Emerging vacuums of strategic planning: an exploration of reforms in Finnish spatial planning

ABSTRACT

The paper offers a theory-based evaluation of the ongoing reforms in the Finnish spatial planning regime. The paper argues that Finnish planning is moving in a reactive and market-driven direction. This development is not being brought about solely through a direct decrease in public discretionary powers in planning, but is also unfolding indirectly through a process of rescaling in the spatial planning regime. These processes increase municipal autonomy in relation to other planning scales, despite problems observed in the municipality-centred market-driven planning orientation. The resulting reduction in manoeuvring room in public planning is conceptualized in the paper as expanding vacuums of strategic planning. Building on concepts from the literature on state transformation theory and scale theory, the paper draws together theoretical and empirical conclusions from several case studies conducted in close-to-administration projects.

• KEYWORDS: Vacuum of strategic planning
• market-reactivity
• neoliberalization
• spatial planning
• Finland

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Excluding the Åland Islands.

2 Excluding some sectoral state authorities that are able to make appeals on specific questions.

3 The multi-method case study (Hytönen 2016a) was conducted by the first author of the paper.

4 The lack of expert resources in spatial planning cannot be ignored when assessing the capacities for democratically steered urban development. In the small municipalities, the resources are smallest also in relation to the size of the population (Puustinen et al., 2013).

5 The evaluation’s groundwork and report was written by the first author of this paper.

6 The planned reform is justified by a perceived need to restructure the country’s provision of social and health care services (Ministry of Social Affairs and Health & Ministry of Finance, 2016). Currently, over 300 municipalities of different sizes provide these services. This mode of service provision has been deemed too expensive and inefficient in the face of an aging population and sharpening of centre–periphery structures.