Taking Land

The Asia-Pacific region with its rapid urbanization has generated an immediate need for both land use control and compulsory purchase by national and local governments. This book takes a comparative look at land use laws in ten Asia-Pacific countries (Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand) as well as in the United States. A land use scholar from each country describes and analyzes compulsory land acquisition and the means through which property owners can seek compensation when government regulations or policies become so burdensome that they approach the effect of compulsory purchase. The book's major themes are land use control and eminent domain (compulsory purchase). Contributors examine land use control by focusing on land ownership, statutory framework, land use plans and planning, zoning, building regulations, courts and common law, and regulatory taking among the eleven countries. Sections on eminent domain cover the right of government to take or reclaim private property.