Spatial Planning

The theme of this book is the evaluation of the accessibility impacts and associated user benefits of land-use and transport developments and policy strategies within an integrated land-use/transport framework.

There is still insufficient understanding of the various ways in which human and natural processes lead to complex land use and cover patterns that have emerged around us. Comprehensive knowledge about adaptive land use systems is indispensable to a solid basis for policymaking.

The ambition for ‘new urbanity’ is often expressed in a preliminary stage of planning but hardly ever materialises in the spaces which are eventually built. How can this discrepancy be understood and what opportunities are there for the creation of more lively mixed-use projects in the future?

The proces of European integration has progressed in an unprecedented way since 1958. European integration not only covers a larger territory but also explicitly relates to the territory in which it takes place. Structural improvement of certain 'old' industrial regions, the construction of high-speed railways, the creation of a Europe-wide network of protected nature areas and the promotion of an agriculture that respects the environment are key-issues that show this change.

Recent studies on global governance and policy convergence suggest that transnational communication is increasingly influential in the process of domestic environmental policy-oriented learning. So far, however, there has not been a thorough empirical and conceptual examination of how this process works, nor how it differs among countries. Sietske Veenman provides insight into how domestic institutional factors determine policy-oriented learning from transnational communication.

Infrastructures such as those for electricity, water, public transport and telecom, provide us with most of the basic individual and social needs. However, since the early 1990s, the world of infrastructures has changed rapidly and profoundly. Decision-makers are now faced with many challenges regarding the design and management of infrastructures.

Green Planning explores the history of green planning in the Netherlands. It conceives green planning as a response to the rational-synoptic planning tradition in the 1970s and 1980s. As green planning developed during the 1990s, the New Public Management increasingly influenced it. The New Public Management is a forceful ‘movement’ that aims at a more effective and responsive public administration. This book addresses questions about the influence of the New Public Management on green planning.

In this study a method is developed for transplanting 'good' or 'desirable' institutions from the one country to the other.

Landscape, Leisure and Tourism: Socio-spatial studies in experiences, practices and policies explores the relationship between people and space in everyday environments, leisure environments and tourist environments.

In Ethiopia, urban managers are faced with the mindboggling challenge to develop cities in the face of growing urban poverty. Rapid urbanisation stretches the demand for employment, infrastructure and services to a point where many opt for informal land, housing, employment and services. Can urban managers change the tide and transform cities into engines of growth?