SPINE Spatial Planning INstruments and the Environment

SPINE Spatial Planning INstruments and the Environment

Spatial planning and land-use policies are key for green growth

People, economic activity, and environmental amenities are unevenly distributed across space. The majority of environmental externalities are also spatially explicit. Spatial planning, the public-policy toolbox used to alter their distribution, is one of the domains where the tensions between economic, social and environmental objectives are particularly acute. These tensions are, furthermore, expected to escalate as demand for housing, energy, food, fibre, but also ecosystem services, are rapidly growing.

Carefully designed spatial-planning instruments can play a critical role in balancing these tensions. However, as spatial and land-use policies currently in place have often been blamed for being ineffective or for inducing undesirable environmental and economic side effects, the potential of policy reforms is significant.

The OECD SPINE project

SPINE is a two-track project

The SPINE project aims to assess the environmental and economic effectiveness of spatial and land-use planning instruments, as well as the potential gains from relevant policy reforms. Based on refined geospatial data and a wide array of analytical and empirical methods, the project will shed light on the effects of land-use patterns and spatial-planning instruments on economic development, public finance and the environment.

The project will comprise two tracks: Track 1 will focus on foundational work, while Track 2 will be built around spatially explicit empirical analyses.

1Foundational track

Analytical framework

This track will deliver two products. The first piece of work will be a coherent analytical framework for the study of the interactions between spatial planning, land-use patterns, the economy and the environment. The framework will describe the major linkages between land-use patterns and the economic and environmental systems. It will also explain how spatial-planning and land-use policies can address the economic and environmental challenges posed by land-use changes, and identify the potential social and economic consequences of these policies.

Inventory and typology of spatial-planning systems

The second contribution of this track will be an inventory and typology of the spatial planning systems and instruments used in OECD countries. This typology will reflect the division of powers and responsibilities among different levels of governance (institutionally and territorially) and, if possible, characterise spatial planning instruments in terms of their objectives (raising revenue, wealth redistribution, environmental, social), type of instrument used (command-and-control vs. market-based) and stringency.

This track will consist of a series of spatially explicit empirical analyses, investigating the effects of land-use patterns and spatial policies on economic growth and the environment. The track will also involve the collection and processing of detailed geospatial data, which are a prerequisite for the performance of this work. The analyses will be based on cross-country comparisons or case studies, depending on the topic of interest and data availability.

2Empirical track

Thematic areas

The thematic areas below have been identified as potentially

interesting topics for empirical work undertaken in the context of

SPINE. For each thematic area, a brief summary of the objectives

of the analysis and the expected policy implications is provided.

1. Urban patterns, CO2 emissions and spatial-planning instruments

Descriptive analyses of land-use patterns in OECD countries

will shed light on the relationship between urban patterns, CO2

emissions and the use of specific spatial-policy instruments. The

role of the division of power and planning competences among

different levels of government on land-use patterns and CO2

emissions will also be investigated.

2. Effects of urban structure on human exposure to

local air pollution

This analysis will investigate the effects of urban structure

on local concentrations of various air pollutants and the

corresponding human exposure. It will highlight land-use and

transport policy reforms to address local air-pollution problems.

3. Effects of open-space conservation on urban development

and local public finance

This area will focus on the effects of open-space conservation

on housing prices, development density, tax base, and total land

values. It will describe the implications of the identified effects for

local public finance and spatial and land-use policy.

The project will

highlight land-use

and transport-

policy reforms

which could be

implemented to

address local air-

pollution problems.

4. Effectiveness of spatial policies for natural-disaster risks

and adaptability to climate change

This analysis will evaluate the effectiveness of spatial policies

used for natural risk mitigation and attempt to quantify their

direct and indirect costs. It will also assess the adaptability of

current policies to climate-change-induced alterations of natural-

disaster frequency and severity and propose policy reforms which

would enhance their adaptability.

5. Effectiveness of stringent land-use controls for nature

conservation

The focal point of this area will be the assessment of the

environmental effectiveness of land-use controls for nature

conservation and the evaluation of the costs and benefits of their

implementation. Implications for improving the environmental

and economic performance of nature conservation instruments

through policy reforms will also be drawn.

6. Side effects of nature conservation policies in

peri-urban areas

Case studies will reveal how side effects of nature conservation

policies (e.g. urban development at the border of designated

areas) are manifested and which land-use policies are more

likely to trigger them. On this basis, spatial policy reforms which

could prevent the induction of these side-effects or mitigate their

consequences will be highlighted.

The project will

evaluate the

effectiveness of spatial

policies used for

natural risk mitigation

and attempt to

quantify their direct

and indirect costs.

More information

Walid Oueslati

Team Leader Empirical Policy Analysis

Email:

Walid.Oueslati@oecd.org

www.oecd.org/environment/tools-evaluation/

SPINE Spatial Planning INstruments and the Environment

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