The interest in spatial planning and territorial cohesion has prompted new scales of land-use planning interventions. This paper considers the experimentation and learning around the National Planning Framework in Scotland. This political instrument is predicated on active public participation to craft and legitimate a national planning agenda to re-position a devolved Scotland in a global context. The process involves a two-year programme of participatory activities. This paper conceptualizes this innovation through a discussion of the prerequisites for civic involvement at this national scale. It explores ideas relating to the need to develop a national vocabulary in the context of a small nation state. It highlights ideas relating to civic virtue and civic formation and the significance of an interest in public affairs, respect and trust, political equality, and a sense of public-spiritedness in preparing the way for active public engagement.