AVS. Arkitektúr verktækni skipulag - 01.12.2004, Side 18

Ihe organisation and
implementation of planning
Ásdís Hlökk Theodórsdóttir, acting director of the National Planning Agency
The planning- and building law
which came into effect in 1998
largely changed the framework of
planning in lceland. It contained
many novelties and called for
changed processes, approaches
and attitudes of consultants, pub-
lic servants and politicians. At the
same time the public had become
much more aware of environmental
issues and rights and interests con-
nected to landuse and decisions
about construction projects.
The implementation of the plan-
ning- and building law has on the
whole been well accepted. Planning,
however, covers a wide field and
is intended to direct development
in an ever changing world and is
therefore not easily mastered. We
have constantly to evaluate how
best to collaborate and make deci-
sions, how effective this or that
approach is in a master plan, how
certain requirements in a detail plan
work in reality; how it is to live in the
environment we create and how it
supports or works against the policy
of our society for sustainable future
development. Part of learning from
experience and developing the plan-
ning system is a revision of the legal
framework and the Planning and
Building Law is now being revised.
The field of planning
The field of planning in this country
has been very varied and active dur-
ing the last few years. The people
who carry out planning have not
only received a new legal framework
to work within but also a number of
new and difficult tasks to tackle. In
these few words it is not possible to
draw a complete picture of the field
of planning in preceding years but
some of the greatest challenges in
planning have been:
• continued development of
lceland where the Capital Area
gains population where the
country has stagnated
• larger local authorities with
much land but rather few peo-
ple
• a technical revolution with the
advent of the Internet and e-
mail
• a new record in car ownership
and usage
• considerable increase in the
aluminium industry and a similar
increase in the building of power
plants, both hydroelectric and
geothermal
• constant increase in the number
of tourists, both lcelandic
and foreign with the resulting
increase in tourism services and
travel through the interior
• considerable change in use and
intensity of landuse in the coun-
try with decline of traditional
farming, increase in number and
size of holiday cottage areas,
reforestation and increased
demand for living in the country
without any connection to farm-
ing
• new employment like fish-farm-
ing in the sea
These sketches do not present a
complete picture of the conditions
for planning in lceland but they
show that many issues have to
be coordinated in the planning of
landuse. They also show that the
premises for planning can be radi-
cally altered in the space of a few
years and new employment and
landuses appeared presenting new
opportunities in planning and/or is
land intensitive and has a long time
influence on land and society.
Emphasis in planning
As has been mentioned above,
new emphasis in the carrying out
of planning have appeared during
the preceeding years. This can both
be connected to the influence of
the Planning- and Building Law and
Regulations from 1998 but also to
other currents and policies in plan-
ning.
Icelandic local authorities are now
working on the first generation of
development plans that put forward
a landuse policy for the whole of
the country within the jurisdiction of
each local authority. There are also
more detail plans being prepared
both in the country and in urban
areas than previously. We have also
seen the first comprehensive plan
for the Central Area of lceland. A
new Regional Plan has been pre-
pared for the Capital Area and a
Development Plan for the Capital
with an emphasis one more dense
and mixed development than previ-
ously known in planning in lceland
although it is not certain how this
will be followed up through detail
planning and implementation.
Public democracy in the prepara-
tion of planning ideas has received
increased attention and novel forms
of this tried, such as „planning
weekends".
Much has been done and new
avenues tried. There are however
many tasks waiting to be undertak-
en in planning. I shall finally mention
a few that I consider very important
in the years to come:
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