Regenerating Urban Land : A Practitioner's Guide to Leveraging Private Investment

Regenerating Urban Land draws on the experience of eight case studies from around the world. The case studies outline various policy and financial instruments to attract private sector investment in urban regeneration of underutilized and unutilized areas and the requisite infrastructure improvements. In particular, each case study details the project cycle, from the scoping phase and determination of the initial amount of public sector investment, to implementation and subsequent leveraged private-sector funds. This manual analyzes rates of return on the investments and long-term financial sustainability. Regenerating Urban Land guides local governments to systematically identify the sequence of steps and tasks needed to develop a regeneration policy framework, with the participation of the private sector. The manual also formulates specific policies and instruments for expanding private sector participation; structuring effective administrative and legal frameworks; utilizing land readjustment/assembly methods; determining duration of contracts, adequate phasing, and timeline; and balancing the distribution of risk and sustainability measures.

Between 2010 and 2040, more than 450 million new residents will be added to the urban population in Africa. This will dramatically increase the pressure on cities and on infrastructure. But it will also create opportunities for city leaders to invent new paradigms of urban development supported by new funding strategies. In doing so, African cities will have to leverage private sector finance and connect to capital markets. Without any doubt, this book will be useful for African city leaders wishing to undertake innovative financing strategies for urban development and to find new solutions for urban challenges. --Khalifa Sall - Mayor, Dakar, Senegal

Citizens live and breathe the shared winds of change sweeping through cities. When urban areas are regenerated, the lives of the people are also revitalized. This guidebook offers the most innovative and inspiring cases of urban regeneration, which I am sure will provide insightful guidelines for city leaders and planners in pursuit of a sustainable future for all. --Park Won Soon - Mayor, Seoul, the Republic of Korea

Large-scale urban regeneration projects shape the public realm by creating significant civic spaces and bringing together different groups of citizens in economically divided cities. The cornerstone of these civic spaces is public trust and accountability. The challenge is to bring together a number of different stakeholders and projects under a bold comprehensive vision. This book offers a practical framework for city managers and planners to involve the private sector in undertaking large urban regeneration projects in forgotten and excluded segments of the urban sphere. --Anthony Williams - Former Mayor, Washington, DC