This paper discusses and further elaborates on the issue of how spatial planning can contribute to the development of climate friendly and sustainable transport solutions. Focus here is placed, primarily, on climate change mitigation – reducing the emission of greenhouse gases – though the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainability are also highlighted. Nordregio Working Paper 2009:4
In order for spatial planning to properly address a sustainable approach to climate change mitigation, the other dimensions of sustainability, such as climate change adaptation, have also to be addressed. To achieve this, spatial planning, it is argued, has to create synergies between the six different toolkits presented in this paper. An understanding of the three factors of time, space and the nature of the stakeholders involved is also crucial in the search for climate friendly and sustainable transport solutions. The paper introduces a theoretical framework and then presents three cases in the regions of Stockholm, Helsinki and on the island Bornholm. The paper concludes with a discussion of the findings arising from the previous sections.