Planner-level variation in sustainability regulation: agency in statutory planning practice

This study examines planner-level variation in sustainability-related plan regulations and relates this variation to planners’ self-assessments. The study combines quantitative regulation analysis and survey-based self-assessments with qualitative responses, linking local detailed plan regulations to planners. The analysis identifies variation within shared institutional conditions and compares observed regulatory profiles with planners’ assigned importance, self-assessed knowledge, and reported opportunity to influence plan content. Observed regulatory frequency aligned more closely with self-assessed knowledge and reported opportunity than with assigned importance. The findings show how planner-linked variation in legally binding planning outputs, interpreted alongside self-assessments, provides one empirical basis for examining situated professional agency.