Following the Italian Government's decision to fund strategic planning in order to promote a sustainable and competitive development in city-regions in southern Italy, the regional governments were asked to steer proactively strategic planning initiatives within their respective territory. In the cases of Bari and Taranto, it was the first time that 31 municipalities constituting Metropolitan Bari and 28 municipalities constituting sub-region Taranto attempted to think collectively in order to prepare the strategic plan. This paper evaluates strategic planning in Bari and Taranto sub-regions and discusses lessons learnt for future efforts in strategic planning. We examine why were the strategic plans made and how was the planning process organized and what, if any, impact these attempts had on development strategies and governance models at the urban-regional level.

Integration of national climate change and energy efficiency goals into conventional local structure planning requires a shift in focus from conventional concerns about urban growth to local sustainable development in which climate change and energy efficiency are key components. Local government responses in integrating these goals show structural limitations, despite widespread awareness of the need to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt more climate-smart and energy-efficient policies. This paper assesses the integration of national climate change and energy efficiency goals in Swedish local structure plans and presents an in-depth study of one plan, that of Värmdö municipality in Sweden. The evaluation comprised plan content analysis using a few selected criteria for three concepts, namely, 'visions', 'comprehensive strategies' and 'measures', and use of the Dutch performance approach to examine implementation aspects of climate change and energy efficiency strategies in the plans.

Based on the theory of 'wicked problem' this paper investigates the causes of unsuccessful reform of urban water utilities in Accra, Ghana. The authors of this paper argue that reforms based only on managerial perspectives are not enough. Taking into account institutional and social issues is a key for the success of such reforms. Donors and international agencies lack such outlook and therefore fail to develop effective water policy reforms in developing countries generally. The paper discusses inter-twined and multi-dimensional institutional constraints that hinder the development of an appropriate approach to water utility reform in Accra.

This chapter evaluates that how well the Swedish municipal plans and planning respond to national legislation with regard to the European Union’s (EU’s) Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) directive and climate change and energy efficiency and to what extent SEA directive and climate change and energy efficiency goals are integrated in the Swedish municipal comprehensive planning. The chapter presents two case studies, in the first case study it examines plans to find out if they have fulfilled the SEA directives issued by the EU. In the second study it reviews plans in order to assess the actual impact of integrating national climate change and energy efficiency goals to municipal comprehensive plans. Integration of environmental objectives in planning poses several challenges because environmental issues, as opposed to other policy fields, are not bound by geographical, administrative or teleological boundaries. The Environmental issues are multi-level, multifaceted, controversial and complex and environmental policy evaluation provokes controversies.

In planning evaluation the issue of accountability has not received much direct attention. Accountability has nearly always been related to public auditing of the budget and review of goal achievement and administrative efficiency in specific policy areas. The major democratic element in public auditing and public review is accountability - public officials are made accountable as to how they have managed a budget or a specific public activity. 

The traditional concern in planning evaluation has been on the potential substantive impact of plans - costs and benefits of the plans, of these instrumental values together with distributional impact, e.g. in planning balance sheet; and these two impacts together with environmental consequences, e.g. in community impact analysis (Lichfield, 1996). The integration of sustainability aspects, however, has met with a large number of problems. With increasing attention on the discoursebased logic in planning evaluation interest has also been directed towards how plans succeed in integrating different sustainability factors. The point of departure for this frame of evaluation is that plans narrate a set of knowledge practices. 

This book provides recently developed and tested methods for assessing the strengths and weaknesses of planning and policy options. Several contributions focus on new substantive areas of concern in planning evaluation, including environmental justice and sustainable urban development. Applications of evaluation in several planning contexts are demonstrated, and special problems that these pose are assessed. Several chapters address how to communicate the process and results to several stakeholder groups, and how to engage these groups in the evaluation process. Each chapter employs a real-world case in practice, thus dealing with the complexity of applying planning evaluation, and providing practical advice useful in similar situations. 

Purpose – This paper aims to make use of participatory scenarios to assess the multiple aspects of space with the help of future scenarios. Design/methodology/approach – This paper makes an attempt to appreciate multiple representations of space where past and present experiences merge with future desires and concerns. With the help of one case study, Izmir (Turkey), where a vision of democratic city is developed, the paper shows how future scenarios can provide deeper and richer appreciation of present space, thereby challenging existing spatial practices. Findings – The participatory approach used in the development of scenarios suggests interesting implications to operationalise a more relational concept of space in real planning strategies. Research limitations/implications – The use of scenarios in strategic planning to identify future possibilities and to make stakeholders aware of uncertainties has been increasingly recognised in planning research and practice. Practical implications – The appreciation of the multiple aspects of space with the help of future scenarios would enrich the spatial planning practice. Social implications – The use of participatory approach to preparing scenarios enables participants to make use of interactive method in social and political discourses. Originality/value – The use of scenarios to examine various aspects of space that may be relevant in spatial planning has not received similar attention. The latter poses methodological as well as practical challenges for researchers. This paper is an attempt to do just that.

The issue of geographical scale in implementing sustainable urban development has not received much attention in sustainability research. Is it possible to locate sustainability efforts to one part of the city and by creating a spatial imbalance expect that these efforts gradually spread to the rest of the city? For this purpose this paper proposes a model of unbalanced sustainable development. The model is based on an old theory in development economics, namely unbalanced growth. The author contends that such a model should be suitable for many cities where the opportunities for more comprehensive city-wide sustainable development strategies are limited.