The aim of this book, first published in 1977, is to use the tools developed by modern microeconomics to provide a framework for the analysis of policies towards the allocation of land and the control of activities using land. The principle focus of the book is the general justification for intervention in the urban land and property markets, the principles for evaluating such intervention and the proper role of the public sector within the urban economy. It also considers in some detail the practical problems involved in putting these principles into effect.