Abstract
In depopulating regions governments often are faced with an accumulation of planning challenges: economic and population decline, budget cuts, no or little development opportunities and an increasing ageing and lower educated population. This complicates the process of developing future oriented spatial plans. Citizens in meanwhile have to deal with the consequences of these challenges and a lack of adequate spatial policies. Some communities therefore decided to take over planning responsibilities from local governments. They have developed and implemented their own future visions, and build sports accommodations for the youth, community centres to enhance social cohesion or touristic facilities to promote economic growth. This PhD-research concerns informal and community-led planning practices in depopulating areas across Europe (Galicia, Spain; Östergötland, Sweden; De Achterhoek, The Netherlands). This research is aimed at gaining a better understanding of how local communities plan (in informal ways), and how their planning activities relate to governmental (statutory) planning. In my thesis I showed that communities can be very successful in developing plans in their own informal ways. However, they do this often in a context that is also dominated by government-led planning, and often need support that can only be provided by local governments (room for manoeuvre to implement plans, funding, facilitation in the case of complex bureaucracies). Governments in their turn cannot make tailor-made, locally supported and budget-proof plans without the involvement of active communities and increasingly outsource tasks (in explicit and implicit ways) towards a local level.
