Conditions and possibilities for the distribution of binding quotas for land consumption in Austria

Land consumption through settlement development is one of the biggest socio-ecological challenges facing Europe. Austria has nominally committed itself to a sparing use of land according to various policy documents, spatial planning laws on the federal state level and most concretely through a cap on land consumption of 2.5 hectares per day. The actual level in 2021 constituted around 10 hectares per day.

This diploma thesis deals with attaining the 2.5-hectare goal through binding quotas for additional land take. The topic is initially approached by reviewing existing literature. Aspects include the underlying issue of land consumption in Austria as well as studies on the trade of land use certificates from Germany. An essential part of the thesis is the examination of the use case of “Vorgaben zur Bauzonendimensionierung” (ordinances for sizing building zones) in Switzerland. Finally, an allocation of the quotas for land development in Austria on the scale of the NUTS-3-regions is conducted.

Potential benefits of establishing binding quotas for land consumption:
The main characteristics of legislation in spatial planning in Austria is that objectives and principles are specified in the law. These must be fulfilled or considered in planning decisions. This approach must be viewed critically, since in many cases – such as in the sparing use of surface area – the fulfilment of objectives is not assessed by indicators and limit values. To achieve a significant reduction of additional land take, a paradigm shift in spatial planning is needed. Attaining the goal through binding quotas for land development is seen as a promising approach in limiting the consumption of presently unused land.

Determining factors for introducing quantitative limitations on additional land take:
In order to enable the implementation of a quota for additional land take, a number of parameters must first be identified and discussed: the object of the quota system, the trading system or planning-regulatory determination, the overall quota and allocation periods as well as the implementation instruments.

Criteria for distributing a land take budget – exploring options and combinations:
To complete the thesis specific attention is paid to how an allocation formula for a land take budget may be set up for Austria. To sensibly distribute the available area for additional land take, spatial, demographic, and economic criteria are considered. In terms of the development of a suitable basis for allocation, criteria must be evaluated from a qualified planning perspective. Based on the criteria, inhabitants, predicted growth and area of permanent settlement alone optimal results cannot be achieved. Borrowing from the Swiss model for sizing building zones, a distribution according to projected growth in combination with the different densities of various settlement types (inhabitants per area of zoned settlement) is advised. This allocation formula works for some Austrian regions; however, it falls short in dealing with areas affected by emigration as well as the highly urbanised case of Vienna. Other, more specialised approaches are developed for these outliers.