3. The administrative ambit of the plan

Given the variety of climatic, territorial and social conditions in the different regions, it is surprising how similar they are in terms of the administrative ambits that regulate, control and draft planning. This also means that any differences between different planning systems are actually rather small. Indeed, current planning requirements should be as set by the administrative ambits and units that will take them forward. However, that has not been the trend. For example, the disappearance of metropolitan areas as management units in plans has caused many more problems than it has solved. This steady disappearance of intermediate units in fact led to polarisation between regional and local government. The consideration of sustainability as a determining factor in the drafting of plans means, de facto, that a large part of strategy becomes environmental in nature. Unfortunately, the environment tends not to stick to artificially determined administrative borders, but usually either goes beyond them or fails to reach them. Under these conditions it is essential to link the administrative bodies of regulation, control and management with the natural units involved. We find a similar situation with regard to major social and economic issues when new plans are being drafted. This need for administrative and planning ambits to be flexible enough to adapt to different natural and socio-economic units and to their changing nature is key if we are to arrive at plans that are ecologically more sustainable. This need not result in a proliferation of cascaded planning instruments (the Spanish planning system having been characterised to date by its hierarchical nature) but will probably mean that only two or at the most three levels need to be considered. This proliferation of plans from the general to the most specific is not only inflexible, but also leads to considerable administrative complications and major problems resulting from the need for verification at all points. Nor does it mean that these management units for planning will become just another component in the national or regional system of political organisation, but simply that, depending on the type of ambit, they should be coordinated with the organs of constitutional power —i.e. the new plans should not only have the usual content but also include the way for them to be managed, depending on both their territorial ambit and any socio-economic and environmental factors that may come into play.