The Role of the Public Sector in Urban Development: Lessons from Leidsche Rijn Utrecht (The Netherlands)

Abstract

This article describes how the local planning authority plays a role both as a regulator and as a facilitator of urban development processes. Using the study of a large-scale housing development process in the Netherlands (Leidsche Rijn Utrecht), it is argued that the regulating and the facilitating roles of the local planning authority, that are now combined in the spatial plans, could be better if separated. This would allow the planning authority to regulate only where necessary, and to facilitate where possible, thus creating more space for collaborative processes. On a practical level, this analysis allows an approach for the public sector to be discerned, represented by the local planning authority, to pursue housing and land use policy by inducing the other actors in the urban development process to co-operate. On a more theoretical level, the article contributes to our understanding of the role and position of the public sector in development projects where public and private interests meet.

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