Planning and Regulation of the Retail Trade to Protect the Inner City Environment and to Prevent Unhealthy Competition

The Danish retail structure has changed dramatically during the last decades. The aim of this article is to argue for the necessity of central state control and ‘watertight ’ regulation to manage the retail structure development and its (negative) results as they may appear in a decentralised planning system. This argumentation shall be seen in the light of the Danish experiences during the last two decades, which will be presented and discussed on the basis of the author’s PhD-research. Especially the new regulations in the 1997 Planning Act and the (possible) effects of the regulations will be discussed. The article will, through the use of case studies, present evidence for the assumed success or failure of this law reform. CONTAC