Uncovering Spatial Planning Values through Law: Insights from Central East European Planning Systems

Abstract

The spatial planning act should define the key values of a given planning system. However, legally defining these values does not guarantee their smooth or efficient implementation. Though, it should provide guidance in their subsequent interpretation. Spatial planning law defines values but does not guarantee their realisation. The articulation of values in spatial planning law must, as a rule, be more general, detailed by specific provisions and considered in judicial interpretation. The aim of this article is to extract and comparative analysis spatial planning values comprised within national legal acts of Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. It then sets out to compare these values to the planning practices within these countries. Values stated in legislation at the national level are also applicable at lower planning levels, particularly at the local level. Their inclusion in acts is therefore very important from the perspective of planning practice. For the purposes of this article, values in spatial planning are those comprised within national laws on spatial planning matters. This refers to the values explicitly identified and included at the beginning of such laws. The way these values are framed and understood is explored in the article. The legal recognition of values in spatial planning can provide a basis for their wider implementation. However, there are several barriers against their successful implementation. Different jurisdictions engage with these values in distinct ways. The same applies to actual planning practice. Identifying and comparing the ways in which spatial planning values are framed in the laws of the surveyed countries made it possible to single out values that are repeated in all systems (e.g., sustainable development, environmental protection, protection of architectural properties and public interest) and values that are framed differently across Central East European planning systems.