Planning law and institutions.
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Regulating Coastal Zones. International Perspective on Land Management Instruments
Fellow: Rachelle Alterman overview
Overview: Regulating Coastal Zones addresses the knowledge gap concerning the legal and regulatory challenges of managing land in coastal zones across a broad range of political and socio-economic contexts. In recent years, coastal zone management has gained increasing attention from environmentalists, land use planners, and decision-makers across a broad spectrum of fields. Development pressures along coasts such as high-end tourism projects, luxury housing, ports, energy generation, military outposts, heavy industry, and large-scale enterprise compete with landscape preservation and threaten local history and culture. Leading experts present fifteen case studies among advanced-economy countries, selected to represent three groups of legal contexts: signatories to the 2008 Mediterranean ICZM Protocol, parties to the 2002 EU Recommendation on Integrated Coastal Zone Management, and the USA and Australia. This book is the first to address the legal-regulatory aspects of coastal land management from a systematic cross-national comparative perspective. By including both successful and less-effective strategies, it aims to inform professionals, graduate students, policy makers, and NGOs of the legal and socio-political challenges as well as the better practices from which others could learn. |
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Between Informal and Illegal in the Global North: Planning Law, Enforcement, and Justifiable Noncompliance
Fellow: Rachelle Alterman authors & abstract
Authors: Rachelle Alterman, Ines Calor Abstract: Much research has focused on the widespread phenomenon of “informal” construction in developing countries, where planning laws are dysfunctional. However, in recent years scholars have used this term with reference to Global North countries as well, where planning laws generally do function reasonably well. In this chapter, we take on a difficult task: to try and distinguish contexts or situations where indeed, planning law fails to the extent that noncompliance should be regarded as justifiable. To do so, we first demonstrate the difficulties and elusiveness of making a judgment of when noncompliance merits the term “informal”, thus calling for conceptual criteria. Once the challenges and dilemmas are exposed, the paper proposes six situations – or criteria– when noncompliance may be justifiable. Each is accompanied with real-life examples. The chapter concludes by pointing out the deep shortcomings in the interrelationships between regulatory planning on the one hand, and the grossly under-researched enforcement functions. |
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Simple Planning Rules for Complex Urban Problems: Toward Legal Certainty for Spatial Flexibility
Fellows: Edwin Buitelaar, Stefano Moroni, Stefano Cozzolino Authors, abstract & keywords
Authors: Stefano Moroni, Edwin Buitelaar, Niels Sorel, Stefano Cozzolino Abstract: In the course of the nineteenth century, many countries attempted to simplify their regulatory systems; since then, however, the entire legal apparatus has become ever more complex, being based on the (debatable) notion that law must mirror the growing complexity of society. Owing to this presumption, complex land-use and building issues have rapidly generated a host of equally intricate rules. However, some critics have argued that complex systems require exactly the opposite treatment, that is, simple rather than complex legal rules. This article explores the concept of simple rules for urban development, investigating what they are, why they are superior, and how they can be achieved. Keywords: simple rules, complexity, land-use issues, regulation, planning law |
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The production of informal space: A critical atlas of housing informalities in Italy between public institutions and political strategies
Fellow: Francesco Chiodelli authors, abstract & keywords
Authors: Francesco Chiodelli, Alessandro Coppola, Emanuele Belotti, Gilda Berruti d, Isabella Clough Marinaro, Francesco Curci, Federico Zanfi Abstract: The paper analyses the plurality of urban informal practices that characterize contemporary Italy in the sphere of housing, focusing on its complex connections with a variety of public institutions (e.g. laws, regulations, policies and practices). The paper discusses five cases of urban informality in Italy: the squatting of public housing in Milan; Roma camps in Rome; the borgate romane (large unauthorised neighbourhoods in the capital, which were built in the 1960s and 1970s and which have subsequently undergone a long and complex process of regularization); unauthorised construction, by the middle class, of second homes in coastal areas of Southern Italy; illegal subdivision of agricultural land as a standard mechanism for urban expansion in Casal di Principe, Naples.From these cases emerges a complex picture of hybrid institutions that shape and govern housing informalities. These hybrid institutions are composed of multifaceted networks of actors, policies, practices and rules that exist in tension with each other and contribute to favouring and shaping the production of informal space in different ways (e.g. through their action, inaction and structural features). Against the backdrop of this varied institutional framework, a selective tolerance driven mainly by politically-mediated interests emerges as the distinctive feature of the public approach to housing informality in Italy. The paper aims to develop an innovative research approach to informal housing in Italy by overcoming traditional boundaries between research ‘objects’ and by looking at political uses and forms of institutionalisation that are deployed across housing informalities. By doing so, it also contributes to the literature which analyses informality through the lenses of state theory. Simultaneously, it represents a call for international research to investigate the similarities in the patterns of housing informality – and their multifaceted politics – in Mediterranean welfare states. Keywords: Informality, Illegality, Housing, Urban planning, Public institutions, Southern Europe |
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The complex nexus between informality and the law: Reconsidering unauthorised settlements in light of the concept of nomotropism
Fellows: Francesco Chiodelli, Stefano Moroni abstract & keywords
Abstract: This article discusses the relations between unauthorised settlements and regulation in the Global South. It starts from the concept of “nomotropism”, by which is meant “acting in light of rules” (acting in light of rules does not necessarily entail acting “in conformity with rules”). Application of this concept foregrounds the underlying relationship among rules, informality and transgression. The aim of the inquiry is to provide new bases for reframing the problem of low-income unauthorised settlements and redefining practices of land-use regulation in the Global South. Keywords: unauthorised settlements, informality, illegality, nomotropism, global south, urban planning |
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Spatial governance and planning systems in the public control of spatial development: a European typology
Fellow: Giancarlo Cotella authors, abstract & keywords
Authors: Erblin Berisha, Giancarlo Cotella, Umberto Janin Rivolin, Alys Solly Abstract: Although the functions of spatial governance and planning systems are generalizable, 30 years of comparative studies, especially in Europe, have shown the heterogeneity characterising these ‘institutional technologies’. This contribution builds on the materials of the recently concluded ESPON COMPASS research project to propose a European typology on the capacity of public authorities to control spatial development, a crucial aspect for the life of entire cities, regions and countries. Based on the opinions expressed by respective national experts, the systems of 39 countries (28 EU and 11 non-EU) are compared in relation to the mechanisms to allocate land use and spatial development rights as well as to the prevalence of the state vs. the market in guiding the development decisions. As a result, the European systems are placed on an X-Y diagram, which makes it possible to cluster them in consistent types that raise new comparative observations and general findings. In summary, the capacity for public control of spatial development looks variegated in Europe, although limited overall. Even if the power relations between state and market established in each institutional context are certainly influential, the models adopted for allocating spatial development rights also play a role in determining the observed trends. Keywords: Spatial governance, spatial planning, spatial development, systems, public control, Europe |
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How Europe hits home? The impact of European Union policies on territorial governance and spatial planning
Fellow: Giancarlo Cotella abstract & keywords
Abstract: Despite the lack of competence on the matter, through time the European Union (EU) developed a number of spatially relevant concepts, initiatives and sectoral directives. An EU territorial governance framework progressively consolidated and the Member States gradually adapted in order to reflect its growing complexity. Building on the results of the ESPON COMPASS project, the article sheds light on this process, often referred to as Europeanization of territorial governance. To do so, it presents and compares the perceived impact that a number of sectoral directives, spatial policies and guidance documents developed at the EU level plays in shaping territorial governance and spatial planning in the 32 countries that participate to the ESPON programme. Keywords: EU territorial governance, spatial planning systems, Europeanization, ESPON |
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Spatial governance and planning systems in the public control of spatial development: a European typology
Fellows: Giancarlo Cotella, Umberto Janin Rivolin authors, abstract & keywords
Authors: Erblin Berisha, Giancarlo Cotella, Umberto Janin Rivolin, Alys Solly Abstract: Although the functions of spatial governance and planning systems are generalizable, 30 years of comparative studies, especially in Europe, have shown the heterogeneity characterising these ‘institutional technologies’. This contribution builds on the materials of the recently concluded ESPON COMPASS research project to propose a European typology on the capacity of public authorities to control spatial development, a crucial aspect for the life of entire cities, regions and countries. Based on the opinions expressed by respective national experts, the systems of 39 countries (28 EU and 11 non-EU) are compared in relation to the mechanisms to allocate land use and spatial development rights as well as to the prevalence of the state vs. the market in guiding the development decisions. As a result, the European systems are placed on an X-Y diagram, which makes it possible to cluster them in consistent types that raise new comparative observations and general findings. In summary, the capacity for public control of spatial development looks variegated in Europe, although limited overall. Even if the power relations between state and market established in each institutional context are certainly influential, the models adopted for allocating spatial development rights also play a role in determining the observed trends. Keywords: Spatial governance, spatial planning, spatial development, systems, public control, Europe |
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The space of rules and rules of space: reflecting on local ordinances during the Covid-19 pandemic
Fellows: Anita De Franco, Carolina Pacchi abstract & keywords
Abstract: This article investigates the role of the spatial dimension in the formulation of pandemic rules in Italy, with a specific focus on the municipal ordinances enacted in Milan. The study conducts a critical review of multidisciplinary literature, which often marginalises the significance of spatial dynamics in the development of (pandemic) regulatory frameworks, relegating “space” to a peripheral rather than central concern. This research proposes an analytical framework to evaluate spatial rules based on key thematic categories, with reference to the application and structural attributes of pandemic regulations. The article also discusses the practical integration of spatial dimensions into regulatory design, emphasising the imperative of acknowledging and engaging with unique spatial characteristics in order to enhance the efficacy of legal and policy interventions. Keywords: Health emergency, Local scale, Municipal ordinances, Pandemic rules, Rules, Social behaviours, Social norms, Space, Spatial rules, Urban places |
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The Transformative Potential of Institutions: How Symbolic Markers Can Institute New Social Meaning in Changing Cities
Fellows: Sebastian Dembski, Willem Salet authors, abstract & keywords
Abstract: Planners use symbolic markers in order to frame processes of urban change and to mobilise actors. How can we explain the fact that in some cases the symbolisation of new urban spaces manages to enhance and enlarge the meaning of social change while in other cases the symbolic markers remain powerless and might even have a reverse effect? The authors doubt whether the sophistication of symbolic markers as such has much impact. The explanation for the success or failure of symbolic communication is sought within the framework of institutional embedding. This conceptual paper attempts to elaborate institutions' transformative potential through their use of symbols. To this end, it undertakes a reappraisal of institutional thought in order to conceptualise institutional transformation, the establishment of a conceptual linkage between the transformative potential of institutions and symbolic markers, and the design of an operational model of research for the institutional investigation of symbols in the planning of changing cities. Keywords: Risk, Land development models, the Netherlands, Institutional analysis, Transaction cost theory |
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Global crisis and the systems of spatial governance and planning: a European comparison
Fellow: Umberto Janin Rivolin abstract & keywords
Abstract: Inadequate regulation of spatial development is at the origin of the current global crisis and increases, in years of crisis, the unequal distribution of wealth. The importance of the related risks for democracy draw attention to the systems of spatial governance and planning, through which States regulate spatial development. In Europe, the countries most affected by the unequal effects of the crisis have spatial planning systems that are traditionally based on the preventive assignation of rights for land use and development through a plan. The systems of other countries had established beforehand that new rights for land use and for spatial development are rather assigned only after the public control of development projects and their distributional effects. Despite the evidence that some models can operate better than others in ensuring public government of spatial development, the improvement of spatial planning systems is, however, limited by their complex nature of ‘institutional technologies’. Especially in a context of crisis, planners are responsible for the increase in public awareness concerning the role of spatial governance in economic and social life. Keywords: Crisis, space, governance, planning systems, Europe |
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Planning Systems as Institutional Technologies: a Proposed Conceptualization and the Implications for Comparison
Fellow: Umberto Janin Rivolin abstract
Abstract: Spatial planning systems have become the subject of much comparative research in recent years. This has resulted in very general classifications, while a definition of the subject of comparison remains vague. Any attempt at comparative evaluation has proved therefore to be difficult and controversial, impeding further theoretical and institutional progress. Against this backdrop, the present contribution is aimed as an effort towards conceptualization. The notion of ‘institutional technology’ is adopted in order to understand planning systems as specific social constructs, thus encompassing also the shaping of respective planning cultures. Implications for analysis and comparison are discussed. |
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Looking for innovation – Trajectories of land transaction and readjustment in West Africa
Fellow: Mathias Jehling authors, abstract & keywords
Authors: Fabrice Banon, Mathias Jehling Abstract: Transition in land use rights and tenure structures from agricultural to urban land constitutes the basis of urban growth in West African cities. A multitude of highly adapted forms of land transaction and readjustment have emerged to facilitate this transition. While these provide access to housing for the middle class as well as poor households, their complexity presents challenges to planning for sustainable urban development. We argue for a new perspective to better understand the various forms of land transaction and readjustment, one that bridges normative frameworks. Drawing on the concept of Ordinary Cities, we perceive these forms as innovations, both within and across cities. Specifically, we use the concept to analyze processes in the municipalities of Abomey-Calavi (Benin) and Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso). Through a qualitative approach, local cases of land transaction and readjustment are analyzed. Five trajectories of land delivery are identified that combine statutory and customary land use rights along with formal planning processes and informal practices. We then discuss practical issues in the analysis of planning systems. As well as providing a holistic view, this opens up the possibility of transnational learning across the Global South and North. Keywords: Ordinary cities, Land use rights, Suburbanization, Hybridity, Grounded theory |
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Legitimacy of Informal Strategic Urban Planning—Observations from Finland, Sweden and Norway
Fellow: Raine Mäntysalo authors & abstract
Authors: Raine Mäntysalo, Karoliina Jarenko,Kristina L. Nilsson, Inger-Lise Saglie Abstract: In Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian cities and urban regions, strategic approaches in urban planning have been developed by introducing different kinds of informal strategic plans. The means of improving the strategic quality of urban and regional planning have thus been searched from outside the statutory land use planning system, determined by the national planning laws. Similar development has also taken place elsewhere. When strategic plans are prepared outside the statutory planning system, these processes also lack the legal guarantee for openness, fairness and accountability. This is a serious legitimacy problem. In this article, the problem is examined theoretically and conceptually by combining democracy- and governance-theoretical perspectives. With this framework, four different approaches to legitimacy are derived: accountability, inclusiveness, liberty and fairness. The article concludes that strategic urban planning must find a balance between the four approaches to legitimacy. Concerning political processes, this requires agonistic acknowledgement of different democracy models, excluding neither deliberative nor liberalist arguments. Concerning administrative processes, it requires acknowledgement of the interdependence of statutory and informal planning instruments and the necessity of developing planning methods for their mutual complementarity—thus avoiding the detachment of informal strategic planning into a parallel planning “system”. |
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Don’t blame public law: the legal articulation of certainty in Amsterdam land-use planning
Fellow: Federico Savini abstract & keywords
Abstract: In Amsterdam, development contracts are increasingly used to provide legal certainty for stakeholders in land-use planning. Under changing conditions, they are more difficult to adapt than other legal frameworks. This paper investigates the legal articulation of certainty; it scrutinises how instruments of both public and private law are interacting with each other and how they limit adaptation in practice. Two cases from Amsterdam are presented to demonstrate that development contracts signed between governments and private sector developers are more rigid than zoning regulations in the face of changing circumstances. The paper concludes that, instead of deregulation, a careful articulation of different legal instruments can enhance adaptive capacity. Keywords: adaptation, Amsterdam, development contracts, land-use regulations. |
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Swiss land improvement syndicates: ‘Impure’ Coasian solutions?
Fellow: Sina Shahab authors, abstract & keywords
Authors: Sina Shahab, François-Xavier Viallon Abstract: An increasing number of planners have explored the implication of Coase theorem for planning theory and practice. As there are often a large and dispersed number of actors involved in planning issues, the application of ‘Pure’ Coasian solutions has proved to be limited. However, some studies argue that when the conditions for a ‘Pure’ Coasian solution do not exist, ‘Impure’ Coasian solutions may still be achievable. This article examines how, when conditions of ‘Impure’ Coasian solutions are available, local authorities in Switzerland use land improvement syndicates as a policy instrument in order to achieve negotiated solutions in relation to development processes involving multiple landowners. With a syndicate in the commune of Cheseaux as an illustrative example, the article analyses how this policy instrument has been utilised to reduce transaction costs, correct information asymmetries and clarify property rights. The focus has been on an interpretation of the Coasian theorem that identifies attempts to reduce transaction costs and clarify property rights as the main roles of governments or local authorities. Keywords: Coase theorem, land improvement syndicates, land readjustment, planning policy instruments, property rights, transaction costs |