**7. Conclusions**

The case study from Stockholm County provided wide empirical material and experiences of practitioners working under di fferent municipal arrangements in a rapidly growing urban region. Consequently, the findings of this paper can contribute to better understand the factors that can facilitate the integration of ES in local planning practice. Four main conclusions can be drawn from this study. Firstly, there is a need for legal support and regulations for ES on the national and EU policy level. Secondly, local political support is necessary to enable the municipalities to take initiatives. Therefore, there is a need for communication between the municipal practitioners and local politicians so to foster learning concerning ES implementation. Thirdly, knowledge related to ecosystem services and motivation amongs<sup>t</sup> the municipal actors is a key factor for implementing ecosystem services in the municipal planning practice. Capacity building initiatives are necessary within the municipalities to maintain and develop the ES knowledge in the municipal organization. Fourthly, monitoring is important in order to ensure that the visions set strategically are translated into concrete actions and to learn from experiences. Overall, advancing ES in local planning requires a combination of top-down political support and bottom-up planning initiatives from local actors.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, S.K.; methodology, S.K.; writing—original draft preparation, S.K.; writing—review and editing, M.H., S.B. and B.B.; supervision, B.B. and M.H.; funding acquisition, B.B. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research was funded by FORMAS Research Council, gran<sup>t</sup> number 2015-00133.

**Acknowledgments:** We thank Mona Petersson for help with the layout of the map.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.
