Swiss municipalities have a relatively high degree of autonomy with
respect to land use regulation. The seemingly uncontrolled development
of urban settlements in the past decades has turned attention to
profound implementation deficits hindering an effective protection of
uncultivated land.
Apart from socio-economic characteristics and population pressure,
political preferences of the electorate but also interest groups have
been found to influence local land use regulation. Particularly,
different institutional settings can either strengthen rigid land use
policies or support coalitions between development interests and public officials.
We will examine such hypotheses based on our own survey among Swiss
municipalities. This survey allows to measure the "restrictiveness" of
local land use regulation and how it has developed during the last
decades. Together with data from previous surveys and observational
data, we will be able examine more accurately whether participatory
political institutions and administrative capacity have supported more
restrictive land use regulation.
