European spatial planning and territorial cooperation

摘要

The spatial and socioeconomic development of the European Union (EU) member states is highly intertwined. Even though the EU has no official competence in urban or regional planning, its policies in other areas greatly affect the spatial organization of the union. Choices in one country directly or indirectly affect neighbouring territories and thus impact the territorial cohesion of the EU as a whole. Stefanie Diihr, Claire Colomb and Vincent Nadin ambitiously get into the complex world of transnational cooperation in their book European Spatial Planning and Territorial Cooperation. Building on the concept of 'costs of non-coordination', the authors give a detailed account of the challenges facing the European spatial planning nowadays. Their book extensively describes how the European dimension of spatial planning consists - now and in the future - of the coordination and management of transnational spatial impacts of sectoral policies through the enablement of cross-border cooperation. The authors raise a fundamental question for spatial planners: How can the EU policies be better coordinated across sectors, levels of government and national boundaries?