Are you a Stakeholder or Streekholder? Formal and informal planning in the Flemish-Dutch Delta

Abstract

Grenspark Groot Saeftinghe (Borderpark of Saeftinghe), a transboundary region along the Scheldt estuary in the Flemish-Dutch Delta, faces overlapping ecological, climate, and socio-political pressures. As part of the INTERREG project, this region brings together formal stakeholders, and local citizen groups known as “streekholders” (Grenspark Groot Saeftinghe, 2025). This paper investigates how formal stakeholders and streekholders, co-shape spatial planning decisions in this contested landscape. Drawing on qualitative methods, including stakeholder mapping, literature review and discourse analysis, the study analyses partnerships across formal, informal, and research-based planning domains. It reveals how tensions between environmental, economic, and cultural values are negotiated through multi-actor collaborations. By comparing dynamics at both regional and delta scale, the paper illustrates how the planning arrangements can enhance adaptive governance and demonstrate pathways towards resilient and transnational development.