Regional Development and Spatial Planning in an Enlarged European Union

The expansion of the European Union in 2004 has had significant consequences for both existing and new members of the Union. New member states are assimilating into a new institutional and policy framework, while the changing geography of Europe provides a different context for policy development in pre-2004 member states. One of the more important fields in which these changes are impacting is regional development. The admission of the new countries changes patterns of economic and social disparities across the territory of the European Union, which in turn demands that existing approaches to regional development are reconsidered. An approach which has proved to be one of the most innovative is spatial planning. This book brings together a team of academics and policy makers from across the new Europe involved in regional development and spatial planning. Providing insights into different approaches, it offers a valuable opportunity to compare experiences across European borders.

Neil Adams is Senior Lecturer in Spatial Planning at London South Bank University, UK, and his main interests are European spatial planning at the supra-national, national and regional level. He was previously employed as a consultant based in Brussels and has extensive experience of regional development and spatial planning at national, regional and local levels in the Baltic States. Neil was also Project Co-ordinator for the Interreg IIIc GRIDS project that provided the inspiration for this book. Jeremy Alden is Professor of International Planning Studies in the School of City and Regional Planning at Cardiff University, Wales, U.K. He is Lead Partner for the INTERREG IIIc project on regional development and spatial planning sponsored by the European Commission during 2004-5. He has published widely on regional development and spatial planning issues in the European Union. Neil Harris is lecturer in Planning at the School of City and Regional Planning in Cardiff University. His interests cover the statutory planning system and new approaches to the development of spatial plans in Britain at the national and regional scales. He has advised the Welsh Assembly Government on its approach to the preparation of a national spatial planning framework.