**3. Values-Led Approaches: A Theoretical Orientation for Spatial Planning**

Generally, approaches entail how decisions and activities are carried out by those tasked with leadership in any sector or discipline of life. These decisions and activities also relate to planning, which involves coordinating different or related and interlinked or isolated decisions and activities to achieve envisaged goals. In planning, values form an essential part of making decisions and implementing activities [21–23].

#### *3.1. Why Do Values Matter in Approaches?*

The importance of values in planning has attracted interest from many scholars. That is why it has become common to read about value-focused decision making [28], values-led conservation [29], values-driven leadership [30], values-led participatory design [31], values-led entrepreneurship [32], value-led management [33], and value-focused approaches [34]. In terms of spatial planning, planners have always operated with values or are aware of the need for values in their work. This is why planning has been done with different sets of human-related values. For instance, Chigbu et al. (2019) called for a tenure security-sensitive approach that would protect landowners' rights in any process of land use and planning in the global south [35]. However, Auzin, š's and Viesturs's VLP approach re-evoked the discourse in spatial planning in the context of values-sensitive ways, because they directly argued for the "creation of positive synergy in managing land-related resources" [17] (p. 275).

This study furthers this discourse by basing its argumentations on the premise that all sorts of planning—whether land/spatial planning, natural resource, or human-resource planning—are related because they are all human activities. This premise is not only relevant for grasping values and how they apply in planning, but it is also a truism because planning is about people [36]. That is why the implementation of planning activities either improves or worsens the living conditions of people [17]. Davoudi (2016) argued that there is a "value of planning" and there are "values in planning" [37]. This implies that planning does not only lead to value (e.g., a social value of planning) but depends on values. Hersperger et al. (2017) evaluated outcomes in planning in Swiss landscapes and concluded that the values tied to goals and indicators are linked to an efficient outcome [38]. From Australian experience, Rawluk et al. (2017) noted that concrete and abstract social values influence the success of environmental management planning concerning bushfire mitigation because values relate to natural places and attributes [39]. Ives et al. (2017) recognised the importance of "capturing residents' values for urban green space" in urban land administration [40]. What all these scholars [17,36–40] are alluding to is that values are at the core of any planning process. Hence, values matter in any sort of planning [41]. This is why this study seeks to link values-led approaches to planning from a spatial perspective. However, the study cannot achieve this aim without understanding what values-led approaches entail in spatial planning and development.
