ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the experience of metropolitan planning in Scotland, with particular reference to West Central Scotland. The discussion provides an important contrast with the nature and experience of metropolitan planning in England because of the different institutional arrangements prevailing in Scotland. In Scotland, metropolitan and urban planning remains the responsibility of local authorities operating within the context of strategic guidance provided by the Scottish Office. The Scottish arrangements have now changed as a result of local government reorganisation. The chapter considers the implications of these changes in light of the achievements of metropolitan planning through regional government and in the context of forthcoming constitutional change in Scotland. It then considers some of the emerging challenges and opportunities for metropolitan planning in Scotland. The experience of metropolitan planning in West Central Scotland offers a rich insight into the processes of spatial management of a region undergoing protracted economic, industrial and social change.
