Franziska Schmid

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.

Globally, urban regions are undergoing a highly dynamic process of land change. In European urban regions, especially since the 1990s, strategic spatial planning has played a key role in guiding urban transformation. The Swiss Federal Research Institute (WSL), through the project From Plans to Land Change: How Strategic Spatial Planning Contributes to The Development of Urban Regions (CONCUR),¹ has been devoting attention to the contribution of strategic spatial planning and spatial policies to land change in urban regions. The Impact of Strategic Spatial Plans on Land Change in Urban Regions: Debating Plan Making and Plan Implementation expert workshop was organised specifically to initiate an interdisciplinary dialogue on how strategic spatial planning and land-change science can influence each other. The workshop was held at WSL (Birmensdorf, Switzerland) from 9 to 10 November 2017 and brought together eight experts on spatial planning, territorial governance, land-use change and land-change modelling alongside the CONCUR project team. The first day of the workshop was composed of thematic lectures along with an introduction to the current state of research conducted within the CONCUR project. On the second day, the discussions mainly followed three trajectories: (1) the role of strategic spatial plans in urban transformation, (2) plan implementation through strategic urban projects and (3) appropriate planning data that can be used in landchange models led by the CONCUR project team.