When all you have is a hammer - integration challenges in coastal zone planning

This paper critically examines the evolution of integration as a concept in coastal zone planning through an analysis of Norwegian municipal coastal zone plans spanning a 35-year period. By drawing on the framework of governmentality, we show how the coastal zone and the activities taking place there are being subject to problematizations, rationalizations and technologies for promoting integration. This illustrates how previous spatial dispositions themselves become problematized at later points, giving rise to new rationalizations and new technologies of governing, revealing a dynamic redefinition of integration in response to complex coastal governance challenges. What integration entails is not a given. Instead, it’s a fluid concept, evolving over time in meaning and intent. The paper also shows how ambitions for integrated or comprehensive planning can obscure the purpose of planning and increase complexity. With integration being framed as an undisputed answer to conflicts in the coastal zone, the difficulty of managing the multitude of coastal activities does not lead to a critical discussion on whether ‘integration’ is a fruitful ambition. Instead, it becomes an argument for yet more integrative efforts.