Planning Public Space in the Vertical City
A comparative study of mixed-use policymaking, property development and the practice of vertical allocation
Nir Mualam (Editor), James T. White (Editor)
Planning Public Space in the Vertical City asks a deceptively simple question: what happens when public life is stacked inside private buildings? Bringing together 11 original case studies from London, Zurich, Munich, Brussels, Istanbul, Tel Aviv, Toronto, São Paulo, Tokyo, Seoul and Adelaide, it traces how schools, daycares, homeless shelters, clinics, parks, bus terminals and community hubs are woven into high-value mixed-use projects through the co-location of public floorspace in mixed development, known as ‘vertical allocation’.
Moving from theory to practice, the book unpacks the political economy behind these projects: value capture tools, density bonuses, long-term ground leases, negotiated obligations and creative public–private–non-profit partnerships. It looks closely at ownership and management arrangements, conflicts over access and costs and the shifting ‘publicness’ of spaces that function as urban commons. Rather than celebrating verticality uncritically, the volume foregrounds questions of equity, exclusion and asks who really benefits when public services are interwoven with private development. For planners, urban designers, lawyers, policymakers and scholars, it offers a rare comparative framework, conceptual language and concrete design and governance lessons for making vertically mixed cities more just, legible and accessible.
List of Figures
List of Tables
List of Boxes
Contributors
Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
Part I: Contextualising Vertical Allocation
1 Introduction: What is Vertical Allocation?
Nir Mualam and James T. White
2 Public Floorspace in Mixed Use Development
James T. White and Nir Mualam
3 Land Value Capture Tools Enabling Public Floorspace in Mixed Use Development
Nir Mualam and James T. White
Part II: Vertical Allocation in Practice
4 Leveraging luxury for learning: Co-locating high-rise flats and a state school in the London borough of Hackney
James T. White and Bilge Serin
5 Zurich: Using active land policy and negotiated Land use plans for sustainable urban housing in the Kalkbreite project
Gabriella Debrunner and Andreas Hengstermann
6 Vertical allocation of public spaces: Developer obligations pursuant to “SOBON” in the Paul-Gerhardt-Allee development, Munich
Andreas Hendricks
7 Brussels’ Marchandises project: Vertical allocation for regeneration initiated by a regional development agency
Inès Paletuy
8 The Use of vertical allocation as a value capture tool in legalizing existing developments in Istanbul
Ahmet Yilmaz
9 Vertical allocation of public spaces: Gindi Tel Aviv as a benchmark for future developments
Nir Mualam and Cygal Pellach
10 Shelter, food hall, condo, gym: The Waterworks building and Toronto’s creative mixed-use approach
Yinnon Geva and Matti Siemiatycki
11 Jardim Edith, São Paulo, Brazil: Vertical allocation of public floorspace following public consultation
Leticia M. de Barros and Debora Sotto
12 Private vertical urban renewal with public allocation in the Tokyo Midtown Yaesu project
Shigeru Fukushima
13 Seoul: ‘Contributed Acceptance’ and ‘Layered Installation’ of public amenities in the Hapjeong District project
Jinwon Jeon
14 Building the vision of a vertical village: U City, Adelaide
David Kroll, Kelly McDougall, Helen Barrie, Katie Miller and Adii Shtykov
Part III: Comparing the Cases: Practices, Property Development and Mixed-Use Co-Location Policies
15 Vertical allocation in comparative perspective: Lessons on public space provision in mixed-use development
Nir Mualam and James T. White
16 Conclusions: Vertical allocation now and in the future
James T. White and Nir Mualam
Index
DOI: 10.14324/111.9781806552016
Number of illustrations: 184
Publication date: 01 November 2026
EPUB ISBN: 9781806552023
Nir Mualam (Editor) 
Nir Mualam is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.
James T. White (Editor)
James T. White is Professor of Planning and Urban Design in the Division of Urban Studies and Social Policy at the University of Glasgow.
Poetics and Politics of Islamic Imaginaries
Sertaç Sehlikoglu, Fatemeh Sadeghi, Sumrin Kalia, Erol Saglam, Alexander Pymm,
01 October 2026
Urban Violence and Marginalised Communities
Ashvin Devasundaram, Stamatis Zografos, Márcio Mattos, Zoe Holman,
25 March 2026
Postdigital Intimacies
Adrienne Evans, Jamie Hakim, Jessica Ringrose, Amy Shields Dobson, Shaka McGlotten,
16 March 2026
The Chronopolitics of Life
Nolwenn Bühler, Nils Graber, Victoria Boydell, Cinzia Greco,
04 December 2025
Evaluating Anti-Trafficking Interventions
Ella Cockbain, Aiden Sidebottom, Sheldon X. Zhang,
18 November 2025
Planning Public Space in the Vertical City
A comparative study of mixed-use policymaking, property development and the practice of vertical allocation
Planning Public Space in the Vertical City asks a deceptively simple question: what happens when public life is stacked inside private buildings? Bringing together 11 original case studies from London, Zurich, Munich, Brussels, Istanbul, Tel Aviv, Toronto, São Paulo, Tokyo, Seoul and Adelaide, it traces how schools, daycares, homeless shelters, clinics, parks, bus terminals and community hubs are woven into high-value mixed-use projects through the co-location of public floorspace in mixed development, known as ‘vertical allocation’.
Moving from theory to practice, the book unpacks the political economy behind these projects: value capture tools, density bonuses, long-term ground leases, negotiated obligations and creative public–private–non-profit partnerships. It looks closely at ownership and management arrangements, conflicts over access and costs and the shifting ‘publicness’ of spaces that function as urban commons. Rather than celebrating verticality uncritically, the volume foregrounds questions of equity, exclusion and asks who really benefits when public services are interwoven with private development. For planners, urban designers, lawyers, policymakers and scholars, it offers a rare comparative framework, conceptual language and concrete design and governance lessons for making vertically mixed cities more just, legible and accessible.
