Beyond Sprawl: Principles for Achieving More Qualitative Spatial Development

Abstract

Spatial development instead of spatial order is now at the top of the Dutch planning agenda. It is feared that less governmental control will result in excessive sprawl. Methods are being sought to guide development in ways that guarantee spatial quality. This article proposes a methodical framework for anti-sprawl development based on the US growth management approach. The resulting strategy includes four implementation principles that play an important role in guiding development. First, containment, aimed at establishing urban growth boundaries, which can be very helpful in preventing sprawl. Second, concurrency, which encourages the establishment of critical factors for continued growth in a region and compensates for sprawl-like developments. The third principle is conversion, which provides opportunities to change the spatial composition and to un-sprawl regions in some ways. Finally, incentives or ‘carrots’ can function as a mechanism to stimulate encounters between regional players and guide them to preferred development, for example, investment in mixed-used developments instead of simple sprawl. In order to be effective, these principles require a governance approach.