ABSTRACT
The work of spatial planners in Europe is increasingly determined by global trends and decisions made at levels higher than the nation-state. In order to do their job properly, planners in EU member states and regions now commonly have to engage with the consequences of EU policies and cooperate with colleagues abroad. Policies that affect the use of land are to a considerable extent influenced by decisions made at the EU level, and territorial cooperation has become a routine aspect of the work of many planning professionals and planning researchers. Yet despite EU initiatives in the field of spatial planning (Part IV), the considerable influence of EU spatial policies (Part V) and the activities of thousands of cooperation networks (Chapter 22), spatial planners at national, regional and local levels still rarely comprehensively consider the ‘European dimension’ in their spatial plans and planning policies. Questions thus arise of what previous initiatives in European spatial planning have achieved, and what could be done in future to improve policy and decision-making on spatial planning in the EU. In the concluding chapter of this book, the different discussions of preceding sections are brought together in a critical reflection. We will take a step back, and consider the experiences to date, before we turn to consider the future perspectives on European spatial planning as practice and as a field of research.
