Land market investments and their effects on urban land use planning (A case study of Karada Maryam in Baghdad)

Abstract

The process of cities  growth in Iraq and its expansion in all directions and the increase in its population during the last two decades led to the raising of land prices, several times, and this in turn led to the intensive re-investment of land by land owners, especially those lands located in city centers or in the main commercial areas and nearby areas, according to their importance, which constitute a financial resource, according to the conditions imposed by the market mechanism, but most of the changes are taking place away from the master plan, which led to  Change  land uses without any approved reference, as it lacks an approved planning reference.

 The research problem indicate that the rise in land prices in cities and their vital centers led to intensive investment in land.

The research hypothesis: the intensive use of land led to many planning, environmental and administrative problems and increased burden on the ability of services to perform their function, which is originally in low-level.

 The research goal: it is  an attempt to highlight the problem of re-investing land in cities and the extent of its impact on the future growth of the city by understanding the course of that problem accompanying rapid urbanization, with the aim of developing legislative solutions and then appropriate guidance by the relevant authorities, and establishing approved bases of reference that can be referenced in line with the requirements of cities development and investment. The research used the descriptive and analytical method, based on the data collected from the study area.

Keywords : Urban land market, Land use, urban planning, Government policies or legislation.