Coordination and Leadership in Spatial Planning

The article intends to link up the discussion on coordination in spatial planning to the on-going discussions on governance and leadership. Coordination has traits of a collective good which provides benefits at large but shifts the burden on individual actors. Leadership in organizations has to master similar difficulties but succeeds by developing among the stake-holders a common mindset of being in the same boat and profiting individually of a successful leadership. But in contrast to leaders in organizations, planners have first to establish the necessary governance arrangements in order to mould stakeholders into a coordinating community interested in collectively fostering the development of the region. Also the tasks of leadership are more difficult because planners do not dispose of the power resources of an organizational leadership. The aim of this paper is to explain why planners could mobilize their poor power resources more effectively.