What Drives Forum Rule Adaptation: Investigating the Influence of the Forum Founder and Polycentric Governance Linkages in Dutch Strategic Spatial Planning

Problem Statement. Strategic spatial planning in Ukraine focuses mainly on economic aspects and takes less into account the environmental consequences of planned activities, which may be threatening to natural and cultural heritage. This is explained, in particular, by the insufficient number of trained specialists for planning sustainable spatial development. It is especially important to integrate scientific natural research into educational programs for training specialists in spatial planning, which include the study of geodiversity, the evolution of natural and cultural landscapes, methods of creating nature conservation areas, the formation of eco-networks, as well as the introduction of innovative technologies in land use and various branches of the national economy. Such research is the basis for developing community strategy and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), effective territorial management and successful spatial planning practices. The purpose of the article is to consider strategic spatial planning as a modern interdisciplinary field that integrating social, economic, and ecological aspects of sustainable spatial development. Research methodology proposes an interdisciplinary approach to strategic planning, which takes into account the geodiversity of the territory, the evolution of natural and cultural landscapes, as well as natural and anthropogenic risks. This approach makes it possible to predict optimal scenarios of spatial development, adapted to specific geographical conditions. Special attention is paid to the training of highly qualified specialists at the bachelor's and master's levels, emphasizing their important role in the development of strategic plans, which are the basis of comprehensive plans for the spatial development of territorial communities. The results. The article presents scientific approaches to strategic planning based on an interdisciplinary study of territories. This study highlights the international experience of strategic planning and similar successful practices in Ukraine territorial communities. Scientific novelty. The study provides a theoretical basis for the mandatory integration of natural science research into strategic spatial planning. This includes data on geodiversity, natural settings and resources, cultural and natural landscapes, nature reserves and ecological networks. The combination of this information with the data of the land and urban cadasters creates a comprehensive basis for determining the optimal scenarios of spatial development. Practical significance. The results of this study can be applied to improve the methodology of strategic spatial planning at the local level. Generalized international experience is a valuable guide for setting long-term spatial development goals and implementing specific measures to achieve them. Practical aspects of spatial planning, such as innovative land use systems, implementation of renewable energy sources, inclusive residential and public spaces, protection and preservation of natural and cultural heritage, are illustrated by specific examples discussed in the article. This study is useful for professionals in spatial planning and community management, as well as for researchers, teachers, and students who focus on integrating natural science research into the practice of spatial development.

Recent planning experiences in post-socialist cities indicate a growing interestin strategic spatial planning. In the last ten years, most capital cities from theBaltics to the Balkans have gone through a process of strategy development witha varied degree of success (Buckley and Tsenkova, 2001; Nedovic-Budic, 2001;Maier, 2000). A number of secondary cities have replicated the process, giving animpetus to a range of strategic planning politics. While strategic planning is notnecessarily embedded in the planning legislation, it appears to provide a much-needed link between the traditional comprehensive land use planning and fiscaland financial planning carried by municipal bureaucracies (Tosics, 2003). In theirsearch for new planning paradigms and more flexible approaches to city planning,municipalities in transition countries have embraced strategic planning as a way toinvolve the business community and the broader constituency in defining a visionfor the future. More importantly, this more proactive approach has created anopportunity for mobilization of funds and political support for urban development,thus, bridging the resource gap under a regime of fiscal austerity (Tsenkova, 2003).It appears that strategic spatial planning has evolved as a parallel instrument tostatutory land use planning as well as regional planning. The latter, imposed byEU guidelines, is perceived as a bureaucratic budget enlargement exercise, withlimited comprehensiveness and public involvement.This chapter explores challenges and opportunities for strategic spatial planningin post-socialist cities. Drawing on the experience of six capital cities – Prague,St. Petersburg, Vilnius, Sofia, Budapest, and Riga – with strategic spatial plan-ning, it outlines the essential characteristics of the process (plan-making) and theproduct (strategic plan). It establishes clear links between the process of strategydevelopment, its institutional framework, and the hierarchical structure of goals,objectives, and actions. The case studies provide important insights for planningpractice in the context of rapid economic, social, and institutional change. Theresearch highlights the responsiveness of the model to transition imperatives andits ability to define contextually appropriate multi-dimensional strategies for thespatial development of post-socialist cities.447

In this article, we analyse how contested transitions in planning rationalities and spatial logics have shaped the processes and outputs of recent episodes of Danish “strategic spatial planning”. The practice of “strategic spatial planning” in Denmark has undergone a concerted reorientation in the recent years as a consequence of an emerging neoliberal agenda promoting a growth-oriented planning approach emphasizing a new spatial logic of growth centres in the major cities and urban regions. The analysis, of the three planning episodes, at different subnational scales, highlights how this new style of “strategic spatial planning” with its associated spatial logics is continuously challenged by a persistent regulatory, top-down rationality of “strategic spatial planning”, rooted in spatial Keynesianism, which has long characterized the Danish approach. The findings reveal the emergence of a particularly Danish approach, retaining strong regulatory aspects. However this approach does not sit easily within the current neoliberal political climate, raising concerns of an emerging crisis of “strategic spatial planning”.

Does landscape play a role in strategic spatial planning of European urban regions?

Recent planning experiences in post-socialist cities indicate a growing interest in strategic spatial planning. In their search for new planning paradigms, municipalities in transition countries have embraced strategic planning as a way to involve the business community and the broader constituency in defining a vision for the future of cities. More importantly, this more proactive approach has created an opportunity for mobilization of funds and political support for urban development thus bridging the resource gap under a regime of fiscal austerity. Drawing on the recent experience of Sofia with strategic spatial planning, the paper outlines the essential characteristics of the process (plan-making) and the product (strategic plan). The research establishes clear links between the process of strategy development, its institutional framework and the hierarchical structure of goals, objectives and actions. It is argued that strategic spatial planning is an efficient tool to manage post-socialist cities.

The aim of this study was to analyse strategic planning practices in complex systems by investigating the experiences of Brazilian non-profit hospitals. Growing pressures have been imposed upon hospitals to improve the quality of their services, to increase access to them by reducing costs and to improve their reliability. In order to respond to these demands, managerial approaches such as strategic planning based on business-sector practices have been adopted by non-profit hospitals. The purpose of this study was to identify the most significant results of the experience with strategic planning in two non-profit hospitals. The study is a qualitative one, and the research was based on the concepts of organizational complexity, strategic planning and managerialism in non-profit hospitals. Data were collected by non-participant observation, from documents and in interviews and were analysed using narrative analysis and document-analysis techniques. Three main factors related to strategic planning in non-profit hospitals were identified: firstly, the unsuitability of strategic planning for hospitals given that they are complex, professional organizations, something that was disregarded by managers; secondly, the significant role played by core operating professionals in strategy making; and thirdly, the representation of strategic planning as fancy management in the eyes of internal and external stakeholders, conferring legitimacy on and generating trust in the hospital. The findings indicate that strategic planning as a traditional managerialist approach applied in a hospital context was dysfunctional and failed to produce a significant contribution to organizational performance.

Recent planning practice in post-communist cities in-dicates a growing interest in strategic spatial planning. In their search for new planning paradigms and more flexible approaches to city planning, municipalities in post-communist cities have embraced strategic planning as a way to involve residents, the business community and various stakeholders in defining a vision for the future. Drawing on the experience of six capital cities – Prague, St Petersburg, Vilnius, Sofia, Budapest and Riga – this article outlines the essential characteristics of the process (planning) and the product (a strategic plan). It establis-hes clear links between the strategic development process, its institutional framework and the hierarchical structure of goals, objectives and actions. Using a framework for strategic spatial planning in the context of rapid econo-mic, social and governance change, the study evaluates the results of the process, focusing on “what” and “how” in the complex reality of planning. The framework applies the traditional strategic planning model, which establis-

This article is focused around a discussion of the nature of strategic spatial planning, as exemplified in the planning literature and in examples from Vancouver, Hong Kong and China more generally. The primary author, John Friedmann, argues that too much attention in planning practices has been given to the production of strategic plans and too little to locally‐based studies of the dynamics of urban socio‐spatial development. In commentaries from the perspectives of planning academics and practitioners from different parts of the world, the discussion is enlarged to link the spatial planning discussions to the management literature on strategic planning, to stress the well‐established process emphasis in much contemporary strategic spatial planning work, to raise some positive roles for formal plans in planning processes and to highlight recent European experiences in strategic spatial planning.

Strategic spatial planning (SSP) has been a key planning practice supporting spatial transformation globally. However, designing and implementing strategic spatial plans is a complex task. The process involves prioritizing planning intentions, establishing funding mechanisms and structuring governance settings, which take shape within power configurations. It is within this complexity that a participatory and integrative planning approach assumes increasing importance when addressing, strategically, societal challenges such as spatial injustice. Furthermore, a consolidated planning practice – that is the experiences in dealing with SSP are thought to influence how strategic plans are prepared and executed. Bearing in mind the influential role of preceding experiences in SSP processes as well as of participation, project promotion and policy integration, this paper synthesizes the results of a literature review reflecting three decades of SSP (1990–2020) in England. England has a well-defined history of engagements with SSP. The purpose is to discuss lessons learned from looking back 30 years and debate suggestions for how to design future SSP that account for public and private interests and align cross-sectoral policies. To overcome democratic accountability constraints and steering resource management effectively, this review pleas for more cooperative central–local relationships in shaping future SSP processes in England and beyond.

Having a fruitful relationship with all levels of management can increase the likelihood of better opportunities within and outside the organization. In some environments, it is known that participation in strategic planning creates better overall conditions for all partners, better conditions for retention, and above all, loyalty to talent. The very acceptance of contributions to this desideratum entails knowledge sharing and knowledge management. Our study examines how the relationship between management levels can disrupt strategic planning, particularly in contexts of resistance to change, situations that can affect talent retention and loyalty. Gathering the essential data to enhance the recommendations and contributions, the organization’s overall robustness takes shape through a combination of participant and nonparticipant observation, alongside interviews and questionnaires administered within the company. Initially, a qualitative approach was employed, involving interviews with a cohort of n = 14 top management executives. Subsequently, a qualitative method was employed, involving questionnaires distributed to a group of n = 204 individuals encompassing middle and lower management levels. Our conclusions, therefore, reflect the continuation of a research study. This paper contributes to the literature of work pursued by exploring how social actors and different stakeholders can make a difference in participating in strategic planning and how they can overcome, in counterpoint, the limitations of possibly not being able to participate in such strategic planning. Our contribution will also result in a critical understanding of the need for talent retention and loyalty, highlighting how retention efforts, especially the small nudges that are absolutely significant in terms of employee participation and even emotional pay purposes, are differentiators and can overcome, very concretely, resistance to change.

Spatial planning across European city regions is undergoing substantial changes. The paper draws on the framework of territorial re-scaling, strategic spatial planning and the emergence of new governance modes in order to analyse strategic planning episodes in Grenoble urban region (France). The paper aims at showing how strategic planning processes by means of new governance arenas call into question local planning cultures, especially by reshaping planning perimeters, territorial identities and actors' roles. In particular, it shows the importance of path dependency for strategic planning, the effects of power imbalances between local actors and the crucial role planners play in spatial policy-making.

Strategic spatial planning, across various scales, is a process of shaping “visions” through stakeholder engagement in uncertain and dynamic environments to create a spatial decision-making framework. This approach is essential for addressing complex and rapidly evolving societal challenges such as climate change, globalization, and social inequality. It enables collective action, long-term visioning, and coordination of fragmented governance structures. By fostering an inclusive framework for dialogue and co-creation, strategic planning also encourages innovation and democratic legitimacy. This article adopts a qualitative and historically informed policy analysis, examining legislative strategic planning documents and policy priorities in relation to urban development to assess the evolution and current challenges of metropolitan planning in Athens. By situating the Athens case within broader European planning trends, the study provides a contextual and comparative framework for understanding governance transformations in times of crisis. The article contributes to existing knowledge by offering a critical analysis of Greece’s planning system, highlighting recurrent implementation gaps and governance fragmentation. In doing so, it advances academic debates on the limitations of strategic planning in southern European contexts and proposes lessons relevant for metropolitan governance reform.

ABSTRACTThe city of Lahti, Finland, has developed a unique policy of combining city strategy work with strategic master planning in an iterative process. It thereby offers insights to research on strategic spatial planning, exemplifying how institutional frameworks of statutory planning can be utilized as resources in strategic planning. Three lessons from the Lahti case are drawn: (1) utilize the moments of opportunity in the institutional environment of statutory planning, (2) shift the focus from the level of ‘strategic plans’ to the policy level of strategy work, (3) develop strategic planning as a platform for diverse ‘languages’.

The last century left us with various definitions and interpretations of strategic spatial planning. What seems clear today is that strategic planning could be considered a set of concepts, procedures and tools (Albrechts 2004), usefully adaptable to fit the current planning needs of modern states and local societies in Europe. At the beginning of the 1990s, many experiences from all over the continent caught the interest of theorists and practitioners and started a long debate on the revival of strategic spatial planning (Salet and Faludi, eds., 2000). If we look at the practices though, it is evident that the approaches and goals are diverse and inevitably strongly related to specific local contexts. During the last decade, a particularly significant one for Italy due to the many social and institutional changes, several metropolitan areas and city-regions have been experimenting with strategic plans. These plans are aimed at encouraging local actors to get together and develop shared visions for the future. Even if a few common features are recognizable in all these plans, each of these tools is context-specific and develops particular procedures aimed at specific goals. An evaluation of this fruitful endeavour is not yet unequivocally possible, but the creative potential of these informal tools is already evident in the discovery of new actors and forms of local action, the development of local governance at variable geometries and in fostering local endogenous seeds of development.

Barrie Maguire's image of a woman stitching together the Irish landscape reflects the central question behind this Longer View: What will recent strategic spatial planning efforts in Europe give us? In the case of Northern Ireland, the quilt sewn from separate pieces of the landscape might represent that state's desire to establish cohesion while respecting diversity. Albrechts, Healy, and Kunzmann show that there and elsewhere, spatial planning efforts are stitching together new regional patterns for many parts of Europe. Maguire is a graduate of Notre Dame University and comes from a family of artists. He has worked as a creative director at Hallmark Cards, a book designer and illustrator, and a newspaper editorial illustrator. Since visiting Ireland in 1998, he has focused on painting. He lives in Pennsylvania, and more of his work can be seen on his family's Web site, http://www.maguiregallery.com. This article examines recent experiences in Europe in the preparation and use of strategic spatial frameworks to guide territorial development in city regions. It discusses the recent revival of interest in such strategic planning and the driving forces that create the momentum for it. We examine three cases recognised as in the forefront of this revival: the 1996 Spatial Strategy for the Hanover City Region, the 1997 Spatial Structure Plan for Flanders, and the 2001 Northern Ireland Regional Development Strategy. Each is described in terms of context and motivations, policy approaches and concepts, institutional arenas, impacts, and outcomes. The article concludes with general lessons from these cases and the European experience generally for the enterprise of strategic spatial planning.