Spatial planning mediates between the respective claims on space of the state, market, and community. In so doing, three different mechanisms of involving stakeholders, integrating sectoral policies and promoting development projects mark the three schools of transformative strategy formulation, innovation action and performance in spatial planning Spatial planning systems refer to the methods and approaches used by the public and private sector to influence the distribution of people and activities in spaces of various scales. Spatial planning can be defined as the coordination of practices and policies affecting spatial organization. Spatial planning is synonymous with the practices of

urban planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...

in the United States but at larger scales and the term is often used in reference to planning efforts in European countries. Discrete professional disciplines which involve spatial planning include

land use Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as settlements and semi-natural habitats such as arable fields, pastures, and managed woods. Land use by humans has a long ...

, urban,

regional In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

transport Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land ( rail and road), water, cable, pipelin ...

and

environmental planning Environmental planning is the process of facilitating decision making to carry out land development with the consideration given to the natural environment, social, political, economic and governance factors and provides a holistic framework to ac ...

. Other related areas are also important, including

economic An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...

and community planning, as well as maritime spatial planning. Spatial planning takes place on local, regional, national and inter-national levels and often results in the creation of a spatial plan. An early definition of spatial planning comes from the European Regional/Spatial Planning Charter (often called the 'Torremolinos Charter'), adopted in 1983 by the European Conference of Ministers responsible for Regional Planning (CEMAT): "''Regional/spatial planning gives geographical expression to the economic, social, cultural and ecological policies of society. It is at the same time a scientific discipline, an administrative technique and a policy developed as an interdisciplinary and comprehensive approach directed towards a balanced regional development and the physical organisation of space according to an overall strategy''." Numerous planning systems exist around the

world In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

. The form of planning largely diverges and co-evolves with societies and their governance systems. Every country, and states within those countries, have a unique planning systems that is made up by different actors, different planning perspectives and a particular institutional framework. Perspectives, actors and institutions change over time, influencing both the form and the impact of spatial planning. Especially in Northwestern Europe spatial planning has evolved greatly since the late 1950s. Until the 1990s, the term ‘spatial’ was used primarily to refer to the way that planning should deal with more than simply zoning, land use planning, or the design of the physical form of cities or regions, but also should address the more complex issues of the spatial relationship of activities such as employment, homes and leisure uses.

Spatial planning systems in Europe

Various compendia of spatial planning systems can be found. Below is a table showing some of the main sources, the countries covered and the date of publication.

European spatial planning

In 1999, a document called the

European Spatial Development Perspective The European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP) is a document approved by the Informal Council of Ministers of Spatial Planning of European Commission in Potsdam in 1999. It is a legally non-binding document forming a policy framework with 60 ...

(ESDP) was signed by the ministers responsible for regional planning in the EU member states. Although the ESDP has no binding status, and the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

has no formal authority for spatial planning, the ESDP has influenced spatial planning policy in European regions and member states, and placed the coordination of EU sectoral policies on the political agenda. At the European level, the term territorial cohesion is becoming more widely used and is for example mentioned in the draft EU Treaty (Constitution) as a shared competency of the European Union; it is also included in the

Treaty of Lisbon The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is an international agreement that amends the two treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by the EU member s ...

. The term was defined in a "scoping document" in Rotterdam in late 2004 and is being elaborated further using empirical data from the ESPON programme in a document entitled "The Territorial State and Perspectives of the European Union". At the minister's conference in May 2007 in Leipzig, a political document called the "Territorial Agenda" was signed to continue the process begun in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte (river), Rotte'') is the second largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the Prov ...

, revised in May 2011 in Gödöllő.

References

* Andreas Faludi, Bas Waterhout, ''The Making of the European Spatial Development Perspective'', London Routledge 2002. . * Gerhard Larsson, Spatial Planning Systems in Western Europe - An Overview, Delft Univ Press (2006), . * Gerhard Larsson, Land management as Public Policy, University Press of America (2010), . * UNECE,
''Spatial Planning - Key Instrument for Development and Effective Governance with Special Reference to Countries in Transition
', Report ECE/HBP/146, Geneva

UNECE The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE or UNECE) is one of the five regional commissions under the jurisdiction of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. It was established in order to promote economic cooperation and ...

2008. * Richard H. Williams, ''European union spatial policy and planning'', London Chapman 1996. .

External links

CEMAT
- European Conference of Ministers responsible for Regional Planning
EJSD
- European Journal of Spatial Development
ESPON
- European Observation Network on Territorial Development and Cohesion
Planum
- The European Journal of Planning
VASAB
- Vision and Strategies around the Baltic Sea - Baltic Sea Region intergovernmental cooperation in spatial planning and development {{Authority control Spatial planning

Spatial planning systems in Europe

European spatial planning

See also

References

External links