Implementing parsimonious land use: Basic analysis and decisive changes for Switzerland

Since the enactment of the Spatial Planning Act (SPA) in Switzerland in 1980, there has been a deficit in the implementation of parsimonious land use as required by it. If Switzerland were to use its land parsimoniously, it would have to better coordinate transport and land use, make more intensive and better balanced use of its built land in suitable locations by making better use of the existing urban infrastructure. This document describes the newly developed Swiss Urban Information System for Parsimonious Land Use (SUISPLU). Firstly, it serves to analyse the spatial relationships as well as the effects of planning measures in terms of past, present and future land consumption. The urban information system measures and projects functional relationships in terms of the distribution, intensity, and housing–job ratios. It also shows the past, present and future use of urban areas in relation to building zones and accessibility by public transport. Secondly, it is used to measure the current modal share and forecast future modal share. It also determines structural relationships in 10-minute neighbourhoods, i.e. catchment areas with a radius of 0.5 kilometres that can be reached on foot. Finally, it measures the impact of regulatory constraints on the housing market and proposes incentive levies to correct excessive land consumption. This thesis is intended to provide a basis for the social discussion on the interest and implementation of parsimonious land use. The developed SUISPLU and policy recommendation are to deliver guidance for the implementation of parsimonious land use. This work demonstrates that current land use planning hinders parsimonious land use and that parsimonious land use can only be achieved if the coordination of public transport and building zones and the intensification of land use and the targeted allocation of living and working are guided by structure and land use plans. The externalities of construction and transport must also be taken into account. Therefore, current, normative, static, and exclusionary land use regulations need to be replaced with context-dependent, conditional, dynamic, and inclusionary ones, and design-based instruments need to be supplemented with price-based instruments. This requires web-based, multi-level and multi-tiered governance. This is defined by nine spatial requirements, consisting of three functional, three structural and three real estate and land use regulations related aspects. First applications of the SUISPLU are underway. Further applied research on the transformation of existing neighbourhoods and basic research on the development of a fee and building regulation system are necessary and planned. In brief: If the legally required implementation of a parsimonious land use is to succeed, a continuous transfer of knowledge, the levying of incentive levies and a reform of teaching in urban planning and design are essential

How to achieve parsimonious urban land use: The case of Greater Zurich

Land use regulations in Switzerland do not meet the requirements of the spatial planning act (SPA) in their guidance for parsimonious land use. If parsimonious land use is to be achieved, urban economic theories and price-based regulations must be leveraged to determine the intensity and balance of land use. Therefore, an urban information system to project and guide for parsimonious land use was developed. The GIS spatial analysis instrument presented in this paper is intended as a decision-making aid in the reform of the land use regulations, in particular metropolitan, cantonal and regional structure plans and municipal land use plans. By intensifying and better balancing land use at locations adequately accessed by public transport, land can be used parsimoniously. However, the projection results are not a self-fulfilling prophecy. Therefore, to guide for parsimonious land use lad use regulations need to change from normative, static, and exclusionary to context-dependent, conditional, dynamic and inclusionary ones. The next step is to develop a system of fees and codes to internalize negative externalities of building and transport and to collect public revenue from economic and agglomeration rents.ISSN:0965-4313ISSN:1469-594

If aiming for parsimonious urban land use: The case of Greater Zurich

The Spatial Planning Act, which came into force in 1980, obliges Swiss municipalities to use urban land parsimoniously. However, they do not do so. To achieve parsimonious land use, the land within walking distance of good and very good public transport must be used intensively and in a locally balanced way, and it must provide a human-centered built environment and public realm. In this study, geodata was analyzed to generate and visualize projections of future urban land use for Greater Zurich. The projections consider a doubling of the number of residents and workers on the already zoned land. The intensity surfaces of two worker-resident ratio alternatives’ five public transport service level scenarios are compared with one another and with actual data for 2015. The projections show that Greater Zurich needs considerable intensification, especially of population, and redistribution of land use to achieve the intensity and level of local balance required for parsimonious urban land use. Therefore, future growth in residents and workers should be used to transform the built environment for parsimonious urban land use where it makes sense. To steer this transformation, planning practice must integrate spatial and traffic planning and so move towards context-dependent, conditional, dynamic, and integrative planning

Despite or because of land use and design control: Has urban growth in Greater Zurich gotten out of hand?

The urban sprawl in the suburbs is a phenomenon that has been criticised worldwide, both in terms of low development and human density and in terms of monofunctional land use, which has led to enormous horizontal growth and congestion. With the introduction of the Spatial Planning Act (SPA) in 1980, Swiss municipalities were obliged to control urban growth by reducing urban land consumption and using urban land parsimoniously, i.e. using urban land within walking distance to good or very good public transport service intensively, locally balanced and with a human centered built environment and public realm. This paper empirically analysis with a universally applicable method of spatial analysis whether urban land in Greater Zurich is used parsimoniously and whether land use and design control have contributed to this goal. This is achieved by measuring the intensity, balance in terms of job-resident and retail job-resident relationships in 2014, the change of land use of 2014 compared to land use of 1990 for residents and of 1995/96 for workers as well as the relationship of public transport accessibility and land use control from 2014. These paper reports that the four essential spatial elements mentioned above are not sufficiently fulfilled. Therefore, land use and design control have failed to guide for parsimonious urban land use

Based on the analysis of ten essential elements: Does Greater Zurich provide ‘Healthy, 10-Minute Neighborhoods’?

Since the invention of transport and land use and design control, we have become highly dependent on mobility other than walking; have lost compactness of the built environment, proximity to everyday tasks, and liveliness of the public realm. Within Greater Zurich, Switzerland's largest conurbation, we select four locations of highest intensity of land use by people (workers plus residents), workers, FTE workers in retail, and residents each, to examine ten essential spatial elements including land use and design control, and their role in providing Healthy, 10-Minute Neighborhoods. Based on geospatial data, we find that Greater Zurich has at most, one Healthy, 10-Minute Neighborhood. Therefore, we conclude that mayor transformations, both in the development and the transformation of the built environment and the public realm as well as planning, are needed

Based on the analysis of ten essential elements: Does Greater Zurich provide Healthy, 10-Minute Neighborhoods?

Since the invention of transport and land use and design control, we have become highly dependent on mobility other than walking; have lost compactness of the built environment, proximity to everyday tasks, and liveliness of the public realm. Within Greater Zurich, Switzerland's largest conurbation, we select four locations of highest intensity of land use by people (workers plus residents), workers, FTE workers in retail, and residents each, to examine ten essential spatial elements including land use and design control, and their role in providing Healthy, 10-Minute Neighborhoods. Based on geospatial data, we find that Greater Zurich has at most, one Healthy, 10-Minute Neighborhood. Therefore, we conclude that mayor transformations, both in the development and the transformation of the built environment and the public realm as well as planning, are needed

Greater Zurich does not use land parsimoniously: despite the spatial planning act, which has been in force since 1980

An overconsumption of land for building and urban use has resulted from rising incomes, falling transport costs, separating urban land use, restricting building heights and densities, and the lack of internalizing negative externalities. This paper empirically analyses whether land in Greater Zurich is used parsimoniously. Furthermore, it proposes changes in planning and policy that would be necessary to overcome the implementation deficit of the federal Spatial Planning Act (RPG). The analysis measures the distribution and mix of residents, workers, and retail workers and the change in land use. It also examines the relationship between public transport and building zones. Consequently, although intensification in residents has occurred since 1990 and workers since 1995/96, the distribution of residents and workers at central locations indicates that land in 2014 is used neither sufficiently intensively nor in a balanced way. Therefore, in Greater Zurich, price-based regulations need to supplement the current purely quantity-based regulations

Vollzug der haushälterischen Bodennutzung in der Schweiz: Darlegung des Instruments des SNF-Forschungsprojekts Nr. 162718 zur Evaluation der Flächenauswirkungen planerischer Massnahmen

Spatial planning intends to limit urban sprawl by constraining settlement areas. But the question remains: which planning efforts achieve higher urban densities? By using geostatistical data, this paper analyses urban density and transport patterns for the case of Switzerland. Based on this analysis an instrument is developed that allows to evaluate the impact of spatial planning policies on land consumption. This instrument further develops the understanding of how spatial planning influences land use patterns. Based on the results, the applicability of this instrument for decision-making in spatial planning is discussed.ISSN:0251-3625ISSN:2166-860

Urban Strategies for Dense and Green Zurich: From Healthy Neighbourhoods towards Healthy Communities?

Contemporary healthy urban development goes beyond the traditional emphasis on individual well-being toward a more systemic approach to health: the notions of equity, inclusion and socio-spatial justice are at the centre of such an approach. Using the lens of urban health to explore socio-spatial complexity in Zurich makes an interesting case, given that cooperative (urban) planning is considered a norm in the Swiss spatial planning policy. Set between cooperation as the principal normative value in the legislative and regulative Swiss planning framework and the practical evidence that sometimes lacks the implementation of these values, and using an in-depth case study analysis of the Koch Areal, this paper critically examines: the planners’ position and skills in the process of urban densification; the approach applied and values promoted by developers; the strategies by the local community in protecting local identity and needs; the relationship of city officials towards both the (local) public and investors. The findings point to the advantages and shortcomings emerging from the stakeholders’ encounter, finally questioning the essence of cooperative planning, and outlining the current state of Zurich’s urban development strategy on the trajectory towards an intrinsically healthy city