Models of the Land-Development Process: A Critical Review

In recent years, numerous conceptual models of the land-development process have been produced. In this paper, this material is brought together for the first time; not only are the salient characteristics of these models presented, but also they are evaluated critically in relation to their clarity, applicability, and theoretical underpinnings. Four different categories of model are identified, namely sequential descriptions, behavioural models, production-based analyses, and the structures-of-provision approach. Each of these is reviewed in turn. From this it emerges that the first three approaches have by and large resulted in models that are only partially representative of the complexity and variability inherent in the land-development process. It is concluded that the search for a generally applicable model is, in fact, a futile one, and that energy would be more usefully expended in applying the principles of the ‘structures-of-provision’ approach to the full range of land-development activity, thus producing a specific model for each development sector.