Characterising the Ultimate Ends of Municipal Land Policy: An Analysis of Land Policy Aim Setting in Finnish Municipalities

Municipalities engage in solving local to global policy problems. Yet it remains poorly understood how they reconcile and prioritize policy problems when formulating sectoral policies such as municipal land policy. This article develops conceptual understanding of sectoral policy aim setting and investigates the land policy aim setting of Finnish municipalities. The analysis draws on interviews with municipal representatives and key policy documents. The results highlight ambiguities and potential conflicts and paradoxes in land policy aim setting as municipalities pursue incoherent and vaguely expressed aims. Locally embedded issues dominate over the global sustainability agenda in land policy aim setting.