Spatial planning as ‘co-evolution’: linking expectations, uncertainties, and conflicts A case study of supra-local plans in the Catalan Pyrenees (Spain) Ignasi Domingo Pastó Spatial planning as ‘co-evolution’: linking expectations, uncertainties, and conflicts A case study of supra-local plans in the Catalan Pyrenees (Spain) This thesis is written as a final assignment for the master Landscape Architecture and Planning, specialisation in Spatial Planning, at Wageningen University Droevendaalsesteeg 3 6708 PB WAGENINGEN The Netherlands Supervision: Raoul Beunen, Land Use Planning group Author: Ignasi Domingo Pastó (Reg. No. 790328-188-130) [email protected] Wageningen, November 2009 Abstract The planning process is gaining importance due to the increasing complexity of making plans. During the process, planners have to deal with multiple expectations, uncertainties, and conflicts (EUCs). These concepts are widely discussed in theoretical planning literature, but the relationships between them are rarely explored. This research provides a better understanding of these concepts and their relationships with the study of real planning practices. Three cases of supra-local plans in the Catalan Pyrenees (Spain) are analysed. The main planning actors and other stakeholders are interviewed in order to describe the different EUCs generated during the planning process. The cases show the different perceptions about EUCs, the strong interrelationships between them, and different ways of dealing with them. Finally, a new concept is introduced to provide understanding about the way people’s perceptions of EUCs change during the process: ‘planning as co-evolution’. The concept stimulates reflections about the importance of interaction and communication to deal with EUCs in spatial planning. Keywords: regional planning, Catalonia, ‘planificación territorial’, ‘ordenación territorio’, ‘pla territorial’, ‘pla director urbanístic’ Contents Contents List of figures and tables.......................................................................................................... VI Preface and acknowledgements ..............................................................................................VII Summary................................................................................................................................VIII 1 Introduction.........................................................................................................................1 1.1 Problem description....................................................................................................1 1.2 Research objectives and research questions ...............................................................2 1.3 Outline ........................................................................................................................3 1.4 Methods ......................................................................................................................4 2 Theoretical framework........................................................................................................7 2.1 An emerging planning context: governance and networks.........................................7 2.2 The role of plans .........................................................................................................9 2.3 Expectations..............................................................................................................10 2.4 Uncertainties .............................................................................................................11 2.5 Conflicts....................................................................................................................15 2.6 Conclusions: the missing link...................................................................................20 3 Spatial planning in Catalonia (Spain) ...............................................................................23 3.1 Introduction...............................................................................................................23 3.2 The regional planning framework.............................................................................23 3.3 Spatial planning policy in Catalonia.........................................................................25 3.4 ‘Plans Territorials Parcials, PTPs’ (territorial partial plans).....................................26 3.5 ‘Plans Directors Urbanístics, PDUs’ (urbanism director plans)...............................28 4 Supra-local plans in the Catalan Pyrenees........................................................................31 4.1 Case 1:‘PTP Alt Pirineu i Aran’ ...............................................................................31 4.2 Case 2:‘PDU Pallars Sobirà’.....................................................................................42 4.3 Case 3:´PDU Cerdanya’............................................................................................54 4.4 General reflections and complementary views.........................................................64 5 Discussing expectations, uncertainties, and conflicts.......................................................75 5.1 Discussing expectations............................................................................................75 5.2 Discussing uncertainties...........................................................................................77 5.3 Discussing conflicts..................................................................................................80 5.4 Linking expectations, uncertainties, and conflicts....................................................82 5.5 Planning as ‘co-evolution’........................................................................................84 6 Conclusions and recommendations ..................................................................................91 References.................................................................................................................................97 V Spatial planning as ‘co-evolution’: linking expectations, uncertainties, and conflicts List of figures and tables Table 2.1 Types and definitions of uncertainties......................................................................13 Table 2.2 Theoretical aspects and discussions about expectations, uncertainties, and conflicts ..................................................................................................................................................20 Figure 3.1 Regional plans in Spain...........................................................................................24 Figure 3.2 Sub-regional plans in Spain.....................................................................................25 Figure 3.3 The formal system of regional and urban plans in Catalonia..................................26 Figure 3.4 The territorial division in Catalonia ........................................................................27 Figure 3.5 The distribution of PDUs in Catalonia....................................................................29 Figure 4.1 Map of the PTP ‘Alt Pirineu i Aran’ area ...............................................................31 Figure 4.2 The PTP ‘territorial model’.....................................................................................36 Figure 4.3 Map of the PDU ‘Pallars Sobirà’ area.....................................................................42 Figure 4.4 PDU ‘Pallars Sobirà’ map detail .............................................................................47 Figure 4.5 Map of the PDU ‘Cerdanya’ area............................................................................54 Figure 4.6 PDU ‘Cerdanya’ general map .................................................................................57 Figure 5.1 Expectations related to uncertainties and conflicts .................................................83 Figure 5.2 Uncertainties related to expectations and conflicts.................................................83 Figure 5.3 Conflicts related to expectations and uncertainties.................................................84 Figure 5.4 Evolution of the perception of expectations, uncertainties, and conflicts as individual adaptation to the external environment ...................................................................85 Figure 5.5 Co-evolution of the perception of expectations, uncertainties and conflicts through interaction between two planning actors ..................................................................................86 Figure 5.6 The co-evolution of actors’ perceptions during a planning process........................87 VI Preface and acknowledgements Preface and acknowledgements This thesis is the result of a long trip. A trip that started the 16th October 2007 and took me to a strange place with an unpronounceable name: Wageningen. It was a difficult decision to move to the Netherlands, and full of uncertainties. Yet, I am an optimistic person and I was moved by my high expectations about the master and about starting a new life in a different country. I have to admit that I was quite shocked during the first lectures, which were curiously with my current thesis supervisor. The discussions about planning and politics, planning and power, and planning and the role of knowledge generated conflicting feelings in my ‘engineering-shaped’ mind. Two years after, I believe my mind has suffered an important