Strategic Planning for Sustainable Regional Development: A Comparative Study of Selangor State, Malaysia and Shandong Province, China

Abstract

This study examines strategic planning for sustainable regional development through a comparative analysis of Selangor State, Malaysia, and Shandong Province, China. It integrates economic, environmental, social, governance and infrastructure dimensions and develops a quantitative cross-sectional framework involving 3,000 government-sector respondents, equally divided between the two regions. The proposed measurement model evaluates Strategic Planning Effectiveness, Governance and Stakeholder Engagement, Economic and Environmental Integration, Social and Infrastructure Integration, and Sustainable Regional Development Outcomes. The manuscript reports measurement and structural-model results for research development because respondent-level survey data were not supplied. The model indicates positive relationships between all four planning dimensions and sustainable regional development, with Strategic Planning Effectiveness showing the strongest pooled association. The multi-group comparison further suggests that governance-related effects may be stronger in Selangor, whereas economic-environmental integration may be stronger in Shandong. The study highlights the importance of context-sensitive planning, stakeholder coordination, resource efficiency, social inclusion and integrated infrastructure in advancing regional sustainability. All assumed numerical results must be replaced with findings calculated from actual survey data before empirical publication.