Verheij, Jessica (2024). Planning the dense and green city : an analysis of access to green spaces in the planning of urban densification. (Thesis). Universität Bern, Bern
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Abstract
Many cities nowadays have policies in place that aim for both densification and urban greening, in line with sustainable urban development. However, given the scarcity of land in cities, these policy goals hardly go hand in hand. This thesis focuses on the conflicting relationship between densification and urban greening, asking how the governance of densification affects access to green spaces. It furthermore asks what planning approaches are successful in achieving cities that are both dense and green. Understanding densification and urban greening as inherently political processes, I focus not only on urban form or the physical supply of green space, but rather on access to green spaces as a socially organized process involving exclusion and inclusion. To understand how the governance of densification affects access to green spaces, I apply a new institutionalist approach based on the Institutional Resource Regime framework. I combine this literature with theories from institutional economics on the Commons and on the Theory of Access to conceptualize property and access. I analyse how legal property is translated into different access regimes through the analytical concept of Localized Regulatory Arrangements. The research is based on qualitative data collected through four case studies of recently-completed densification projects in the Netherlands and Switzerland. In both countries, densification or compact development is the preferred form of spatial development for growing municipalities due to environmental concerns and a general scarcity of land. Cases were selected across a large central city and a medium-sized city in each country, namely Utrecht and Woerden (the Netherlands), and Bern and Biel (Switzerland). The findings of this research focus on the role of private landowners, the municipal planning authority, land policy and commoning processes on the negotiations taking place among actors within the Localized Regulatory Arrangement. The research shows how, due to the powerful role of for-profit actors in planning processes, urban greening becomes integrated mainly based on its economic value. Urban greening is hereby instrumentalized for the sake of densification, resulting in exclusive access to green spaces. Commoning processes have a role to play in shifting the logics of densification and urban greening towards non-profit development. Finally, the research shows how the analysis of Localized Regulatory Arrangements is key to understand the implementation of conflicting policy goals.
| Item Type: | Thesis |
|---|---|
| Dissertation Type: | Cumulative |
| Date of Defense: | 22 August 2024 |
| Subjects: | 900 History > 910 Geography & travel |
| Institute / Center: | 08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography |
| Depositing User: | Sarah Stalder |
| Date Deposited: | 19 Dec 2025 16:47 |
| Last Modified: | 19 Dec 2025 23:25 |
| URI: | https://boristheses.unibe.ch/id/eprint/6995 |
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