
Moving Development Rights Around to Hit Land Use Goals, with Nick Bratton
From Resources Radio by Resources for the Future
June 2, 2026 · 29 min
About this episode
This episode features a discussion on transfer of development rights and their role in land use goals with Nick Bratton from King County.
In this week’s episode, host Margaret Walls welcomes to the podcast Nick Bratton, who works as a program manager in King County, Washington State, coordinating and promoting market-based conservation through the voluntary transfer of development rights. As an incentive-based approach to land use, transfer of development rights (TDR) programs enable property owners to sell the development rights on some of their land while setting aside some of the land so it remains undeveloped natural space. TDRs have great potential to facilitate both land conservation and residential or commercial development, all without the need for government funding. Walls and Bratton talk about Bratton’s work in King County’s TDR program, his observations on TDRs more broadly, and what he views as factors for success with such programs. References and recommendations: “Jazz Cruise Series Vol. 1” album by Kelvin Momo; https://open.spotify.com/album/05PU51SCYUrmmFgV6Qvmvs Subscribe to stay up to date on podcast episodes, news, and research from Resources for the Future: https://www.rff.org/subscribe/
People in this episode
Host: Margaret Walls
Guest: Nick Bratton
Topics covered
- land use
- development rights
- market-based conservation
- TDR programs
- land conservation
- urban planning
Keywords
- transfer of development rights
- land conservation
- market-based conservation
- urban development
- King County
- TDR programs
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: King County, Resources for the Future, Spotify
Books & works: Jazz Cruise Series Vol. 1
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