Spatial planning and develoment

• Introduction
• The difficult coordination of planning systems
• Envisaging spatial planning in cross-border territories
• Flagship projects

Envisaging spatial planning in cross-border territories

With regard to spatial planning, the first task for partners at the border is to transform the vision of the territory from one of two juxtaposed spaces separated by an institutional and political border, to a shared vision of the cross-border space focusing on common themes.

This cross-border spatial planning process consists of:

• The search for and definition of common areas for cooperation.
• The setting up of "regulatory bodies", more or less formalised (Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai Eurometropolis, the Eurodistricts, the Basque Eurocity, Greater Geneva, Alzette-Belval), which help to "produce" this new vision of the territory through political consensus documents (the France-Vaud-Geneva conurbation planning Charter, the Basque Eurocity white paper).
• The search for coordination with planning guidelines at the local level (PLU, SCOT and SCT on the French side), regional level (SRADDET and other regional plans on the French side), national level (national transport plans, collective services plans, territorial planning directives), and the European level (even if they are only indicative in nature: European Spatial Development Perspective, Territorial Agenda 2020) as well as with the available financial tools at the national level (State-region plan contracts) or European level (cross-border and regional programmes).
• The concretisation of the jointly defined cross-border spatial planning and infrastructure projects.