APEP School Partners in ESPON project on spatial planning and governance (COMPASS)

^{COMPASS team at project kick-off meeting in Delft, September 2016}

The European Territorial Observatory Network – ESPON – has commissioned a comparative analysis of the state of spatial planning systems and territorial governance in Europe. It is the first comprehensive research on European spatial planning since 1997 when 15 countries were included in the EU Compendium. COMPASS will cover 39 countries - the 28 member states of the EU, the four EFTA countries and seven candidate and other countries. The 9-member consortium is led by Delft Technical University. UCD team is represented by Professor Zorica Nedovi?-Budi?, Dr. Brendan Williams and Visiting Professor Gerrit Knaap (University of Maryland).

Numerous reports have called for more effective territorial governance and a stronger spatial dimension to EU policies. Spatial planning should help to combine actions in particular places to achieve more effective results. COMPASS will compare the role of spatial planning in the 39 countries giving special attention to its relationship with the €352 billion programme of investment through Cohesion policy. The project director Professor Vincent Nadin, said ‘the big challenge for COMPASS is to make an effective comparison whilst respecting the very different social, economic and cultural conditions in the many countries involved. We have a very experienced consortium who can provide the in-depth know-how necessary for an authoritative assessment.’

Further information: https://www.espon.eu/main/Menu_Projects/Menu_AppliedResearch/07.GovernanceandSpatialPlanning.html