A turning point in the development of European spatial planning? The ‘Territorial Agenda of the European Union’ and the ‘First Action Programme’

The European Union has always had a territorial agenda, albeit implicit. Existing spatial planning systems in Europe, in particular French aménagement du territoire, have shaped the thinking about how to tackle it more systematically, lately under the flag of an EU territorial cohesion policy. Drawing on work by the European Spatial Planning Observation Network (ESPON), the member states collectively have produced an ‘evidence-based’ document, ‘The territorial state and perspectives of the European Union’. This forms the basis of a political document entitled the ‘Territorial Agenda of the European Union: Towards a more competitive and sustainable Europe of diverse regions’. The subsequent First Action Programme came at a time when it appeared that the Treaty of Lisbon would make EU territorial cohesion policy official. This paper gives an account of the process, pointing out that a turning point has been reached, in that the member states have come to accept the need for EU territorial cohesion policy. Section 1 sets out the theoretical framework and the research approach. Section 2 sets the scene as regards the EU and it institutions. Section 3 looks at spatial planning systems in Europe and, in particular—since it has been instrumental in formulating EU regional and territorial cohesion policy—French aménagement du territoire. Section 4 identifies the implicit EU territorial agenda and how this has been articulated further by the member states formulating the ESDP. Section 5 gives an account of the fledgling EU territorial cohesion policy. Section 6 focuses on the member state initiative to produce the ‘evidence-based’ document, ‘The territorial state and perspectives of the European Union’, which forms the basis for the Territorial Agenda. As a background to this, the section discusses ESPON, which provided the research base for this undertaking. Sections 7 to 9 are about the Territorial Agenda process as such, particularly its making, the substantive policies and the institutional measures proposed therein, and the First Action Programme adopted in the wake of the Territorial Agenda. Section 10 identifies challenges ahead, followed by the final section, which explores issues whose resolution is not immediately in sight.