Policy Design for Sustainable Integrated Planning: From Local Agenda 21 to Climate Protection

Recent history of town and city planning shows growing attention is given to environmental policies in this field, despite many apparent contradictions when comparing theory and actual practices. Sustainabilty issues and new systems of public governance, based on participatory and inclusive schemes, particularly characterise the last decade of urban planning culture. Many experts are indicating that local dimensions of sustainability have a prominent role to play in planning systems – a perspective supported by the United Nations (UN) since 1992 with the recognition of the Local Agenda 21 (LA21) concept. This article underlines that know-how introduced by LA21 at the local government level can be a useful start-up point for climate protection planning and, in particular in terms of changing peoples’ attitude, can play a defining role in developing effective policies for climate change mitigation and adaptation in the urban context.