New concepts of strategic spatial planning dilemmas in the Dutch Randstad region

Purpose – Drawing on changes in the nature of European metropolitan development planning in general, and the example of the Randstad, in particular, the purpose of this paper is to argue for an improved interconnectedness between regions and their public and private sector agencies. These should be linked to “flows of social and economic interaction”, and, as such, complement conventional notions of “bounded spaces” and “nested territorial jurisdictions”. This is in response to the now crucial question for metropolitan planning of how to develop and renew effective institutional capacity to deal with the increasing spatial complexities at regional or metropolitan level. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is a case study‐based theoretical review of types of metropolitan planning, drawing on original policy documents and interviews with relevant policymakers. Findings – It is shown that the answer to addressing the challenges of development planning at the city‐regional level is not primarily to enlarge the steering powers of regional planning per se , but to broaden its strategic network capacity through enlarging the coordinative and communicative intelligence of the intermediate regional planning bodies. This allows better responsiveness to the evident transformation processes within spatial development planning as such, with a growing emphasis on a strategic element within it. This, again, is more in line with the changeability of urban space. Originality/value – The paper shows that the notion of spatial development planning has made a strong revival in the last ten years. It has been spatial planning that has attracted the key focus of debate, more so than adjacent policy‐making sectors (economic policy in particular).