'Diversity and Context Dependency in European Spatial Planning: investigating the application of the European Spatial Development Perspective'


Sykes, OJ ORCID: 0000-0002-2634-2629 (2004) 'Diversity and Context Dependency in European Spatial Planning: investigating the application of the European Spatial Development Perspective'. PhD thesis, University of Liverpool.

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Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
Additional Information: Abstract Since late 1980s, there has been an increasing perception that transnational influences on spatial development are growing and that in the European Union (EU) such trends are accentuated by the processes of European integration, for example, the single European market and EU sectoral policies with a territorial significance. Recognition of such issues by EU member states and the European Commission provided the rationale for the development of the European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP). This policy document, agreed in 1999, is a non-binding framework intended to guide spatially significant policymaking in order to achieve a more balanced and sustainable growth of the territory of the EU. Its application is to be achieved through voluntary co-operation based on the principle of subsidiarity, and a reorientation of national spatial development policies and EU sectoral policies. The aim of this thesis is to undertake a contextualised and comparative investigation of the application of the ESDP through formal strategic spatial planning in EU member state planning systems. The following research objectives respond to this aim and focus the research: (1) to explore the background to the emergence of European spatial development policy and discourse from theoretical and empirical perspectives; (2) to investigate the application of the ESDP in national planning systems by considering the situation in two member states of the EU representative of different European ¿spatial planning traditions¿; (3) to evaluate in more depth how the ESDP and European agenda for planning have informed and shaped spatial policy making at the sub-state level in the two member states; (4) to relate the research findings to the wider contextual and theoretical background of European spatial planning as a policy discourse and process. In Part I of the thesis, a literature review structured around four themes: Spatial planning; European integration and governance; Regionalism and territorial governance; and Policy sciences, contextualises and conceptualises the ESDP application process. This leads to the adoption of a contextualised and comparative research approach in which the key questions generated by the review are consolidated into three analytical perspectives the, ¿application¿, ¿multi-level¿, and ¿comparative¿ perspectives. These constitute the conceptual framework for the study which guides the design and execution of its empirical components and provides a framework for the interpretation of its findings. Part II of the thesis considers the application of the ESDP in the UK and France at the state and sub-state territorial levels. The context for the application of the ESDP in each state is established; its application at the national level is evaluated; and its application at the sub-state level is investigated through case studies of regional planning processes in English and French regions. Part III interprets the findings of the thesis in light of the conceptual framework, concluding that diversity characterises the application of the ESDP in practice, and that ¿receiving contexts¿, that is, the attributes of different territories, are significant in conditioning the manner in which it is applied. This suggests that it is important for research into the influence of spatial planning policy for Europe on the practices of planning in Europe, to be sensitised to the complexities of the application of such policy in practice, and the diverse territorial contexts in which European spatial planning discourses such as the ESDP¿s apply.
Uncontrolled Keywords: European spatial planning, European spatial development perspective, France, UK, regional planning, application theory
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 20 Oct 2023 14:39
Last Modified: 20 Oct 2023 14:59
DOI: 10.17638/03174982
Copyright Statement: Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis and any accompanying data (where applicable) are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge.
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3174982
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