Institutional Arrangements: A Gate Towards Sustainable Land Use

Authors

• Armands Auzins

Keywords:

institutional economics, institutional arrangement, land management, land administration, land use efficiency, cooperation and coordination, regulatory framework, public participation

Abstract

Various common problems can be observed of the ongoing land management processes in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. The problems appear mainly because of conflicting legislation, performance of procedures, political unwillingness, lack of capacity of the local municipalities and other public administration, insufficiency of information and people participation, lack of skills of the professionals and in public administration. Source of all the mentioned problems is insufficient understanding of the institutional setting of the land management processes. The aim of this contribution is to introduce the reader to the theory of the institutional economics and discuss its importance for systematisation of both the regulatory framework, i.e. institutions – ‘rules of the game’ and the procedures in the fields of territorial planning and real property formation. This theory provides a vocabulary to describe the balance between the regulatory structures (public sector) and the market forces (private sector) that will allow controlled growth and will be perceived as of general economic and social well being to the populace. Thus, the paper is intended to activate and urge politicians, governmental authorities, non-governmental organizations, academic staff and managers of private firms. This contribution also can be seen as a source for further development of concepts for analysis of the observed problems. Hence combining the theory with appropriate methodology may suggest, how to deal with the stated various problems. Monographic descriptive method and logical analysis have been used in this contribution.