Transfer of Development Rights : Technical Note

This study of transferrable development rights (TDRs) has been produced as part of the work undertaken for the World Bank advisory services and analytics of Land Sector Emerging Issues Project for Turkey. The study was undertaken because Ministry of Environment and Urbanization (MoEU) sought information on best international practice in this area. There had been discussions with potential uses of TDRs in Turkey. These include using them as a means of compensating owners of land acquired compulsorily, thereby avoiding having to find finance for expropriations. Owners of land being expropriated would receive a share of development rights in regeneration rather than the cash to acquire replacement properties. The main body of the report is in four sections. Section 2 explains what transferrable development rights (TDR) are and the key concepts and definitions. Section 3 comprises a series of case studies from USA examining some of the most highly regarded TDR schemes concerned with the protection of historic buildings, the preservation of the countryside and farmland, and urban design quality. There are relatively few TDR schemes from outside USA but those from Brazil and Mumbai are also considered. Section 4 discusses the legal issues that arise from TDR schemes and Section 5 the economic ones. Section 6 presents the conclusions from the study.