There are situations in which local institutions do not have the capacity to introduce a complex land use planning. In that case, an alternative is to simply include some spatial aspects into their development planning activities. If so far local representatives have only prepared a “shopping list” for their government and donors, they could now map where they actually want these developments (mainly infrastructure) to happen. If this is done in a participatory way and involves a discussion on the already existing infrastructure, their distribution and conditions, this already represents a significant improvement in the planning process. An example is the recently introduced spatial planning into communal development planning in Mali.   _{Your Comment}