Sustainable land use in peri-urban areas: Government, planning and financial instruments

Abstract

In the previous chapter the comparison of the PLUREL case study regions focused on a selection of the strategies adopted in each, including Hangzhou, to try to limit sprawl and to safeguard ecosystem services and quality of life as well as to secure a role for agriculture in the peri-urban. This chapter switches focus to examine the kinds of instruments available to local or regional governments in order to see what potential there is in different regions to control land use change. The chapter looks at the broad picture of Europe and in this case ignores the Chinese case study of Hangzhou because of its completely different governmental model. Within the broad overview the case study regions are used to illustrate different points. However, it should be noted that in the framework of different systems found across Europe, the case studies do not represent all possible types (see Chap. 3).