Nature concerns: the weak spot in Norwegian land-use planning for second homes

Land-use planning is a major tool for deciding on development and nature protection. Based on field visits and in-depth interviews with key actors, we investigate how nature concerns are handled in planning for second homes in three Norwegian municipalities. Our analytical focus is on the power play between key actors involved in local planning, addressing power by design of formal rules, pragmatic power in the “rules of the game” from a multilevel governance perspective, and power of discourses framing the planning narratives. We find that nature concerns are weak regardless of legal requirements. Extensive loss of nature areas is not framed as a problem, and few local actors promote nature concerns. Strong emphasis on local self-government in the planning system leads to a weak role of environmental authorities at the regional level. We identify a dominant planning discourse on local economic development through second-home constructions, promoted by developers and landowners.