As said, the choice to compare these two countries derives from my personal experience reached during the study career. The bachelor and master degree allowed me to know in depth the Italian planning system and the Erasmus experience permitted me to understood the dynamics behind the urban transformation in Sweden.

The goal to identify and discuss the main differences between the two systems is based therefore on two study experiences developed during my university career, in particular the case of Botkyrka in the county of Stockholm for what concerns Sweden (chapter 2) and the plan variation developed for the municipality of Cirie in the province of Turin for what concerns the Italian system (chapter 3).

Successively, I will develop a comparison between the two case studies in order to highlight the main differences (chapter 4), which suggest that the Swedish planning system seems suitable to solve some of the main weaknesses affecting the Italian planning system.

It is important to stress that, while recognising the high complexity of the whole operation of a planning system, the focus of this thesis is the capacity to control the urban transformation as one main function of territorial governance. In this light, the thesis supports that the Swedish system appears to be capable to give to the public authority greater opportunity of control, thanks to the flexible structure of the general plan which allows more careful assessment of the spatial project.