Foreword. Symposium: Emerging Land Use Law in the Pacific Rim

Over the next decade and beyond, the countries of the Pacific Rim will experience enormous land development pressures. Important new land use law is emerging at the national, provincial, and municipal levels. Restrictions on foreign land ownership are easing, while international investment consortiums are emerging as major participants in land development projects in Indonesia, Malaysia, Korea, and Japan. The cities of these countries, along with those in China and Thailand, are defining a new scale of urban development for the twenty-first century.

The land use law developing now in the Pacific Rim could have an enormous impact on the economic and environmental landscape in the region for decades to come. Law and policy are being increasingly influenced by a growing middle class and heightened demands for clean air, water, and other environmental standards. Public involvement in the land development process is greater than ever, and growing. At the same time, new wealth is increasing the pressure to develop wilderness and agricultural lands.

All of these factors contributed to the decision by the editorial boards of the Pacific Rim Law & Policy Journal to organize a conference focusing on land use issues. The articles contained in this book were first presented at a symposium held in Seattle in October 1997, entitled "Emerging Land Use Law in the Pacific Rim," the third symposium in a series of international conferences organized by the Journal.