Greening Ground: Exploring the Relation between Land Market, Land Policy and Sustainable Area Development in the Netherlands

Abstract

For decades the land market in the Netherlands has been dominated by an active municipal land policy. Municipalities acquire land, service the land into lots ready for development and develop the desired infrastructure. These lots are sold to developers for further construction. During periods of growth on the housing market, this strategy proved highly profitable. However, now that the financial and economic crises have caused the housing market to shrink, serviced land has become less valuable. The acquired lands have become a heavy stone around their neck and multiple municipalities are expected to find themselves in serious financial problems in the coming years. A reevaluation of planned area developments is necessary and sustainability ambitions are likely the first to be sacrificed in an attempt to keep projects financially feasible. The question is whether new financial instruments can be used or developed for a project to still meet its sustainability ambitions. The article explores the potential sustainability instruments in three steps.