This project deals with development and land use in port areas with a particular emphasis on the physical and spatial planning of such. The aim of the project is to examine how development and use of lands can be managed and planned through a planning framework from National through regional and down to municipal and local level in order to investigate how and if the planning framework is in place to efficiently and sustainably support and protect the future development of ports. In order to examine this in more detail, an example of Denmark with particular attention on Aalborg’s Port is chosen to give a working example of a planning framework. The research also investigates, through theory, how the relationship of the city and port has changed both physically and in terms of planning. The research gathers and discusses a number of different theories concerning the port industry and port planning with particular attention put on the national planning act, policies, reports and plans concerning port development at different levels of governance. An analytical framework is then designed to analyse the Danish planning system from the perspective of port planning with various reflections made on the theory concerning the subject.