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The aim with this study was to examine how municipalities can work together for a sustainable maritime spatial planning. This has been done through a case study with the case inter-municipal collaboration in ocean planning between the municipalities Strömstad, Tanum, Lysekil and Sotenäs.

This study’s analysis has been accomplished by a direct content analysis in which previous scientific research has formed the analytical framework through a coding scheme. This coding scheme have been used to analyze two documents regarding ocean planning that the municipalities collaborate on. To get further information and a broader understanding of how inter-municipal collaboration have worked in the selected case, one interview has been performed with an employee at one of the municipalities.

This study shows that the municipalities put great weight on a sustainable maritime spatial planning with the use of the ecosystem approach. Furthermore, this study shows that the municipalities had good intentions with their collaboration, but that something went wrong on the way. The study shows that the collaboration between the municipalities did not turn out the way it is assumed the municipalities aimed for it to do. An important thing to note is that without the interview, this would have not been known. The reason for the failed collaboration between the municipalities remains unknown, but the study suggest that it had to do with different views on the politics in the municipalities.