This chapter sets out an overview of the main dimensions that have been employed, or could potentially be employed, to compare spatial planning primarily between countries but also within countries where different forms of spatial planning exist. The main dimensions of comparison comprise the organisation of planning systems, the characteristics of the operation of planning, and the impact of planning on territorial development. Before considering these dimensions in turn, the chapter begins by explaining some of the key terminology in comparative studies of spatial planning, namely the concepts of spatial planning, spatial planning systems, and territorial governance and also the relations between them. ... Read more

In addition to binding policies, a multitude of non-binding policies can be found in the transport sector. Non-binding policies often provide visions, guidelines, recommendations, and even agreements and targets, which can influence the policy agenda and its implementation. To date, few studies have focused on non-binding policies in the transport sector. This article presents a scoping review of non-binding policies on land passenger transport in Europe, based on the PRISMA-ScR methodology. We analysed 5826 documents from 49 policy databases maintained by public international institutions and identified more than 500 non-binding policies on sustainable land transport in Europe published between 2015 and 2024. We then applied Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), a topic modelling approach, to identify the key topics addressed in these non-binding policies. The analysis indicates that non-binding policies represent a widely used and established instrument in transport policy with different levels of formality. They tend to increase in number between 2015 and 2024 with a peak in 2021. Non-binding policies are produced by a variety of institutions with the majority being issued by the European Union, rail transport organisations, the United Nations and networks of cities and regions. Position papers are the most common type of non-binding policies followed by resolutions and opinions. Key themes in non-binding policies on sustainable land passenger transport address modes and services, land use and infrastructure, access and safety, funding and development, transport externalities, governance and research. A range of transport issues are addressed in these non-binding policies, and it is conceivable that some of these issues may enter the binding policy sphere in the future. This article helps to illustrate the growing role of non-binding policies in the changing transport policy landscape and highlights the capacity to shape future binding policies, particularly regarding inclusivity and intersectoral planning. ... Read more

Integrated Land-Use and Transport (LUTI) planning is crucial for improving sustainable urban development through the synergistic interactions of land-use and transport systems. However, the adoption of integrated planning objectives provides no guarantee for implementing LUTI policies as opportunities for integrated policymaking diminish progressively through the planning process. Aiming to identifying how to improve the implementation of LUTI, this paper examines the current use of policy instruments across the planning process in four European cities, Groningen, Amsterdam, Helsinki, and Turku. The study adopts a qualitative research approach, combining policy document analysis and semi-structured interviews with local and regional practitioners. Distinguishing between procedural and substantive policy instruments and according to the NATO typology, this study demonstrates how cities employ primarily information, personnel, and owned property as resources to influence the enhancement of land-use and transport integration. Fragmentation in detailed planning arises from sector-specific policy packages, emphasizing the need for improved procedural instruments to foster multisectoral collaboration. Unpacking the integration of land-use and transport planning indicates how strategic visions for LUTI can improve planning practice. However, their translation into actionable projects does not always occur due to a lack of inter-sectoral coordination of resources and consideration of the project-management contexts. ... Read more

Government intervention in the transport sector is extremely wide-ranging. To name just a few examples, governments provide and maintain transport infrastructure, tax and licence vehicles, subsidise and regulate public transport, set speed limits, determine rights of way, and implement vehicle emission standards. Despite trends in the liberalisation and privatisation of the transport sector over recent decades it remains one of the most regulated sectors in many countries. ... Read more

Water-Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) proposes integrating the management of urban water cycles into urban planning and design as a strategy to better respond to water challenges in the urban environment. Proposed frameworks try capturing urban water sensitivity in terms of generic, transferable principles. In this article, we trace the water history of Kozhikode in India to make a plea for epistemic justice and context-specificity in the definition of water sensitivity, recognizing how the quality and direction of contemporary urban water flows are the outcome of particular – (post-)colonial, neo-liberal – histories. We mobilize insights from political ecology to do this. Concepts like waterscapes and hydro-social imaginaries help acknowledge that waters and cities co-evolve to create often highly uneven waterscapes. This usefully denaturalizes and thereby politicizes urban water sensitivity, giving much-needed prominence to the ‘who’ questions: who will benefit (most), and who will stand to lose? For Kozhikode, with its fishing enclaves, sacred groves, ponds, and a colonial canal crossing its coastal plain, treating water sensitivity as a mere techno-managerial question risks reinforcing middle-class dominance and aspirations, while also provoking ecological decay. ... Read more

To what extent are conceptual ideas and institutional practices transferred from place to place, who is involved in the process of transfer, and from where do these ideas and practices originate? This chapter considers how these questions can be studied in the context of territorial governance. Our contribution identifies and explains four distinct analytical frameworks, each of which can be employed to study these questions - policy diffusion, policy transfer, policy mobilities, and Europeanization. Each framework focuses on different explanatory mechanisms and variables, reflecting the main academic disciplines in which the three frameworks were developed - policy diffusion and policy transfer from political science and public administration; policy mobilities from geography and urban studies; and Europeanization from European studies and political science. This chapter also discusses how the frameworks have been employed to study the transfer of ideas and practices related to territorial governance and offers an assessment of their strengths and weaknesses. ... Read more

While the concept of ‘wicked problems’ is relatively mature in politics and public policy literature, it has received limited application in transport studies despite the majority of challenges in the transport sector being ‘wicked’ in nature. This chapter argues that the ‘wicked problems’ analytical lens provides a valuable approach through which to understand the dynamics of problem-setting in the transport sector. This, in turn can aid in understanding why transport policymaking (on the surface at least) often appears irrational in nature despite the technical-rational paradigm that pervades the field. ... Read more

Attention to European transport policy gained pace towards the end of the 1980s when ideas began to emerge on a Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) as a way of linking Europe's regions and nations through efficient modern infrastructure, thereby supporting European integration and promoting economic and social cohesion. TEN-T represents a planned network of roads, railways, airports and water infrastructure of common interest among European Union member states in order to close gaps in the existing infrastructure, upgrade infrastructure, remove bottlenecks or eliminate technical barriers to transport movement. Since the 1990s, several sets of TEN-T projects have been adopted and financed. ... Read more

Ukraine faces some of the most extreme conditions to have been experienced in Europe since the Second World War, including the loss of human life, depopulation, forced migration, the destruction of settlements, natural and agricultural areas, and the lack of access to basic services (e.g. water, electricity). These extreme conditions require huge, concerted efforts to promote the country’s recovery, as was also the case in Europe in the second half of the 1940s, when countries were rebuilt after being ravaged by war. At that time, new planning practices were developed in many countries in parallel with the establishment of new arrangements of the welfare state, including public housing, education and healthcare provision, on a scale unimaginable just one or two decades earlier. While Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction have been discussed at length, little attention has so far been devoted to the implications for the role of spatial planning in the rebuilding process (with some minor exceptions: Maruniak et al., 2022; UN-Habitat Urban Recovery Framework Thematic Papers, forthcoming). The spatial dimension has largely been absent in political and expert debates, as though geography and the built environment hardly matter, which is certainly not the case. Less than five years ago, pre-war territorial and administrative reforms reshaped the governance and land ownership landscape in Ukraine (Anisimov et al., 2024; Umland and Romanova, 2024). While these shifts have created new opportunities for locally led economic growth, they have also presented new problems and challenges for regional development, nature conservation, and land degradation (Anisimov et al., 2025). These reforms have also increased the dynamism of governance and land management. Understanding the spatial governance context is highly important for the EU and its member states, as Ukraine’s accession to the EU is likely to pose new challenges in the implementation of directives and regulations with direct impact on land. ... Read more

In global discussions on land use amid increasing land scarcity, municipal-level decision-making remains underexplored despite municipalities playing a crucial role in regulating land competition. This gap is particularly notable in supranational policies aimed at reducing land consumption which do not account for the diversity of conditions at the municipal level. This article addresses land use decision-making in Ukraine, where pre-existing pressures on land are intensified by the impacts of war and rising demands for land conservation and reduction of land take. Using a new analytical framework, we investigate the relationship between land use pressures, local authorities' perspectives, and policy responses at the municipal level. Focusing on the case of Vinnytsia municipality, we examine current land use measures, supplemented by a Q-methodology study to capture municipal perceptions of prospective land use and the role of municipalities in governing the land. By combining these methods, we explore how three distinct perspectives held by municipal stakeholders inform local policy actions and assess their responsiveness to both current and emerging pressures. The findings highlight that municipalities are often unaware of their long-term role in achieving sustainable land use and further suffer from localism and ineffective multi-level governance arrangements. This points to the need for a more grounded and context-sensitive approach in supranational land use goals and regulations. ... Read more

Sustainable urban mobility plans (SUMPs) are strategic plans developed mainly in the European Union (EU) by local and regional governments to promote the use of more sustainable forms of mobility and foster the integration of different modes of transport. SUMPs have been developed in several European cities and regions, mainly in response to policies and programmes initiated by the European Commission. Addressing all modes of transport and focusing on both passenger and freight, SUMPs aim to enhance accessibility and promote sustainable and high-quality mobility. In most countries, SUMPs are neither mandatory nor legally binding plans. ... Read more

Transport was one of the main areas of common policy when the European Economic Community (EEC) was founded in 1957. Up to the mid-1980s, European transport policy was characterised by slow, incremental, piecemeal progress where EEC member states had little political appetite and shared few common aims for transport policy. From the mid-1980s onwards, the development of European transport policy was characterised by a raft of liberalisation policies paving the way for the European Single Market and more attention to the environmental and social impacts of transport policy. ... Read more

The concept of “policy packaging” has been proposed to provide potential for a greater integration of land-use and transport policies. This study reviews the literature on policy packaging to offer insights into its potential as a tool and a process for integrating land-use and transport policy and considers how policy packages could enhance the collaboration between land-use and transport policy actors. The review indicates that policy packages are used in land-use and transport planning, but there are often differences in the level of integration of land-use and transport policy measures. At lower levels of governance, there is more focus on transport policy measures than land-use measures. The process of packaging policies follows a similar sequence of steps as the general policy cycle, and the choice of approach – participatory, technological, or a mix – represents a critical factor in packaging land-use and transport policies. This article identifies five key conditions which may lead to more integrated land-use and transport policy packages. ... Read more

This chapter outlines methodological starting points for the cross-national comparison of territorial governance and spatial planning with examples of major projects. It gives an overview of the history of major cross-national comparative projects drawing on literature spanning almost 50 years. Cross-national comparative studies must address three key methodological challenges. related to: (i) conceptual equivalence between countries and cultures; (ii) the dynamic nature of planning systems as they evolve over time; and (iii) engaging with both formal and informal aspects of planning systems and practices. The chapter gives an overview of the main dimensions that have been employed (or could potentially be employed) to compare territorial governance, mainly between countries but also within countries where different planning systems exist. The dimensions cover the organization of planning systems; characteristics of the operation of planning; and the impact of planning on territorial development. ... Read more

Spatial proximity is a key factor in being able to access activities, services and goods. It is a recurring concept in urban planning and is particularly important for less physically mobile and/or less wealthy members of society, such as the elderly. Recently, the 15-minute city concept has served to re-emphasise the importance of spatial proximity in urban planning. Spatial proximity is a crucial way of increasing urban accessibility, but it is not the only way: the transport system and digital infrastructure also have an important role in shaping urban accessibility. ... Read more

Ecological Urbanism and Water Sensitive Urban Design have a central contribution to make in protecting and caring for people, nature and water in cities but readings of Urban Political Ecology evidence how ecological metaphors in urban design can easily translate into discriminatory urban development processes. This paper posits that for UPE to become meaningful for urban design practice, it is necessary to move beyond a critique. Instead, the insights of UPE should be pro-actively mobilized to develop a new vision of water sensitivity. The paper therefore identifies ways in which the key learnings of the critical social sciences, namely UPE, can be mobilized to support Water Sensitive Urban Design practice. How can ecological urbanists imagine new, more politically astute, forms of water sensitive living, charting design processes that not just recognize but also actively question and challenge uneven socio-ecological dynamics? In answering this question, the goal of this article is to make use of critique from UPE to influence Ecological Urbanists' goals and activate their political alignment with agendas that prioritize social equity. In imagining a new form of WSUD, we tried as much as possible not to over-instrumentalize UPE by rejecting the suggestion that some UPE ‘lessons’ or ‘insights’ could simply be inserted into ecological urbanism. On a different direction, we argue for a different emphasis in WSUD that does not deny the causes of current environmental degradation, pollution and depletion but, on the contrary, actively takes issue with and challenges the extractive and exploitative roots of contemporary urbanization processes. ... Read more

Competence for planning usually rests with more than one level of government in a country which creates multi-scalar or multi-level governance for spatial planning. The majority of the 32 countries in the ESPON COMPASS study had three levels of government, though some have two or four. The distribution of competences differs and there is much change which often involves the abolition or creation of administrations. There are several trends underway: decentralisation or devolution of competences, for example, in Germany and Croatia; regionalisation where there is devolution to sub-national governments, for example, in the UK and in some ways Greece; and concurrent centralisation and decentralisation, for example, in Denmark and Lithuania. Most countries have some competence for national-level responsibilities for planning, even in federal states where the competent bodies are at sub-national level there is cooperation on some issues for the whole country. Spatial planning across functional regions or soft territorial cooperation areas is increasing, most commonly in metropolitan regions, where there are varied arrangements including the creation of metropolitan-level administrations, inter-municipal agreements and voluntary cooperation. ... Read more

Introduction
Urban mobility can detrimentally impact city dwellers' health and quality of life, e.g. through air pollution, noise and traffic injuries, but offers opportunities for health promotion, e.g., through active travel. While the health impacts of transport are well known, the extent to which health is considered in mobility plans is less obvious. The European Commission encourages cities to develop Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs) to improve residents’ quality of life. We assess how health is addressed in SUMPs by examining: i) key health and health equity terminology, ii) explicit transport pathways to health, iii) health targets and key performance indicators, and iv) the health-rationale of actions and measures.

Methods
Using a customised health dictionary, we perform a quantitative text analysis of SUMPs issued from 2006 to 2023 (n = 230) from 31 European countries listed on the European Local Transport Information Service (Eltis) City Database. We further validate this by an in-depth qualitative analysis of a purposive sub-sample (n = 13).

Results
The findings show that while the prominence of health in SUMPs seems to be increasing, the link between transport and equity, and social and mental wellbeing is not frequently discussed. Detailed targets and KPIs for several health pathways are scarce or missing, as are the health rationale and health outcomes for proposed measures. Overwhelmingly SUMPs’ health aspirations focus on minimising detrimental health impacts of transport, primarily from traffic injuries and to a lesser extent from air pollution. Health related concepts such as accessibility and active travel feature prominently but are not explicitly identified as an opportunity to enhance health.

Conclusion
Urban mobility planning across Europe seems to miss an opportunity to embrace mobility as a driver of health promotion. ... Read more

Three critical facets of spatial planning are central to defining its character and performance in shaping spatial development: policy integration, the adaptability of plans, and engagement of citizens. This chapter reports on what was learned about general trends in Europe since 2000 for each of these facets drawing on two projects under the name ESPON COMPASS. We briefly introduce integration, adaptability and engagement, and what is known about trends with reference to key sources and examples. The findings complement evidence presented in other parts of this book, especially Chapters 6 and 9. This chapter stands back from much of the detail elsewhere in the book and give a broad and generic assessment based on expert evaluations. The picture is one of substantial reform of planning systems which seek to strengthen integration, enable adaptation of plans to address uncertainty, and engage citizens more deeply in the process. ... Read more

Many references to policy paradigms and paradigm shifts can be found in the transport studies literature. Within this literature, diverse ways of interpreting and measuring paradigms and paradigm shifts are evident. This article critically reviews how paradigms are conceived in the transport studies literature and compares these interpretations with the policy science literature where the term has been more widely studied and used. The article proposes a conceptualisation of transport policy paradigms along four key dimensions: problem framing, goals, instruments and evaluation criteria. This conceptualisation helps to increase the clarity and usefulness of the term paradigm for both researchers and practitioners in studying transformative changes in transport policy. ... Read more