Determinants of Urban Vacant Land Evidence from Santiago, Chile

Abstract

It is a planners’ common argument that one of the main sources of vacant land is developers’ speculation. Consequently, in order to reduce vacant land, it is also a common policy to charge extra taxes to this kind of lots as a way to force development. Using a rich data base from Santiago, Chile, this paper investigates on the determinants of urban vacant land. We find that amongst the most important elements driving unused sites in Santiago are public regulations. Hence, practitioners must be aware about this issue before implement a policy to reduce vacant land because it could have the opposite result.