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Land banking and long-term lease
HAXfTAT1N7-I.. Vol. 11, No. I. pp. 37-46. Printed in Great Britain.
0197-3975187 $3.00 + 0.00 Pergamon Journals Ltd.
1987.
Land Banking and Long-Term Lease* The case of Louvain-la-Neuve,
Belgium
PIERRE LACONTEt
Secretary General, International Union of Public Transport, Belgium
OVERALL DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW UNIVERSITY TOWN
In 1968, the academic aLlthorities of the University of Louvain (UCL) were engaged in transferring the University to the Plateau of Lauzelle on a site situated about 30 km south of Brussels. Forced by political conflict between Flemish and French speaking Belgians to leave the town where they had been for 550 years, they chose to develop a new town which they called#Louvain-la-Neuve rather than an isolated university campus. The main goals were to foster townand-gown interaction by attracting a strong resident population not connected to UCL and to stress the service role of the University towards government and industry (Fig. 1).
border behveen Flemish and French speaking areas
Fig 1. *This paper is partly based on a paper delivered at the OECD Seminar ‘“Methods of Improving Public/Private Co-operation in Urban Development and Investment”. Athens. 29 March-l Aprii 1982. Updated version of a paper originally delivered at the Lincoln Institute Advanced Research Workshop ‘%TIte Impacr c$ La& Tenure on Land Use”. La Napoule, July 26-30. 19X2. +Forrnerty Director, University of Louvain.
37
Pierre Laconte
38
The case of Louvain-la-Neuve illustrates a situation where a context of limited finances, a strong sense of community and an emphasis on the co-operation between this community and the public sector have been able to produce an innovative urban development including a new university, new private housing, industry and a mix of services (Fig. 2a, b). This result was achieved through: (1) a strategy for land acquisition by which the University, with the help of a low-interest loan from the State, was able to buy 900 ha of agricultural land on the market and to develop it through a system of long-term renewable ground leases; (2) a financial arrangement including inputs from the Ministry of Education for the University buildings and student accommodation; the Ministry of Public Works (through the Municipality of Ottignies) for the provision of infrastructure; the Ministry of Transportation for a new commuter railroad station; the Ministry of Economic Affairs for the industrial park; and the private sector for the housing and commercial development; each of them operating within its own set of goals and objectives; (3) legal and regulatory mechanisms by which the State ensured its continuing control over the use of its low-interest loan by the University; (4) institutional and organisational structures by which the University community was enabled to manage the new University and urban development (which amounted to about one-quarter of the municipal territory of Ottignies), with the active participation of the government agencies involved and the residents’ associations.
PRINCIPLES
OF PHYSICAL
DEVELOPMENT
The long-term planning objective was to have a balanced community of 50,000 people (with a maximum of 15,000 students). The shorter-term objective was to have a resident population of some 13,500 people by 1980 (including 8,000 students and 5,500 residents: UCL staff or people occupied in business and trade but wishing to live in Louvain-la-Neuve). This was the only quantitative target Considerable flexibility was to be maintained for for overall planning. developing the entire new town along a strong linear backbone. The master plan was approved in 1970, and the first buildings came into use in 1972. The cultural model for the master plan was obviously the historic reference to the existing town of Louvain which the University had to leave. UCL decided to acquire 900 ha (~2,000 acres) and to concentrate University and urban development on the central part of the site. Within this area, highdensity/low-rise construction would enable a maximum of 50.000 people to be housed. The maximum travel distance within the urbanised area would be less than 2,000 m. The general layout is based on a long pedestrian main street along which the community facilities are located. Access to the buildings is by external roads, underpasses and a new underground railroad station inaugurated in 1975, which puts Louvain-la-Neuve at less than 30 min from the centre of Brussels. The design of the residential areas excluded detached single-family houses. Development is based on row houses, attached double-family houses, maisonettes and low-rise apartment buildings. The University’s open spaces and sporting facilities are intended as meeting places for the whole population. They are linked by pedestrian routes. The master plan allows for the parallel growth of urban services and population according to the response of the housing market. By 1977, some 7,000 people were already living in Louvain-la-Neuve, and 12,000 lived there in 1982.
Land Eanking and Long-Term
Lease
.
L*
Biereau
Bruyere
Ir. I-m-
Legend =
Roads
-
Main pedestrian streets end s~u(1res
-
Railroad __
Zone boundaries
Fig. 2. (a) Louvain-la-Neuve.
(b) Land use and road map.
39
40
PierreLaconte FINANCIAL
ARRANGEMENTS
The University was able to acquire its 900 ha through a State loan of 747 million BFrancs (==US$I5 million) at a low interest rate (3.18% per ~~~~~ over 40 years, including capital payment). The reason for this grant was to compensate for the forced move of the French-speaking university to the Walloon area. From the very beginning, the University had to play the role of leader in the development of the new town;although it had never engaged in such actions before. Its policy was to retain ownership of the land and sell long-term leases (from 50 to 99 years) to individuals or corporations. They were to implement the master plan. Adjacent to the areas for the University and for housing, 140 ha (~300 acres) have been set aside for industrial research and development activities (50 year lease). Some 30 firms (all research and development or technology-oriented production) have chosen the Louvain-la-Neuve location, half of them since 1975. They brought in about 1,000 jobs. To ensure a useful interaction between academic research and industry, a policy of strict selection was applied. This meant refusing firms having nothing to do with research, advanced technology or services.
THE CASE FOR COMPACTNESS
The close propinquity (less than 1 km) of most of the University buildings, firms and the associated social facilities, shops and restaurants of Louvain-la-Neuve, means that contacts are more effectively encouraged than by any organised procedure and that automobile transportation is reduced. The high-density/low-rise option has resulted in minimising motorised transportation within the urbanised area. The distances are never greater than 1 km. In this fashion, up to 50,000 inhabitants can be housed together in an area not exceeding 350 ha and within a radius of about 900 m. This is a basic prerequisite for discouraging the use of the motor car. Road design is based on road cut-de-sacs. This road network encourages non-motorised trips from one point to another of the development site. If, for some reason, people want to use their cars, this can be done but it involves a longer trip. It is expected nowadays that all parts of a city should be accessible by car. Railway access is provided in the middle of the site (Fig. 3). This encourages outward trips, i.e., mainly to Brussels, by train rather than by car, which means a further saving of energy. The new station is a terminus station linked with the main Brussels-Luxembourg-Basle line and the space beyond the station is to remain unbuilt (Fig. 4). This will allow for the creation of the loop which would serve other settlements that are now served by the main railway, and would mean in the future a more efficient railway service. After 5 years of operation, the number of railway passengers in both directions is twice as high as had been expected by the railway company. Service has improved accordingly. The lowrise option (i.e. , average of three storeys for the University buildings) induces a limited use of lifts, these being provided mainly for the use of the handicapped and for removals. Small apartment buildings have no lifts at all. The single-level transportation network minimises infrastructure investment, for example in overpasses. Except in the centre of the town (Fig. 5), the layout provides for a separation of traffic through the cul-de-sac system and pedestrian paths with the occasional underpasses, but without systematically-provided construction of artificial floors, which would be expensive and would require costly lighting, maintenance and surveillance.
Land Banking and Long-Term
Lease
Fig. 3. Illustration of ihe high-densityllow-rise concept: railway stalion and tracks (above), pedestrian streets und piazzas (below).
Fig. 4. Main shopping street and railway station
Pierre Laconte
The option of dividing the project into a large number of small plots (200 to 400 sq. m) and small buildings designed by more than 100 different architects involved employment of a number of separate contractors, often small contractors. This has had an unexpected overall result in vastly increasing the competition between contractors and discouraging cartel formation. In some cases, the cost has been 30% below the architects’ estimate. The increased cost of co-ordination (borne by the University) and occasional bankruptcy of small contractors did not counteract this fundamental advantage. The high-density/low-rise notion has had an immediate result in protecting the plateau from the unpleasant north winds and improving the microclimate which is in itself a source of energy-saving (Fig. 6). After 5 years of operation, a notable change in the microclimate of Louvain-la-Neuve has been observed, as the buildings retain their heat.
EVALUATION
The high-density/low-rise type layout has clearly demonstrated its qualities saving of energy per capita and lower costlsq. m of used space - which would be worth considering for new developments in any country. The layout is well fitted to future urban extensions (see Epstein, 1976) as well as to new settlements. Its very flexibility also allows the best use of local materials, local craftsmanship and local techniques. The savings in road investments, together with the linear pattern, can, according to economic circumstances, accelerate or stop altogether without undue stress on capital repayments. The actual development of the plan could not have taken place without organised private-public co-operation. The site of Louvain-la-Neuve was acquired by the University at farmland price, mostly in 1968 and 1969. Sellers knew about the UCL acquisition plan, which had been approved by Royal Decree including a right of expropriation. In
Land Banking
and Long-Term
Lease
43
Fig. 6. Central piazza of Biereau Area and University library (access and parking underneuth the piazza).
fact, few people believed in the project and no litigation took place about acquisition plans. According to the law of 24 July 1969, which gave a subsidy to the University for its land acquisitions, the University cannot sell its land for a period of 50 years. This is why the University can at present only grant “long-term leases” called “emphyt&ose” in French and “erfpacht” in Dutch. How was it to be put back on the market for urban development? Land ownership consists of a “bundle” of rights. The University, rather than sell full ownership of the land (including all development and building rights), decided to sell only specific development rights, limited in space and time. These were “long-term leases” and development rights (the right to build on a limited number of sq. m/plot). In some cases, the development rights were sold in two horizontal layers: (1) development rights on land, and air rights up to a certain level, in order to build parking structures and the railway station; (2) air rights above the lower level by which another developer could build commercial, office or residential space (Fig. 7). The property rights of the inhabitants of Louvain-la-Neuve are therefore limited in time. However, the leases to individual owners are renewable; in other words, every time the owner of a lease sells it, the owner of the land (UCL) will accept that the new lease starts from year 1. This makes it, in fact, a perpetual lease without rent review other than through the cost of living index. This policy
Pierre Luconie
44
offices. shops and apartments leased
street level dedlcated to the Mum clpallty
To cover the financing of the central district of Louvain-la-Neuve, the Unrversity has put together a consortrum to build and manage this area ( = 3 hectares). The land remains In the hands of the University and the air rrghts are shared between the Nattonal Rarlway Company (railway statron), the Bank of Municipalities, i.e., the Credit Communal (parking space), and developer (commercral space) and the Universrty (administrative space).
does not apply to condominium multi-storey apartments, business premises, or the industrial estate. For these types of uses, the lease continues unaltered, and the land and buildings revert to UCL at its termination. At present, about 12,000 inhabitants (9,000 students and 3,000 non-students) already live in Louvain-laNeuve. Figure 8b shows how the case of Louvain-la-Neuve fits in with a general typology of ownership rights. Various mixtures of public and private ownership do exist. One extreme would be the kind of space which could be called international or planetary open space (res ~uIII’LIs). The other extreme would be land owned in full by the individual. Neither of these extremes exists at UCL but between them all types of collective or semi-collective ownership have been organised. (Semi-public spaces such as libraries, hotel concourses or shopping arcades are reserved for special categories of users. Some private spaces, such as access paths to garages, are open to the public under specific conditions.) Figure 8 shows a general typology of collective vs private ownership rights on land. All of them have been used by the planners of Louvain-la-Neuve.
LEGAL,
REGULATORY
AND FINANCIAL
MECHANISMS
In Belgium, as in most countries, town planning and development are regulated unrelated ways. These regulations can be by the government in numerous, classified according to their degree of coercion and their degree of relevance to development. The University, like any other owner, had to ask for permission to build. At the same time, it exerts its own planning control as a landowner selling development rights. At a lower level of coercion, subsidies, although not compulsory, do play an important role in the land development process, and have indeed played a large part in the development of Louvain-la-Neuve. For example, the subsidies for the industrial park have not only covered local roads, but also the main sewer between Louvain-la-Neuve and the Dyle River three miles away, as the law provides that subsidies for industrial parks include the connections with existing infrastructure. Government subsidies have many forms, but time and patience are mandatory for exploring the decision-making process related to these Zargesses (Laconte, 1979). Most “external economies” are forms of interaction between the government and the private sector.
-share
in the collective ownership
of easements
t
--ownershtp of easements and/or liens on land not otherwise owned (exrtght of passage) -ownershIp
of specrflc development
rtghts on land not otherwise owned -share
in a collective ownershlp
-landownership
including specific
development rights (limited to single-family housIng) -full
landownership (Including all
development rights above and below degree of limitation in time
surface). no limftatron ~flownership
Fig. 8. ia) Torte-djmensiona~ model of subdivision plan. (h) Typology ownership rights on land (and b~i~d~rzgs~.
45
of limitations ro private
46
Pierre Laconte
In the course of time, the management of these numerous interactions between the University and the authorities has demonstrated the crucial importance of “reticulist” skills in the achievement of development goals. INSTITUTIONAL AND ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURES The planning process in Louvain-la-Neuve had to take into account groups as different as the farmers’ union, the residents’ association, the shopkeepers’ syndicate and the environmental groups of the area. Public involvement has been very active since 1972, when the first 400 residents formed a residents’ association, and since then has strongly influenced the implementation of the master plan. The residents are active in the organisational structures set up by the University to manage the site, and equally so in the structures set up to manage the co-operation between the private and the public sector. EVALUATION Louvain-la-Neuve is the result of a continuous adaptive process between the University and the public authorities. The initiative of co-operation constantly came from the University, the owner of the land, which was eager to achieve its urban goaI within a context dictated by limited finances. The need to attract pioneer inhabitants to an urban project in which few people believed induced a policy by which UCL, is foregoing the increment in value of the lease while remaining the landowner for a period of at least 50 years. REFERENCES Epstein, (Editor).
G. “Planning Forms for 20th Century Cities”, in The Environment of Human Sertlrments, Laconte, Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1976.
Laconte, P. Louvain-la-Neuve: Plans, Athens, lo-14 October
P.
An Example of Plan Implementation. Symposium on Implementation of Urban 1977. Organisation for Economic Co-operation Service, Paris, 1979.
Editors’ Note: Because of vagaries of international postal services, it has proved necessary to proceed to publication without receiving the authors’ final corrections. The Editors have made every effort to ensure that the authors’ final text has been accurately reproduced here, but accept responsibility for any deviation therefrom.
0197-3975187 $3.00 + 0.00 Pergamon Journals Ltd.
1987.
Land Banking and Long-Term Lease* The case of Louvain-la-Neuve,
Belgium
PIERRE LACONTEt
Secretary General, International Union of Public Transport, Belgium
OVERALL DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW UNIVERSITY TOWN
In 1968, the academic aLlthorities of the University of Louvain (UCL) were engaged in transferring the University to the Plateau of Lauzelle on a site situated about 30 km south of Brussels. Forced by political conflict between Flemish and French speaking Belgians to leave the town where they had been for 550 years, they chose to develop a new town which they called#Louvain-la-Neuve rather than an isolated university campus. The main goals were to foster townand-gown interaction by attracting a strong resident population not connected to UCL and to stress the service role of the University towards government and industry (Fig. 1).
border behveen Flemish and French speaking areas
Fig 1. *This paper is partly based on a paper delivered at the OECD Seminar ‘“Methods of Improving Public/Private Co-operation in Urban Development and Investment”. Athens. 29 March-l Aprii 1982. Updated version of a paper originally delivered at the Lincoln Institute Advanced Research Workshop ‘%TIte Impacr c$ La& Tenure on Land Use”. La Napoule, July 26-30. 19X2. +Forrnerty Director, University of Louvain.
37
Pierre Laconte
38
The case of Louvain-la-Neuve illustrates a situation where a context of limited finances, a strong sense of community and an emphasis on the co-operation between this community and the public sector have been able to produce an innovative urban development including a new university, new private housing, industry and a mix of services (Fig. 2a, b). This result was achieved through: (1) a strategy for land acquisition by which the University, with the help of a low-interest loan from the State, was able to buy 900 ha of agricultural land on the market and to develop it through a system of long-term renewable ground leases; (2) a financial arrangement including inputs from the Ministry of Education for the University buildings and student accommodation; the Ministry of Public Works (through the Municipality of Ottignies) for the provision of infrastructure; the Ministry of Transportation for a new commuter railroad station; the Ministry of Economic Affairs for the industrial park; and the private sector for the housing and commercial development; each of them operating within its own set of goals and objectives; (3) legal and regulatory mechanisms by which the State ensured its continuing control over the use of its low-interest loan by the University; (4) institutional and organisational structures by which the University community was enabled to manage the new University and urban development (which amounted to about one-quarter of the municipal territory of Ottignies), with the active participation of the government agencies involved and the residents’ associations.
PRINCIPLES
OF PHYSICAL
DEVELOPMENT
The long-term planning objective was to have a balanced community of 50,000 people (with a maximum of 15,000 students). The shorter-term objective was to have a resident population of some 13,500 people by 1980 (including 8,000 students and 5,500 residents: UCL staff or people occupied in business and trade but wishing to live in Louvain-la-Neuve). This was the only quantitative target Considerable flexibility was to be maintained for for overall planning. developing the entire new town along a strong linear backbone. The master plan was approved in 1970, and the first buildings came into use in 1972. The cultural model for the master plan was obviously the historic reference to the existing town of Louvain which the University had to leave. UCL decided to acquire 900 ha (~2,000 acres) and to concentrate University and urban development on the central part of the site. Within this area, highdensity/low-rise construction would enable a maximum of 50.000 people to be housed. The maximum travel distance within the urbanised area would be less than 2,000 m. The general layout is based on a long pedestrian main street along which the community facilities are located. Access to the buildings is by external roads, underpasses and a new underground railroad station inaugurated in 1975, which puts Louvain-la-Neuve at less than 30 min from the centre of Brussels. The design of the residential areas excluded detached single-family houses. Development is based on row houses, attached double-family houses, maisonettes and low-rise apartment buildings. The University’s open spaces and sporting facilities are intended as meeting places for the whole population. They are linked by pedestrian routes. The master plan allows for the parallel growth of urban services and population according to the response of the housing market. By 1977, some 7,000 people were already living in Louvain-la-Neuve, and 12,000 lived there in 1982.
Land Eanking and Long-Term
Lease
.
L*
Biereau
Bruyere
Ir. I-m-
Legend =
Roads
-
Main pedestrian streets end s~u(1res
-
Railroad __
Zone boundaries
Fig. 2. (a) Louvain-la-Neuve.
(b) Land use and road map.
39
40
PierreLaconte FINANCIAL
ARRANGEMENTS
The University was able to acquire its 900 ha through a State loan of 747 million BFrancs (==US$I5 million) at a low interest rate (3.18% per ~~~~~ over 40 years, including capital payment). The reason for this grant was to compensate for the forced move of the French-speaking university to the Walloon area. From the very beginning, the University had to play the role of leader in the development of the new town;although it had never engaged in such actions before. Its policy was to retain ownership of the land and sell long-term leases (from 50 to 99 years) to individuals or corporations. They were to implement the master plan. Adjacent to the areas for the University and for housing, 140 ha (~300 acres) have been set aside for industrial research and development activities (50 year lease). Some 30 firms (all research and development or technology-oriented production) have chosen the Louvain-la-Neuve location, half of them since 1975. They brought in about 1,000 jobs. To ensure a useful interaction between academic research and industry, a policy of strict selection was applied. This meant refusing firms having nothing to do with research, advanced technology or services.
THE CASE FOR COMPACTNESS
The close propinquity (less than 1 km) of most of the University buildings, firms and the associated social facilities, shops and restaurants of Louvain-la-Neuve, means that contacts are more effectively encouraged than by any organised procedure and that automobile transportation is reduced. The high-density/low-rise option has resulted in minimising motorised transportation within the urbanised area. The distances are never greater than 1 km. In this fashion, up to 50,000 inhabitants can be housed together in an area not exceeding 350 ha and within a radius of about 900 m. This is a basic prerequisite for discouraging the use of the motor car. Road design is based on road cut-de-sacs. This road network encourages non-motorised trips from one point to another of the development site. If, for some reason, people want to use their cars, this can be done but it involves a longer trip. It is expected nowadays that all parts of a city should be accessible by car. Railway access is provided in the middle of the site (Fig. 3). This encourages outward trips, i.e., mainly to Brussels, by train rather than by car, which means a further saving of energy. The new station is a terminus station linked with the main Brussels-Luxembourg-Basle line and the space beyond the station is to remain unbuilt (Fig. 4). This will allow for the creation of the loop which would serve other settlements that are now served by the main railway, and would mean in the future a more efficient railway service. After 5 years of operation, the number of railway passengers in both directions is twice as high as had been expected by the railway company. Service has improved accordingly. The lowrise option (i.e. , average of three storeys for the University buildings) induces a limited use of lifts, these being provided mainly for the use of the handicapped and for removals. Small apartment buildings have no lifts at all. The single-level transportation network minimises infrastructure investment, for example in overpasses. Except in the centre of the town (Fig. 5), the layout provides for a separation of traffic through the cul-de-sac system and pedestrian paths with the occasional underpasses, but without systematically-provided construction of artificial floors, which would be expensive and would require costly lighting, maintenance and surveillance.
Land Banking and Long-Term
Lease
Fig. 3. Illustration of ihe high-densityllow-rise concept: railway stalion and tracks (above), pedestrian streets und piazzas (below).
Fig. 4. Main shopping street and railway station
Pierre Laconte
The option of dividing the project into a large number of small plots (200 to 400 sq. m) and small buildings designed by more than 100 different architects involved employment of a number of separate contractors, often small contractors. This has had an unexpected overall result in vastly increasing the competition between contractors and discouraging cartel formation. In some cases, the cost has been 30% below the architects’ estimate. The increased cost of co-ordination (borne by the University) and occasional bankruptcy of small contractors did not counteract this fundamental advantage. The high-density/low-rise notion has had an immediate result in protecting the plateau from the unpleasant north winds and improving the microclimate which is in itself a source of energy-saving (Fig. 6). After 5 years of operation, a notable change in the microclimate of Louvain-la-Neuve has been observed, as the buildings retain their heat.
EVALUATION
The high-density/low-rise type layout has clearly demonstrated its qualities saving of energy per capita and lower costlsq. m of used space - which would be worth considering for new developments in any country. The layout is well fitted to future urban extensions (see Epstein, 1976) as well as to new settlements. Its very flexibility also allows the best use of local materials, local craftsmanship and local techniques. The savings in road investments, together with the linear pattern, can, according to economic circumstances, accelerate or stop altogether without undue stress on capital repayments. The actual development of the plan could not have taken place without organised private-public co-operation. The site of Louvain-la-Neuve was acquired by the University at farmland price, mostly in 1968 and 1969. Sellers knew about the UCL acquisition plan, which had been approved by Royal Decree including a right of expropriation. In
Land Banking
and Long-Term
Lease
43
Fig. 6. Central piazza of Biereau Area and University library (access and parking underneuth the piazza).
fact, few people believed in the project and no litigation took place about acquisition plans. According to the law of 24 July 1969, which gave a subsidy to the University for its land acquisitions, the University cannot sell its land for a period of 50 years. This is why the University can at present only grant “long-term leases” called “emphyt&ose” in French and “erfpacht” in Dutch. How was it to be put back on the market for urban development? Land ownership consists of a “bundle” of rights. The University, rather than sell full ownership of the land (including all development and building rights), decided to sell only specific development rights, limited in space and time. These were “long-term leases” and development rights (the right to build on a limited number of sq. m/plot). In some cases, the development rights were sold in two horizontal layers: (1) development rights on land, and air rights up to a certain level, in order to build parking structures and the railway station; (2) air rights above the lower level by which another developer could build commercial, office or residential space (Fig. 7). The property rights of the inhabitants of Louvain-la-Neuve are therefore limited in time. However, the leases to individual owners are renewable; in other words, every time the owner of a lease sells it, the owner of the land (UCL) will accept that the new lease starts from year 1. This makes it, in fact, a perpetual lease without rent review other than through the cost of living index. This policy
Pierre Luconie
44
offices. shops and apartments leased
street level dedlcated to the Mum clpallty
To cover the financing of the central district of Louvain-la-Neuve, the Unrversity has put together a consortrum to build and manage this area ( = 3 hectares). The land remains In the hands of the University and the air rrghts are shared between the Nattonal Rarlway Company (railway statron), the Bank of Municipalities, i.e., the Credit Communal (parking space), and developer (commercral space) and the Universrty (administrative space).
does not apply to condominium multi-storey apartments, business premises, or the industrial estate. For these types of uses, the lease continues unaltered, and the land and buildings revert to UCL at its termination. At present, about 12,000 inhabitants (9,000 students and 3,000 non-students) already live in Louvain-laNeuve. Figure 8b shows how the case of Louvain-la-Neuve fits in with a general typology of ownership rights. Various mixtures of public and private ownership do exist. One extreme would be the kind of space which could be called international or planetary open space (res ~uIII’LIs). The other extreme would be land owned in full by the individual. Neither of these extremes exists at UCL but between them all types of collective or semi-collective ownership have been organised. (Semi-public spaces such as libraries, hotel concourses or shopping arcades are reserved for special categories of users. Some private spaces, such as access paths to garages, are open to the public under specific conditions.) Figure 8 shows a general typology of collective vs private ownership rights on land. All of them have been used by the planners of Louvain-la-Neuve.
LEGAL,
REGULATORY
AND FINANCIAL
MECHANISMS
In Belgium, as in most countries, town planning and development are regulated unrelated ways. These regulations can be by the government in numerous, classified according to their degree of coercion and their degree of relevance to development. The University, like any other owner, had to ask for permission to build. At the same time, it exerts its own planning control as a landowner selling development rights. At a lower level of coercion, subsidies, although not compulsory, do play an important role in the land development process, and have indeed played a large part in the development of Louvain-la-Neuve. For example, the subsidies for the industrial park have not only covered local roads, but also the main sewer between Louvain-la-Neuve and the Dyle River three miles away, as the law provides that subsidies for industrial parks include the connections with existing infrastructure. Government subsidies have many forms, but time and patience are mandatory for exploring the decision-making process related to these Zargesses (Laconte, 1979). Most “external economies” are forms of interaction between the government and the private sector.
-share
in the collective ownership
of easements
t
--ownershtp of easements and/or liens on land not otherwise owned (exrtght of passage) -ownershIp
of specrflc development
rtghts on land not otherwise owned -share
in a collective ownershlp
-landownership
including specific
development rights (limited to single-family housIng) -full
landownership (Including all
development rights above and below degree of limitation in time
surface). no limftatron ~flownership
Fig. 8. ia) Torte-djmensiona~ model of subdivision plan. (h) Typology ownership rights on land (and b~i~d~rzgs~.
45
of limitations ro private
46
Pierre Laconte
In the course of time, the management of these numerous interactions between the University and the authorities has demonstrated the crucial importance of “reticulist” skills in the achievement of development goals. INSTITUTIONAL AND ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURES The planning process in Louvain-la-Neuve had to take into account groups as different as the farmers’ union, the residents’ association, the shopkeepers’ syndicate and the environmental groups of the area. Public involvement has been very active since 1972, when the first 400 residents formed a residents’ association, and since then has strongly influenced the implementation of the master plan. The residents are active in the organisational structures set up by the University to manage the site, and equally so in the structures set up to manage the co-operation between the private and the public sector. EVALUATION Louvain-la-Neuve is the result of a continuous adaptive process between the University and the public authorities. The initiative of co-operation constantly came from the University, the owner of the land, which was eager to achieve its urban goaI within a context dictated by limited finances. The need to attract pioneer inhabitants to an urban project in which few people believed induced a policy by which UCL, is foregoing the increment in value of the lease while remaining the landowner for a period of at least 50 years. REFERENCES Epstein, (Editor).
G. “Planning Forms for 20th Century Cities”, in The Environment of Human Sertlrments, Laconte, Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1976.
Laconte, P. Louvain-la-Neuve: Plans, Athens, lo-14 October
P.
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