Even before the most recent round of planning reforms put in place by the French government that now require better co-ordination of planning, local governments in this region took advantage of earlier legislation that allowed the formation of intercommunal organisations to facilitate co-operative activities including land use planning. Managing the Loire estuary and local streams and wetlands cannot be done on a commune by commune basis, and this common issue provided an early impetus for collaboration. Similarly, historical competition between Nantes and Saint-Nazaire over shipyards and port facilities evolved into co-operation when both places were forced to come together in order to build a more efficient port complex that could compete with other port cities in Europe. Thus, the governance and regulation of land use are as much a political project as they are a reaction to social, economic conditions and urban-rural morphologies. The preceding discussions of the area’s spatial planning objectives illuminate several major challenges and opportunities. These are discussed in turn.