Trade-offs at a regional level in spatial planning: Two case studies as a source of inspiration

Societal and technological changes are influencing the spatial expression of human activity and governance. The focus on the regional level is stronger and there is greater cooperation at more levels between public and private stakeholders. Furthermore, there is a growing demand for a better quality of space and new concepts for funding spatial interventions. This whole intricate scenario is in need of new planning instruments that can be deployed at a regional level.This paper examines trade-off schemes for spatial interventions at the supra local, or – as we call it in this paper – more regional level. It investigates how a creative design of land-uses in combination with a trade-off system between economically stronger and weaker land-uses can contribute to the quality of space and the need for adequate funding. Often in these trade-offs it concerns on the one hand more urban land-uses like housing and commercial functions, and on the other hand more rural land-uses like nature, water, and cultural landscape functions. As there are hardly any academic attempts to classify such methods in spatial planning at a regional level, the paper provides an attempt to classify trade-off methods. These are (1) one-to-one trade-offs aimed primarily at maintaining the status quo in a certain area, (2) one-to-one trade-offs aimed at spatial improvements and (3) multiple trade-offs relating multiple land-uses and characterised by a larger complexity. Underlying concepts of the trade-off schemes in spatial planning are the desire to improve the quality of space with the intervention and the need for adequate financing of such intervention. A firm institutional framework and an active government are also needed to successfully implement such trade-off schemes. The concept of trade-off at a regional level is elaborated in two case studies representing two of the presented categories: the Space-for-Space scheme and the Hart van de Heuvelrug project, both situated in the Netherlands.