Integration of landscape planning and protection in the spatial planning practices of European countries

Abstract

Researches dealing with the state and scope of landscape planning country by country are quite unique. Conflicts of landscape protection differ mostly because of different landscape conditions in Europe, and the method, that describes how issues of landscape planning are integrated in spatial planning systems of European countries, has diverse solutions. On the basis of a comparison analysis in Vital Landscape project co-financed by ERDF we carried out an extended research exploring the main differences and similarities in the spatial planning systems and how the landscape issues are integrated into the spatial planning system of Austria, Check Republic, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia and Norway. We have analyzed the focus of spatial plans on higher territorial level and we can assume that these mostly concentrate on development strategies, guidelines and on local level the land use regulation is maybe the most important part of them. Each country has a unique solution about how the landscape issues and topics are integrated in the spatial planning system. In our research we analyzed how the legislation of EU and the Council of Europe formed the landscape and the spatial planning systems of the countries. More or less the observed countries face similar problems and conflicts related to spatial planning. Analyzing the questions we can find challenges but good examples as well. The main problem, why the measures and activities cannot be efficient, may be that landscape issues are mostly divided among different bodies but also between different spatial levels as well. Very often there are no guaranteed ways of co-operation. Austria and Norway are very good examples for cooperation.