The integration of land use planning, transport and environment in European policy and research

Abstract

There are increasing calls for greater policy integration within European policy documents and research programmes. In the area of land use planning, transport and environment policy, there is widespread acceptance that integrating decisions across these sectors is crucial for sustainable development. Despite this, relatively little European research has been (or is being) carried out on the issue of policy integration, particularly in relation to transport, land use planning and environment policies. Most of the research is mainly technical and mainly focuses on policy options, instruments or assessment methods, rather than on decision-making processes and/or implementation issues; little attention has been given to organisational and/or institutional aspects of policy integration and how this relates to theories from organisational, policy or political sciences. This paper provides a review of policy integration in academic literature, European policy documents and research activities. The paper aims to give a historical perspective to the issue of policy integration, summarise recent policy and research, identify key research gaps and identify promising new areas for future research. The paper is divided into five main sections. The introduction is followed by a short overview of academic literature concerning policy integration. The next section discusses the importance of policy integration in European policy-making and policy documents. This is followed by an assessment of the importance of policy integration for European research programmes and projects. The last section presents some conclusions and recommendations for promising areas of research concerning policy integration in relation to transport, land use planning and environmental issues.