ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts of key concepts discussed in the previous chapters of this book. The book covers a variety of planning systems across Europe. At least two countries have been chosen to represent the four different 'ideal types' or 'planning traditions' identified in the EU Compendium. The author's primary intention was not to construct a new typology of planning systems with regard to the present situation, but to detect common and diverse trends of change and explain the inertia, rigidity and resilience of planning systems and practices, especially since the 1990s. The book focuses on common and diverse trends of planning transformation; the authors can highlight hidden aspects of convergence and divergence, emphasizing the multiplicity of change and continuity. The authors argues that there is no 'homogeneous' direction of planning transformation, but multiple trends of continuity and change and an increased 'heterogeneity' of planning transformations, corresponding to different path-dependent and path-shaping factors.
