A Crossroads with Many Dimensions

Abstract

To give direction to our study, we will not follow the tracks of the theoretical debate that we consider to be often disorganised and insufficiently critical as we mentioned earlier (Hillier & Healey, 2008a). We believe it fundamental to refer to a field of practices that is neither uniquely of local interest nor so vast as to render real in-depth study impossible. The premise is that a series of experiences and thinking that have taken shape in the nascent European Union with particular intensity over the last 20 years might constitute a very interesting empirical workshop for investigating the fundamental trends in spatial planning and their consequent impacts on urban and regional development (Faludi & Zonneveld, 1997; Faludi & Waterhout, 2002; Faludi, 2003; Faludi & Janin Rivolin, 2005).