Evolving Property Rights in Japan: Patterns and Logics of Change

André Sorensen
Additional contact information
André Sorensen: Department of Geography and Programme in Planning, and the Centre for Urban and Community Studies, University of Toronto, 455 Spadina Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2G8, Canada, sorensen@utsc.utoronto.ca

Urban Studies, 2011, vol. 48, issue 3, 471-491

Abstract: Property rights in land are often regarded as among the most inflexible of the institutional structures that shape urban change, particularly when enshrined in a written constitution. This paper argues that the meaning and specification of property rights in the city are continually contested and in flux and that the evolving practice of city planning is a significant element that contributes to change. A better understanding of the mechanisms of such change is valuable for our understanding both of city planning and of property rights. A historical institutionalist analysis suggests that property rights display significant elements of path dependence, yet also show characteristic patterns and processes of incremental change over time. This analysis of evolving systems to regulate permissible development in Japanese cities during the period since the environmental crisis of the 1960s is revealing of the structured ways in which property rights are contested and change over time.

Date: 2011
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042098010390241 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:48:y:2011:i:3:p:471-491

DOI: 10.1177/0042098010390241

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Urban Studies from Urban Studies Journal Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().