D4.1 – Intervention points for creating land use policy and decision-making change

D4.1 – Intervention points for creating land use policy and decision-making change was submitted by UKF Nitra and CzechGlobe in March 2025. The description of the deliverable is available below and the full deliverable is at the end for download.

This report aims to identify potential intervention points that can create changes in land use policy and decision-making leading to future transformations. It also serves to guide future work in the PLUS Change project, particularly in exploring barriers and options for change across multiple decision-making levels. Based on actor and policy analysis conducted in collaboration with 12 diverse Practice Cases across Europe, the report examines the political economies of land use decision-making to better understand the dynamics shaping current practices. From this analysis, four key intervention points were identified across contextual, procedural, and implementation levels.

The four intervention points identified and considered can be summarised as: (1) enhancing multi-actor participation, equity, and decentralisation, calling for a shift from top-down to more inclusive, locally responsive processes; (2) bridging policy gaps and improving cross-sectoral and cross-scale integration, promoting alignment across policy levels for greater synergy; (3) responding to external trends and emerging challenges, recommending adaptive, flexible policies that incorporate bottom-up initiatives and environmental movements; and (4) strengthening policy implementation, monitoring, and accountability arguing the need for robust systems, clear responsibilities, and independent oversight mechanisms.

The intervention points identified can serve as strategic entry points for improving land use policy and decision-making by addressing the roles of policies, actors, and their interactions. The findings draw from a rich variety of cases, and they are not intended to be uniformly applied across all EU countries. Rather, the intervention points provide a “palette of options” that can be adapted, explored, and tested to meet the specific needs and challenges of different local and regional contexts.