Strategy Formation in Eastern Jutland: strategic Spatial Planning or Lobbyism for Infrastructure Investments?

 

In Eastern Jutland a strategy formation process has been initiated with the aim of developing a strategic spatial plan for the city region.  An organisation has been set up to deal with the first phase of the process, which is to carry out three functional analyses and prepare a common vision for Eastern Jutland.  This process relies on the municipalities in Eastern Jutland reaching consensus on a common vision for the city region.  

The key issue in spatial planning in Eastern Jutland is a conflict between preserving the high quality of landscape and maintaining the divide between the countryside and urban areas on one hand, and on the other hand taking the shortcomings of the infrastructure into consideration and maintaining economic development.  The question is whether the Ministry of the Environment and the municipalities, and the municipalities among themselves, have the same interests in and same opinions about what kind of spatial planning and regulation is needed, or whether the differences are too big to be overcome.

The Ministry of the Environment acknowledges that Eastern Jutland is developing towards a functional city region, which raises new challenges for the spatial planning in the area.   The municipalities acknowledge the articulation of the city region and the initiated planning process.  However, the municipalities might see the arena as means to lobby for infrastructure investments in Eastern Jutland, as it is doubtful whether the municipalities will feel encouraged to enter a process, which is aiming at increasing the national regulation within their territory.   

The result might very well be that the discussion about future infrastructure investments is not linked to discussions about future urban development in Eastern Jutland.  These aspects raises serious questions about on which level a serious strategy formation process can take place.  There is a danger that a common strategic spatial plan is more an expression of the lowest common denominator and the municipalities request for infrastructure investments rather than being a spatial strategy with transformative power.