The Icelandic Planning Agency traces its beginnings to a change made to the law on the planning of towns in the northern part of the country in 1938. In the time since then, the agency has been known by different names – Planning Office, Office of the National Planning Director, State Planning and finally, The Icelandic Planning Agency.

Over the years the objectives of the Institute have changed considerably, although in the beginning they always revolved around the issue of developing visions and decisions on the future development of the settlement and the framework of local communities that the built environment shapes.

For a long time the focus was almost exclusively on urban planning, but gradually planning began to include rural areas and even wilderness areas, but towards the end of the last century the overall planning of the central highlands was started. Then the subjects of the Institute were expanded with the introduction of the Environmental Impact Assessment Act in 1993. The most recent addition is then the ocean planning, but with the adoption of the Law on the Planning of the Sea and Coastal Areas in 2018 it is added to the diverse complex of the Institute’s subjects.

An example of the subject of the office of the State Planning Director in the Fifth Decade. Here you can see a part of a story in Morgunblaðið on 26 January 1947, which describes a planning proposal for the location of a traffic center at Miklatorg in Reykjavík.

In addition to the fact that the subjects of the Agency have thus changed geographically, its role has also changed. In the first decades, the Agency was itself involved in the planning of individual locations and areas, in consultation with the relevant municipalities. Today, the planning of individual locations and areas is carried out by and under the responsibility of municipalities. The participation of the Agency in these projects consists in guidelines to municipalities and monitoring of their planning work. The Agency is however directly involved in the development of planning ideas, on the one hand in the development of national planning policy and on the other hand in new projects in the development of coastal zone planning for fjords and bays. In the past quarter of a century, the Agency has also been responsible for the enforcement of the Environmental Assessment Act.

Law on the Structure and the Organization’s tasks over the years

The first Icelandic planning law, the Law on the Planning of Merchants and Sea Villages, was passed in 1921. It established a planning committee under the auspices of the state, which was responsible for planning Icelandic merchants and sea villages with 500 or more residents.

The amendment to the law in 1938 lowered the criterion for the population of the designated sites to 200 residents, as well as permitting the council to work on plans for other sites if the council considered a special reason. The Committee on Planning, which had been in operation since the law was passed in 1921, was consolidated and its composition determined to include the state’s master of houses, the roads and lighthouses. The Committee on Planning was responsible for the management of planning and the drawing up of plans. The law in 1938 authorized the Committee to hire employees; the master of houses and the health care worker; and this marks the beginning of the National Planning Agency.

From a story in Morgunblaðið on August 27, 1938, which reports on architect Harðar Bjarnason’s appointment to the planning committee to provide the leadership of its drawing room, as well as Dr. Guðmundur Hannesson becoming the committee’s health care coordinator, having previously been a member of the planning committee.

Example of a subject in the middle of the last century. From a story in Morgunblaðið on 20 August 1946 about the planned 3000 inhabitants of a town on Skagaströnd, the decision of Alþingi to build a herring factory on the site. At the time close to 300 people lived on Skagaströnd, but today the population is around 500. Vísir on 21 August 1946 says, among other things about the plan: “... Höfðakaupstaður will be built according to the most advanced plan that has ever been made over a town in Iceland. Between the industrial area and the residential area there is an area of about 100 m., on which there are planned lystigarðar. There is also a proposed sports area and a swimming pool and all the conditions, which are needed to create activities and culture.”

The laws on the planning of towns and villages were in effect until 1964, when a new planning law was passed. With this, the name of the planning committee changed to the State Planning Board and the official name of the State Planning Director is first seen in the law. The State Planning Board was comprised of the State Mayor, the Director of Roads and the Director of Lighthouses and Ports, as well as two representatives appointed by the Minister of Social Affairs, one of whom was appointed by the Association of Local Authorities. The role of the State Planning Board was to complete the planning abstracts for the Minister’s confirmation, initiate planning and restructuring where it considered necessary and take charge of planning. The office of the State Planning Director was, according to the law from 1964, intended to take care of the preparation of planning abstracts and their revision in consultation with the local authorities concerned and decide, in consultation with the State Planning Board, where the planning should be carried out at any given time and to monitor compliance with the existing plans everywhere. The State Planning Director was authorized to assign the preparation of planning abstracts to specially qualified persons in consultation with the office.

Planning for Egilsstaðir was done by the Planning Office in 1962, at which time there were close to 300 inhabitants in Egilsstaðir. The population in Egilsstaðir is today close to 3000.

The planning law of 1964 extended the zoning obligation to the towns, towns and villages, although the criteria for zoning was lowered to 100 residents. The minister was also allowed to decide that zoning should be extended to other places and the law specifically permitted the making of a joint plan for two or more municipalities where the common interest required. It is the first reference to the legal provisions for making zoning plans.

The Planning Act of 1964 was amended in 1978 in such a way that all municipalities should be planning-related, although it still provided that buildings in urban areas should be excluded from the plan. In 1978, the Althingi parliament also passed the first comprehensive legislation on buildings. It specifies the State Planning Commission along with others with responsibility for the area, but the office of the State Planning Commissioner did not handle specific projects on the basis of the building laws.

A lot of effort was put into making regional planning in the late 20 th century and into the new century. In many cases the first comprehensive planning for the area was being made, as no major planning had been made outside of urban areas at the time except for a few municipalities. One of them, the municipality planning for the north of Skarðsheiði, is shown in the picture.

A significant change was then made to the Planning Act in 1993, when the Minister was authorized to appoint a cooperative committee to work on a regional plan for the Central Highlands. Immediately, once this change in the law had taken effect, preparations for the creation of such a plan were started and worked on for the following years. The regional plan for the Central Highlands of Iceland 2015 was then confirmed in 1999.

The regional planning of the central highlands was confirmed in 1999. The national planning policy has now assumed the role of the regional planning in the planning policy of the central highlands.

Only in 1997 did the Icelandic parliament, Alþingi, adopt a comprehensive revision of the Planning Act of 1964 and the Building Act of 1978 in a unified legislative body, the Planning and Building Act. These changes brought about significant changes in the administration of planning. The responsibility for planning of municipalities was first formally transferred from the state (the State Planning Board and the National Planning Director) to the municipalities, although the fact was that in the years and decades before that the implementation of planning had been moving in that direction, especially in the most populous municipalities. The Planning and Building Act removed the State Planning Board and the office of the National Planning Director was renamed the Planning Agency.

The three planning stages, regional planning, master plan and subdivision planning, are first formally defined in legislation in the 1997 Planning and Construction Act. It also requires all municipalities to work on a master plan for the whole country within the limits of the municipality and that after each municipal election the need for a review of the master plan is discussed in the municipality.

After decades of coexistence between planning and construction in the combined legislation, it was decided to re-understand these issues. The Icelandic parliament, Alþingi, adopted separate planning laws and construction laws in 2010. The role that the Icelandic National Planning Agency had had until then regarding construction was then transferred to a new construction agency, created on the basis of the Brunamálastofnun.

The first national planning policy was adopted by the Icelandic parliament, Althingi, in 2016. The new national planning policy for the years 2024-2038 was adopted by Althingi in 2024. Both policies define a policy on planning in central highlands, in rural areas, urban areas and in coastal and ocean areas.

The latest addition in the area of planning legislation is the Law on the Planning of the Sea and Coastal Regions, which was passed by the Icelandic parliament, Alþingi, in the beginning of the summer 2018.

In addition to projects on the basis of the zoning law, the Icelandic National Planning Agency has been responsible for environmental assessment projects since 1993. First, regarding the environmental impact assessment of projects with the introduction of the Environmental Protection Act, which was passed in 1993 and revised in 2000. Then, regarding environmental assessment of projects on the basis of the Environmental Protection Act, which was passed in 2006. The Agency’s environmental assessment projects have been a key part of the work of the last quarter of the century. The Icelandic parliament, Althingi, passed new unified legislation on environmental assessment of projects and programmes in the spring of 2021.

Staff and location

The first member of the planning committee was Hörður Bjarnason, an architect. He was hired to the planning committee in 1938 but did not receive the title of National Planning Director until 1944.

The office of the organising committee was originally housed in Arnarhvoll, but in the mid-fifties the operation moved to the National Theatre, which was then newly built but had not been put into use as a theatre. From the National Theatre the office moved to Borgartún 7, where it was housed until 1988. Then it was moved to Laugavegur 166 where the institution was housed until 2016, when it was moved back to Borgartún 7 where the organising committee’s operations are today.

The office of the National Planning Director was housed in Borgartún 7 from the middle of the last century until the end of the 9th century. The National Planning Agency moved back to Borgartún 7 in 2016.

For several years in the late part of the last century, regional planning offices were operated in connection with the institution. The State Planning Office operated branches in Akureyri and Sauðárkrókur and in Egilsstaðir the East Iceland Planning Office operated, which was responsible for drawing up planning plans for local municipalities in the area.

In this picture, which appeared in Morgunblaðið in 1988, the three men who had served as the planning director of the state from the beginning, Hörður Bjarnason, Stefán Thors and Zóphónías Pálsson, are gathered together.

Zóphónías Pálsson, a surveyor, became the National Planning Director in 1954. He held this position until 1985 when architect Stefán Thors took over. During his tenure, the title of National Planning Director changed to Director of the National Planning Agency, with the adoption of the new Planning and Construction Act in 1997. In 2013, Ásdís Hlökk Theodórsdóttir, a surveyor, became Director of the National Planning Agency.

The scope of the activities has grown as the subjects have become more extensive. Initially, Hörður Bjarnason was the only employee of the planning committee, as well as a health care consultant. By the mid-fifties, the number of employees was five. Seven at the beginning of the eighth and 14 at the beginning of the tenth. Now the staff of the institution is well in their third dozen.

Ministry of Planning

For most of the 20th century, the Minister of Social Affairs was responsible for planning, but with the creation of the Ministry of the Environment (later the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources) in 1990, planning was transferred to the Ministry of the Environment. In December 2021, the Icelandic National Planning Agency was transferred to the new Ministry of Infrastructure, along with the Planning Act and the Law on the Planning of Sea and Coastal Areas, while the Minister of the Environment remains responsible for the Law on Environmental Assessment of Projects and Plans.