Proposal for a logically structural model of local territory/community development planning for the Baltic sea coast

Edgars Pudzis, Sanda Lapuke

Riga Technical University

DOI: 10.22364/fg.21.2

Keywords: regional development, participatory planning, sustainable development, local community planning

Abstract

Increasing attention in Europe is being paid to the new territorial development approach or planning direction or “bottom up” planning”, which means that increasingly more decisions regarding local development have to be taken at the lowest possible planning level – at the level of the village, including local communities. A significant problem has been identified in Latvia: rapid internal migration from rural territories to capital-city regions and external emigration to other countries. There are also problems of a social nature, as the unbalanced economic development of the regions leads to decreased quality of life and public activity. To solve these problems, new and modern solutions have to be found for the development of local communities and their involvement in regional development. The goal of this research is to develop an integrated, sustainable and participatory planning model as a new development planning tool at the village level. The main objectives resulting from this research goal are: to research the theoretical and regulatory aspects, to research community involvement and local development planning methods and approaches, and to research the potential of local economy and social aspects. The area where research was conducted was the Baltic Sea region (Latvia, Estonia, Finland (the Aland Islands), Sweden). The results of the research will form a proposal for a sustainable development planning model at the community level and proposals for further opportunities to introduce the village planning level in regional development planning.