International Academic Association on planning, law and property rights
Rationale for focusing on the connections between Planning and Law
Law is an essential element of planning. Statutory law, as interpreted by the courts, defines planning powers, the planning process, and the mandatory elements of binding development plans. Although the law often attributes a wide margin of discretion to the planning authority, it also limits planning powers for the protection of individual rights.
Yet, the law also helps planners to make a difference. Plans may work better as legally binding documents. Moreover, the rule of law builds confidence that plans are neither capricious nor arbitrary. Planning law is not merely an instrument of hierarchical control, but also includes consensus building, public participation, negotiated agreements, and a wide array of legal incentives to a better use of the land.
The role of law in planning and law is not confined to planning law. Making plans for land use or city and regional development also requires that planners address broader legal issues and deal with constitutional law, property law, tax law, contract law, or environmental law. As long as plans are not simply an expression of goodwill, planners have to defend their ideas in courtrooms and respond to the legal arguments raised by opposing stakeholders.
The function of the international academic association:
Planning laws and property rights exist in each country that is a member of AESOP (or any other association of planning schools). During the 2006 World Congress of Planning Schools in Mexico City, a group of interested faculty members from many countries convened and decided that they would like to establish an international Association.This Association has been established during the inaugural symposium in Amsterdam, February 7-8th 2007. A second meeting took place in Warsaw, February 13-15 2008. The university of Aalborg, Germany, hosted our third conference, February 11-13th 2009. The next conference will take place in Dortmund, February 10-12th 2010.
Miroslaw Gdesz during the Warsaw conference (picture by Ben Davy)
Office holders
The ExCo consists of Rachelle Alterman (president), Leonie Janssen-Jansen (vice-president), Miroslaw Gdesz (secretary-treasurer), Thomas Hartmann (PhD coordinator) and Liasons with other academic groups such as AESOP, ACSP, IBR. Richard Norton represents ACSP on the ExCo. John Sheehan is our Pacific Rim representative. Each year one of the members of the conference host country will join ExCo. Ben Davy (Dortmund conference) recently joined ExCo. Michael Sorensen (Aalborg Conference) is our last year's conference host.
ExCo of PLPR in Aalborg
The Academic Association's functions include:
- To serve as an academic peer group for research in the field. Usually, faculty members in planning schools who do research in this area lack a large enough peer group with whom to discuss their research and obtain useful comments. The International Forum would convene together the people in the various countries who do research on the relationship between planning and law, thus creating a good-size peer group so necessary for any good academic exchange.
- To promote research with a cross-national comparative perspective so as to enable exchange of knowledge that is so lacking in the current state of research.
- To exchange approaches and methods in the teaching of planning law to planning students so as to improve this essential area.
On February 8th 2007 also the Plafform of Experts in Planning Law was founded in The Hague during a inaugural international expert meeting and conference. The website of this platform has content regarding relevant (future) legislation, major case law and key literature. The second conference of the Platform of Experts in Planning Law was held on 2-3 October 2008 in Leuven about new aspects in Flemish planning law. Their third conference took place in Berlin (Germany) on 21 and 22 September 2009.