Strategic spatial planning and efficacy: an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) approach in Lyon and Copenhagen

Gaëtan PALKA [UMR 6554 LETG: Rennes, FR] Da Silva Oliveira, Eduardo Henrique [UCL] Sofia Pagliarin [Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg: Bamberg, Bayern, DE] Anna M. Hersperger [Eidgenössische Forschungsanstalt für Wald, Schnee und Landschaft WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland]

Strategic spatial planning has been a key planning practice at the urban regional level to support the implementation of local spatial transformations. Previous, mostly qualitative comparative research revealed the complexity characterising strategic spatial planning processes, being multi-faceted, highly context-dependent and embedded in multi-level governance configurations. However, few efforts have been made so far to quantitatively evaluate the ‘planning efficacy’ of strategic spatial planning processes comparatively, i.e. to what extent strategic spatial plans facilitate or hinder the local implementation of concrete development strategies in different contexts. In this paper, we evaluate the planning efficacy of strategic spatial planning process by applying the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) in the urban regions of Lyon, France and Copenhagen, Denmark. Analytically, we employ a set of components capturing the governance performance and the impact of external forces that are assumed to contextually influence the efficacy of strategic planning. Our analysis shows that a quantitative approach such as the AHP is a useful tool to compare strategic spatial planning across urban regions.