Strategic planning for spatial governance: a case study of the Central District in Arak County, Iran

Spatial governance involves studying the relationship between trade, and politics, resolving tensions, and harmonizing various social forces within a spatial domain within the framework of democratic governance models. The importance of this approach in space management stems from the increasing delegation of government responsibilities and powers to the non-governmental sector. Political space managers need to use strategic plans to achieve sustainable development and spatial justice. The general objectives of this research are an understanding of strategic planning and to apply it in one of the aspects of regional development, to explain the steps and process of strategic planning, and also how to determine and prioritize strategies. This research is descriptive in nature and applied-developmental in terms of purpose. The method of collecting information is a library, face-to-face interviews with experts, personal observation, and questionnaire completion. SWOT analysis method has been used to determine the importance and weighting of internal and external factors and to formulate strategies. A quantitative strategic planning matrix (QSPM) has been used to measure the attractiveness of each of the desired strategies. The results of the study indicate that conservative strategies are proposed as executive strategies in the Central District of Arak County, Iran.