The Practice of Spatial Planning Between an Essentialist and Relational Conceptions

The research deals with the concept of sustainable spatial planning implementation and transformation in practice. To achieve this, the research uses the case study of the North-West England Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) 2021. The research aims to understand the effectiveness of sustainable spatial planning transformation from the traditional essentialist conception/model based on rigid boundaries and hierarchal framework to the new relation conception/model with fuzzy boundaries and multi-layers framework. This issue represents a major challenge for planning authorities worldwide as it causes spatial plan misalignment especially during implantation. The research starts by briefly introducing spatial planning in the larger worldwide and European context to understand its main advantages and the challenge of sustainable transformation. The research then provides background information about the North-West England RSS 2021 within the larger spatial planning framework of the United Kingdom and England. The research used the six-segment criteria spatial plan evaluation system developed by ‘Patsy Healey’ in 2004 to assess the North-West of England Spatial Planning Strategy 2021 alignment. The research found that, although the North-West England RSS 2021 represents a very good initiative towards relational spatial planning implementation in the UK, the plan struggled to achieve the full transformation towards the relational conception in some parts due to a number of reasons specifically political and legal.