Applying the political economy of land approach to urban planning

Abstract
Background and Purpose: Cities grow and develop under the influence of economic and political forces, and changes in urban spaces are more of a political economic phenomenon than a natural process. Urban planning, as a discipline that deals with urban development, is not limited to the physical and technical aspects, but is shaped in a social, economic, and political context. One of the criticisms of planning is the focus on technical issues and the lack of attention to the influence of key economic and political powers and actors in urban plans. Despite the importance of the political economy perspective in understanding and analyzing urban issues from the perspective of power in planning, this perspective has not yet been clearly explained in planning studies. One of the reasons for this can be considered the complexity of applying this perspective, because political economy is an interdisciplinary science and is involved in various fields of knowledge, including economic, political, social, and management disciplines. Therefore, the present study attempts to examine and analyze the political economy of land approach, which addresses both the issues of power and political economy in planning and does not address the complexities of the political economy of space perspective. To this end, by analyzing the research conducted in this field, an attempt is made to present a conceptual framework for explaining the political economy of land approach with an emphasis on urban planning.
Methodology: Since the present study seeks to explain the political economy of land approach and explain its dimensions and components; therefore, it is of a descriptive-analytical type and is applied in terms of purpose and qualitative in terms of data type, and the data was collected using documentary and library methods. The PRISMA guidelines were used to identify and extract research sources, and ultimately 42 studies were selected for analysis, including 17 domestic studies and 25 foreign studies. Data analysis was performed using thematic analysis method and coding through Max QDA software, and themes related to the political economy of land approach were identified.
Findings and Discussion: At the theoretical level, the political economy of land approach, which is considered a critical theory of urban planning, seeks to explain land developments that occur as a result of the actions of economic, social, and political powers and actors to accumulate capital in land. Based on this approach, urban land is a platform for capital accumulation and profit-making. This has led to the commodification of land, the consequences of which include inequality and class conflict, excessive urban growth and density, profiteering and land rent, and the destruction of urban cultural and natural heritage. At the analytical level, and based on the analysis of the content of the studies, this approach consists of two main dimensions: one; the political economy dimension and two; the urban land dimension. The components of the political economy dimension include: the motivation and interests of actors, the relationships between actors, and the way actors act, and the components of the land dimension include: land ownership, land exploitation, and land management and policy-making.
Conclusion: In this study, an attempt was made to present a more accurate picture of the developments in urban land in the form of a political economy of land approach by reviewing the studies conducted, so that on the one hand, the mere attention of planning from a technical and specialized matter to the issues of power and influence of political economic actors and forces in urban issues is drawn more, and on the other hand, the complexity of the political economy of space perspective is reduced. To this end, by analyzing the studies conducted in this area, a conceptual framework was presented to explain the political economy of land approach in urban planning. Based on the results of the research, the political economy of land approach focuses on identifying key actors and their relationships with each other (cooperation or competition) who, using their power and methods of action, pursue their interests and motivations by influencing the components of land, namely ownership, exploitation, management and policy-making of land, which has led to the commodification of land.