The planning of shopping centres - Local authorities competing in an unforeseen escalation process

The hypothesis was that local authorities act strategically vis-a-vis neighbouring municipalities when deciding whether to permit the opening of a new shopping centre or not. Three case studies all reveal the same result: the assumption of strategic action could not be confirmed. The local authorities seem rather to apply a limited perspective. As could probably be expected, they concentrate on the interests of their own municipality and show little concern for regional issues. However, they also seem to disregard the fact that the initiative to establish a shopping centre may motivate a neighbouring municipality to do the same. The result is an escalation process where the shopping centres or the plans for the centres steadily expand. One reason for this pattern of evolution seems to be that the local authorities rely on the judgement of the developers and allow them to take control.