How Social Justice Concerns in Strategic Land-Use Planning May Help Explain the Persistence of Urban Sprawl

This paper examines whether social justice concerns in strategic land-use planning may help explain the persistence of urban sprawl. It explores how such concerns shape political arguments and priorities and thereby influence whether planning outputs support sprawl, even where there is broad agreement on the need for sprawl containment. It further analyses which social justice concerns underpin arguments for both sprawl containment and sprawl, and which groups are recognised in these arguments. The empirical study draws on strategic land-use planning in four municipalities in the Oslo region, Norway, characterised by sustained population growth and a strict and widely supported sprawl containment regime. The data comprise planning documents and 12 interviews with politicians and planning officials. The findings suggest that social justice concerns may partly explain continued pressures for sprawl in the cases studied. Arguments supporting sprawl containment primarily recognised broad societal groups and future generations, whereas arguments supporting sprawl recognised more immediate concerns and specific groups. The paper contributes empirically grounded insights into how social justice operates in land-use planning and shapes political priorities and planning outcomes, thereby offering more nuanced explanations of why urban sprawl persists despite strong containment ambitions.