What the existing stock allows: PORT in «espazium magazin»

Potential before planning – the first PORT article for architects, engineers and planners

In Swiss spatial planning, inward densification is no longer a goal but an obligation. Cantonal structure plans prescribe it, and the revised Spatial Planning Act sets the framework. What is rarely discussed: any meaningful densification presupposes knowing what the existing building stock actually allows. That is exactly where the article comes in with which PORT is featured in «espazium magazin».

«espazium magazin» is the Swiss building journal – known as TEC21 until the end of 2025 – and the leading trade magazine in German-speaking Switzerland for architecture, engineering and the environment. It is published by espazium – Der Verlag für Baukultur, whose main shareholder is the Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects SIA. With this article, PORT addresses planners directly.

The article «Potenzial vor Planung: Datenbasierte Grundlagen für die Immobilienentwicklung» (potential before planning: data-based foundations for real estate development) describes a problem that architecture and engineering firms know from practice: building law foundations, zoning plans, floor area ratios and boundary distances are spread across cantonal and municipal systems that rarely work together. Feasibility considerations therefore often begin with lengthy research – even when it turns out in the end that an in-depth assessment of the property in question is not worthwhile.

The second part shows what changes when these foundations are available at the push of a button: anyone who knows a parcel's utilisation reserves, boundary distances and range of permitted uses before the mandate is awarded can assess the client's expectations more realistically and more quickly. For municipalities, the nationwide availability of the data opens up the possibility of systematically reviewing their own building stock – as the basis for an active inward development strategy instead of reactive case-by-case assessment. The article is clear on one point: PORT does not replace an in-depth review, but it shortens the path to it.

To the article

The article can be viewed here: PDF download

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