Urban policy in Asia Pacific countries: a case for inclusionary zoning and housing

The purpose of this paper is to address the key issues of spatial exclusion of the urban poor, including slum-dwellers through the mechanisms of ‘inclusionary zoning’ and ‘inclusionary housing’ to augment affordable housing in developing countries of the Asia–Pacific, with particular focus on India. These instruments aim at promoting affordable housing through the market place based on a system of incentives to developers. The motivation of the study stems from the realization that the biggest bottleneck in providing affordable housing to the urban poor is the lack of supply of suitable, litigation-free, and adequately serviced urban land located at a reasonable commuting distance from their workplaces. The paper reviews international best practices, and explores their underpinning theories, and proposes innovative ways to promote inclusion of the urban poor in planned urban development process. Major findings suggest that inclusionary zoning and housing programmes can be designed combining both efficiency and equity objectives. Inclusion works when rooted in the processes of urban land and housing markets and the urban planning system to correct for market failure. Policy-makers and planners may consider planned urban development as a process of value creation through the market, giving ample scope for value capture and recycling to promote inclusive urbanization.