The transfer of development rights as a tool for the urban growth containment: A comparison between the United States and Italy

In recent years many countries all over the world adopted a variety of preservation tools and market-oriented solutions to contain land consumption. Among these countries Italy slowly began to incorporate the principles of the free market into the urban planning programmes. The United States Transfer of development rights programmes (TDR) represent a reference point for a market-based approach in the field of environmental preservation policies. In this paper we compared the criteria successfully adopted by the US TDR programmes to the specifications adopted by the municipal plans of three important Italian cities (Milan, Rome and Florence) and we discussed their efficacy to control the urban growth.