Claire Colomb

Stefanie Dühr

Vincent Nadin

There is a strong international dimension to spatial planning. European integration strengthens interconnections, development and decision-making across national and regional borders. EU policies in areas such as environment, transport, agriculture or regional policy have far-reaching effects on spatial development patterns and planning procedures. Planners in the EU are now routinely engaged in cooperation across national borders to share and devise effective ways of intervening in the way our cities, towns and rural areas develop. In short, the EU has become an important framework for planning practice, research and teaching. Spatial planning in Europe is being ‘Europeanized’, with corresponding changes for the role of planners. Written for students, academics, practitioners and researchers of spatial planning and related disciplines, this book is essential reading for everybody interested in engaging with the European dimension of spatial planning and territorial governance. It explores: spatial development trends and their influence on planning the nature, institutions and actors of the European Union from a planning perspective the history of spatial planning at the transnational scale the planning tools, perspectives, visions and programmes supporting European cooperation on spatial planning the territorial impacts of the Community’s sector policies the outcomes of European spatial planning in practice.

European Spatial Planning and Territorial Cooperation

Barry Cullingworth

This extensively revised fourteenth edition incorporates the major changes to planning introduced by the 2004 Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act and the government’s mission to change the culture of planning. It provides a critical discussion of the system of planning – the institutions involved, the plans and other instruments that are used, the procedures for controlling development and land use change, and the mechanisms for implementing policy and proposals. It reviews current policy for sustainable development, housing and the Sustainable Communities Plan, the Barker Review, urban renewal and regeneration, the renaissance of city and town centres, the countryside, transport, and the heritage. Contemporary arrangements are explained with reference to their historical development, the influence of the European Union, the Labour government and changing social and economic demands for land use change. Detailed consideration is given to: the nature of planning and its historical evolution policies for managing urban growth and delivering housing sustainable development principles for planning social and economic development of the countryside conserving the heritage changes to the profession and education of planners. Special attention is given to the objective of improving the co-ordination of government policies through the spatial planning approach. The many recent changes to the system are explained in detail, and each chapter ends with notes on further reading, lists of official publications and an extensive bibliography, all of which enhances its reputation as the bible of British Planning.

Town and Country Planning in the UK

Wil Zonneveld

The Randstad metropolitan region encompassing Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam and Utrecht in the western Netherlands is regarded worldwide as a model of a ‘successful’ polycentric metropolis. It is widely cited as an example of how a region of interconnected small cities can effectively compete globally by providing complementary functions which together match the power of large monocentric cities. The methods of strategic spatial planning, regional design and strategic projects that are said to underpin this polycentric metropolis are used as models for practitioners and students around the world. But is this high reputation deserved? Does the Randstad really function as a polycentric metropolis? The operation of the Randstad as a polycentric networked region is controversial both in terms of the actual strength of relations between its component parts, and the value of promoting polycentricity in policy. What are the costs and benefits of a Randstad metropolis? Does polycentricity improve the performance of the region in economic, social and environmental terms? How has the polycentric metropolis evolved and what part is played by its delta location? Has spatial planning made a difference in the form and operation of the region today? How will this spatial configuration fare in the face of the climate crisis and need to create healthy cities and regions? Is there benefit in pursuing the idea of a polycentric metropolis in government policy and action, and how? These questions are of critical interest within the Netherlands but experience in the Randstad offers valuable insights to many other complex urban regions around the world. This book will provide a critical analysis of the Randstad and lessons for strategic planning in other metropolitan regions.

Vincent Nadin

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