ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a case study on the European spatial development perspective (ESDP). Differences between planning cultures and styles have helped shaping the context in which the ESDP has been developed. Initially, the issues that the ministerial meetings addressed were the same as the issues in Community regional policy: unbalanced development, lagging regions, deficient infrastructure. The ESDP process has been located firmly within the in-crowd of planners, more specifically of national planners, especially those of France, The Netherlands and Germany, later joined by the United Kingdom, with Denmark and Luxembourg deserving honourable mentions. The chapter focuses on whether the ESDP makes any difference to the institutional landscape of planning. The ESDP certainly tries to make spatial policies fit the territory of the EU as it sees it. This is where the pentagon and the concept of global economic integration zones come in.
