Land Policies in Europe
Final conclusions from the International Working Group
Recent years have brought increasing relevance of land policy for spatial development in Europe – both in academia and practice. The idea of Thomas Hartmann and Andreas Hengstermann to propose an international working group to ARL back in 2019 resulted in an explorative workshop to identify the relevance of land policy for the work of the ARL and also to understand if there is a need for an international working group on the topic. The conclusion was that land policy is highly relevant, and a comparative international perspective on land policies in Europe would help to advance academia and practice. This kick-started the ARL International Working Group “Land Policies in Europe”.
The Working Group developed into a productive collaboration of European experts. In 2024, the group published a special issue in Raumforschung und Raumordnung | Spatial Planning and Research and is finalising a major book project with Springer. The book compares land policies in 12 European countries through a look at selected projects, presenting exciting and tangible cases of land policy in practice. The final meeting of the group in Vienna was key to discuss the conclusions across the 12 cases. The book, entitled “Land Policies in Europe: Land-use planning, property rights, and spatial development”, will be available open access in early 2025.
A look at Vienna: A City Shaping Innovative Land Policy
Vienna is widely known for its innovative housing policy, which is closely linked to the city's land policy. The cities’ approach provided an excellent opportunity to reflect on land policies and how a public planning authority integrates land and property rights with broader planning objectives. The meeting of 17 group members began with an an insightful excursion guided by Arthur Schindelegger, a member of the International Working Group, which provided an opportunity to contextualize Viennese land policy on an international level. During the excursion, local stakeholders, including project developers, discussed land policy approaches and consequences for urban development with experts from abroad. This allowed working group members to gain important insights into Vienna’s innovative land policy, which successfully combines large-scale urban regeneration projects seamlessly with smaller community-led initiatives. One such project, OPENhauswirtschaft, stood out as an example of cooperative living and working spaces based on a complex ownership and leasing model to provide affordable housing and much-needed office spaces for small and medium businesses. The project emphasised the diversity of solutions needed to address local needs by future land policy.
Vienna's socially oriented land policy, which ensures equitable access to high-quality housing, was a focal point throughout the excursions and discussions. The city’s transformative approaches highlight the importance of inclusive development, balancing economic activity with community building. The meeting provided a fitting conclusion to the group’s multi-year exchange of expertise, demonstrating how European cities can be incubators of innovative land policies as well as how such experiences should be structured and analysed to address contemporary challenges related to conflicting interests over land.
Four Years of Collaborative Effort and a Mutual Journey
The International Working Group on Land Policies in Europe began its work in February 2020 with an ambitious goal: to define and explore land policies across diverse European contexts. Early on, it became clear that “land policy” carries different meanings and connotations across languages and legal systems. The group adopted a case study approach, analysing land policy practices in Austria, Belgium, Czechia, England, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. This approach enabled the group to understand how local practices incorporate national frameworks of land use, property rights, and planning and to learn about the relevance of the latter for shaping spatial development.
Key insights emerged during the Working Group meetings in Dortmund, Munich, and Vienna, where participants engaged in in-depth discussions with local planners, policymakers, developers and other key players in land policy. The diversity of perspectives deepened the group’s understanding of how different approaches manage the balancing of public and private interests in land. The working group's transnational collaboration enabled a significant flow of ideas, yielding critical insights into land administration throughout Europe and demonstrating how diverse systems may be aligned with shared objectives, such as sustainable land use and housing affordability. The key outcomes of the work are not only a common understanding of land policy, and its relation to planning, but also the proof of a diversity of land policies and the variety of ways to pursue solutions to the pressing issues of housing shortage, reducing land take, and densification. While land policy solutions are sometimes in line with planning, the cases also reveal how land policies and planning diverge and hinder successful implementation of strategies. This highlights the importance of aligning the allocation and distribution of property rights in land for successful urban development.
Expanding Horizons: Strengthening International Ties for ARL’s Future
After four years of work, we are convinced that discussing land policy internationally has proven to be of added value. Looking back, the working group organised several side events, such as special sessions, presentations and meetings at conferences, notably the International Academic Association on Planning, Law, and Property Rights (PLPR) (www.plpr-association.org) and the Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP) (https://aesop-planning.eu). In this way, we sought to substantially support the ARL's goal towards greater international engagement and exchange.
One key lesson from the working group is the immense value of international collaboration through mutual learning. The exchange of perspectives from countries with different planning systems highlighted the potential for German spatial research and planning practice to benefit from increased international exchange. The ARL has provided an invaluable platform for this type of international collaboration, and it is vital to continue expanding these efforts. By increasing international cooperation, the ARL can help shape a broader academic debate on land policy and planning, creating more opportunities for knowledge exchange and joint problem-solving.
In conclusion, the ARL's International Working Group has made a substantial contribution to the international debate on land policies and public and private interests can be better aligned in the allocation and distribution of land. We hope that future working groups might build on this work and explore further challenges, such as climate adaptation, land use competition or no-net land take.
Katharina Künzel
TU Dortmund University, Germany
katharina.kuenzel@tu-dortmund.de
Dr. Arthur Schindelegger
BOKU University, Austria
arthur.schindelegger@boku.ac.at
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Andreas Hengstermann
Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NBMU), Norway
andreas.hengstermann@nmbu.no
Prof. Dr. Thomas Hartmann
TU Dortmund University, Germany
thomas.hartmann@tu-dortmund.de
Dr. Fabian Wenner
Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany
f.wenner@tum.de
Dr. Mathias Jehling
Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development (IOER), German
M.Jehling@ioer.de
