The European Debate on Sustainable Spatial Development

Abstract

While sustainability and sustainable development are major subjects of discussion not only among experts but also among the general public, spatial development by contrast is mostly a matter of concern for urban and regional planning experts, some scientists, and a minority lay audience. This is surprising in so far as the discussion on sustainability focuses on many ‘new’ aspects which are not that new in the context of spatial planning. For example, the report of the Brundtland Commission and the UN Conference in Rio de Janeiro stated that future development must meet the needs of the present without undermining the ability of future generations to satisfy their own needs. This need for a longer-term conception of development planning was central to the emergence of disciplines such as urban and regional planning early this century. Neither is the integrated, comprehensive approach espoused in the current debate on sustainability and calling for ecological, cost-effective, and socially balanced development actually very new to spatial development. The spatial planning (Raumordnung) policies forged in the industrial and metropolitan regions of Germany from the 1920s, for instance, were an answer to growing environmental and supply-related problems resulting from the uncoordinated development of industrial sites and settlements (Richter 1994). Unfortunately, spatial development at that time tended to focus on economic and social development and in many respects disregarded environmental issues.