Spatial planning and housing policy: On the ties that bind

Abstract

Spatial planning and housing policy in the Netherlands have supported each other for many years. In addition, spatial planning has played a stimulating role in carrying out spatial policy. Since the end of the 1980s, however, a new coalition has emerged between spatial planning and environmental policy, especially at the intraregional level. In the same period, housing policy has become strongly market-oriented. Thus, frictions have arisen in the relation between spatial planning and housing policy. This paper deals with a number of contradictions between housing policy and spatial planning: -the artificial shortage of land for housing; -the tension between urban density and consumer preferences; -the rigid housing differentiation, which is at odds with the flexibility of housing markets; -the danger of spatial segregation; and -the tension between residential construction and environmental priorities.