By Alejandra Reyes-Velarde
UCLA Luskin Student Writer

Urban Planning alumna Beth Tamayose UP PhD ‘11 co-authored a recent World Bank Report, which aims to help cities create and capture the benefits of higher land values around urban transit stations and corridors.

The report offers cities methods beyond taxes and fees that will help them to reap the benefits of increases in land value attributable to land use regulations and investments in infrastructure.

In order to overcome financial difficulties of transit infrastructure that accompanies growing developing communities, the report, Financing Transit Oriented Development with Land Values, suggests using development based land value capture. Based on case studies of Hong Kong, Tokyo, London, Delhi and Sao Paulo, Tamayose and co-authors Hiroaki Suzuki, Jin Murakami and Yu-Hung Hong, reported that development based land value capture will generate funds for transit infrastructure, operation and maintenance and promote sustainable urban development.

Tamayose contributed in particular to demonstrating how development based land value capture practices in North America in Europe can “provide analogies and lessons for practitioners in developing countries.” This section of the report notes that urban railways, for example, have helped with mobility and developed “ world-class service and knowledge based business clusters by enhancing economic competitiveness, environmental sustainability, and social equity.”

Tamayose and Murakami focus on several case studies including New York City’s transferable development rights program, which has preserved landmarks and densified commercial activity around Grand Central Terminal.

Case studies also included the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and the King’s Cross rail yard in London, stressing the importance of sharing benefits around newly integrated transit.

Tamayose is currently focusing on similar research involving urban planning, governance structures and resource access and allocation, particularly for Indigenous Pacific Islander populations. She has also served as a lecturer in the Department of Urban Planning.