SPATIAL PLANNING Key Instrument for Development and Effective Governance
2008 United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) During the early phases of ‘transition’ of many former communist countries of central and eastern Europe and beyond, Dominic Stead and Vincent Nadin prepared this short text on ‘spatial planning’ following an initiative of the UNECE Committee on Housing and Land Management, who also guided the document’s production. The objective was to promote the notion of spatial planning - the coordination of the territorial impacts of sectoral policies. The document is now rather dated, but is no less relevant in the 2020s. We hope to update both the content and presentation soon.
2008 United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)
During the early phases of ‘transition’ of many former communist countries of central and eastern Europe and beyond, Dominic Stead and Vincent Nadin prepared this short text on ‘spatial planning’ following an initiative of the UNECE Committee on Housing and Land Management, who also guided the document’s production. The objective was to promote the notion of spatial planning - the coordination of the territorial impacts of sectoral policies. The document is now rather dated, but is no less relevant in the 2020s. We hope to update both the content and presentation soon.
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Consideration should be given to the value of creating special agencies where local authorities lack the
capacity to address significant spatial development problems or opportunities. Such agencies need to
be bound by the same national and regional planning policies as other authorities. They should work
in partnership with regional and local stakeholders who should be represented on their managing
board.
4.6 Summary
Governments should apply the principle of subsidiarity in the allocation of competences and make
efforts to build the capacity of lower levels to take on spatial planning tasks. National governments
(including states in federal systems) must create the conditions for effective spatial planning at the
regional and local levels, including enacting framework legislation that provides an outline of
planning tools and procedures. The regional level will take the lead in the preparation of spatial
strategies in order to coordinate the impacts of sectoral policies. Local governments should have
primary responsibility for managing and regulating development within the policy framework, though
this may require that groups of authorities work collaboratively to cover functional areas and build
capacity.
18 Spatial Planning - Key Instrument for Development and Effective Governance
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