Adaptive Regulatory Choreography: How Planning Responds to Urban Mega-Projects
Published 23 Sep 2026 · Added to radar 5 Nov 2026
Source abstract
This article develops the notion of adaptive regulatory choreography to explain how planning in urban mega-projects unfolds through fragmented regulatory episodes rather than continuous learning. Focusing on Amsterdam Zuidas and Milano Innovation District (MIND), it examines how market rent creation aligns with public regulation and its distributive consequences. Through process tracing of enabling, insulating, and adjustment episodes, combined with interviews and analysis of planning and financial documents, we show that adaptive instruments systematically package risk, secure long-term capital, and stabilize yields. In both cases, adaptive regulatory choreography generated sophisticated rent-generation mechanisms but produced weak, highly contingent land-value capture and limited redistributive or justice-oriented outcomes for the public sector.
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- Study objective (from source abstract)
- This article develops the notion of adaptive regulatory choreography to explain how planning in urban mega-projects unfolds through fragmented regulatory episodes rather than continuous learning.
- Source-reported findings
- Through process tracing of enabling, insulating, and adjustment episodes, combined with interviews and analysis of planning and financial documents, we show that adaptive instruments systematically package risk, secure long-term capital, and stabilize yields.
- Methods
- interviews