Urban planning in the post-zoning era: From hierarchy to self-organisation in the reform of the Finnish Land Use and Building Act

Abstract

Encountering cities as complex systems has been pictured as both an intellectual challenge and an urge to reconceptualise planning practices accordingly. Statutory planning in Finland, like in many other European countries, is built on the principles of hierarchical three-level zoning and area reservation codes. The zoning system reflects two historical tasks: the industrialising society’s need to separate uses and the post-war desire for hierarchical administrative structures. Both these demands are rapidly losing their importance. The article focuses on current urban planning practices and planning rules, discussing their limitations to cope with urban complexity and self-organised dynamics, and aiming to develop new rules that could potentially turn complexity into an asset. Evolving digital technologies provide completely new opportunities for developing urban planning into a more transparent and interactive tool. In this framework, we set out to study the development potentials of planning rules in Finland, where the drafting of a new Land Use and Building Act is currently underway calling for a reassessment of the operative role of the planning system.