Climate change and other global environmental challenges – interconnected in different ways – are increasingly framing all societal debate and decision-making. The requirement to promote climate  sustainability (climate change mitigation and adaptation) in land use planning and transport planning is of utmost importance because these planning tools can have a significant impact on both carbon dioxide emissions and the adaptation of communities to the impacts of climate change.

This study examines the norms and practices of Finnish land use and transport planning from a climate sustainability perspective.  The aim is to find out what legal and administrative barriers and opportunities municipalities and government authorities have to promote climate sustainability goals in this planning system, which consists of many levels and sectors of government. Theories on multi-level governance and policy coherence have highlighted the various obstacles of achieving policy objectives in these kinds of settings.

The study uses both legal analysis and empirical methods in order to carry out this research task. Our research questions include: what kinds of opportunities and obstacles does the legislation on land use and transport planning provide for the sustainable climate transformation of cities (de lege lata), what kinds of opportunities and obstacles do the administrative practices of land use and transport planning include from the point of view of urban climate sustainability (de facto), and how could this legal and administrative framework be improved to better promote sustainable climate transformation (de lege ferenda)?

We find that, on the level of objectives, the framework as a whole is quite coherent with the general objectives of the legislation acknowledging sustainability goals. The different authorities within the framework, too, all recognise climate sustainability as a common goal and aim to promote it in their planning and other administrative tasks. However, on the level of concrete planning instruments, other factors often take precedence over climate sustainability goals, both in legislation and in the political discretion abundant in the system. As a result, the system as a whole is not particularly well-equipped to promote sustainable mobility transformation, even if it may seem that way on the surface. The policy coherence seems to be somewhat superficial.