Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
The Ministers of EU member states responsible for spatial planning therefore
agreed on the preparation of a European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP).
The European Spatial Development Perspective regarding future spatial and urban
development in Europe was prepared by the Committee on Spatial Development
(CSD), an informal intergovernmental meeting of senior officials from the member
states and the European Commission (DG Regio), which was set up in 1989 under
the French EU presidency. Following the publication of two draft versions of the
ESDP in 1997 (CSD, 1997) and 1998 (CSD, 1998a), the non-binding European
Spatial Development Perspective was finally agreed in 1999 by the Informal Council
of Ministers responsible for Spatial Planning. In order to support the application of
the ESDP, funding for the promotion of transnational co-operation on spatial plan-
ning was made available through the EU Community Initiative Interreg, which is
funded through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
On the basis of the 'mega-regions' which were defined in the
Europe 2000
reports (CEC, 1991, 1994), though with partly significant extensions, seven trans-
national regions were created under the Interreg IIC programme (1997-1999).
These were intended 'to encourage new ways of thinking about spatial prospects
which are not limited by national boundaries and to stimulate a bottom-up
approach to the development of links between regions' (CEC, 1994: 69). Interreg
IIIB (2000-2006) continued the efforts begun under Interreg IIC with a higher
budget. Thirteen programme areas were defined, with further geographical exten-
sions to the areas resulting in a complex overlap of transnational regions. Projects
funded under Interreg IIIB are expected to follow an integrated spatial planning
approach as promoted in the ESDP.
While the Community Initiative Interreg was set up to support the application
of the ESDP through 'action projects', parallel initiatives aimed at improving know-
ledge and information on territorial issues at European level to inform future initi-
atives. The Study Programme on European Spatial Planning (SPESP)
(1998/1999) was undertaken with a view to setting up the European Spatial
Planning Observation Network (ESPON) (CSD, 1999; CEC, 2000a). The ESPON
programme (2000-2006) is aimed at improving understanding of European
territorial development patterns and trends; to specify the implications of the
ESDP on particular transnational and national territories; to develop better under-
standing of the spatial dimension of the Structural Funds and other Community
policies; and to promote better co-ordination of decisions on territorial develop-
ment matters.
The current strategic goal for the EU, set out in the Lisbon-Gothenburg strat-
egy, is to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in
the world by 2010 and to achieve a more sustainable pattern of development (CEC,
2003). The EU's regional policy programmes are seen as playing an important role
