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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5.14 Summary
The tools of law, policy and procedure that make up the spatial planning system have been reviewed
in numerous countries in recent years. The resulting effects have mostly been to increase the
importance of strategy, to ensure more effective collaboration among sectoral interests and to allow
for more flexibility in development regulation. Enacting law that establishes a simple set of priority
spatial planning instruments and transparent procedures for their creation should be a priority. Spatial
strategies are needed to coordinate the activities of sectors and administrations over relatively large
but coherent territories. They may be supplemented with directives dealing with the most urgent
matters. Policy statements are valuable at all levels to ensure consistent and efficient decision-making
and to provide a rich source of information and reassurance on procedure for investors. These will
include framework plans that set out a minimum of policy statements and specific designations to
guide development, redevelopment and the coordination of infrastructure. These mechanisms should
be backed up with a system for the environmental appraisal of plans and projects as well as for the
firm and consistent enforcement of decisions.
30 Spatial Planning - Key Instrument for Development and Effective Governance
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