IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envirc/v33y2015i6p1376-1393.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Fuzzy tales for hard blueprints: the selective coproduction of the Spatial Policy Plan for Flanders, Belgium

Author

Listed:
  • Kobe Boussauw
  • Luuk Boelens

Abstract

Planners become increasingly aware that they operate in a fuzzy, fragmented, volatile, and unpredictable world. For a couple of decennia they have tried to find new answers in a communicative turn, in collaborative or in coproductive planning. However, because of the ongoing fragmentations and complexities, such attempts have shown to be so time-consuming, vague, or framed by the regular suspects of planning that they hardly meet today's major challenges. We will demonstrate this by means of the planning process for the forthcoming Spatial Policy Plan for Flanders, the successor of the Spatial Structure Plan for Flanders—a strategic plan on which the literature has extensively reported. In 1997 this latter plan was endorsed and accepted by most of the authorities concerned. More than fifteen years later, however, original commitments have eroded, and the ongoing process leading to the adoption of the new plan has failed to build broad support and credibility. Therefore, the new Spatial Policy Plan has turned to the promises of coproductive planning in order to include citizens and interest groups in the planning process. However, we will argue that in Flanders today this borrowed methodology of coproductive planning is insufficiently adapted to the Flemish context and is therefore mainly delivering an aura of optimism about sustainability to ongoing policies, while a variety of spatial developments that are recognized as very substantive or problematic are kept outside the process. To overcome this, we will finally discuss a preliminary design of a more contextualized process model, putting the stress on more concrete planning issues, involving independent stakeholders in strategic alliances, and taking a coevolutionary approach from the start.

Suggested Citation

  • Kobe Boussauw & Luuk Boelens, 2015. "Fuzzy tales for hard blueprints: the selective coproduction of the Spatial Policy Plan for Flanders, Belgium," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 33(6), pages 1376-1393, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:33:y:2015:i:6:p:1376-1393
    DOI: 10.1068/c12327
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://epc.sagepub.com/content/33/6/1376.abstract
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/c12327?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brueckner, Jan K., 2007. "Urban growth boundaries: An effective second-best remedy for unpriced traffic congestion?," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3-4), pages 263-273, November.
    2. te Brömmelstroet, Marco & Bertolini, Luca, 2008. "Developing land use and transport PSS: Meaningful information through a dialogue between modelers and planners," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 251-259, July.
    3. Vandenbulcke, Grégory & Steenberghen, Thérèse & Thomas, Isabelle, 2009. "Mapping accessibility in Belgium: a tool for land-use and transport planning?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 39-53.
    4. Van Gossum, Peter & Ledene, Liselot & Arts, Bas & De Vreese, Rik & Verheyen, Kris, 2008. "Implementation failure of the forest expansion policy in Flanders (Northern Belgium) and the policy learning potential," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(7-8), pages 515-522, October.
    5. Kobe Boussauw & Georges Allaert & Frank Witlox, 2013. "Colouring Inside What Lines? Interference of the Urban Growth Boundary and the Political--Administrative Border of Brussels," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(10), pages 1509-1527, October.
    6. Guy Baeten, 2000. "The Tragedy of the Highway: Empowerment, Disempowerment and the Politics of Sustainability Discourses and Practices," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(1), pages 69-86, February.
    7. Nathaniel Baum-Snow, 2007. "Did Highways Cause Suburbanization?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(2), pages 775-805.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Clemens de Olde & Stijn Oosterlynck, 2021. "Taking Implementation Seriously in the Evaluation of Urban Growth Management Strategies: “Safeguarding the Future” of the Antwerp City-Region," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-20, February.
    2. Kim, Jinwon, 2012. "Endogenous vehicle-type choices in a monocentric city," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 749-760.
    3. Brueckner, Jan K. & Helsley, Robert W., 2011. "Sprawl and blight," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 205-213, March.
    4. Pankaj Bajracharya & Selima Sultana, 2022. "Examining the Use of Urban Growth Boundary for Future Urban Expansion of Chattogram, Bangladesh," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-21, May.
    5. Jedwab, Remi & Barr, Jason & Brueckner, Jan K., 2022. "Cities Without Skylines: Worldwide Building-Height Gaps and their Possible Determinants and Implications," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    6. Anas, Alex, 2024. "“Downs's Law” under the lens of theory: Roads lower congestion and increase distance traveled," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    7. Pauly, Stefan & Stipanicic, Fernando, 2021. "The creation and diffusion of knowledge: Evidence from the Jet Age," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Docweb) 2112, CEPREMAP.
    8. Stephan Heblich & Stephen J Redding & Daniel M Sturm, 2020. "The Making of the Modern Metropolis: Evidence from London," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(4), pages 2059-2133.
    9. Hirte, Georg & Tscharaktschiew, Stefan, 2018. "The impact of anti-congestion policies and the role of labor-supply margins," CEPIE Working Papers 04/18, Technische Universität Dresden, Center of Public and International Economics (CEPIE).
    10. Thomas Vanoutrive & Ann Verhetsel, 2013. "Classifying transport studies using three dimensions of society: market structure, sustainability and decision making," Chapters, in: Thomas Vanoutrive & Ann Verhetsel (ed.), Smart Transport Networks, chapter 1, pages 1-8, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    11. Pablo D. Fajgelbaum & Edouard Schaal, 2020. "Optimal Transport Networks in Spatial Equilibrium," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 88(4), pages 1411-1452, July.
    12. Morgan Ubeda, 2020. "Local Amenities, Commuting Costs and Income Disparities Within Cities," Working Papers halshs-03082448, HAL.
    13. PHOLO BALA, Alain & PEETERS, Dominique & THOMAS, Isabelle, 2014. "Spatial issues on a hedonic estimation of rents in Brussels," LIDAM Reprints CORE 2629, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    14. Das, Abhiman & Ghani, Ejaz & Grover, Arti & Kerr, William & Nanda, Ramana, 2024. "JUE insight: Infrastructure and Finance: Evidence from India’s GQ highway network," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    15. David Autor & David Dorn & Gordon H. Hanson, 2023. "Trading places: Mobility responses of native and foreign-born adults to the China trade shock," POID Working Papers 074, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    16. Karen Clay & Joshua A. Lewis & Edson R. Severnini & Xiao Wang, 2020. "The Value of Health Insurance during a Crisis: Effects of Medicaid Implementation on Pandemic Influenza Mortality," NBER Working Papers 27120, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Edward L. Glaeser, 2021. "Urban Resilience," NBER Working Papers 29261, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. De Lara, Michel & de Palma, André & Kilani, Moez & Piperno, Serge, 2013. "Congestion pricing and long term urban form: Application to Paris region," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 282-295.
    19. Pérez, Jorge & Vial, Felipe & Zárate, Román, 2022. "Urban Transit Infrastructure: Spatial Mismatch and Labor Market Power," Research Department working papers 1992, CAF Development Bank Of Latinamerica.
    20. Duranton, Gilles & Puga, Diego, 2014. "The Growth of Cities," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 5, pages 781-853, Elsevier.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:33:y:2015:i:6:p:1376-1393. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.