This policy brief is the outcome of the first mapping phase of different national support initiatives in each Nordic country which primarily target sustainable urban development. The selected initiatives do not reflect a comprehensive list as such, but each contains a description of scope, objectives and actors involved. The selection was guided by the following questions:

The initiatives that were identified have been collected in a listed table (see annex) for the purposes of being analysed and considered for further case study work in the coming phases of the project.

So far, we can draw the following lessons from our Nordic national support initiatives mapping:

Planning for green and inclusive urban development in the Nordic countries is increasingly a cross-sectoral effort, but spatial planning often remains at the core when plans are implemented in regions and cities. This can be a source of tension when stakeholder interests overlap, but also a potential unifying driver to meet national and regional planning objectives. To reach the national ambitions and objectives for inclusive and green sustainable development in the Nordics, whether they are specific to a sector, or thematically cross-cutting, involvement of the spatial planning and land-use systems remains pivotal.

Many of the national support initiatives identified in this study contain partnership networks. Some national support initiatives are directly linked to spatial planning, whilst others are more complementary in order to ensure different sustainability targets across the Nordic countries. As a result, many national support initiatives can be said to operate alongside the respective national spatial planning systems.

The local level would benefit from increased support for capacity building and policy uptake 

There are many ways the Nordic planning systems provide for green and sustainable development, but when it comes to the spatial planning systems today, the objectives put forth in national support initiatives overlap. It often boils down to different resources and capacities of municipalities across the Nordic countries to govern and regulate just and sustainable urban development futures. Even if all municipal planning frameworks must outline how national and regional goals have been considered, it is often up to individual planning authorities to assess how this will be done in each development project. This can be a challenging task and sometimes hard to fulfil without further support from other planning or national-level authorities. The number of national support initiatives are nevertheless emerging, and it is increasingly important that planning authorities and practitioners are able to deal with the complexities of sustainable urban development.

The Nordic Region has a vision to become the most integrated and sustainable in the world by 2030. Efforts toward this vision are largely reflected in the various national support initiatives across the Nordic countries….

The linkages between spatial planning systems and how well-integrated these national support initiatives are with the local project work and the local spatial planning practices, are still underexplored. There is a further need to examine the varied planning work that originates from national support initiatives in the Nordic countries. This will be further explored in the coming phases of this project.

One of the first initiatives of the programme period was a Nordregio webinar focusing on two projects funded by the Nordic Thematic Group on Green and Inclusive Urban Development. The event brought together national, regional, and local representatives to exchange knowledge about ongoing initiatives, practices, and discuss how multilevel governance cooperation can be enhanced within and across the Nordic region. All of the five countries were represented with keynote speakers and panelists.

During the programme, participants had the opportunity to learn more about some of the national and local initiatives that are addressed in this policy brief but also other national programmes. These included, Klimasats by the Norwegian Environment Agency, DK2020 by Concito/Realdania, Borgarlína, Transport for the Capital Area, Iceland, Lähiöohjelma, Finnish Ministry of the Environment, as well as the Area-based initiatives by Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development and Prosjekt tettstedspakke by the Norwegian Centre for Transport Research (TØI) in Norway.

For more information and recording of the webinar: