Giving a spatial structure to the regional development strategies in order to achieve a balanced use of lands and resources for a more sustainable development is not a straightforward task for the regions in Sweden. The reason is the planning monopoly of the municipalities and lack of planning power at the regional level based on the Planning and Building Act. Therefore, using a strategic spatial planning process as a coordination process is a controversial issue in the Swedish planning system. This thesis is dedicated to a case study (Structural picture of Skåne) in order to achieve a better and deeper understanding of the various aspects of such process. This purpose has been followed through collecting quantitative data (semi structured interviews and documents) and analyzing them according to a conceptual framework. The findings demonstrate that in order to meta-governing the network of municipalities in a region, strategic spatial planning process includes meta-governance mechanisms (network design, network framing and network management). The network design mechanism is heavily depends on the legitimacy of the spatial planning process and the initiator (here Region Skåne) is required to increase this legitimacy by working on different aspects of legitimacy. The network framing is to interactively build a consensus among all the actors by developing a common vision for the region and concretize it through common strategies. The scenarios for the future of the region must be developed through discussions and joint interpretation of the facts and analysis rather than being made merely by technical spatial analysis. Otherwise, making the strategies would face lots of misunderstandings, ambiguities and oppositions. Finally, since a complete consensus is not possible, questions and disagreements always exist. In addition, the weaker actors (municipalities) which have limitations and barriers to implement the strategies or put themselves in line with them need constant support from the stronger actors and the Region. Hence, the strategic spatial planning calls for a continuous discussion and support in order to manage the network of municipalities and keep the created picture alive in the background of their comprehensive plans.

Regional spatial planning is on the rise. In a Swedish context, regions hold little mandate in spatial planning, but an ongoing trend of planning extending to the regional level can be seen.  Aside from three regions with official planning responsibilities, many regions practise spatial planning through non-statutory practices.  The aim of this thesis is to explore the types of logic that three carefully selected regions apply in practising non-statutory regional spatial planning. To that end, I analyse the prevailing understanding of the spatial-political arena of municipalities, regions and national authorities, and the challenges that these various types of logic may lead to when practising non-statutory planning. The thesis responds to two research questions1) the types of logic that guide non-statutory regional planning, and 2) the challenges such logics may face. The three selected regions, the Blekinge region, the Västra Götaland region, and the Östergötland region, were studied and compared through interviews, observations and document analysis. A thematic analysis is applied onto the material, from which dominating logics were identified. Findings show that these regions, even within the same national context, operate in diverse ways, and that challenges relate to the current fuzziness of the Swedish regional planning legislation, a perceived lack of guidance from the national level, and difficulties in collaborating with municipalities.

What is studied in this essay is how municipal self-government and the municipal planning monopoly can be affected for municipalities in Region Värmland if physical planning were to be regionalized in Värmland. There is a power shift going on in today´s situation, where the local is being moved more and more to the regional level. It is also a power struggle between who should control different thing. The purpose of the work is to find out how municipalities in Värmland will be affected if the physical planning were to be regionalized. Also how civil servants and their work regarding planning may be affected. This can be seen based on two dimensions that are applied in the study, the dimension of power and the dimension of activity, which can show differences and similarities exist between municipalities. The questions to be answered are:  - What effects and perspectives (pros and cons) do you think the working method can have for the interviewed municipalities if spatial planning is regionalized? -Does it matter if it is a smaller or larger municipality? -How is planning affected by this, what would be the consequences/problems for the businesses from more regional physical planning in Värmland?  Through qualitative interviews, respondents from eight municipalities in Värmland have been interviewed to answer how they think they will be affected if regional spatial planning were to be used in Värmland. The respondents work with relevant professions within community planning. The results show, based on four themes, divided unconditionally based on the respondent´s answers, how the municipalities and their respondents would be  affected. Among other things, the respondents lack responsibility from the region, resources and the municipalities conditions look different and depending on whether it is a small or large municipality it can look different. The local knowledge a municipality has is also important for municipalities, and municipal self- government is also something that municipalities think is important. Politics and democracy are important parts of how things should work. The conclusion shows that different effects and perspectives with pros and cons will affect the interviewed municipalities if spatial planning is regionalized. An important perspecitve is that power between municipality and region plays a role and also that municipalities today work in different ways and are therefore affected differently depending on their size, small or large municipality. The planning and activites will have several different consequences, both good and bad, knowledge and cooperation is something that will be able to improve the planning.