Regionalisation of national planning—some methodological issues

The paper discusses methodological issues that arise when national planning is attempted which is regionalised and integrated with the traditional forms of physical and community development planning at the regional level. Distinctions are made between control and operational decisions and between analytical target planning and institutional planning. Decisions are furthermore classified according to levels in the decision-making hierarchy, and according to their sectoral and spatial dimensions, resulting in a multi-level, multi-sectoral, and multi-regional system of decision-making and planning activities. The key problem arising is that of distributing decision-making authority among the decision units and superimposing a planning and information exchange system that not only guarantees consistency, but also ensures efficiency in inter-sectoral growth patterns as well as with respect to location of project and utilisation of regional resources and external economies.