Synchronizing urban and building design: experiences from competitive planning in partnership

The work presented in this paper is based on the view that the planning process of new areal development projects can be developed in cooperation between society and developers and their designers. While the traditional practice is based on sequential local detailed planning and building design, municipalities have now started selecting partner consortia prior to completion of the plan. The selection is made through a competition in order to find the most potential actors and the best ideas for implementation that produce an urban structure of high quality and are incorporated into the local detailed plan. Candidates are attracted by offering them the right to implement a block as a developer. Thus, the target application here involves the practice where the municipality acquires a land area and draws a plan for it although alternative routes also exist. The approach was applied in the implementation of two actual greenfield housing developments both consisting of five adjoining blocks. In general, the gained experiences support the workability and usefulness of the developed practice which will be dealt with alongside the discussion on change drivers and practical process solutions.