Limits to land take. No net land take and the Flemish bouwshift as goals of sustainable land use.

This doctoral project aims to deepen the scientific understanding of the spatial concept of no net land take and, more specifically, for the special case of Flanders. Setting limits to additional land take and spatial growth is part of the global sustainable development agenda (SDGs) and European environmental goals (EU, 2011).

This objective is much discussed and ambitious for the Flemish region since the northern part of Belgium has the highest land take in Europe (33%) and the Flemish government wants to reduce the daily increase in land use from 6 to 7 additional hectares today to 0 ha by 2040. The research project will place the Flemish case in a broader, international perspective and investigate what type of instruments are used internationally to contain urban development.

Flanders is an extreme case from which more general conclusions can be drawn that are relevant to other European countries. By means of a historical study, the political, legal and financial causes of high land consumption in Flanders are first analyzed. Also, the dynamics between spatial planning, property rights and property value will be discussed in more detail. At the center of these dynamics is plan compensation and the valuation of compensation.

The final part of the project is the implementation and feasibility-study of a land take ‘standstill’. Based on GIS analysis, the reduction of land take will be simulated in several reduction scenarios in Flanders. For each scenario, a valuation of the compensation will be carried out. Furthermore, design driven research will be conducted to explore how these former building sites, can be meaningfully used in larger natural structures. Policy recommendations will close the doctoral project.

Keywords: land use, planning policy, real estate valuation, no net land take,  value compensation