Managing Urban Change in Five European Urban Agglomerations: Key Policy Documents and Institutional Frameworks

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the thematic scope and approaches to urban and regional policy in the five case study cities of Lisbon, Oporto, Istanbul, Stockholm and Rotterdam, while the spatial dynamics and vulnerabilities of each case are explored in Chap. 5. For each of these large urban agglomerations, a number of key documents are introduced and evaluated to provide an understanding of their approach to managing urban change, and an examination is made of their operating institutional framework as regards planning and policy in urban management. These documents constitute key elements of the formal planning systems (e.g. municipal urban development plans or regional comprehensive plans). In addition to spatial plans, a number of other strategic documents that have a clear impact on the management of urban change are identified that complement the spatial plans in various ways. As the intention in this chapter is only to provide an overview, the analysis is restricted to the most important among them.