Planning open and green spaces in Europe: Examining the importance of land-use regulations and their pursuit of efficiency and equity objectives

Open and green (O&G) spaces are central to sustainable, liveable and safe urban environments. As they are able to deliver many interconnected benefits within city constraints, O&G spaces are commonly used to promote public well-being, protect natural habitats, control pollution, mitigate natural hazards, and more. Despite their importance, O&G spaces are increasingly under pressure in densifying areas with growing urban populations. This calls for a better understanding of the land-use regulations responsible for their provision, protection and management. As a cornerstone of local planning in Europe, these regulations are crucial for sustainable urban management, which can benefit from the systematic analysis of their importance and objectives. Here, we use an online expert survey across 30 European countries to analyse the importance of local land-use regulations in the planning and permission-granting process and the extent to which they pursue efficiency and equity objectives. We form six groups of O&G space regulations for the study, based on their focus: (1) nature preservation, (2) pollution, (3) hazard mitigation, (4) safety, (5) availability and (6) access. Results show a clear order of importance among the groups, with nature preservation being the main regulatory concern. We observe an overall balanced pursuit of efficiency and equity in Europe, with some regulation groups focusing on efficiency over equity and vice versa. Nonetheless, significant variation in this balance emerges among countries. These findings are expected to provide an empirical basis for much-needed theory development and future comparative research on land-use regulations and O&G spaces.