Role of Spatial Planning in Creating Sustainable Rural Areas

The theoretical research is about the spatial planning of rural areas in the European Union as well as about legal framework and variety of planning documents for spatial planning in Latvia in the context of rural development. The study provides the proof of neccessity for horizontal and vertical cooperation and coordination between different sectors and planning levels in the process of elaboration of spatial plans to ensure that interests of different sectors are incorporated in these documents from one hand, and to provide the elaboration of the sectoral development policies according to the guidelines of spatial plans on the other hand. The research proves that the Ministry of Regional Development and local goverments of Latvia have to elaborate a proposal for amendments in the legislation for territorial planning to provide mutual conformity and connectivity between different regulations and laws as well as to organise development of methodological guidelines for territorial/spatial plans in the different planning levels to promote better quality of planning documents.