Urban development planning makes use of a range of seemingly similar regulatory tools, each of which can have different economic impacts. What are areas designated for development? What do land use and development intensity mean? And why are public amenities important? The lecture will introduce spatial planning tools from an economist’s perspective and explore why a planned city can offer a higher quality of life than an unplanned one, as well as when excessive regulation may begin to create more problems than benefits. The discussion will also focus on how the individual tools interact and whether all residents benefit from them equally.

The event is part of the Urban Economics course organised by the Department of Spatial Planning at the Faculty of Architecture, Czech Technical University in Prague. The department focuses on teaching and research in the fields of spatial mobility, settlement and landscape development at the local and regional levels, and the social and economic aspects of spatial development.

Lecturer: Lukáš Makovský