The Growth Machines Fine-Tuning

Keywords: Urban Densification, Growth Machine, Alpine Rhine Valley
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Tuesday
Session Start / End Time: 3/1/2022 11:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 3/1/2022 12:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 31

Abstract

The Alpine Rhine Valley exemplifies different modes of urban growth like few other regions. From the 1950 onwards, a conservative planning policy focused on privately-owned single-family-homes as the housing type of choice to connect regional growth with a traditional social imaginary. However, especially since the financial crises of 2008, urban densification has emerged as a quasi-hegemonial planning principle to tackle housing shortage, rising housing costs as well as traffic congestions and soil consumption. Urban densification has since been institutionalized in the planning law and in municipal building regulations to facilitate the implementation of dense housing projects to tackle the challenges of urban sprawl and current growth pressures. However, this paper argues, that failure or success in the implementation of urban densification does not primarily depend on planning regulations, but on specific local actor constellations and their relations between each other. On the hand of two case-municipalities and four urban densification projects in the Alpine Rhine Valley, this paper illustrates how the actors involved in the planning processes use and rely on specific acts and techniques to facilitate the implementation of these projects. These acts and techniques are used to gain and enhance trust and acquaintance and are identified as the prime factors in the implementation of urban densification.