Mike Slootweg (p)

Eveline van Leeuwen

Cities face many severe challenges, including improving livability in times of climate change
and moving towards the transition to renewable energy. Part of the solution to both can be the use of urban rooftops to facilitate urban green by installing Extensive Green Roofs (EGRs) or by Photovoltaic Panels (PVs). Until recently, EGRs and PVs were competing for space. However, today, it is also possible to combine two systems together on one rooftop (EGR-PVs), which is seen as a promising solution for creating more sustainable cities.
Unfortunately, not every rooftop is suitable for such installations, making it difficult for local and national policymakers to estimate the potential of rooftops for providing green and/or energy.
This paper presents a much needed model that identifies the technical potential of EGRs and PVs at building level, as well as EGR-PVs, which have received less attention in research. For illustrative purposes and due to the urban challenges faced to mitigate and adapt to climate change, we demonstrate the potential use of the model for the city of Amsterdam . The model classifies rooftop areas that are technically possible to install either of the three rooftop systems into suitable and moderate areas, identifying the competitive space relation between EGRs for urban greenery and PVs for energy supply, and the potential synergy. Main results indicate that the total EGR potential is 50%,, for PV systems 53%, and for EGR-PVs 39% of the total rooftop area of Amsterdam. The model is applicable to the entire Netherlands.

Magdalena Wachter (p), Hans Karl Wytrzens

Eveline van Leeuwen

see extended abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic led to an urban exodus, with people from cities seeking housing in the countryside. This movement poses risks for the resident farmers: the influx of new inhabitants increases the demands on land use in the affected municipalities while reducing the share of farmers in the population. Given the democratic approach to spatial planning, this might lead to a decline in the consideration of farmers' interests, bringing up the question: What impact do municipal characteristics have on the integration of farmers' interests in local spatial planning? Via a questionnaire, 428 farmers from 308 of the 2093 Austrian municipalities assessed the integration of their interests in their home municipalities' planning processes. A multiple linear regression set their assessment in relation to their municipality's agrarian, geographical, social, and political characteristics. On average, farmers rated the integration of their interests as mediocre. It turned out that the spatial and demographic presence of farmers in a municipality, such as their share in the population and the share of agricultural area in the municipal area, has no influence on the integration of farmers' interests into local planning processes. What proved to be relevant was the political commitment of local farmers. Farmers see their interests significantly better integrated when a farmer serves as mayor or when farmers make up more than 25% of the municipal council seats. Therefore, a high level of farmer representation in the municipal council is crucial for the consideration of farmers' interests in spatial planning processes. Regarding the fact that agricultural land accounts for an average of 53% of the area of the examined municipalities, this may still seem justifiable. From a democratic point of view, however, such a high number of agricultural representatives can hardly be legitimized given an average share of 6.6% farmers in the working population of the municipalities examined. On the one hand, this work might therefore be seen as a plea for local political engagement on the part of farmers; on the other hand, new models for integrating farmers' interests within local spatial planning, which do not depend on farmers' overrepresentation in the municipal council, are needed.

Niels Kuiper (p) /Epainos Award Candidate

Eveline van Leeuwen

In this paper, I examine the causal impacts of large-scale urban renewal projects in the Netherlands that aim to induce gentrification in low-income neighborhoods. I specifically focus on the impacts of these renewal projects on the socioeconomic composition of the targeted neighborhoods. Using parcel level registry data from 2013 up to 2020 and a novel clustering methodology, I identify the universe of urban renewal projects in which at least at least 50 housing units were demolished and constructed. I use a difference-in-difference approach combined with propensity score matching to estimate the causal impacts of these projects at the neighborhood level. Preliminary findings suggest that the renewal projects change the socioeconomic composition of the neighborhoods in which they are located. Average income in the targeted neighborhoods increases, as well as the percentage of high-income households. Simultaneously, the percentage of low-income households seems to decrease. The total number of residents and households in the targeted neighborhoods does not seem to change. This could indicate that low-income residents are displaced from the targeted neighborhoods.