CONCEPT FACTSHEET

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Mainly considers SOIL QUANTITY challenges

In URBAN, PERI-URBAN & RURAL settings

No Net Land Take (NNLT) Hierarchy: AVOID

Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) Hierarchy: AVOID

Zoning is usually understood as a way of deciding what can be built where. While zoning primarily organises land use on the surface, it also has important consequences for the soil beneath it. Planning decisions influence whether soils are sealed under roads and buildings, preserved for agriculture, or maintained as natural landscapes. In the Netherlands, instruments such as rode en groene contouren help contain urban growth and limit the conversion of open land into built-up areas (Needham, 2005). Similarly, the European Union’s No Net Land Take (NNLT) ambition seeks to reduce the net conversion of undeveloped and agricultural land into urban land to zero by 2050 (European Commission, 2011).

However, protecting land from development does not automatically protect soil quality or performance. Existing zoning systems mainly regulate activities and structures on land, but they rarely address the condition of the soil itself. Soil quality indicators, such as water retention, contamination levels, or biological activity, are generally absent from zoning regulations and land-use plans.

This creates an important gap in contemporary planning systems. Spatial planning instruments could play a stronger role in protecting soil by requiring soil assessments before rezoning land, limiting soil sealing, or introducing minimum soil performance standards within protected areas. In this way, zoning could evolve from a tool that only allocates land uses to one that also supports long-term soil health and ecological resilience.

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Contents

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Definition & Background Information

Zoning

Zoning is a planning instrument used to regulate land use and spatial development by dividing territory into designated zones. Within each zone, certain land uses, building types, densities, or activities are permitted, restricted, or prohibited. Traditionally, zoning has been used to separate incompatible land uses, manage urban growth, protect property values, and organise infrastructure and public services (Fischler, 2023).

Historically, zoning emerged from early forms of urban regulation intended to control nuisances, fire risks, and industrial pollution. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, zoning became institutionalised as a core planning tool in many countries, particularly in Europe and North America. While approaches differ between planning systems, zoning generally reflects a balance between public interests and private property rights (Fischler, 2023).

Zoning has continuously evolved in response to new societal and environmental challenges, from controlling industrial nuisances to addressing climate adaptation and sustainability (Fischler, 2023). Integrating soil quality and soil performance into zoning frameworks can therefore be understood as a logical next step in the evolution of spatial planning policy.

Advancing Planning Challenges

Integrating soil into zoning can strengthen zoning’s role in addressing a wide range of spatial planning challenges. Because zoning regulates where activities, functions, and forms of development are allowed, it strongly influences how soils are used, protected, or degraded over time.

• Soil-sensitive zoning can improve land-use efficiency by directing development toward locations with lower ecological value or already degraded soils, while protecting fertile agricultural land and ecologically valuable areas from unnecessary urban expansion. This directly supports objectives related to No Net Land Take, compact urban development, and the management of densification pressures.
• Zoning can also contribute to climate adaptation and water management. Regulations that limit soil sealing or require permeable surfaces can reduce flood risks, improve groundwater infiltration, mitigate urban heat, and support water quality. Similarly, zoning can protect soils with high carbon storage potential, contributing to climate mitigation and reducing CO2 emissions.
• By incorporating soil quality considerations into agricultural and green zones, zoning can support sustainable food production, biodiversity, and nature development. Protecting healthy soils helps reducing pressures associated with land degradation and biodiversity decline.
• In urban areas, soil-sensitive zoning can improve the quality of public space and support healthier living environments. Green and permeable urban surfaces can create cooler neighbourhoods, improve environmental quality, and increase access to healthy and safe environments.
• Zoning can also help reserve space for energy infrastructure, water storage, or nature-based solutions as part of broader spatial transitions.
• Finally, integrating soil into zoning encourages more context-sensitive planning. Rather than treating land as a neutral surface available for development, zoning can better respond to local environmental conditions and landscape characteristics. In this way, soil becomes a structuring principle for spatial development and territorial resilience.

Across Scales & Contexts

Zoning operates differently across territorial scales and urban morphologies. Integrating soil into zoning therefore requires context-sensitive approaches that respond to different spatial structures and development pressures.

Regional Scale

At the regional scale, zoning helps organise the distribution of urban development, infrastructure, agriculture, industry, energy production, and ecological systems across territories. Different regional morphologies create different zoning challenges.