Implementing Strategic Environmental Assessment of spatial planning tools: A study on the Italian provinces

•This is a comparative analysis of SEA in strategic spatial planning in Italy.•The adhesion of Provinces to the study is remarkable.•SEA implementation and integration into spatial planning is still moderate.•Participation via consultations should be more widespread.•Monitoring and institution of observatories are still in an infancy stage.

After more than a decade from the publication of the European Directive 2001/42/CE (Directive) on Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), the design and construction of the interested spatial planning instruments has gone through a variety of changes and integrations in European and in world states. This inhomogeneous panorama can be explained with a pattern of institutional structures that have so far affected the implementation of the Directive. The aim of this paper is to investigate the level of implementation of the Directive in Italy by developing a comparative analysis of the quality of integration of SEA within the design of the spatial coordination plan of a set of Italian provinces. Italian practice is analyzed in the framework of a comparative study of worldwide SEA implementation within spatial and land use planning. The results reveal strengths and weaknesses in SEA implementation at the provincial level and, in particular, the emergence of critical areas of research concerning institutional context, public participation, monitoring, and observatory of the spatial transformations.