Ressources

The national urban policy of Luxembourg is defined by the « Master Programme for Spatial Planning » (Programme directeur d’aménagement du territoire – PDAT), which was adopted by the Government in 2023, and is currently in its implementation phase. The PDAT is fully aligned with the principles of the New Leipzig Charter and contributes to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goal 11.

(Source: PDAT pages 16-25, 103-104)

The Master Programme for Spatial Planning is one of the main instruments of spatial planning policy in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and provides a framework for its territorial development. Its role is to provide political objectives and strategic guidelines to support the actors involved in spatial planning and coordinate inter-sectoral action between the governmental and municipal authorities which has an impact on Luxembourg’s territory.

The PDAT defines three political objectives and one cross-cutting objective. Their definition was shaped by four guiding principles for spatial planning whose aim is to further the ecological transition of Luxembourg’s territory.

(Source: PDAT pages 40-57)

In order to implement the political objectives, the Master Programme defines an urban system based on “Central Places” (Centres de développement et d’attraction – CDA) and a typology of territories.

The urban system is meant to guide territorial development at the national level and identifies:

• three urban agglomerations incorporating “Central Places” of European, national and regional importance
• eleven “Central Places” of regional importance outside of the urban agglomerations
• municipalities with endogenous development

The three urban agglomerations include:

• Agglo-Centre (Central Agglomeration): Large agglomeration around the capital city, incorporating the City of Luxembourg (as a CDA of European importance)
• Région Sud (Southern Region): Polycentric agglomeration in the south of the country, incorporating the City of Esch-sur-Alzette (as a CDA of national importance), the City of Differdange (as a CDA of regional importance) and the City of Dudelange (as a CDA of regional importance)
• Nordstad (Northern Agglomeration): Tripolar agglomeration in the north of the country, incorporating the City of Diekirch, the City of Ettelbruck and the Municipality of Erpeldange-sur-Sûre (as a single CDA of national importance)

These urban agglomerations can cover urban and suburban territories, as they follow the continuous urban fabric beyond municipal boundaries. They are primarily destined for the development of housing, economic activities and public facilities, concentrating a significant proportion of the country’s growth potential for population and jobs.

(Source: PDAT pages 68-73, 162-176)

The three urban agglomerations also form the core of functional urban areas called “Urban and Suburban Action Areas” (Espaces d’action urbains et périurbains):

• Espace d’action de l’Agglo-Centre (Action area of the Central Agglomeration)
• Espace d’action de la Région Sud (Action area of the Southern Region)
• Espace d’action de la Nordstad (Action area of the Northern Agglomeration)

For these urban and suburban action areas, territorial visions were developed to guide their long-term territorial development.

(Source: PDAT pages 148-150, 162-176)

On the basis of the political objectives, the Master Programme sets a national territorial development strategy, which is broken down to take into account the specific characteristics of urban, suburban and rural territories.

During the development of territorial visions for the three action areas of the Nordstad, the Agglo-Centre, and the Région Sud, five major challenges were identified for urban territories:

1. Preparing urban and suburban territories for the effects of climate change by preserving, restoring and improving the municipal and intermunicipal networks of green and blue infrastructure;
2. Redeveloping monofunctional areas, large-scale sealed areas and industrial brownfields, as well as prioritising urban regeneration in order to reduce pressure on undeveloped land and green spaces;
3. Further developing the public transport network and promoting active mobility;
4. Reconsidering urban structures by emphasising the complementarities and mix of functions in order to reduce the need for travel;
5. Defining the right balance between the protection and the use of green spaces, particularly for leisure activities.

(Source: PDAT page 162)

The territorial development strategy for urban territories takes up these challenges and identifies several guiding principles for urban development:

1.  Safeguarding the quality of public spaces and implementing the concept of the 15-minute-city by:

• Maintaining a well-connected, safe, and human-centred continuity of public spaces.
• Developing a comprehensive greening strategy for public spaces while fostering nature-based solutions
• Improving the accessibility of public services and infrastructure through the promotion of public transport and active mobility.
• Encouraging multifunctionality across all spatial scales.
• Establishing a new planning culture rooted in co-design and participation

2.  Safeguarding quality of life in dense urban areas by:

• Welcoming nature into the city by establishing and preserving green belts around the urban agglomerations, enhancing the connectivity of green and blue infrastructure to create an integrated ecological network, promoting nature-related experiences, and incorporating the cooling principle into urban development
• Acknowledging the vital role of quiet areas in and around urban agglomerations.
• Encouraging physical activity and sports for people of all genders, ages, and abilities by integrating the principle of “active design” into urban development.

The concrete implementation of these guiding principles at the level of a new neighbourhood is illustrated in the Planungshandbuch (Planning Handbook).

(Source: PDAT pages 96-101)

The PDAT also sets out measures for implementing its political objectives, strategies and guiding principles:

URBAN CLIMATE

• Prepare heavily sealed or impervious areas to cope with the effects of climate change, including heat waves, intense precipitation and flooding.
• Encourage climate-sensitive urban development that reduces urban heat islands and limits excessive soil sealing.
• Promote energy production from renewable sources.
• Reduce emissions from individual motorised transport.

URBAN MOBILITY

• Strive towards the ’15-minute city’ model and promote the adoption of active mobility solutions.
• Establish a coherent parking management strategy that incorporates active mobility solutions.
• Reduce on-street vehicle parking to reallocate public space in favour of pedestrians and cyclists.
• Pursue the expansion and optimisation of the public transport network.
• Design context-specific mobility strategies for suburban territories.

URBAN GROWTH MANAGEMENT

• Achieve a better balance between the number of jobs and the number residents.
• Manage demographic and economic growth in a way that preserves quality of life and limits land take.
• Ensure the supply of drinking water through regional cooperation between drinking water providers and drinking water associations.
• Limit noise, air and light pollution and prevent their impacts on public health.

URBAN DEVELOPMENT

• Restructure spatial organisation to curb urban sprawl and reduce land take.
• Support social diversity by ensuring access to affordable and differentiated housing types.
• Strive for more sustained and high-quality urban regeneration.
• Promote multifunctional and mixed-use development in strategically located and suitable areas

NATURE IN THE CITY

• Develop an ecological network across the urban agglomeration and improve access to green spaces in the city.
• Reconnect people with nature through urban farming, pocket parks and other nature-based experiences in the city.
• Promote local food production, while enhancing biodiversity in the city.
• Bring nature back into the city through green corridors, roofs and façades.
• Restore and renaturalise urban watercourses.

SOCIAL COHESION IN THE CITY

• Ensure access to affordable housing for disadvantaged households.
• Promote the development and maintenance of inclusive, multifunctional and safe public spaces of high quality.
• Encourage the development of a sharing economy.
• Create spaces for community interaction, such as third places.

(Source: PDAT page 163)

Two instruments for implementing the national urban policy are the Cellule nationale d’Information pour la Politique Urbaine (National Information Unit for Urban Policy) and the Planungshandbuch (Planning Handbook).

Another instrument are the Conventions of territorial cooperation between the State and municipalities, which promote inter-municipal and multi-level cooperation in order to foster sustainable regional development, encourage integrated planning and address specific development issues in urban, suburban or rural territories. These conventions are voluntary agreements between the Department of Spatial Planning (and potentially other national authorities) and several municipalities (or an inter-municipal association), with an organisational structure and a financial framework.

(Source: PDAT pages 108-109, 115)