ABSTRACT
The expanding influence of the EU on spatial development has raised awareness of the need to coordinate the spatial impacts of EU sectoral policies across levels of government and across national borders. For spatial planners, especially those from north-west European countries, this has meant proposing integrated spatial development frameworks for the European territory (CEMAT 2000) and for the EU territory (CSD 1999, EU Ministers 2007a). Related instruments of integrated spatial visions were also prepared for large transnational territories, such as those defined under the INTERREG IIC and IIIB Community Initiatives. Such spatial strategies combine substantive policy and procedures for their application,1 placing emphasis on spatial planning as a coordination mechanism. In this chapter, those coordination instruments directly concerned with European spatial planning are explained and critically discussed.
