ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides a number of European spatial scenarios for the next 20 to 50 years. It discusses five different possible paths of spatial evolution, focuses on a single scenario, which he calls ‘Red Octopus’. The book proposes deliberations should not be confined to just one objective, namely, socio-economic cohesion at the European Union (EU)-level. It explains a case for a spatial development policy which is structured to make local governments increasingly accountable for a small number of programmes. EU-policies have a lot of spatial impacts, and the spatial structures are, at the same time, a precondition and the subject matter of various EU-policies. In 1989 the informal Conference of Ministers responsible for Regional Policy and Spatial Planning was established and followed by the Committee on Spatial Development in 1991.
