ABSTRACT
In Denmark, there is currently (2016) an extensive debate among politicians, professionals and researchers, concerning the Planning Act and the objectives, structures and processes of the spatial planning system. Based on studies of changes in the Danish spatial planning system, and of practices at the regional level in North Denmark, this chapter illustrates the emergence of a culture change in the Danish planning community. The interplay between political-administrative (or professional) cultures and local cultures is important, since both researchers and practitioners have criticised the lack of 'sync' (synchronisation) between the two. Regional planning rested on principles of 'equal development' in distributing welfare services, and was part of a hierarchical but decentralized system in which plans at lower levels could not contradict higher-level plans. In a Danish regional context, views of spatiality and mechanisms of planning are increasingly being reinvented to serve a regional 'engine of economic growth' and a regional innovation system.
