Author (Person) | Bower, Helen |
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Publisher | ProQuest Information and Learning |
Series Title | In Focus |
Publication Date | 04/11/2002 |
Content Type | News, Overview |
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:
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:
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: 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): MedRegio Forum: Southern and Mediterranean Regions: |
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Subject Categories | Geography, Politics and International Relations |
International Organisations | European Union [EU] |
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