With the Flanders Spatial Policy Plan, the Flemish government wishes to pursue a strategic, dynamic and realisation-oriented spatial policy in the future. Within this policy vision, special attention is paid to a good mix of instruments and adapted regulations, among other things with a view to increasing the spatial yield. Through intensification, interweaving, reuse and temporary use, the aim is to shift the focus from an "expansion policy" to a "transformation policy". In the future, the existing space will be used differently and this will be made possible with the right instruments.

The central research question is: can the current instruments meet the challenge of transformation, or are they outdated and insufficiently flexible for this purpose? This paper takes a close look at the special plans for construction and seeks relations with the licensing policy.