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A. Kanonier:
"Shopping Centers in the Austrian Spatial Planning Law";
Talk: AESOP (Association of European Schools of Planning) Kongress, Volos, Griechenland; 2002-07-13 - 2002-07-16.

AESOP Volos 2002
Abstract:
Shopping Centers in the Austrian Spatial Planning Law

Appropriate Track: 12. Planning Laws, Planning Institutions, and

Regulations for Shopping Centers are a “never ending Story” in the Austrian Spatial Planning discussion, because the various interests are conflicting – not only on the municipal Level, but also in a regional dimension. For some time now a certain trend, which is comparable to international standards, is determinable when it comes to decisions on locations for the retail trade in Austria: Shopping centers are increasingly erected at the borderline of cities, mostly on green land, because real estate prices are more reasonable there than in central locations and larger areas are available. From a spatial planning point of view, however, this has resulted in negative consequences. The volume of traffic in areas around the cities has increased, overdevelopment and urban sprawl are being increased, the countryside and city view are being spoiled. The transfer of important retail trades and their purchasing power to the suburban regions results in the weakening of the attractiveness of city centers.
With this background Austrian legislators – the nine Länder are responsible for spatial planning legislation – have been attempting to restrict the erection of shopping centers outside of city centers for some time by adjustments in the spatial planning laws. All in all shopping centers should be primarily erected in the city centers, which is supposed to contribute to an increase in attractiveness. This should be achieved by regulations of use, whereby the various offers will be differentiated. A precondition for the erection of shopping centers are special allocations in the land utilization plan of the municipality, which may only be determined in agreement with the supra-local indications from the Länder planning. The administration of the Länder restricts and controls the municipalities in their determinations of shopping centers by restrictions in their regional planning to an increasing extent.
Altogether the controlling requirements for new projects are increasing from the planning point of view, which results into long procedures on the one hand and uncertain results in the approval proceedings on the other hand. In order not to lose shopping centers in the competition of the cities for investors, facilitated regulations of procedure for the city centers are previewed. This is supposed to be an incentive for investors to realize their projects in the city centers and not outside the city limits.