IMPACT OF URBAN PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT ON REAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

Rodna Živkovska
PhD, Professor, Faculty of Law Iustinianus Primus, “Ss. Cyril and Methodius” University in Skopje, North Macedonia
Tina Pržeska
PhD, Professor, Faculty of Law Iustinianus Primus, “Ss. Cyril and Methodius” University in Skopje, North Macedonia

The process of urban planning and development significantly impacts many areas of modern living. Whether good or bad, urban planning and development leave imprints of economic, environmental, social, political, and legal nature. Well-conducted urban planning and development can serve as a booster for the economy, enabling the construction industry’s rise. Environmental protection is quite dependent on urban planning and development being conducted in a manner that is not harmful to the environment. The implementation of social measures like providing affordable housing or enabling rural development also depends on urban planning and development acts. Passing zoning plans and other urban planning and development acts is both a legislative and political process and affects public as well as private interests.

Considering the multilevel effect of urban planning and development, the paper elaborates on the impact of urban planning and development on the private interests of the holders of real property rights. The paper examines the positive and negative effects of urban planning and development on private interest. By examining the positive effects, the paper aims to highlight legal solutions creating an equal opportunity climate for land development, enabling landowners and holders of other real property rights to fully exercise their rights and collect the benefits. The paper also analyses the negative effect on real property rights caused by insufficient, inappropriate, and/or uneven urban planning and development, affording privileged treatments, and other contributing factors. The goal is to pinpoint the legal solutions that have or may contribute to practices with a negative effect on the exercise of real property rights. Finally, the paper examines the clash between public and private interests related to urban planning and development and the legislative approach in prioritizing one over the other.

Keywords: property, real estate, construction, urban planning, ownership

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