Modern legal approaches to cadastral activities in the context of spatial planning reform

Today, spatial planning is gaining particular importance as one of the key elements of post-war reconstruction and development of territories. In order to increase the efficiency of this process, the Government of Ukraine initiated an innovative pilot project that envisages the implementation of the Urban Planning Cadastre at the state level. This project should become a fundamental tool for the comprehensive reconstruction of cities and villages, the formation of sustainable communities and strategic planning of territories, taking into account security, social, economic and environmental factors. As a result, the Cadastre will unite 7 systems and registers in the field of construction. The functioning of the urban planning cadastre as an integrated system should significantly facilitate the activities of state authorities and local governments, as well as contribute to a more active involvement of investors. The creation of a single, integrated database of spatial and legal information will allow for the prompt receipt of data on the current state of objects, their legal status, engineering infrastructure, restrictions on use, as well as existing urban planning conditions and prospects for the development of territories. However, in Ukraine, the full filling of the databases of both the State Land Cadastre and the urban planning cadastres has not yet been completed. Despite the reforms and digital tools introduced, the actual information base remains fragmented, which significantly complicates the implementation of an effective spatial planning policy and hinders the development of electronic services in the field of construction and land use. In addition, the presence of three separate cadastral and registration systems in Ukraine – the land cadastre, the register of real estate rights and the urban planning cadastre – creates significant risks of data inconsistency, duplication of functions and excessive bureaucratization of processes. The existing institutional fragmentation causes numerous challenges both at the planning level and in terms of the implementation of spatial solutions. Scientific approaches to solving this problem diverge: from proposals for the institutional unification of the systems of registration of rights and the cadastre, to ideas for information integration without organizational merger, and even a radical revision of the feasibility of the very existence of a separate urban planning cadastre. The implementation of the idea of the Urban Planning Cadastre at the state level is certainly a progressive step, but there are a number of serious problems and challenges on this path. In particular, the lack of up-to-date urban planning documentation, especially at the local level; the absence of unified standards for submitting and updating geospatial data; cadastre management is mainly implemented on two-dimensional «engines», which does not meet modern spatial planning requirements; the absence of 3D modeling, which is critically important for effective management of vertical space in densely built-up cities; insufficient funding from the state, in particular, the absence of stable subventions for local governments for the digitization of documentation; the legislation does not fully regulate the mechanisms for integrating cadastres, data exchange and responsibility for their maintenance; there are no clear mechanisms for controlling the completeness and reliability of data, which can turn the cadastre into a source of disinformation, etc.