Positioning European Spatial Planning

The European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP) is being described as 'inter-governmental'. The original initiative was for a Community spatial strategy for the delivery of the Structural Funds. Coming from France, it met with opposition. So it was that the successive six-monthly Presidencies of the EU took turns in managing the process. In truth, however, without Commission support the ESDP would not have come about. Now that the ESDP is on the books, the Commission is claiming a leadership role. Taking a position on this, one needs to view spatial planning against the backdrop of general thinking about European integration. Positions in the literature are often presented as polar opposites, like that of 'neo-functionalists' putting faith in integration on the one hand and that of 'realists' emphasizing the continuing dominance of nation states on the other hand. However, a growing body of literature is not about these 'grand theories', but about the actual workings of European institutions. It takes a middle ground and invokes concepts which planning writers are accustomed to, like networks, discourses and governance. From this literature it appears that mutual learning, a feature also of the ESDP process, is common in European integration. European spatial planning must be seen as part and parcel of an emergent system of European multi-level governance. In it, power is exerted at multiple levels of government. Denying the Community a spatial planning role is not realistic, therefore.     

Planning Control on the Northern European Periphery

From different pasts and currently different connections to EU, Latvia and Norway in the last few years have created new legal frameworks for their national planning systems and hence for planning control. This paper explores similarities and differences between these two planning control systems and related tendencies in the revision of planning legislation adopted in recent times. Methodologically, the study makes a distinction between acting organizational subjects and the rules of the game that affect their performance. Together with the planning organization, such formal institutional factors indicate modes of planning control as well as possibilities for creating coherence across planning hierarchies. The conclusion indicates similarities between the two systems, but also differences. These apply to some extent to organization, responsibilities and contents of planning control on regional and national levels and especially to their respective institutional approaches for creating consistency and symmetry in planning across local, regional and national levels. The recent legal revisions do not indicate any kind of tendency for convergence between these planning control systems. On the contrary, some of these changes reveal different approaches to modes of planning control.     

The Importance of Context and Comparison in the Study of European Spatial Planning

The European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP) was agreed in 1999 at Potsdam, Germany, as a non-binding framework intended to guide spatially significant policy-making at different spatial scales in order to achieve a more balanced and sustainable growth of the EU territory. This paper develops a conceptualization of the nature of transnational planning frameworks such as the ESDP and presents a framework for the investigation of the application of their policy orientations in the spatial planning systems of European states. It is argued that investigations of the application of transnational spatial development frameworks like the ESDP and the ‘Territorial Agenda of the European Union’ document adopted by EU member states in 2007, need to be sensitized to the diversity of territorial contexts in which these apply, and that a contextualized and comparative approach is therefore essential in evaluating their influence in Europe's varied territories.     

Planning Time: An Emergent European Practice

In the 1960s, a reduction in the time spent at work promised an increase in leisure time. Architects and planners thought that the effects of this could lead to a new form of city. Nowadays, new changes in production, technology and gender relationships de-synchronize the time regime and have fundamentally changed life in cities. Tourism and globalization exchange across the world different cultures of time. In France, the UK, and other European countries time policy is dealing with the problems arising from these changes. This article presents a short overview of time planning in Italy in two main domains: time for care, and city time. It focuses on issues such as the social demand for new shops's and services' opening hours, or how the life cycles of individuals and populations are accommodated in urban spaces. Other problems, usually not thought of in terms of time concerns, such as rehabilitation of blighted areas, historic preservation and traffic flow control, may also be treated through a time approach. Two models of planning process are presented at the end of the paper.     

The Potential Implications of the European Union Water Framework Directive on Domestic Planning Systems: A UK Case Study

The transformation of planning across Europe in recent years has been characterized by new processes at different spatial scales that reach across traditional boundaries. This Europeanization of planning processes is reflected in the emergence of cross-border initiatives, new spatial relationships and the enhancement of regional policy-making. In using the case of the UK this article analyses the possible ramifications of adopting the European Water Framework Directive (WFD). It is demonstrated that the WFD, despite its apparent focus on water regulation, is symptomatic of wider European Spatial Planning processes that are seeing a reshaping of attitudes, witnessing the emergence of new networks and challenging traditional sovereignties of planning.     

The Chester Congress of 1849

Abstract

Two Roman polychrome mosaics, depicting Europa and Orpheus, are preserved in their original settings in a town house of Roman Sparta. Discovered last century, they have been inventoried, but not studied in detail. Probably both were produced by the same local workshop in the third to fourth century, sharing characteristics peculiar to Greek mosaic. They appear to mirror each other. The depiction of Europa near Orpheus occurs rarely in the classical repertory. This collaborative research defines the pictorial originality of each mosaic. Europa, an archaic image, reflects the iconography of the Nereids. Orpheus may have copied a lost painting. The choice of motif and possible symbolic readings are examined. Perhaps the tenets of Orphic thought pervaded the images. Such a combination might bear witness to tastes and attitudes in Greece during the late Roman period.     

European Spatial Planning Between Competitiveness and Territorial Cohesion: Shadows of Neo-liberalism

This paper analyses the use of the concept of territorial cohesion in policy documents produced by the European Union. It is an idea celebrated in community documents, such as cohesion reports, the Territorial Agenda of the European Union and the Green Paper on Territorial Cohesion; after more than a decade of political debate, the concept is about to gain a legitimate institutional role, after being included in the Lisbon Treaty, and is among the competences that the EU shares with other member states. At first, territorial cohesion seems to oppose the logics of neo-liberalism by reinscribing welfare problems and policies in spatial terms. However, using the analytical framework of cultural critics, and intending cohesion to be a discourse carried on by a community of European scholars and policymakers, the research will discuss the conceptual relationship between competitiveness and territorial cohesion in European policies and narratives.     

The Results of the 21st International Geographical Congress

A review of the New Delhi meetings notes the significance of the congress for the development of the science of geography in India as well as the growing participation of geographers from developing countries. Abstracts of papers are analyzed statistically by subject and by country of origin. The geography of agriculture and urban geography are found to be more heavily represented than at most congresses (except the 18th in Rio de Janeiro), reflecting the significance of these two research areas for developing countries. Papers from socialist countries are found to be underrepresented in biogeography (especially medical geography) and the geography of agriculture, industry, and transportation. The hope is expressed that the Montreal congress in 1972 will break away from the traditional thematic breakdown and organize sections around interdisciplinary problem areas.     

A Preliminary Critique of the Best and Good Practices Approach in European Spatial Planning and Policy-making

“Good practices” are found everywhere, particularly in European policies. They are usually taken for granted as familiar events in daily life. For actors involved in policy-making, it seems quite natural to produce, disseminate and use repertoires of good practices. This article discusses this phenomenon, arguing that “good practices” are one of the main tools in Europeanization processes, particularly for the European idea of “good governance”. Analyses of the Interact, Interreg and Urbact programmes of production of good practice repertoires lead to an examination of a number of characteristics of “good practice”: as a kind of regulation through sense-making processes, as a standardization tool in order to compare and measure performances in different situations, as an object of self-reflection and constitution of communities of practices, as a strategic representation and as an advocacy device.     

The World Archaeological Congress: Extending the vision

Este artículo resume la historia reciente, los logros y las trayectorias futuras del World Archaeological Congress. Tras esbozar la estructura organizativa del WAC, cuyos miembros son elegidos a partir de 14 regiones globales, la autora recoge el programa de publicaciones del WAC y los fúturos inter-congresos, animando a individuos de todo el mundo a participar. Se?ala asimismo que el WAC ha tomado un papel del liderazgo a la hora de respaldar a los arqueólogos locales para apoyar la conservación y la práctica ética de la arqueología. Además, ha secundado la nutrición y el crecimiento de comunidades y valores arqueológicos en áreas en las que las condiciones económicas y políticas dificultan su sustentación. El compromiso del WAC de ser multi-vocal se evidencia en la diversidad de personas que asisten a las conferencias del WAC—por ejemplo, al WAC-5 celebrado en Washington asistieron participantes de 75 países. Estas ramificaciones no son sólo en términos de la diversidad global, sino también en términos de desarrollar una habilidad de escuchar y una voluntad de respetar las voces de grupos dispares dentro de los diversos países, como por ejemplo las voces de las poblaciones Indígenas. El compromiso del WAC de ser multivocal es ampliado por medio de su dedicación a la justicia social, evidente no sólo en los puestos políticos del WAC sino también en la forma en que WAC hace frente a tales cuestiones en la teoría, el método y la práctica arqueológica. Trabajando juntos, los miembros de WAC logran una arqueología más rica, mejor, más erudita y más equitativa. Más aun, WAC sirve como un modelo para la descolonización de otras disciplinas. Durante su período de vigencia, el Ejecutivo actual espera ayudar al WAC a ser más cohesivo, a conseguir mejor financiación y a ser más efectivo políticamente, así como a ser más capaz de poner en contacto a arqueólogos de todo el mundo y apoyarlos con medidas prácticas que beneficien a sus comunidades regionales. DE este modo, esperan ampliar las miras de los fundadores del WAC.