Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution

The submission comprises details of six research projects:

1.   Sustainability Through Spatial Planning and Examination of the Capacity of Spatial Planning Systems in Europe to Develop and Implement Policy for Sustainability (SPECTRA)

2.   On to Instruments and strategies for sustainable regional development

3.   On to Landscape and Life: Appropriate Scales for Sustainable Development - Summary Final Report

4.   On to Consensus Building for Sustainability in the Wider Countryside - Summary Final Report

5.   On to Environmental Protection, Subsidiarity Principe and Spatial Related Policies - Summary Final Report

6.   On to Regional Pathways to Sustainability - Executive Summary

1.   SUSTAINABILITY THROUGH SPATIAL PLANNING AND EXAMINATION OF THE CAPACITY OF SPATIAL PLANNING SYSTEMS IN EUROPE TO DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT POLICY FOR SUSTAINABILITY (SPECTRA)

Objective :
To understand how systems and policies of spatial planning have embraced the principles of sustainability, and to define the means necessary to develop the full potential of spatial planning for sustainability, especially in integrating land use, environmental, transport, and other sectoral policies.

Brief description of the research project :
The EU Green Paper on the Urban Environment and the 5th Environmental Action Programme identify spatial planning as one of the main instruments for the delivery of more sustainable development. The draft European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP) promotes the concept of sustainability in spatial planning across Europe, and notes the need for a better understanding of vertical and horizontal policy coordination, geographical integration, and the capacity of planning instruments and institutions to articulate and implement sustainability objectives.

The project draws together two previous streams of research. The first explores the theory and concepts of sustainability in relation to urban development, and establishes principles and techniques which can help to ensure that future development takes place within environmental limits. The second compares systems and policies of planning in the EU and concludes that the potential of systems to embrace sustainability, especially the integration of policy sectors is not being achieved.

This investigation involves a content analysis of planning instruments and policies at different jurisdictional levels in the six participating countries. This is undertaken against a conceptual framework drawing on ecosystems and other theory so as to understand how sustainability is conceptualised and expressed by planning systems. Case studies of development projects in varying territorial contexts examine the extent to which sustainability principles have been embraced, and the role of the spatial planning system in this, especially in coordinating policy and action. This analysis is supplemented with an investigation of the attitudes and values of stakeholders and a review of significant cultural, legal and socio-economic conditions which may explain variations. Models of planning and decision making processes in relation to sustainability are used to explore the variation in practice.

The findings establish an accurate picture of how spatial planning articulates the notion of sustainability and its role in shaping development outcomes with reference to specific concepts and principles. They give an explanation of the main conditions which can act as barriers to, or catalysts for, the promotion of sustainability through spatial planning, especially in relation to coordinating sectoral policies and actions. Proposals for more effective practical measures are made, which may assist national, regional and local governments in the preparation and implementation of planning policy and in the review of systems. The findings provide important information for the EU and Member States in the further elaboration of the ESDP and transnational planning initiatives.

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