The Strategic Incrementalism of Lahti Master Planning: Three Lessons

Abstract

The city of Lahti, Finland, has developed a unique policy of combining city strategy work with strategic master planning in an iterative process. It thereby offers insights to research on strategic spatial planning, exemplifying how institutional frameworks of statutory planning can be utilized as resources in strategic planning. Three lessons from the Lahti case are drawn: (1) utilize the moments of opportunity in the institutional environment of statutory planning, (2) shift the focus from the level of 'strategic plans' to the policy level of strategy work, (3) develop strategic planning as a platform for diverse 'languages'. ARTICLE HISTORY

Subnational and Dynamic Conceptualisations of Planning Culture: The Culture of Regional Planning and Regional Planning Cultures in Finland

“…In the region of Pirkanmaa , the regional land use plan is renewed every four years, similar to the “continuous master planning” which has gained popularity in some Finnish municipalities (Mäntysalo et al, 2019 ), and is used in the regional capital city Tampere. This four-year cycle aims to ensure that the planning process is turned into a continuous dialogue regarding strategic issues which is immediately linked to the election term of political decision makers, thus creating political interest and support for the plan.…”

Multiple Dimensions of Strategic Spatial Planning: Local Authorities Navigating between Rationalities in Competitive and Collaborative Settings

“…This, in turn, has meant that general plans often lack strategic selectivity and flexibility (e.g. Mäntysalo et al, 2019). The local government of Turku, by contrast, has chosen to use comprehensive municipal strategy as its main strategic spatial planning instrument.…”

“…Bryson, 1988;Kaufman & Jacobs, 1987;Minzberg, 1994). Yet, it has been noted that because of the future uncertainties, the "operative" level of planning can provide useful feedback to the "strategic level" of selecting the goals, which means that the line between these two aspects of strategic planning becomes blurred in practice (Mäntysalo et al, 2019). The recursive nature of strategic planning, among other things, has also led many planning theorists to suggest that strategic planning is not primarily about formulating and linearly implementing strategic plans but about strategic thinking and action (Albrechts, 2004;Bryson, 1988;Healey, 2007, p. 30-31;Minzberg, 1994;Wolf & Floyd, 2017).…”

Governing ‘places that don’t matter’: agonistic spatial planning practices in Finnish peripheral regions

“…Nonetheless, it was noted that other types of land uses, related for example to tourism, are also difficult to combine with economically vital activities such as mining or forestry. Lapland has adopted a model of 'rolling' landuse plans (Mäntysalo et al, 2019), which are updated regularly to facilitate decision-making under such conditions where there is no consensus over the priorities given to different land uses. 'Rolling plans' allow opposing voices to be heard even after the ratification of plans, as the plan is not considered 'final' but continuously updated and improved in an iterative manner.…”