ENVISIONING REGIONAL FUTURES: an interactive governance perspective for regional spatial planning

The focus of this contribution is to address the role of designing and visioning in the formation of regional territorial governance and spatial planning. It aims at an increased understanding of how regional planning practices, engaged with the imagination of possible futures, support the creation of institutional capacity for both statutory and strategic spatial planning in contexts of governance rescaling. The reflection is grounded on recent Western European debates regarding the emergence of widespread neo-liberalism, which has conveyed to processes of State space rescaling (Brenner, 2004) and a strong affirmation of localism. The contribution approaches these issues by using the conceptual framework of interactive governance (Torfing et al. 2012) to explore the nexus among hierarchical and co-operative forms of governance (see Fig. 1). Spatial visions and visualisation are expected to affect and influence planning processes in these governance contexts, moving respectively within the frame of meta-governance or negotiation practices. Scalar shifts and differences in visualisation (Fig. 2) bring into light the reciprocal influences among statutory and soft planning spaces by providing for new spatial imaginaries. At the same time, images and visions challenge the nature and form of regional planning instruments while dealing with regional futures, by both shaping the boundaries of the region (conciliating regional dynamics and spatial imaginaries), and conceiving a shared vision of regional development, moving from a-spatial development strategies to the multilevel articulation of spatial planning strategies.