ABSTRACT
Urban planning takes place within a particular national framework. This setting will create certain opportunities and constraints for the planning of a city. This chapter explores the variation in national planning systems across Europe, identifying their similarities and differences. This is particularly interesting given the expectation in some quarters that national planning systems will move towards greater uniformity. There are however severe constraints on any such move as this chapter will seek to demonstrate. Whereas in the previous chapter we noted some global economic and European-wide institutional factors which pressurise urban planning into following a common path, in this chapter we highlight the continued and ingrained differences between European national systems.
