Edwin Buitelaar

A Theory of Institutional Change: Illustrated by Dutch City-Provinces and Dutch Land Policy

Since the early 1990s, planning theory has focused on the issue of institutional change. Not only does institutional change have clear bearings on processes of spatial planning, it is also, increasingly, seen as an object of planning. A core concept in the literature is the juxtaposition of ‘institutional design’ and ‘institutional evolution’. Yet, in understanding processes and the role of institutional change, this dichotomy does not appear to be very helpful. We therefore propose a more encompassing perspective that includes both ‘design’ and ‘evolution’ dimensions, invoking various components from theories of policy change, inspired by the work of Kingdon. We try to unravel, in particular, why, under seemingly comparable conditions, some cases show substantive institutional transformations while others do not. We briefly discuss two cases from the Netherlands to illustrate this point, namely the thwarted process of establishing city regions within the scalar fabric of territorial governance, and some instrumental changes in land policy.

A Transaction-cost Analysis of the Land Development Process

The production of our built environment involves many transaction costs. We want to avoid unnecessary transaction costs. Nevertheless, we hardly take account of transaction costs when considering different ways of organising the development process. The most important reason is probably the difficulty in identifying them. This paper shows why transaction costs are important and offers a method for identifying them. With this method, it is possible to compare the efficiency of different institutional arrangements.

Plan-Led Planning Systems in Development-Led Practices: An Empirical Analysis into the (Lack of) Institutionalisation of Planning Law

Planning laws are usually made with good intentions, but do not always lead to good results—at least not when measured against their own goals. Since July 2008 the Netherlands has had a new planning act which aims for a plan-led system and a stronger role of the land-use plan in providing a framework for building permits—instead of these being granted through exemptions from the land-use plan—and in guiding spatial development. On the basis of quantitative data, we found that the land-use plan has become more important: more land-use plans have been adopted, both in absolute terms and relative to alternative measures. But functionally, these land-use plans are used primarily to follow and facilitate development instead of guiding it. Development control is still (inevitably) driven by development proposals. Although the paper looks at the Dutch case, an analysis into the relationship between planning law and its institutionalisation (or the lack thereof) at the local level is worthwhile for a wider audience. In our quest to understand the effects of changes in the law on the practice of development control, we use theories that look at the process of institutionalisation, especially of centrally designed formal institutions, such as legislation, that seek application at the local level, with its own (potentially conflicting) formal and informal institutions. We conclude the paper by arguing that changes in planning law are unsuccessful if they are not congruent with informal and formal institutions at the ‘street-level’ and if there is a lack of sufficient incentives to change the behaviour of local actors.

Managing Traffic by Privatization of Road Capacity: A Property Rights Approach

Abstract Road congestion remains a serious problem, despite all the efforts to limit road use and to manage growing road traffic volumes. Economic approaches (such as pricing) are introduced based on traditional welfare economic theory. Although they are sometimes very successful, the magnitude of traffic issues also requires alternative and unconventional approaches. Perhaps a more innovative perspective is needed. The paper discusses an alternative economic approach starting from property rights theory. It is translated in transport systems in concepts of infrastructure capacity slot management, where slots are dynamically priced and exclusively allocated to individual users. Debates and practices regarding this approach in air traffic and rail traffic are further developed than in the field of road traffic. The paper aims to explore the potential benefits and disadvantages of the property rights approach for road traffic. Attention is paid to major institutional and technical conditions. The conclusion is that the approach theoretically has clear advantages and seems technologically feasible. Nevertheless, serious political and institutional issues have to be solved first.

Zoning, More Than Just a Tool: Explaining Houston's Regulatory Practice

The intent of this article is to understand why Houstonians reject zoning while simultaneously adopting a collection of mechanisms that serve zoning-type functions. The answer is found in discursive-institutionalist approaches that emphasize the symbolic meaning (besides the instrumental value) that people give to regulatory tools. Zoning as a label is generally associated with an interference with individual liberty. Apparently, the other interventionist instruments do not carry the same negative value, which makes it possible to implement them without much opposition. Discourses shape institutions, like planning regulations, and we need to unravel and to understand these processes in order to increase the performance of planning.

Dutch land development institutions in the face of crisis: trembling pillars in the planners’ paradise

ABSTRACT The international planning community has long regarded Dutch planning culture as atypical and even exemplary. This article claims that this common view might need revision, because of large changes that are taking place in planning and development practice. The three pillars of Dutch planning and development culture – integration (of land uses, actors and financial sources), comprehensiveness and the support of these by an active municipal land policy – are trembling. The crisis of 2008 has shown (rather than caused) that the large scale and interconnectedness of land-development projects have created a ‘tightly coupled system’ in which a shock in one part travels to other parts and causes the whole system to shake or even collapse. Organic forms of urban land development, with an open-ended plan, a greater role for smaller private actors and an enabling role for government, are better at allowing for adapting to changing circumstances. Experiments with organic development can be found in abundance, but whether this type of development will institutionalize in the long run and lead to a culture shift depends on the vitality of existing power structures.

Institutions in Theories of Land Markets: Illustrated by the Dutch Market for Agricultural Land

Theories of land markets should be intellectually sound and should be able to explain and predict market outcomes, such as price and volume of transactions, changes in these and locations of different land uses. Theories based on neo-classical economics, which largely ignore the role of institutions, are not intellectually sound because it is known that markets cannot work without institutions. Nor do these theories predict outcomes satisfactorily. Moreover, they assume market mechanisms and do not investigate them critically. This paper explores how institutions may be taken into account in theories of land markets and whether that leads to better theories both of market outcomes and of market processes. New institutional economics provides the tools to investigate how the interactions between market actors are influenced by institutions. And the ‘old’ institutional economics emphasises how institutions influence the motivations and preferences of those actors. The conclusion is that there cannot be a general theory of land markets, only theories with a limited applicability and scope. Such theories can be used to explain the effects of small changes and to predict the effects of marginal changes in institutions. In that latter use, these theories can be used for designing land policy. How institutions can be incorporated into theory is illustrated by analysing the Dutch market for agricultural land. This shows how institutions affect the outcomes in that market and the consequences for the transformation of land from agriculture to urban use.

Industrial Land and Property Markets: Market Processes, Market Institutions and Market Outcomes: The Dutch Case

Outcomes of land and property markets may be understood by studying the effects of (interventions in) market processes and market institutions. Many studies have paid attention to the meaning of institutions for land and property development processes. The standpoint of this paper is that changes in the institutional order of the market may be considered to arrive at more desirable market outcomes. It will be argued that institutional economic theory offers a valuable theoretical approach to bring forward possible interventions in this institutional order. This theoretical approach to land and property development processes is applied to analyse one specific market outcome, the spatial layout of industrial parks in the Netherlands. Starting from the analysis of the oversupply of industrial land and the deterioration of existing industrial parks, the paper focuses on possible interventions to change the institutional order that should lead to more favourable market outcomes. For the present submarket for industrial land (building plots), a number of interventions are discussed to internalize the externalities that occur in this market and to increase the number of suppliers. Additional interventions are proposed to create a “new” submarket for new leasehold industrial property, which is almost absent in the case of industrial estates.

Urban Structures and Land. The Morphological Effects of Dealing with Property Rights

Urban regeneration is an increasingly important but complex business. One factor that is widely recognised as adding to the complexity is the fragmentation of landownership. However, not only does this affect the process, it also reveals itself in the outcome of urban regeneration—the urban morphology. Property rights theory helps to conceptualise this relationship. On the basis of this and two empirical cases, this paper demonstrates that the assignment of bundles of property rights over land, the delineation of the right use land and the value of land are intimately linked. These links affect the urban morphology both directly and indirectly. A direct effect of property rights structures is the incorporation of existing land uses in new development schemes. Indirect effects are the physical measures, such as increased densities and less public space, which are taken to compensate for the financial deficits that are caused by high land acquisition costs.

The public planning of private planning: an analysis of controlled spontaneity in the Netherlands

Through comprehensive case studies of privately planned cities and neighbourhood in Asia, Europe and North America, this book characterizes the theoretical basis and empirical manifestations of private urban planning. In this innovative volume, Andersson and Moroni develop an under-studied aspect of urban planning and re-evaluate conceptions of our urban future.