11. Urban Management: The Building Permit in an Urban Land Development Context

The building permit is usually the final decision of urban governance for public authorities, whereby the private actor is given the right to construct at the urban plot. But in urban areas there is an urban context, which calls the attention to the need of a planning perspective of the assembled built environment. Detailed plans are required, and they ought to be considered in a total urban or municipal context, such as a comprehensive plan. A case study at the Cape Verde islands made it clear that such a full planning context is not working. The Swedish system of physical planning is used to show how the planning tools can be efficiently used in order to achieve specific objectives, including the local level of building permits. Bioclimatic aspects on urban design and construction can be achieved. However, the reality in many developing countries, such as Cape Verde, turns it practically impossible to establish such a full urban planning context. The author recommends the public urban administration to focus on the detailed plan for its urban governance, and hand over the building control issues to private actors.