The compliance of land-use planning with strategic spatial planning – insights from Zurich, Switzerland

Franziska B. Schmid, Felix Kienast and Anna M. Hersperger

European Planning Studies, 2021, vol. 29, issue 7, 1231-1250

Abstract: Although many planning systems are based on a combination of traditional land-use planning and strategic spatial planning, the interplay between the two approaches remains insufficiently investigated. Focusing on the Canton of Zurich, we applied a qualitative content analysis to extract strategic planning intentions from the Cantonal Structure Plan (1995). We quantitatively analysed the compliance of changes in municipal land-use plans between 1996 and 2016 concerning the extracted planning intentions. The overall low rate of changes was accompanied by few active contradictions of land-use planning. Minor deviations from the strategic plan were seen in the spatial allocation of new building zones. Considering the socio-economic dynamics of the region, surprisingly few changes were detected regarding the permitted building density for residential and mixed-use areas. This leads us to the conclusion that the Cantonal Structure Plan (1995) was very successful in quantitatively limiting the expansion of building zones. However, it showed a limited active steering capacity regarding their allocation and the regulation of building density. Our analysis showed that margins of discretion play a key role in multi-level planning systems, balancing flexibility for locally adapted solutions against statutory boundaries to prevent their misuse, as such they need to be considered in planning evaluation.

Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:eurpls:v:29:y:2021:i:7:p:1231-1250

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DOI: 10.1080/09654313.2020.1840522

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