The chapters in this volume examine the effect large landowners or institutions have on local land markets and the tensions that can arise between public and private interests. In the United States the large tracts of land held by private owners are often situated on the fringes of metropolitan areas. Frequently this land is in transition from agricultural to urban uses, and represents a source of income or a legacy for the next generation. Many universities and other non-profit institutions own large parcels of land and have a bargaining advantage in town-gown issues due to their contribution to the urban economy.
In Nigeria, like much of Africa, a considerable portion of land is held privately, albeit communally. Land ownership and land supply decisions have more to do with family or clan marriages than with the logic of city building.
This book, a result of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policys' September 2006 conference, brings together experts who address the following land policy questions.
- What happens when one owner or one institution has significant control over the local land market?
- How do the actions of individual landowners affect our capacity to create cities that work for all?
- How well can these individual actors balance the competing interests of those living in neighborhoods, towns, cities, and regions?
Despite the tensions that can arise between the stakeholders during the development process, the tensions are not the problem. Rather, they are the challenge and the opportunity to collectively shape our cities.

Cities, counties, school districts and other local governments have suffered a long-lasting period of fiscal challenges since the beginning of the Great Recession. Metropolitan governments continue to adjust to the "new normal" of sharply lower property values, consumer sales, and personal income. Contributors to this volume include elected officials, academics, key people in city administrations, and other nationally recognized experts who discuss solutions to the urban problems created by the Great Recession. Metropolitan Resilience in a Time of Economic Turmoil looks at the capacity of local governments to mobilize resources efficiently and effectively, as well as the overall effects of the long-term economic downturn on quality of life. Introducing the reader to the fiscal effects of the Great Recession on cities, the book examines the initial fraying and subsequent mending of the social safety net, the opportunities for pursuing economic development strategies, the challenges of inter-jurisdictional cooperation, and the legacy costs of pension liabilities and infrastructure decay. Contributors are Phil Ashton, Raphael Bostic, Richard Feiock, Rachel A. Gordon, Rebecca Hendrick, Geoffrey J.D. Hewings, David Merriman, Richard Nathan, Michael A. Pagano, Breeze Richardson, Annette Steinacker, Nik Theodore, Rachel Weber, and Margaret Weir.