ABSTRACT
Since there are no formal competences for spatial planning at the EU level, European
initiatives to promote or manage spatial development frequently rely on “soft processes”
of coordination, negotiation and learning (Faludi, 2001, 2008a, 2008b) which are evident
in initiatives such as the European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP) (Benz,
2002; Faludi & Waterhout, 2002), the European territorial cooperation programmes
such as the INTERREG Initiative (Colomb, 2007; Waterhout & Stead, 2007; Faludi,
2008b; Stead & Waterhout, 2008) and, more recently, the European macro-regional
strategies. These three European spatial planning initiatives are of course very much
related: the development of the ESDP influenced the direction and content of INTER-
REG Initiatives (Waterhout & Stead, 2007) and INTERREG programming has in turn
influenced the content and structure of European macro-regional strategies (discussed
below).
