ABSTRACT
Chapters 1 and 2 have shown the apparent legitimacy and reasonableness of the convergent calls for spatial planning to have a role in addressing climate change. But we must recognize that both planning and climate change are highly contested and complex labels, open to expression and framing by interests with divergent objectives and agendas. These interests are formed within a wider context (political, scientific and professional) and at different scales (global, national and local). The relationship of planning and climate change is relatively recent and uncharted territory, and it is worthwhile reflecting on its pattern of evolution in a number of different national contexts. The chapter focuses on the UK as an interesting example of the tensions between and within the climate change and spatial planning discourses, but also briefly provides a comparison with the contrasting developments in the Netherlands.
