IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/homoec/v35y2018i1d10.1007_s41412-018-0066-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

On the Process and Economics of Land Settlement in Oman: Mathematical Modeling and Reasoning in Urban Planning and Design

Author

Listed:
  • Bernhard Heim

    (German University of Technology in Oman)

  • Marc Joosten

    (German University of Technology in Oman)

  • Aurel von Richthofen

    (ETH Zürich, Future Cities Laboratory Singapore, Singapore-ETH Centre, Create Tower)

  • Florian Rupp

    (Center of Conflict Resolution & Institute of SocioEconomics)

Abstract

The Sultanate of Oman organizes a peculiar land allocation system by lottery. Combined with governmental loans this system is intended to provide house ownership for male and female nationals. Active land-management measures such as incentives or taxation do not exist. The process can be described as an ideal market. As observed in empirical studies the resulting settlement remains incomplete and inefficient, which leads to an overall unsustainable land-use. The paper develops an agent-based land-settlement simulation based on cellular automata. The simulation describes the agents and their motivation. It is calibrated with a real-estate price index compiled for Muscat Capital Area for the first time. The simulation allows discussion of four scenarios: Status quo, negative, positive and combined land-management measures. The status quo scenario reveals that the original intention of the land allocation program as part of the welfare system in Oman is not attained. On the contrary, the present system without additional management fuels private land speculation that rapidly excludes those in need and benefits a few. The alternative scenarios of negative, positive and combined land-management measures support policies for a fair and sustainable settlement process.

Suggested Citation

  • Bernhard Heim & Marc Joosten & Aurel von Richthofen & Florian Rupp, 2018. "On the Process and Economics of Land Settlement in Oman: Mathematical Modeling and Reasoning in Urban Planning and Design," Homo Oeconomicus: Journal of Behavioral and Institutional Economics, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 1-30, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:homoec:v:35:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s41412-018-0066-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s41412-018-0066-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s41412-018-0066-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s41412-018-0066-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mansour, Shawky & Al-Belushi, Mohammed & Al-Awadhi, Talal, 2020. "Monitoring land use and land cover changes in the mountainous cities of Oman using GIS and CA-Markov modelling techniques," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    2. Wolfgang Scholz, 2021. "Appropriate Housing Typologies, Effective Land Management and the Question of Density in Muscat, Oman," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-27, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Collective decision-making; Simulations in economics; Settlement dynamics; Housing in Oman;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C63 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Computational Techniques
    • R31 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Housing Supply and Markets
    • R38 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Government Policy
    • R52 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - Land Use and Other Regulations
    • R58 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - Regional Development Planning and Policy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:homoec:v:35:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s41412-018-0066-7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.