‘To increase the number of inhabitants’ is a commonly stated top objective in municipal strategies across European countries. Not differently in Austria, local policy follows a logic of growth as financial tax and redistribution systems reward according to population figures; but is demographic growth necessarily financially beneficial for a municipality, irrespective of the type of land use changes, and potentially urban sprawl, that it triggers? The Federal State of Lower Austria offers to its municipalities a strategic online planning tool to pre-assess eventual municipal infrastructural costs and tax revenues that would come with certain population increase. This study tests the Lower Austrian infrastructural cost calculator and, in so doing, seeks to add a spatial perspective to an otherwise oversimplified financial calculation of planning for growth. The case study municipality of Michelhausen formulated an ambitious objective of 25% population growth (+ 700 inhabitants) within a few years in its local development strategy, to be realised by enlarging a rural settlement area. The study will assess five possible alternatives of settlement enlargement with varying housing types for their municipal financial consequences. In conducting this case study, the infrastructural cost calculator, a strategic planning tool offered by the federal planning authority of Lower Austria to their municipalities, will be assessed for its current potential as well as possible enhancement as strategic planning instrument to support municipalities in financial questions when developing building land. Normative lessons drawn from the whole exercise directly address actors and decision-makers in local and regional planning context in Lower Austria. The study ends with a short outlook of possible learnings and transfer into other national and international planning practice contexts.

中文翻译：

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人口增长何时能带来回报？以郊区土地消耗为例，评估下奥地利州的基础设施成本计算器。

在欧洲国家中，“增加居民数量”是城市战略中普遍提出的首要目标。与奥地利一样，地方政策遵循增长的逻辑，因为金融税和再分配系统会根据人口数字进行奖励。但是，人口增长是否必然对市政当局在经济上有利，而不论其引发的土地用途变化的类型以及潜在的城市扩张如何？下奥地利州联邦政府为其市政当局提供了一种战略性在线规划工具，以预先评估某些人口增加带来的最终市政基础设施成本和税收。这项研究测试了下奥地利州的基础设施成本计算器并且这样做的目的是在原本过于简单的增长计划财务计算中增加空间视角。迈克尔豪森市的案例研究市镇制定了一个雄心勃勃的目标，即在其地方发展战略中在几年内实现25％的人口增长（增加700名居民），这要通过扩大农村定居区来实现。该研究将评估五种不同住房类型的扩大定居点的备选方案，以解决市政财政问题。在进行此案例研究时，基础设施成本计算器下奥地利联邦规划机构向其市政当局提供的战略规划工具，将评估其当前的潜力以及作为战略规划工具的可能增强，以在开发建筑用地时为市政当局提供财政支持。从整个演习中汲取的规范性教训直接针对下奥地利州地方和区域规划背景下的行为者和决策者。研究以对可能的学习的简短展望结束，并将其转移到其他国家和国际计划实践环境中。