353-4791-9 (9781035347919)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Edited by Frank Moulaert, Emeritus Professor of Spatial Planning, KU Leuven, Belgium and Abid Mehmood, Senior Lecturer in International Planning and Sustainability, School of Geography and Planning, Cardiff University, UK
Content
Contents
1 Introduction: the multifarious character of land values in regional development 1
Frank Moulaert and Abid Mehmood
THEME 1 (ECONOMIC) DEVELOPMENT AND LAND VALUES
2 Capitalism is over, but the new is worse: reflections on rent, services, and capitalist feudalism 23
Erik Swyngedouw
3 Rent, agglomeration, and the economy of London 40
Michael Edwards
4 Trends and challenges in post-COVID-19 housing accessibility: a Greek perspective 50
Georgia Tseva
THEME 2 URBAN AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT POLICIES: ROLES FOR LAND
5 To informality and beyond: informal economic resilience and the case for social cohesion 73
Abid Mehmood
6 TINA's shadow: navigating fragments of the 'social' in the European Union 83
Carlos Rodrigues
7 The good, the bad and the ugly (and the even uglier): policy implications for Europe in times of welfare chauvinism, penal populism, and new workfare programmes 101
Enrica Morlicchio and Jonathan Pratschke
8 Social citizenship between universalism and local practices: care services in Southern Europe at times of neoliberal austerity 113
Marisol Garcia Cabeza and Dina Vaiou
9 Regional divides, territorial cohesion, and urban inclusion: the role of social services 128
Antonella Sarlo
10 Greece: drafting a new law on forest land in the context of land policy 142
Louis C. Wassenhoven
11 Tourism policy development in Southern Italy: evolution, turning points, and impacts 156
Chiara Corazziere
12 European Union territorial strategies for sustainable island development in Croatia 171
Marijana Sumpor
13 Tourism unveiled through a dialogue with sustainable local development 189
Constanza Parra
14 Embedded planning and planners: rethinking the role of planning and planners in an era of undefined becoming 209
Louis Albrechts
THEME 3 MULTI-LEVEL GOVERNANCE, REGIONAL LAND POLICY, AND COMMONING
15 Regions and nations: frenemies - or just enemies? 227
Erica Schoenberger
16 (Not) always looking at the bright side of life: territorial social infrastructure and institutional innovation in fragile territories 242
Loris Servillo
17 Planning without hybris: top-linked governance to empower bottom-linked initiatives 262
Andreas Novy and Nora Dornis
18 Land Policy: a path to interdisciplinary research on governance and commons 278
Xenia Katsigianni and Pieter Van den Broeck
19 Commoning education in spatial development analysis and planning 297
Pieter Van den Broeck, Xenia Katsigianni, Frank Moulaert, Carine Assaf, and Angeliki Paidakaki
Afterword 318
Diana MacCallum
1 Introduction: the multifarious character of land values in regional development 1
Frank Moulaert and Abid Mehmood
THEME 1 (ECONOMIC) DEVELOPMENT AND LAND VALUES
2 Capitalism is over, but the new is worse: reflections on rent, services, and capitalist feudalism 23
Erik Swyngedouw
3 Rent, agglomeration, and the economy of London 40
Michael Edwards
4 Trends and challenges in post-COVID-19 housing accessibility: a Greek perspective 50
Georgia Tseva
THEME 2 URBAN AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT POLICIES: ROLES FOR LAND
5 To informality and beyond: informal economic resilience and the case for social cohesion 73
Abid Mehmood
6 TINA's shadow: navigating fragments of the 'social' in the European Union 83
Carlos Rodrigues
7 The good, the bad and the ugly (and the even uglier): policy implications for Europe in times of welfare chauvinism, penal populism, and new workfare programmes 101
Enrica Morlicchio and Jonathan Pratschke
8 Social citizenship between universalism and local practices: care services in Southern Europe at times of neoliberal austerity 113
Marisol Garcia Cabeza and Dina Vaiou
9 Regional divides, territorial cohesion, and urban inclusion: the role of social services 128
Antonella Sarlo
10 Greece: drafting a new law on forest land in the context of land policy 142
Louis C. Wassenhoven
11 Tourism policy development in Southern Italy: evolution, turning points, and impacts 156
Chiara Corazziere
12 European Union territorial strategies for sustainable island development in Croatia 171
Marijana Sumpor
13 Tourism unveiled through a dialogue with sustainable local development 189
Constanza Parra
14 Embedded planning and planners: rethinking the role of planning and planners in an era of undefined becoming 209
Louis Albrechts
THEME 3 MULTI-LEVEL GOVERNANCE, REGIONAL LAND POLICY, AND COMMONING
15 Regions and nations: frenemies - or just enemies? 227
Erica Schoenberger
16 (Not) always looking at the bright side of life: territorial social infrastructure and institutional innovation in fragile territories 242
Loris Servillo
17 Planning without hybris: top-linked governance to empower bottom-linked initiatives 262
Andreas Novy and Nora Dornis
18 Land Policy: a path to interdisciplinary research on governance and commons 278
Xenia Katsigianni and Pieter Van den Broeck
19 Commoning education in spatial development analysis and planning 297
Pieter Van den Broeck, Xenia Katsigianni, Frank Moulaert, Carine Assaf, and Angeliki Paidakaki
Afterword 318
Diana MacCallum