Research
A Taxing Dilemma: Land Take, Fiscal Revenues and the Redistribution Puzzle
This research examines the role of land taxation in shaping land-use patterns in France, with a focus on its potential to incentivize land take and urban sprawl. Despite being a critical source of revenue for municipalities, local taxes on land have not been systematically designed to address soil conservation or ecological priorities. Using empirical methods, the project investigates the causal relationship between land take and tax revenues, while analyzing how these revenues are redistributed among local authorities. By uncovering fiscal distortions and their environmental impacts, the study aims to inform policies that reconcile tax equity, sustainable land use, and ecosystem preservation.
Contested Ground: Exploring Land Use Conflicts in France
This project systematically catalogs and maps court cases surrounding construction and land-use changes across France, using large language models (LLMs) to extract key insights from more than 350,000 administrative court decisions. The resulting comprehensive national database spanning from the early 1990’s to 2024 reveals the locations of disputed constructions, the nature of legal claims, court rulings, whether legal representation was involved, and the categories of buildings involved. It shows a very high concentration of cases in coastal, mountainous and metropolitan areas. A large part of these cases is related to contested housing constructions, potentially revealing systematic NIMBY dynamics across French territories. Future analysis will determine the specific characteristics of the most affected municipalities and the profiles of challengers mobilizing legal opposition to development projects.