ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the promotion of sustainable development at the local level through Agenda 21, the action plan for sustainable development adopted at the Earth Summit in 1992. Its particular focus is on Local Agenda 21 (LA21), a scale at which action can have both immediate and direct effect. Because LA21 gives local authorities a key role, this provides an ideal opportunity to explore the relationship between planning and the promotion of sustainable development. The spatial dimension of sustainable development, including in relation to urban design, land use and transport, comes into sharp focus, particularly in cities. By looking at LA21, insight is also gained into how the launch of new participatory processes based on good governance principles has helped local actors identify what is needed at the local level. While attention is focused at the local level, account has also to be taken of how broader processes, across the different levels of global, international, national and local governance, act as facilitators or as impediments to change.
