Strategic spatial planning and efficacy: an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) approach in Lyon and Copenhagen

Strategic spatial planning has been a key planning practice at the urban regional level to support the implementation of local spatial transformations. Previously, qualitative comparative research has revealed the complexity that characterizes strategic spatial planning processes; it is multi-faceted, highly context-dependent and embedded in multi-level governance configurations. However, to date, little effort has been made to quantitatively evaluate the 'planning efficacy' of strategic spatial planning processes comparatively, i.e. to investigate the extent to which strategic spatial plans facilitate or hinder the local implementation of concrete development strategies in different contexts. In this paper, we evaluate the planning efficacy of strategic spatial planning processes by applying the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) in the urban regions of Lyon, France and Copenhagen, Denmark. Analytically, we employ a set of components capturing the governance performance and the impact of external forces that are assumed to contextually influence the efficacy of strategic planning. Our analysis shows that a quantitative approach such as the AHP, is a useful way to compare strategic spatial planning across urban regions.