Spatial planning, as a regional and subregional public policy, establishes a territorial integral vision implemented through spatial plans, aimed at achieving a balanced and sustainable spatial development and improving quality of life. To enhance the effectiveness of these plans, evaluation and monitoring are needed. This paper critically analyses the monitoring and evaluation framework for spatial plans in Spain. Based on extensive literature, legislative, and document review, as well as in-depth interviews with key stakeholders, the paper describes the legal provisions of spatial plans and how they work in practice. One of the main conclusions is that, although many laws and spatial plans have been adopted in Spain, they do not include sufficient details and provisions regarding basic monitoring and evaluation procedures. This practice is in fact highly dependent on the political will of regional governments. The main progress on monitoring and evaluation of spatial plans is achieved thanks to the enforcement of environmental legislation. Finally, it is suggested that the role of specific bodies, public participation, territorial observatories, and indicator systems should be strengthened as key elements of the evaluation and monitoring procedures for spatial planning.

In recent years, co-management has been highlighted in the scientific literature as fundamental strategy for groundwater control. However, the development of this institutional architecture is complex and presents important pitfalls and challenges. In this article we analyse the recent experience of co-management in the Requena-Utiel aquifer (Spain), based on a participatory action research. It aims to advance the co-management of groundwater by facilitating a consensus among users, as a basis on which to support future self-governance measures. We used a cognitive framing approach, developed through interviews with local stakeholders, to analyse the conflicting visions on the aquifer management; and we developed an interactive framing approach, through workshops, to achieve a shared understanding of aquifer co-management. The research demonstrates the usefulness of these approaches to promote collective action and co-management in groundwater. It showed the key role that information and transparency play in gaining shared understanding and improving co-management; but also the difficulties of users in establishing agreements that question the current status quo on the aquifer.

Resumen. Este artículo destaca la importancia de un buen marco conceptual para abordar los procesos de seguimiento y evaluación en la ordenación del territorio en España. El objetivo de este trabajo es el de revisar las distintas aportaciones teóricas que tratan el seguimiento y la evaluación en la ordenación del territorio con el fin de proponer una serie de elementos y factores clave para esta práctica en España. A través de un examen de la literatura académica internacional y nacional pertinente, así como del análisis de casos en las comunidades autónomas españolas se obtienen los elementos y factores claves propuestos. Entre estos, destacan la importancia de la gobernanza territorial y la coordinación entre actores territoriales, la participación ciudadana, el aprendizaje mutuo durante todo el proceso de planificación y la importancia de las experiencias previas en esta materia. Palabras clave: planificación territorial, gobernanza territorial, monitoreo, evaluación. Researchers and practitioners in spanish spatial planning have an absence of conceptual framework to manage monitoring and evaluation processes in Spain. The aim of this work is to analyse the main theoretical frameworks related to spatial planning monitoring and evaluation. Key factors and components have been identified in order to make a preliminary conceptual framework proposal. To do that, the relevant international and national academic literature has been examined. Also the autonomous communities’ spatial planning systems have been analysed. The proposal highlights the importance of territorial governance. The coordination experience among territorial actors seems crucial. Furthermore, citizen participation appeared as a key element in spatial planning monitoring and evaluation tasks. Key words: territorial planning, territorial governance, monitoring, assessment.

Los mecanismos de evaluación y seguimiento de los planes de ordenación del territorio comprenden todos los procesos previstos y regulados en estos planes con la función de favorecer su evaluación, seguimiento y retroalimentación. En este trabajo se analizan los mecanismos que forman el sistema de seguimiento y evaluación de los planes de ordenación del territorio andaluces, como parte del sistema de gobernanza territorial de esta región meridional española, a partir del examen de los propios planes, la normativa vigente y aplicación de la misma por parte de los órganos competentes. Hasta qué punto su implementación hasta la fecha ha resultado exitosa en el caso de Andalucía también será objeto de análisis crítico, puesto que el desarrollo establecido, tanto en la normativa como en la práctica en esta materia, presenta algunas carencias y dificultades que se agravan por la limitación de recursos en el contexto de crisis económica actual.

Este artículo presenta la planificación comprehensiva territorial en Estados Unidos y profundiza sobre el impacto de las teorías del crecimiento inteligente en el caso de Arizona. El análisis de los planes comprehensivos del condado de Pima, con el apoyo de entrevistas, permite comparar experiencias de planificación territorial. Las conclusiones destacan avances de esta experiencia paralela a la ordenación del territorio española y europea donde, tras los conflictos y problemas detectados, se aboga por una planificación menos tecnocrática y más participada.

Cities have positioned themselves as critical actors in agri-food transitions towards sustainability through the implementation of food policy councils and food strategies for urban policymaking. Promoting participatory arrangements in food policymaking allows multiple actors to engage in a contested process of mutual learning that challenges individual paradigms and helps construct a common goal. The development of these multi-actor instruments has meant that social movements have had the possibility of reclaiming power in the governance spaces of cities, contributing to urban agri-food transitions. Nevertheless, while signalling that transition governance instruments can bring more inclusive and collective change, critical studies call for the need to pay attention to power dynamics in these processes. Drawing from this notion, this paper explores how diverse governance actors mobilise and execute power within and between two urban food governance instruments – an agri-food transition platform and a food policy council – in Valencia, Spain. The study raises three critical points regarding the potential of urban food governance processes for sustainability transitions: the longitudinal and cross-scale evaluation of power dynamics and subsequent tensions, the acknowledgement of different kinds of power, and the possible coexistence of governance spaces.