Research

From the promotion of interests to the pursuit of the common good? : Evaluation and Development report 2022 of the Agreement Procedure for Land Use, Housing and Transport

In Publications of the Finnish Government, 2022

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Abstract

This report evaluates the agreement procedure for land use, housing and transport between the State and the municipalities in the largest urban regions as well as the city-regional planning that forms its basis. The report presents 22 proposals to further develop the procedure. The purpose of the agreement procedure for land use, housing and transport has been to improve cooperation between municipalities in growing urban regions in the integrated city-regional planning of land use, housing and transport and to transmit the nation-wide interests to regional and municipal planning. In the agreement procedure, common negotiations and financial incentives have been the key means of the central government in promoting a transition from the supervision of interests of individual municipalities and the resulting sub-optimisation to the pursuit of a common good and sustainable development. The development proposals presented in the report are based on an analysis of the strategic nature of land use, housing and transport agreements and city-regional planning, overview of the history of land use, housing and transport agreements, use of international reference material, and study of the current strategic challenges of the land use, housing and transport agreement procedure. The structures, processes and contents of the agreement procedures were also evaluated. The authors of the report were Matti Vatilo, Hanna Mattila and Petri Jalasto. The representatives of the regions covered by the agreements in the working group were Hannu Penttilä, Jyrki Mattila, Helena Rissanen, Mirja Vehkaperä and Meri Lumela.