DE-1.1 :: Actors and Cross Sectional Management

Sustainable land use can only be achieved through accepted frameworks and objectives related to sustainability, the active cooperation of the various stakeholders and an effective cross sectional management of the actors involved. Land use is mainly influenced by the decisions of private and public actors who weigh decisions according to individual decision patterns (Walsh, Knieling 2014). These are partially influenced by sectoral and planning and regulation strategies. Conflicting objectives exist in all types of spaces, on all scales and they reach beyond the set of instruments of spatial planning as “mutual spatial management process”. (Walsh, Knieling 2014) These conflicts exist, because the scientific basis for the adequate balancing of decisions is missing and sectoral and spatial vision systems are not compatible enough with one another. Also the interdependency between the actors of land use decisions has been only partially understood up until now and a strong demand exists for empirical research.
For this reason, research should clear up the following aspects:
• How do political sustainability goals (for example the SDGs) and regional/municipal spatial planning goals influence the practical land use decisions of actors and land use itself?
• Which actors are relevant to be considered and which interdependencies exist between them?
• What effects do sectoral expert planning (transportation, agricultural systems, nature protection…) have on land use decisions and how can they be integrated into spatial planning and development?
• What instruments have a trans-border effect and how can these be incorporated into existing/new European initiatives and departmental politics?
• Which level of planning is the most effective for the strategic application of planning instruments for the purposes of steering land use? How do higher levels of planning affect this (such as state/regional planning)?

This research is related to the INSPIRATION Conceptual Model (CM) 3 “Land management”, because cross sectional management of actors is crucial for effective implementation of sustainable land use.