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Abstract
Over the last 5–10 years, marine spatial planning (MSP) has emerged as a new management regime for national and international waters and has already attracted a substantial body of multi-disciplinary research on its goals and policy processes. This paper argues that this literature has generally lacked deeper reflexive engagement with the emerging system of governance for our seas that has meant that many of MSP's core concepts, assumptions and institutional arrangements have not been subject rigorous intellectual debate. In an attempt to initiate such an approach, this article explores the relationship between MSP and its land-based cousin, terrestrial spatial planning (TSP). While it is recognized that there are inherent limitations to a comparison of these two systems, it is argued that the tradition of social science debate over the purpose and processes of TSP can be used as a useful stimulus for a more rigorous reflection of such issues as they relate to MSP. The article therefore explores some of the parallels between MSP and TSP and then discusses some of the key intellectual traditions that have shaped TSP and the implications these may have for future marine planning practice. The article concludes with a number of potentially useful new avenues that may form the basis of a critical research agenda for MSP.
Notes
The term ‘TSP’ is specifically used here to distinguish it from the older tradition of land use planning, from which it has evolved. The UK's MSP system has many parallel features of TSP rather than land use planning, as discussed later.
By ‘reflexivity’ we refer here to both the overt reflection on previous experience to inform current practice, but also a deeper exploration of the intuitive predispositions of those engaged in planning that predetermine conscious practice (Howe & Loangdon, Citation2002).
That is, Marine (Scotland) Act 2010; and the Northern Ireland Marine Bill.
The first UK Marine Policy Statement was published in March 2011 (HM Government, 2011).
Ministerial Declaration of the Fifth International Conference on the Protection of the North Sea, Bergen, Norway, 20–21 March 2002.
Commission for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Northeast Atlantic. See http://www.ospar.org