SEA IN THE CONTEXT OF LANDTUSE PLANNING

The overall research question of the licentiate thesis is the following:How is the EU directive ‘On the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment’2001/42/EC introduced to the legal framework in different European countries? More specifically, in whatways does the transposition of the SEA directive to the national legal framework differ and how do thosedifferences relate to the countries’ national planning contexts.The aim of the thesis is to shed light on these questions through the study of the introductionof the EU directive 2001/42/EC in three countries: Sweden, Iceland and England. It is theambition of the research that the thesis will contribute to the SEA discussion with thefollowing aspects:• Examples of certain parts of the academic discussion and development of the concept ofSEA during the last two decades.• A description of the national implementation of the EU directive 2001/42/EC inSweden, Iceland and England.• A description of the national level planning contexts to which the directive is introduced.• A description and analysis of the similarities and differences in the national approaches tothe task of implementing the EU directive 2001/42/EC.• An analysis of the empirical findings from the national reviews with regard to existingtheories of planning and environmental integration.• A discussion and identification of the ‘context of relevance’, i.e. the factors in the existingplanning or legal framework that are considered to be influential for the outcome of theSEA application.1.3 The choice of SEA as a research topic and questions of interestThe main reason behind choosing to study the introduction of the SEA directive is theimmediate importance of the topic and the amount of unanswered questions. The directiveposes a challenge to planners and policy-makers alike and the legal implementation of thedirective has influenced the planning and environmental debate in all the countries addressedand the contents of this provides an interesting empirical basis. Furthermore, theimplementation of the SEA directive provides an empirical basis for studying the applicationof a supra-national directive in different national circumstances in a comparative manner.My personal relation to the topic is an interest in spatial planning as a phenomenon, itspotential as well as its limitations to bring about change. An interest in the environmentalaspects of the planning was awakened during my studies in town planning at the University ofNewcastle upon Tyne, 1990 – 1996, when environmental integration in town planning was arelatively new and undeveloped field. From that time I have seen approaches of introducingenvironmental efforts in planning ‘come and go’, and have been looking for an opportunityto assess what marks they have left on the practice of spatial planning (such as Agenda 21,environmental plans and environmental appraisals). More specifically on the topic of SEA, Ifirst came across the term during an optional course offered in the planning studies onEnvironmental Impact Assessment. Being presented as a convincing solution to thedeficiencies of the existing system of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), I believedthat its implementation was just around the corner. The implementation has been a long timecoming, and following the SEA discussion through studies and practice for 15 years, theconcept of SEA has changed and evolved. While the methodological and theoretical aspectsof SEA have developed, much of the SEA discussion can be recognised to derive fromprevious discussions in the planning field, while other aspects are new. Hence, on the basis of11