In essence, the system is evolving to be less hierarchal and more flexible in terms of the rules that are imposed, w hile at the same time reorienting the role of governments in spatial development towards the local level and placing a larger onus on private actors to take the lead in new developments. They further argue that the diminishing role of the national government in such areas as landscape quality de facto elevates the importance of EU environmental directives as a determinant of national spatial structure (Zonneveld and Evers, 2014: 69). Thus, there is much consternation surrounding present reforms which stem in large measure from changes both in terms of how' land use is governed and in the role and scope of governmental actors which have accelerated in the wake of the 2008 economic crisis (Heurkins and Hobema, 2014; Kickert, 2015; Waterhout, Othengrafen and Sykes, 2013).