Rethinking land readjustment: Fit-for-purpose rules for joint use in real estate development

Urban development frequently requires land assembly, cross-parcel coordination, and allocation of costs and benefits created by zoning plans. In Norway, property-formation tasks typically rely on cadastral procedures that depend on voluntary agreement and may involve multiple fragmented, sequential, and time-consuming approvals. This article examines whether organizational instruments under the Land Consolidation Act – rules on joint use, orders for joint measures, and governance arrangements – can function as a less invasive and more efficient complement to physical reallotment in urban land readjustment. Using a structured review of Norwegian zoning plans and Land Consolidation Court decisions, supplemented with targeted literature, we identify (i) coordination problems these instruments can address, (ii) their legal effects and constraints, and (iii) practical conditions for implementation, including loss-prevention rules and transition to later physical property formation. We conclude that organizational instruments are best suited for early-phase cooperation and shared functions (e.g., access, infrastructure, common areas), reducing transaction costs and holdout risks when physical reallotment is premature. We discuss implications for ‘fit-for-purpose’ land readjustment and outline how comparable rule-based joint-use solutions may be adapted to resource-constrained contexts, provided that legal clarity and registration mechanisms are addressed. In Norwegian land consolidation law traditional physical readjustment includes measures such as land exchange and the reduction of fragmentation of holdings. Organizational instruments, by contrast, operate closer to the actual coordination problems faced in urban development. As such, they represent a more fit-for-purpose response to the challenges of fragmented ownership and cross-boundary planning in transformation areas.