Upzoning in Los Angeles
Her SNSF project tracks how zoning reforms translate into realized redevelopment and population gains, parcel by parcel. Grant record
Vera Götze
Urban researcher at UCLA Luskin, studying densification, upzoning & land policy
How land policy and zoning shape where cities grow denser, what gets built, and who it is built for.
Research
Why does infill development look so different from one country to another? Vera compares spatial development patterns across regulatory contexts, pairing GIS and spatio-temporal statistics with case studies and interviews.
Densification
Types and patterns of infill across Swiss, Dutch, French, German and English city-regions, and for whom we densify.
Land policy & value capture
Flexible zoning, compensation and value capture, and the fiscal incentives that drive municipal growth.
Housing affordability
Income mix in new housing, planning restrictions and rents, ageing in place, and how affordability is measured.
Publications
- 2026Densification in European city-regions: From observed patterns to actors and policy constellationsJehling, M., Götze, V., Raimbault, J., Perret, J., Olteanu‑Raimond, A.‑M., Dembski, S., Hartmann, T., & Ehrhardt, D. · Landscape and Urban Planning, 272, 105646
- 2026What do standard measures of rental affordability reveal? A longitudinal analysis from 1960–2024Monkkonen, P., Marantz, N., & Götze, V. · Working paper, SSRN
- 2025Why urban densification ignores the social dimension of sustainabilityGerber, J.-D., Ay, D., Bouwmeester, J., Götze, V., Hartmann, T., Jehling, M., Nahrath, S., & Verheij, J. · Urban Studies (online first)
- 2025Housing for “ageing in place”: Urban densification projects and the provision of age-appropriate housing in SwitzerlandAy, D., & Götze, V. · Cities, 167, 106304
- 2025The amplifying effect of spatial planning restrictions on house prices and rentsBüchler, S., Götze, V., Hauck, L., & Stalder, N. · Journal of Housing Economics, 69, 102085
- 2024Mapping municipal land policies: Applications of flexible zoning for densificationGötze, V., Gerber, J.-D., & Jehling, M. · Buildings & Cities, 5(1)
- 2024For whom do we densify? Explaining income variation across densification projects in the region of Utrecht, the NetherlandsGötze, V., Bouwmeester, J., & Jehling, M. · Urban Studies, 61(7), 1273–1290
- 2024Capturing land policy effects with spatial analysis: A comparison of densification patterns in Utrecht and BernGötze, V. · PhD dissertation, University of Bern
- 2023Planning-related land value changes for explaining instruments of compensation and value capture in SwitzerlandHengstermann, A., & Götze, V. · Land Use Policy, 132, 106826
- 2023Comparing types and patterns: A context-oriented approach to densification in Switzerland and the NetherlandsGötze, V., & Jehling, M. · Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, 50(6), 1645–1659
- 2023Yearly conference of the International Academic Association on Planning, Law, and Property Rights (PLPR), Ann Arbor, 1–5 May 2023Verheij, J., & Götze, V. · Town Planning Review, 95(1), 109–112 (conference report)
- 2021Why municipalities grow: The influence of fiscal incentives on municipal land policies in Germany and the NetherlandsGötze, V., & Hartmann, T. · Land Use Policy, 109, 105681
Teaching
Four years of teaching at the University of Bern, built around students questioning what is in front of them.
Field course, Copenhagen
A 10-day course for 20 master’s students, designed and led independently.
Tutorials & supervision
Weekly tutorials for 120 bachelor’s students, and thesis supervision.
Land-policy instruments
A comparative syllabus, plus spatial and quantitative analysis and urban data science.
Why it matters, in 120 seconds
Excellent Video award, Buildings & Cities PhD Video Challenge 2022.
Contact
UCLA Luskin School of Public Policy
Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies, Los Angeles
