ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at environmental planning and spatial planning from a European Community perspective. Spatial planning policy, at various levels, has been the subject of much interest in recent years. The terms "spatial planning" and "spatial policy" are used systematically, the terms "land use" and "town and country planning" will be used when they are mentioned as such in official Community documents or Treaty articles. Since the beginning of the eighties, different institutions of the European Community have formulated different points of view with regard to a European spatial planning policy. The formulation of a European policy vision on spatial planning is of course only a first step in the development of such a policy. However, the implementation of this policy vision demands a policy framework within which the envisaged policy can take legal shape. As regards spatial planning, it is important to visualise an optimal policy vision and an optimal policy framework for future European spatial planning policy.
