land value capture

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

a public financing mechanism through which governments recover a portion of the increase in land value that results from public investments in infrastructure, zoning changes, or urban development decisions, using the captured value to finance the infrastructure itself; when a new metro line is built, land values near stations rise significantly — land value capture instruments such as tax increment financing, betterment levies, and land value taxes allow governments to recoup this appreciation rather than allowing it to accrue entirely to private landowners; land value capture has been used successfully in Hong Kong's MTR system, São Paulo's CEPAC certificates, and various European tramway extensions, and is advocated by urban economists as a more efficient alternative to property taxation