Finding an apt strategy for (what we currently believe is) sustainable urban land use and area development

The long-term viability and management success of local economic development is a vital precondition for embarking on sustainable urban land use and area development paths. This paper examines two interlinked goals within this normative discourse: innovativeness and social cohesion. Based on literature and documentation of best practice, it is argued that a mature market for private investment provides the most viable framework for sustainability. While this perspective works better for developed countries, opportunities arise also for the lesser developed regions when technology, institutions and behaviours develop incrementally in response to successful trial and error corrections of policies implemented.