The Guardian:
Six reasons why we should build on the green belt
21 May 2014
It encourages inequality
The green belt increases social inequality by acting as a wall that confines urban dwellers at increasingly higher densities. Prof Paul Cheshire of the London School of Economics described it as ''a very British form of discriminatory zoning, keeping the urban unwashed out of the home counties - and, of course, helping to turn houses into investment assets instead of places to live''.
Link to article here
Related publications
Turning houses into gold: the failure of British planning, Paul Cheshire. Article in CentrePiece Volume 19, Issue 1, Spring 2014
Turning houses into gold: the failure of British planning, Paul Cheshire. LSE British Politics and Policy blog, posted May 7, 2014.
Related links
Paul Cheshire webpage
Spatial Economics Research Centre (SERC) webpage