Central and Eastern European Actors in the European Spatial Planning Debate. Time to Make a Difference?

Abstract

The EU eastward enlargement formally opened EU spatial policy arenas to new member states' actors. However, European spatial planning developed as the product of an epistemic community admittedly rooted in north-west Europe and it is unclear whether such perspective will be altered anytime soon. The paper elaborates on this issue arguing that the differential engagement of domestic actors with the European spatial planning debate has a direct influence on the prevalence of specific policy agendas and approaches over others. In this light, it explores the extent of engagement of Central and Eastern European actors with the European spatial planning knowledge arenas: the intergovernmental debate, the territorial cohesion debate and the Cooperation Platform for Territorial Cohesion in Europe. It concludes that, despite the limited overall level of engagement, the increasing commitment of some CEE member states suggests that this situation is changing albeit differentially.