An Analysis of Urban Land Policies and Laws with Emphasis on Approach to Deal with Speculation in Urban Land Market (A Case Study of Tehran Metropolis)

Land policy making is generally aimed at optimizing the allocation of resources in land and housing. Land buying and selling without restrictions in the market and not receiving added value of land from the owner leads to the investment in the land sector and creation of the speculative demands in land and housing sector. This process causes land shortage and increase in urban land price in the process of urban development. From this point of view, the present study has focused on the laws and policies of urban land in Tehran metropolis. This study is a descriptive-analytical research, and the general method of the research is a secondary analysis. The results of this survey showed that government policies and laws in the land sector not only have not been targeted by countering the speculative approach in this sector, but have intensified the speculation in the urban land market. The ineffectiveness of the tax system in the land and housing sector, zoning rules, land differentiation and inefficiency determine the range of cities in urban comprehensive plans. Also the inability of laws to exclude or restrict the private ownership of urban land, lack of determination and efforts in local management to prepare land for new urban development, the weak performance of the government and municipalities in recycling land in urban areas, inefficient texture, are all the results of the past few decades policy making in the land and housing sector in Tehran metropolis, which in turn result in the continuation and prosperity of more speculation in land and housing sectors of the cities.