Land-based financing (LBF) is a collective name given to a range of tools by which local governments could expand their revenue base and generate funds that will help them realize their service delivery, infrastructure development and maintenance goals. The broader contexts within which this tool is being developed are local governance and sustainable urbanization. Therefore, LBF does not include financial resources that can be raised from extractive industries (mining) that are also land-based but have traditionally been outside the domain of local government agencies.
The attraction of land as a source of local revenue is obvious. Land is immobile and taxes and fees tied to land cannot be avoided by relocating to another place. The land-based financing tool is premised on the fact that urban land is a key factor of production and an important source of financing for urban development, including infrastructure, social housing and basic services.