Different land use regulations are implemented around the world, e.g. zoning policy in the US and greenbelt policy in the UK, and have a wide range of social and economic impacts.
This article, Low rise buildings in big cities: theory and evidence from China, explores the determinants of floor area ratio limit, a major form of construction density regulation, in China.
Xiaolun Yu develops a new framework and explores how local governments balance the benefits of more housing supply and revenue with costs such as the impact of high density house designs on neighbourhoods to find the optimal solution.
The study involved investigating more than 400,000 residential land transactions between 2007 and 2019, and found that local economic and tax conditions contribute to housing affordability issues and spatial inequality in China.
Dr Xiaolun Yu is a Lecturer in Real Estate Finance at Henley Business School.