Spatial planning: Trans-European study programme to be financed by Interreg III, November 2002

Summary:

A trans-European study programme on spatial planning, to be financed by the Interreg III Community Initiative, was approved by the European Commission in October 2002 with a view to providing input to the on-going debate on the future of regional policy after 2006.

Although spatial planning is not a responsibility of the EU it exerts a very real influence on development in many towns, cities and regions, through the Structural Funds, trans-European networks and environment policy. The study programme will seek to establish the spatial aspects and impact of these policies on the territories where they are implemented as well as the candidate countries and other neighbouring non-Member States. Four main projects will make up the programme, they are:

• Thematic projects will be carried out on major spatial developments against a background of different types of regions, and on the situation of cities.

• Policy impact projects will be funded on the spatial impact of Community policies and Member States' spatial development policies with a focus on the links between governmental levels and instrumental policy dimensions.

• Co-ordinating and spatial cross-thematic projects will evaluate project results against indicator systems and data, types of territories and spatial development scenarios.

• Scientific briefing and networking will be established to explore the synergies between national and EU sources for research

The programme will receive a total of € 6 million from the European Regional Development Fund as well as an additional € 6 million from investment from national public funds. It will be carried out by the European Spatial Planning Observatory Network, which was established at the Tampere Summit in Finland in October 1999. The network aims to boost the European overview in spatial planning, facilitate coordination between the different regional levels of decision-making, serve as a liaison between policy-makers, government and scientists and develop tools for implementation of the European Spaital Development Perspective (ESDP). The idea of an ESDP was conceived in the late 1980s and the first informal summit of the national ministers responsible for spatial planning took place in Nantes (France) in 1989 following the joint initiative of France and the European Commission. These summits became a regular occurrence and in 1993 ministers agreed to the principle of developing a European Spatial Development Perspective. The first official draft was endorsed in Holland in June 1997 but this was not approved until a meeting of spatial planning ministers in Potsdam, Germany on 9 May 1999, under the German Presidency. In order to promote the EU's objective of balanced and sustainable development, the ESDP proposes three guidelines:

• polycentric spatial development and the reinforcement of synergies between urban and rural areas

• equal access to transport, communication infrastructures and to knowledge

• wise management of natural and cultural heritage

The Interreg III initiative will be used to allocate the funds granted to the European Spatial Planning Programme because it is concerned will all Community projects that involve cross-border, interregional and transnational cooperation.

Links:

European Commission:

31/10/2002: Press Release: Interreg programme: European Union contributes EUR 6 million for a trans-european study-programme on spatial planning [IP/02/1598]

11/05/2000: Press Release: Interreg III - The Commission adopts guidelines and indicative allocations per Member State for the new Community Initiative for cross-border, transnational, and interregional co-operation [IP/00/462]

06/06/1998: Press Release: Berlin discussions centre on European spatial planning [IP/98/333]

DG Regional Policy: Structural Actions in support of spatial planning

DG Regional Policy: European Spatial Development Perspective

DG Regional Policy: Interreg III

European Spatial Planning Observatory Network (ESPON):

Homepage

The ESPON 2006 Programme

MedRegio Forum: Southern and Mediterranean Regions:

Homepage

Policies of the European Union: Spatial Planning