the vacant city...

LINCOLN INSTITUTE

The vacant land in Latinamerica

NORA CLICHEVSKY

january 1999

The vacant land (1) and its integration to the urban land market are subjects rarely investigated in Latin America. The published studies on the matter tend to limit themselves the descriptive aspects: that is to say, mainly to the amount and the size of the urban emptinesses. The present context of deep economic and social transformations, and of changes in the patterns of demand of land in the cities, is causing a turn in the perception of these estates in disuse: of being a problem, they are becoming an opportunity.

Like part of a project of investigation sponsored by the Institute Lincoln, in August of 1998 a comparative vacant land study was made in six Latin American cities: Buenos Aires (Argentina), Lima (Perú), Quito (Ecuador), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), San Salvador (El Salvador) and Santiago (Chile). The participant investigators examined different vacant land categories, the problems that this one generates and its uses potential, as well as the changing papers of agents as much deprived as public - including the governments in the handling of such. The conclusions of the study emphasize that these free spaces are integral elements of the complex territories markets of those cities, and that affect the fiscal policies in the matter of urban development; by such reason, they have a great potential for the development on great scale. The vacant land handling could lead to not only improve the conditions of the urban areas, but also to reduce the social polarization and to foment a greater equality for its inhabitants.

Although the six cities of the study vary in size, all share certain common characteristics, such as an accelerated population increase and territorial, in addition to significant similar social indicators (high rates of poverty, unemployment and under employment), déficits of house and services public, and stops levels of segregation and geographic social stratification. The territories markets of each one of the cities also have characteristic similars, although they exhibit his own dynamic ones in each submarket.

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The vacant land characteristic

This investigation studied four vacant land basic characteristicses: possession, amount, situation and duration of the vacant condition. Like general rule, the Latin American vacant land is in charge of one or more of the mentioned agents next (each one with its respective policies): real estate managers or subsplitters - legal or illegal -; small proprietors who have acquired land, but that is disabled to develop them; speculators of real estate; agriculturists; state companies; and other institutions like the Church, the military state, the social insurance, etc.

Determining how much vacant land has in each city is a complex task, due to the different definitions that occur him to the term in each country (to see fig. 1), along with the numerous obstacles to obtain precise data. All this makes difficult to the comparison of data and percentage in metropolitan areas. in some of these cities (San Salvador, Santiago and Buenos Aires) a significant number of "latent" vacant land, consisting of constructions total or practically uninhabited even exists more that often they were occupied by state ex--companies, and that at the moment are to the delay of new investments that allow to their demolition or development.

In the six studied cities, the percentage of vacant land oscillates less from a little the 5 percent (San Salvador) to almost a 44 percent (Rio de Janeiro). If in San Salvador all "latent" vacant land were included, the sum would ascend to a 40 percent of all the metropolitan area. Like a whole, the vacant land of the cities represents a significant percentage of the edificables areas - that is to say, with access services public that could lodge to a considerable amount of population that at the moment does not have access to urban land.

The vacant land situation is relatively uniform within a region. Thus, whereas in the United States they tend to be located in downtown (mainly left spaces and industrial sites), in Latin America the majority is in the periphery, where frequently they are object of a fierce speculation and strategies of retention depending on its accessibility to the rear area nets public. However, there are considerable differences in the duration of the disuse of lands: in Lima and Quito, the urban emptinesses are relatively "new", whereas in Buenos Aires are some been have vacated during several decades.

Policies and potential of development

An examination of the urban environmental conditions of the vacant land demonstrates that many of these sites could support residential or productive activities, reason why constitute a resource failed to take advantage of in which an urban infrastructure would have to be constructed in order to improve the efficiency of the use of land. However, another considerable amount of lots presents/displays a series of important factors of risk, for example: inadequate basic infrastructure; water contaminated by industrial remainders; seismic risk, of floods or erosion; and deficient routes of access. Such lands are not apt to be urbanized unless considerable investments are made that protect them against such problems. Some could have a great potential for the environmental protection, although the land conservation continues being a subject of low priority in Latin America.

In the study one affirms that, like general norm, the urban sectors of low resources have little access to the land, due to the high prices of the same one (although their values vary according to the submarket). The areas of dynamic expansion urban, that offer better routes of access and rear area nets, are extremely expensive. In several of the studied cities there is a great amount of vacant land that is not on sale and that will possibly remain unemployed person by an indefinite time. The investigators of the project propose to put under these land policies of reduction in price of the prices, of way to increase their accessibility to the population of low resources.

In most of the Latin American cities referring legal marks to the vacant land do not exist political explicit nor. Where yes laws exist (as it is the case of Rio de Janeiro), these are merely limited to be principle declarations, and are ineffective. The recent promulgation of new legislation in the city of Santiago has promoted the increase of density in urban areas, but still he is very early to know the implicancias such measures (2) . Of equal way, commonly the urban legislations contemplate little references to the medio.ambiente. The vacant land could play an important role in the urban sustentabilidad, but it requires to develop to one better joint between the environmental actions and those of planning, specially at the local level.

Another common characteristic of the studied areas (with the exception of Santiago), is the lack of joint between the policy of urban development and, more specifically, of earth markets with the tributary policy.  Even in those cities in which theoretically a tax distinction between the vacant Earth has been made and occupied - such as Buenos Aires and Quito -, true results have not taken place, and the agents in charge of such lands have been able to get rid of sanctions or fiscal rises of taxes through a series of "exceptions" and exemptions.

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Proposals and criteria of planning

At the same time which it pleads for a greater governmental influence in the  markets land, in combination with the programming of creation of institutions and capacity among other mechanisms, the study presents/displays several proposals for the use and the reusability of vacant land in Latin America.  One of the fundamental proposals is the one within the framework to incorporate the vacant land of the general policies of each city, from an approach that considers its diversity of conditions.  Like part of a program of objectives of urban planning, it is recommended to implement political of expansion of green spaces, of construction of sets of house for population of low income, and construction of the necessary infrastructure.  Still more, the vacant Earth would have to be used to promote a "urban rationality" of way to stimulate the occupation of lots available in the regions where already an appropriate infrastructure exists, and to suppress the urban growth in those devoid ones of this infrastructure.  The study also recommends to establish urban vacant land policies by means of fiscal policies.  In this respect, some of the discussed ideas suggest to extend the tax base and instruments;  to incorporate mechanisms of increase of the recovery of the urban public investments ("capture of capital gains");  to apply to a progressive policy of taxes on real estate in order to discourage the land retention on the part of well off proprietors;  and to foment a greater flexibility in the municipal tax system.  These policies must tie to other designed mechanisms to restrain the vacant Earth expansion and the dynamics of segregation and geographic social stratification.  Such mechanisms could include the concession of subsidies or credits to low interest for the acquisition of construction equipments;  the technical attendance for the construction of houses;  the establishment of infrastructure networks to reduce the costs;  and the credits or periods of for the payment of taxes, and tariffs on watch to the property.  Other proposals suggest to develop to programs pilot of land transference by means of public-private societies to construct in lands that are property of the government, in order to stimulate the creation from houses to accessible prices.  Also they recommend to reuse some land agricultural production and to pay greater attention to the environmental factors, with the goal to assure the future urban sustentabilidad.

NORA CLICHEVSKY, investigator of the CONICET (Buenos Aires, Argentina), is the coordinator of the project of vacant land study in six Latin American cities, whose members met in August of 1998 to discuss their findings.  It contributed to this article Laura Mullahy, assistant of investigation of the Latin American Program of the Institute Lincoln.  Other members of the investigation group were Julio Calderón (Lima, Peru);  Diego Carrión and Andrea Carrión, members of CITY (Exempt, Ecuador);  Fernanda Furtado and Loyal Fabrizio of Oliveira, the University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil);  Mario Lungo and Francisco Oporto, of the Central American University (El Salvador);  and Patricio Larrai'n of the Ministry of House and Urbanism of Chile.  For greater information, to contact a:  noraclic@satlink.com

1.  The translation for the term vacant land varies according to country.  Other possible translations include:  uncultivated lands, uncultivated estates, vacated land, land available, free lands, empty lands, vacated lands, eriazos sites.  In this article vacant land, the translation more frequently occupied in the programs of the Institute is used Lincoln.

2.  The Plan of Regulation for the metropolitan area of Santiago has the goal to increase to the density average of the city in a 50 percent, whereas certain reforms to the Law of Rents done in 1995 impose a tax predial to built land with object not to discourage the Earth speculation.

Table 1:  Vacant land comparison for aims of comparison of the data of this study of six cities, the participants used the following vacant land definition:  Located space at the moment vacated within the urban limits.  Parks, seats or areas of ecological protection are excluded from this definition destined for the public use.  The collected data are of years pertaining to period 1987- 1996.  In this figure are some vacant land distinguishing characteristics of each city.