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

TLDR

Planning laws, though well‑intentioned, often fail to meet their goals; since July 2008 the Netherlands adopted a plan‑led act to strengthen land‑use plans as frameworks for permits and spatial guidance, yet the broader relevance of how such laws institutionalise at the local level remains significant. The study seeks to understand how the 2008 Dutch planning act affects development control by applying institutionalisation theory to the interaction between central legislation and local formal and informal institutions. The authors employ institutionalisation theory to analyze the interaction between the centrally designed 2008 planning act and local formal and informal institutions governing development control. The analysis shows that although more land‑use plans are adopted, they are mainly used to facilitate rather than guide development, and development control remains driven by proposals; thus, law changes fail unless aligned with local institutions and incentives.

Abstract

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.