Forcing and avoiding change. Exploring change and continuity in local land-use planning in Galicia (Northwest of Spain) and The Netherlands

This paper compares local adoption of land-use plans under new planning acts in two different planning contexts, Galicia (Northwest of Spain) and the Netherlands. Local adoption is presented as a process of institutionalization, where adoption or not adoption by the municipalities depends on two forces -the obligation to adopt a land-use plan, which relies on a political mandate from the legal point of view, and the resistance of the municipalities to adoption. These two forces are explored from an institutional perspective. Findings suggest that the literature on institutionalization has proven to be weak for understanding the process of diffusion of the new acts among the Galician and Dutch municipalities. In addition, the sources of continuity found in the literature do not offer satisfactory explanations for reluctance to adopt the new acts at local level. As conclusion it is argued that the institutional literature should be broader to include concepts of behavioural economics like individual and economic interests.