Exploring the Acceptability of Spatial Planning Policy: Empirical Evidence from Somalia

Public acceptability is increasingly considered as an essential criterion for the effective implementation of sustainable land use policies. Understanding the acceptability of such policies can help policymakers avoid potential policy setbacks and therefore implement policy measures successfully. By employing binary logistic regression analysis, we examined public acceptability of spatial planning policy based on a set of data collected from a sample of the Somali population. More specifically, we examined how the acceptability of such policy is determined by attitudinal (self-transcendent, self-enhancement, openness to change, traditional values, and general environmental concern) and socio-demographic (age, gender, educational attainment, personal income, and living area) variables. The aim was to better inform future policy implementation to avoid potential policy aversion that previous policies might encounter in practice. In general, the regression analyses show that several attitudinal variables play a crucial role in predicting the acceptability of spatial planning policy. However, regression analyses show that except gender, socio-demographic variables are not significant predictors of spatial planning policy acceptability in the context of our study. The results suggest that when implementing sustainable land use policies such as spatial planning, policymakers should consider attitudinal variables to avoid potential policy setbacks.