ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the Steering Group Southwest Delta as an institutional arrangement aimed to help short-term planning processes to become more future-proof. It discusses both project and program management as devices to organize decision-making around complex spatial issues. It presents the case study of the implementation strategy developed and accomplished by the Steering Group Southwest Delta and it reflects upon its value in developing connecting capacity between the short and the long term. The chapter focuses upon the shortcomings of project approaches when it comes to long-term challenges evaluates how overarching institutional collaborative arrangements can mitigate these shortcomings. It also focuses upon the interpretation which projects are seen as stepping stones to a dot on the horizon which programs try to reach. Institutional arrangements, procedures and structures are essential to secure that the common developed framework will hold stand in the future. This is necessary to prevent the developed path from conflicting influences like volatile politics.
