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Housing Market Arenas in Spatial Planning. An Actor-Relational Approach.

Year: 2024
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Housing market arenas in spatial planning; An actor-relational approach INTRODUCTION Flanders is characterized by a high land take of 33%, which makes Flanders a leader in Europe. This dissertation discusses the consequences of this phenomenon, such as urban sprawl and fragmentation of open space. In addition, it deals with the spatial housing policy in Flanders (no net land take), with the expected population growth, the demand for new housing units and the transformation of the existing housing stock. The emphasis lies on the need for a more spatially differentiated housing policy which corresponds with the future needs of the Flemish population, the challenges of this policy at different scales, the importance of a city-regional approach for this issue, and the identification of housing markets and arenas. In Flanders, there develops a discourse of regional and local housing markets from a geographical perspective. Researchers therefore arrived at delineations of fixed areas in housing research and spatial policies. Regional formation with the aim of a new administrative division was not the starting point. The discussion about regional formation has been particularly prevalent in recent years, with debates about municipal mergers (2019), transport regions (2019), and reference regions (2022). Consultations with stakeholders involved in certain policy fields have also taken place recently. Existing forums have been abolished in the meantime, such as the Flemish Housing Council (2020), while others have been established, such as transport regions or operating areas for social housing companies in order to deal with the issue (2023). The concept of a housing market arena, introduced in this thesis, brings together some of these issues and aligns with other developments within spatial planning: collaborating with stakeholders, coordinating across the sectoral boundaries, and going beyond delimited boundaries. Reality has become increasingly complex and dynamic, demanding adapted models or concepts to understand it. This takes into account the specific context of each region, in this case viewed from the housing and spatial planning domains. Furthermore, relevant stakeholders are involved in the challenges present in the realms of housing and spatial planning. Using Actor-Network Theory (ANT) and particularly its 'translation' for planning (the Actor Relational Approach; hereafter ARA), we can expose those stakeholders, the factual data, and the rules that are relevant in a particular region. Assuming that these elements (stakeholders, factors, and institutions) vary from region to region, three cases were examined: Flanders as a whole, the Ghent region, and the Kortrijk region The central question of this thesis is therefore "How to address the spatial housing issue in Flanders in reference to the present challenges?" SOCIAL-SPATIAL PHOTO OF THE built ENVIRONMENT The research starts with a socio-spatial picture of the present built environment. This shows increasing differentiated patterns in the daily environment and its impact on a macro, meso and micro level. It also describes the historical context that has led to the current housing environment in Belgium. This part provides an answer to a first sub-question, namely 'What are the spatial characteristics and implications of housing in Belgium, and how have they come about?' At the macro level, the spatial housing model in Belgium is influenced by three main factors: mobility policy, housing policy and (the lack of) spatial policy. Mobility policy, mainly based on liberal and christian-democratic ideologies, has historically focused on accessibility and commuting, resulting in an extensive network of railways and roads. The housing policy mainly promoted single-family homes with gardens in order the reduce the indirect costs for industrialists and focused on ownership in small local communities under the care of the local priest. Lack of spatial policy led to low land prices and a fragmented landscape, involving in the end enormous direct and indirect costs for overall Belgian society. At the meso level, migration and population dynamics result from these three factors. It has avoided a horrendous migration from the countryside towards the city, such as in other industrial countries. But at the moment main cities, such as Brussels and Antwerp, attract migration, mainly from Europe, while there is also suburbanization towards peripheral municipalities. Furthermore, the number of households is growing faster than the population, with an increasing proportion of singles and elderly people. At the micro level, these processes result in local socio-spatial patterns. The share of single-family homes and homeowners is prominent throughout Belgium, except in large cities. The residential patrimony in Flanders is generally younger than in Wallonia. These patterns result in growing agglomerations, suburbanization and prominent border effects (e.g. with the Netherlands). Population growth and decline vary by region, with a general trend towards household downsizing. All in all, the housing patterns in Belgium are influenced by prominent and ideological inspired planning policies, resulting in different housing market dynamics that vary by region and over time. Understanding these differentiated dynamics is important for policy makers to take targeted measures and steer spatial development; there is no one-size fits all. OUTCOME OF THE CASES These differentiations are further explored in the cases of Flanders, Ghent and the Kortrijk region respectively. In particular, the characteristic differences, major problems and shared issues are discussed. As a result, an answer is provided to a second sub-question 'What does the specifics of the Belgian spatial housing characteristics concretely mean for Flanders in general, and the Ghent and the Kortrijk region specifically?' Characteristic Differences In general, and as a result of the historical processes described above, complex variations exist at both regional and local levels. The surplus of building opportunities on available plots is sufficient for Flanders in general, in reference to the expected household growth until 2030 and beyond. But, while there seems to be an oversupply at the regional level, there is a noted spatial mismatch between demand and supply at the local level. And this changes from region to region. Some municipalities, including Kortrijk, experience oversupply, whereas others like Ghent face shortages for specific groups. Particularly in cities, there's pressure on the housing market, while in declining areas, there's an oversupply. In all three contexts (Flanders as a whole, Gent and Kortrijk), there's disagreement regarding specific housing problems, and (sometimes (un)indentified) fundamental issues. The lack of a mutual and clear problem definition at the level of the housing market urban-regions of Ghent and Kortrijk complicates addressing solutions for the housing problems at the overall level of Flanders. In the Ghent urban-region, the controversy lies in the differentiated views of the city versus the surrounding areas. In Kortrijk, the controversy is among the suburban municipalities themselves; the fact that these suburbs continue to compete with each other is frequently cited by stakeholders as a reason not to eliminate surplus residential areas. Moreover, the overall Flanders' policies seem to be indifferent to those in its surroundings (Wallonia, the Netherlands, Brussels Capital Region, France), although there are major cross border migration patterns to be noticed, especially with the Brussels Capital City Region and the Netherlands. Nonetheless, Flanders attempts to implement consistent policies within its boundaries itself is actually challenging due to the fragmented nature of the spatial housing problems and its lack of an open view to its surrounding. Thus, there's a need for very sharp selection of what most importantly matters at this level. What are the major problems? At the Flemish level, there are five significant issues in the housing market arena: There's an imbalance between housing supply and demand; the spatial mismatch is not uniformly extensive. Cities face high demand and limited supply, while rural areas, like Limburg, have a major surplus of building land. This draws people from cities due to lower prices and (potentially) better housing quality. But numbers speaking, there's theoretically enough new construction supply to accommodate household growth, achievable through transformations and selective use of undeveloped plots. However, there is a major need to differentiate over here; some regions experience shortages (e.g., Ghent), and others have an excess of potential building plots (e.g., Kortrijk). There's a contradiction between the city and suburban areas concerning population growth, housing pressure, housing quality, and governance ambitions, like municipal mergers. Although this contradiction isn't universal, it leads to a loss of coherence in spatial planning and housing policies. Therefore, there's a need for a city-regional approach to spatial planning and housing policies. Current stakeholders are not organized at this level, and there's a lack of a forum for housing market stakeholders. Fragmentation in government departments complicates coordination (administrative fragmentation). Moreover, at the level of overall Flanders five ministers are responsible for related dossiers such as spatial planning, housing policy, urban policy, wellbeing and mobility. This is also the case in other European countries. But despite policy intentions, there's little coordination between these domains, resulting in coordination problems between reference regions, transport regions, and housing corporations. While external immigration (especially from Europe) is a significant population growth factor in Flanders, border phenomena don't always appear in regional housin
Source: Lirias
Language: English
Subfield: Urban Studies
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7028973983
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