Investigating building permit processes across Europe: characteristics and patterns

Abstract

Building permit processes serve as crucial gatekeepers for urban development, regulating compliance with building codes, land use policies, and safety and environmental standards. However, their complexity can lead to inefficiencies and hinder economic growth. While existing studies have made significant contributions to building permit process research, they often focus on individual countries or specific aspects, leaving a gap in comprehensive comparative analysis. Characteristics, and patterns of building permit processes vary widely across jurisdictions due to legal, cultural, technological, and institutional factors which makes a comparative analysis of these variations beneficial. To address the lack of building permit process studies, our research focusses on from an extensive comparative study of building permit processes in 17 European countries. Through semi-structured interviews and process diagrams, we investigate the differences and provide a comparative overview summarizing key characteristics. The findings have the potential to be used by policy makers and practice to better understand and compare the evolution of building permit systems in a broad international context. By bridging research gaps and providing a comprehensive view of these processes, we contribute to the awareness of the diversity of the processes and to fostering greater understanding of building permit processes.