Urbanization Interventions: Strategies, Plans, and Policies

This chapter explores the successes and challenges of managing urban growth. It examines the influence of formal and informal rules in society on urban development, drawing on examples of strategic planning and transit-oriented development in cities such as Stockholm, Amsterdam, and Paris. Despite ample qualitative evidence regarding the importance of national planning systems, it is difficult to establish a statistically significant causal link between planning systems and their ability to control urban development. The evidence also shows an increasing impact of European policies and strategies, such as the European Green Deal, on urbanization despite the absence of a mandate for planning.