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Good land policy provides a diversity of land uses with plural property relations. No single kind of property rules fits the purposes of all types of land uses. Neither is a de-tached single family house like a community garden, nor a highway like a retail chain. Each land use needs its own property'fingerprint.'The concept of Western ownership works with home ownership, but fails with community gardens, highways, or retail chains. Western ownership also fails in informal settings, particularly in the global South, although informality does not at all entail the absence of property relations. In everyday practice, private and common property relations often accommodate a wide variety of demands made by the owners and users of land. In a stark contrast, many theories of property and land policy fail to recognize plural property relations. The polyrational theory of planning and property reconciles practice and theory.

Problems for environmental management are taking on a new urgency. This book addresses aspects of environmental management that raise fundamental questions about governmental roles and the relationship of humans to the environment. It examines the interaction of local and national governments and the strengths and weaknesses of co-operative vs. coercive environmental management, through a focus on the management of natural hazards. Leading experts in the field examine new and innovative environmental management and planning programmes with particular focus on North America and Australia. This book offers a new understanding of environmental problems and explores the appropriate policy mix that must be developed for environmental management to strive towards environmental sustainability.