Over the last 5 years, human built-up areas have absorbed an area the size of Switzerland. While that provides room for valuable new housing, employment, schools and hospitals, it also comes at an enormous cost to the natural world – and our future. As many countries commit to net-zero land take by 2050, how can it be achieved?
No call for sprawl
First, the basics. “Land take” is the transformation of natural areas into artificial surfaces. From an environmental standpoint, its consequences can be disastrous. These include reduced ability to absorb carbon, loss of biodiversity, increased risks of flooding, and higher temperatures in urban settings. The world lost an estimated USD 4-20 trillion per year in ecosystem services from 1997 to 2011 owing to land-cover change. Urban sprawl can also increase car dependency and reduce quality of life, by limiting access to natural areas for outdoor pursuits, as well as draining historical centres of their vitality as housing and services shift to the suburbs.
Fixing French land
In response to these concerns, the European Union has set the target of achieving “no net land take by 2050“. While the 2050 target remains non-binding for the time being, France has gone as far as enshrining the commitment to “no-net-land take by 2050” into law, with an initial goal of halving the current rate of land take by 2031.
For centuries, life in France – even in the smallest villages – was structured around dense centres with all the amenities and services needed for everyday life. Yet over the past few decades, for those who could afford it, the “French dream” has increasingly looked like American suburbia: a house of one’s own and a car (or two) to drive to work, the cinema or a shopping centre.
By 2020, France had more built-up surface per capita (151.7 m2 per capita) than any other EU27 country, except for Lithuania, around a quarter higher than the EU average. Indeed, since 1975, France’s built-up area has grown at a faster pace than in the US.
Yet according to new satellite data, over the last two decades, sprawl in France has been most rapid in towns and semi-dense areas rather than in cities. This has left many traditional town and village centres in dire straits. Today, in French academic and policy circles, there is an increasing recognition of the need to revert to the old way of life – and the ancient art de vivre of dense urban and rural planning.
Give and take
However, France’s net-zero ambitions have sparked heated debates around the future of regional development. Some worry that the measure could hamper growth, especially in rural areas where cheap, abundant land attracts investment – providing, in turn, a vital boost to local public finances. Moreover, the success of several national priorities (including the development of renewable energy and re-industrialisation) depends at least partially on access to land in the more remote regions of the country.
In addition to longstanding fiscal measures supporting shrinking rural areas, France has launched two programmes to help revitalise historical town centres, both in small and medium-sized cities. Though these initiatives are designed to combine denser living and economic revitalisation, many in rural areas fear they will prove to be insufficient.
In response, the French government recently passed a new law providing additional flexibility in the implementation of the “no-net-land take” target, including by guaranteeing all municipalities the right to build on at least one hectare of land by 2031. In addition, the new law aims to support implementation by bringing together representatives of each region’s subnational governments to share best practice and improve co-ordination at a “no-net-land take conference”.
Finding the landing zone
The French experience highlights the importance of implementing broader policies and systems to meet the objective. While limiting land take makes sense at the national level, it may not for all places. There needs to be effective intermediation by the central government (and/or the regional/state government) to ensure that places with the potential to grow have at least some room to expand, as other places (those that have reached “peak urbanisation” or that are shrinking) return land to nature or opt for denser forms of development, while creating room for strategic investments in renewable energy and public transport.
Such measures need to be backed by the right incentives for subnational governments and developers to help densify housing and economic activity (e.g., by rehabilitating old buildings or brownfield sites) and to transform grey infrastructures into green spaces (e.g., by renaturing former industrial areas).
Such initiatives can be expensive, and subnational governments are often unable to support the costs by themselves. In the United Kingdom, the Brownfield Land Release Fund (BLRF), a cross-government initiative delivered in partnership with the Local Government Association, provides capital grant funding to support local authorities in their efforts to revitalise their communities by, for instance, making better use of derelict car parks or turning unused town centre buildings into high quality homes.
In short, a broad policy mix is required to make “net-zero land take” a success. As other OECD countries follow in France’s footsteps, lessons must be learned – and shared – if we are to make sure sprawl hits the wall by 2050.
This article is also available in French.
Atte Oksanen is a Counsellor in the Regional Development and Multi-level Governance Division of the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities. He has worked in several subnational government networks, as well as for the French Junior Minister in charge of local governments (2016 – 2017). He has also worked as an advisor in the French National Assembly, providing policy advice and analysis on topics relating to environmental policy and regional development.