Unravelling local implementation configurations: <i>no net land take</i> in the French peripheries of the Geneva city-region

In France, the ‘zero net artificialisation’ (ZAN) objective was formulated by the state in 2021 as an expression of the European no net land take principle. It had to be put into practice through spatial planning policies formulated at subnational levels. This article is in line with studies on policy implementation in the urban planning field. It aims to clarify the practical conditions for implementing ZAN. It shows how the objective reveals and even exacerbates the difficulties faced by local authorities in regulating urbanisation. The study is based on qualitative field research conducted in the French peripheries of Geneva. This article was published open access under a CC BY-NC-ND licence: https://creativecommons.org/licences/by-nc-nd/4.0/ .