ABSTRACT
The central importance of public control for orderly urban development is not a new idea, but it was only after the Second World War, in connection with the rising aspirations of housing policy, that public planning measures achieved a wide-ranging impact. Social building development appears to have culminated in about 1970, when production of multi-family dwellings was at its peak. Following the downturn at the beginning of the 1980s and during the deregulation of the credit market, the conditions applying to urban development were transformed. In addition, the municipalities often bought up land so as to have a reserve for future building development. Developments in the property market during the 1980s and 1990s show that belief in the possibility of controlling developments through public planning was exaggerated by comparison with what was actually feasible. Glut and economic recession led to widespread vacancies and falling property prices.
