Land use policy and community strategy. Factors enabling and hampering integrated local strategy in Alberta, Canada

We argue for embedding land use policy in broader strategies of community development as a way of contributing to the long-term success of communities and identify enabling factors for strategy formation and for coordination between land use policy and such strategy. In analysing eight case communities in Alberta, Canada, we identified several types of non- coordination involved: non-coordination between institutions organizing land use (‘land use tools’), non-coordination between land use tools and broader development strategies and non-coordination between such strategies and circulating narratives on the long-term. Higher level actors, single sector economies, prior strategies, strength of local administration, identity and ideology are factors shaping the formation of strategy and the coordination between strategy, long-term perspectives and land use tools. If strategy emerges, it can compete with others, it can still be ignored, or undermined through exceptions, not communicating and not- updating. Local government does not always have a grip on its own future. Strategy is presented as both narrative and institution and slowly reveals itself as a function, not a form. •Land use policy requires embedding in broader strategies.•We identify enabling factors for the emergence of strategy.•In co-evolution those factors can have positive and negative effects.•We discern reasons for non-linking land use tools and strategy Local strategy is a function not a form.