The thesis studies land use governance processes in the municipalities of Sogndal, Horten, Trondheim and Malvik. It focuses on drivers, processes and changes that have affected environmental sustainability in the urban settlements and their surroundings. The thesis consists of three research articles and this synthesising chapter. The thesis asks how the persisting unsustainability of urban development in selected Norwegian municipalities can be explained, after three decades of a sustainable development agenda. The three research articles each contribute towards answering this question. The first article explores relevant driving forces, change processes, and structural conditions that has influenced the characteristics of land use changes in the case studies. The second article focuses on the driver of ideas. It analyses changes in the environmental ideas of decision-makers involved in governance processes of local spatial change, acknowledging how ideas about problems and solutions, as importantly the deeperseated ideas contribute to shaping policy outcomes. The final article investigates why the local land use governance processes in the case areas have failed to secure environmentally sustainable land use. Empirically, the thesis draws on survey questionnaires, in-depth interviews, document analysis, land use change mapping and demographic and urban structure register data to answer the research questions.

The results of the thesis show that much has improved in terms of the environmental ideas held by decision-makers, seen from a perspective of environmental sustainability. It also finds that the spatial development practices in the case areas is characterised by a more landuse efficient built environment development practice compared to the period before the 1990s. However, a main argument put forth is that the relative improvements are insufficient from an environmental sustainability perspective. Environmental goals are clearly subordinated economic goals. The results of the three articles taken together clearly indicate that the assumed need for development and growth goes largely unquestioned in processes of land use governance. Another main finding suggests that in their current form, processes of land use governance face some challenges regarding democratic performance. The land use governance processes are increasingly characterised by neoliberalism, with a strengthened position for market processes and strong economic actors. Such a turn towards strengthening market forces’ influence over land use raises serious questions regarding the consequences for democratic quality in governance processes, and the ability of the public sector to sufficiently safeguard our common resources.