Urbanisation and planning culture in Flanders

The Flemish region is characterised by ever increasing spatial fragmentation and land take. Its negative societal effects have led to attempts to curb this unbridled urbanisation for decades, with disappointing results. To increase understanding of this inability of the Flemish region to curb further fragmentation and land take, this dissertation analyses Flemish urbanisation policy in the period 1996-2021. The research takes a sociological institutionalist analytical viewpoint, with the planning cultures approach as its main driver. This approach holds that planning is a culturally contingent form of practice. Understanding the cultural dimensions that play a role in shaping and implementing Flemish urbanisation policy may lead to more effective policy in the future. The chapters in the dissertation analyse respectively (1) the implementation of the urban growth management framework of demarcating urban areas using the policy arrangement approach; (2) the role of governance culture in the building of institutional capacity for urbanisation policy; (3) the role of discourse in executing Flemish urbanisation policy, especially the continued discursive role of the urban-rural dichotomy; (4) the dominant and oppositional framing in the reception of the recently proposed instrument of the ‘concrete stop’ using a news framing analysis. The concluding chapter presents empirical conclusions as well as a reflection on these various ways of doing planning cultures research. Finally the dissertation formulates six recommendations for urbanisation policy in Flanders and two suggestions for further research.

Jaar van publicatie:2022

Trefwoorden:Doctoral thesis

Toegankelijkheid:Open