SPIELRÄUME FÜR DICHTE. Der Innenentwicklungskompass als problemorientierte Methode für Verdichtung in kleinen und mittleren Gemeinden
PLAYING WITH DENSITY. The compass for inward development as a problem–focused methodology for densification in small and medium – sized municipalities

The revised Spatial Planning Act that came into force in Switzerland in 2014 and the minimum tenet, «inward development before outward development» oblige the municipalities to shift their spatial development onto the largely built-up areas and to coordinate the dimensioning of the building zone beyond the municipal boundaries. For many small and medium-sized Swiss municipalities, this involves a change in approach for the practice of spatial planning.

A significant element of inward development consists in the densification of existing built settlement areas. When dealing with densification, small and medium-sized municipalities in particular are confronted with problems such as insufficient acceptance of dense building typology, obstacles in the mobilisation of reserves secured by building regulations and a lack of novel thinking patterns in terms of inward development. There is a systematic «density denial» in small and medium-sized municipalities.

In order to boost inward development in the main residential area of Switzerland, there is need for a revision of the formal instruments, in particular in the small and medium-sized municipalities. This necessitates an increase in informal procedures beyond municipal boundaries during an early phase, which will in turn result in a reformation of local planning. Informal procedures in this respect are not meant to negate the specific organisational form of small and medium-sized municipalities – the militia system – but should instead adjust to this principle. A «compass for inward development» combines the knowledge already existing in the militia system and constitutes an informal forerunner for the «revision of local planning of the third generation» of small and medium-sized municipalities.

If there is to be a successful development of the existing ample reserves in small and medium-sized municipalities by means of adapted strategies of the public transport system, problems of congestion in cities could be avoided while small and medium-sized municipalities could be moderately developed.