A more effective law is needed to combat the construction boom outside the building zones
The second stage of the partial revision of the Federal Council's Spatial Planning Act brings important concretizations. However, these are not sufficient to achieve the goals of the landscape concept, the soil strategy and the biodiversity strategy of the federal government. This is the conclusion reached by experts from the Forum Landscape, Alps, Parks of the Swiss Academy of Sciences in their statement submitted on behalf of the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences.
The academics welcome in principle that the Federal Council is committed to a better separation of building and non-building areas and has included provisions for limiting building in non-building areas at the constitutional level in the proposed law. However, to truly stop the existing building boom outside of construction zones, the Spatial Planning Act must be significantly sharpened, according to the media release of the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences (Scnat) published on Sept. 13, 2021. Indeed, the regulations listed in the proposal would make the construction of plants in non-building areas even more attractive than before. In particular, the already far too numerous exceptions would have to be reduced instead of being expanded as planned.
Understanding and planning landscape as a whole
With the signing of the European Landscape Convention, Switzerland introduced a new understanding of landscape more than 20 years ago. According to this, landscape encompasses the entire space including settlement areas. The new spatial planning law must be based on such an integral understanding of landscape. There is a need for a holistic approach to values and common rules, for example with regard to landscape quality or building culture. The cantons and municipalities do not always have an understanding of building culture with a view to the landscape as a whole.
According to the Scnat media release, a lack of coordination and planning obligations lead to construction projects being realized without an overall view. However, with the Swiss Landscape Concept, the priority of internal development over external development, the Biodiversity Strategy, the Building Culture Strategy and the Soil Strategy, the federal government has created coherent guidelines in recent years, which should guide the new Spatial Planning Act in the planning of construction activities.
Reconsider compensation and enhancement approach
Last but not least, the separation of building and non-building areas is intended to ensure the sustainable use of the cultural landscape. This would include the preservation of landscape and soil quality and biodiversity. However, compensation and enhancement measures provided for in the proposed law for the admission of non-site-specific uses can override this goal, as Scnat writes. Thus, it is possible for the cantons to circumvent the federal requirements for the preservation of the landscape and buildings worthy of protection through cantonal legislation.
The academies would therefore propose to delete the articles on compensation and enhancement measures and to develop a new proposal together with the relevant stakeholders. The current approach would nullify all long-standing efforts to preserve the quality of the landscape and buildings worthy of protection outside the building zone, the media release concludes.
Source: Scnat
