Sustainable urban development is currently the dominating objective in urban and regional planning. While it is easy to agree that sustainability is crucial for the future of cities, the goal of sustainable urban development is not well defined and can be understood in a multitude of ways. This project investigates the different attitudes towards sustainable urban development of public servants working in the field of planning. In addition to individual attitudes, the project is also specifically interested in the relevance of organisational cultures and institutional laws and norms for policies for sustainable urban development. The project aims to substantiate the ambiguous objective of sustainable urban development and related policies in the context of urban and regional planning, by giving voice to planning practitioners and their context-dependent understandings. The project collects empirical data at the city, region and nation state level in Finland, Italy and the Netherlands.

2021

2026