Navigating governance with sticks, carrots, and sermons: Paving paths for sustainable development goals through local spatial planning

Abstract

The 2030 Agenda underscores the vital role of local authorities and civil society in implementing sustainable development goals (SDGs). Aligning with this agenda, the EU's spatial development framework imparts normative values, emphasizing sustainable territorial development, participatory governance, and multi‐level cooperation. This framework serves as a potential facilitator for spatial planning to ensure policy coherence in SDG implementation. Despite its potential, mainstreaming the 2030 Agenda through spatial planning encounters challenges, particularly navigating unresolved tensions between global SDG formulation and local ownership. These challenges are accentuated in countries with conformative planning systems and weak governance structures, requiring a specific methodological approach. To address these complexities, this study investigates the opportunities for leveraging SDGs within the multi‐level governance arena of spatial planning. Employing mixed quantitative and qualitative data analysis methods in a local planning context, the research explores key concerns arising from regional, national, and EU spatial development policies. The study delves into their potential leverage capacity for guiding and funding SDGs within a specific local context. Results suggest that using different policy mechanisms, spatial planning can better address the holistic nature of the 2030 Agenda. Although not all SDGs can be leveraged, a substantial part can be addressed whenever a broader multi‐level governance perspective is considered within local planning contexts.