Call for papers BSGLg n°87 (2026/2)
Land Policies and Transformations of Planning Practices in Wallonia
Editor: Jean-Marie Halleux
Like many European regions, Wallonia is currently facing major challenges that call for a rethinking of spatial planning practices. In particular, socio-environmental transitions require a significant reduction in land artificialization while at the same time addressing other imperatives, such as improving housing affordability and promoting economic redevelopment through reindustrialization.
In this context, improving land policies is a prerequisite for supporting transformations in planning practices. Within the framework of this project, we adopt a broad understanding of the concept of land policy, defined as the set of public interventions – whether by the State, regional and local authorities, or public and semi-public organisations – capable of influencing the ways in which land is appropriated, valued, used and occupied. These interventions may take the form of direct actions on land, but also of transformations in property rights affecting other actors, through their creation, limitation or extension. They may concern, in particular, rights related to land use and occupation (for example through zoning mechanisms), to its economic valorization (for example through the taxation of land value gains), or to the modalities of land transactions and public control of land (for example through expropriation, pre-emption rights, or the delineation of the public domain).
These issues are part of broader scientific debates on the regulation of land markets and on the conditions for implementing policies aimed at land-use sobriety. In this context, Wallonia constitutes a particularly interesting field of analysis, notably because of the historical weight of property rights and the limited role that planning-oriented approaches have traditionally played in public action.
This special issue therefore aims to bring together contributions analyzing the evolution of land and planning practices in Wallonia. Expected contributions may address themes such as the limitation of land artificialization (NNLT), urban densification strategies, the mobilisation and redevelopment of brownfield sites, or instruments designed to better articulate land policies and spatial planning policies.
Calendar
15/07/2026 – Closing of receipt of contributions
30/12/2026 – Publication
Sending proposals
All proposals must be sent by email to jean-marie.halleux@uliege.be
Instructions for authors
All article proposals must comply with the BSGLg instructions to authors. Articles in French and English are accepted.
Article proposals must be submitted on the basis of the outline downloadable from the journal's website:
• canvas in Word format (.docx)
• canvas in Open Office format (.odt)
Full instructions for authors on formatting text, figures, tables and photos are available for download on: https://ojs.uliege.be/index.php/bsglg/about/submissions
Proposals that do not follow the instructions for authors may be rejected.
