Zoning-integrative and zoning-alternative transferable development rights: Compensation, equity, efficiency

Transferable development rights (TDRs) have been in use for several decades; yet to date they have always had a very specific application, inasmuch as they are adopted as an element in the traditional zoning system. Actually, there is nothing that binds TDRs solely to zoning, and it might therefore be fruitful to find independent outlets for their application: in this case, the transfer of building rights can for instance become a regulatory technique in its own right and stand as an alternative to zoning. From this perspective, the present article compares two different types of TDR programs, termed, respectively, 'zoning-integrative' TDRs and 'zoning-alternative' TDRs, whose features will be dissected and discussed accordingly.