Throttling the 'Growth Machine': Institutional and Administrative Determinants of Restrictive Local Land Use Regulation in Switzerland

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.