Impact of Land Use Regulations: Evidence from India’s Cities

Abstract

India’s cities are characterised by strong land use controls, but their impacts on city growth and the urban poor have drawn little attention. This paper deals with strong land use regulations prevalent in India’s cities, which have negative impacts on urban form, the consumption of floor space and affordable housing. The impact of land use controls, such as floor area ratio and urban land ceiling, on suburbanisation in India is studied using standard econometric techniques. It is found that population suburbanises in response to a relaxation of floor area ratio norms in the suburbs. However, land use controls have no impact on the suburbanisation of jobs in India’s cities. The paper concludes by summarising policy implications of the research.