This book focuses on the urban and regional planning systems in Europe under conditions of economic crisis and austerity.
Spatial Planning as Institutional Design examines the structure and legislation of these systems throughout the twentieth century as well as the decade before the 2008 economic and fiscal crisis and the years of recovery following it.
Louis C. Wassenhoven provides critical analysis of spatial planning systems within Europe and reviews the theories of these institutions and their design. Using his personal experience as a member of a law-making committee in Greece, Wassenhoven illustrates the idea that spatial planning is an important component of a modern democratic state. Defining legal frameworks as an act of institutional design, the book further explores insightful findings through extensive country studies and the lessons to be learnt in the future.
This engaging read is of particular significance to scholars of spatial planning, social science and planning law. Researchers and policy makers interested in territorial development and land use will also find the analysis informative.
Industry Reviews
'Louis Wassenhoven provides a detailed and frank insider's account of the Troika-driven planning reform process in crisis-stricken Greece. His book is a must-read for anyone who wishes to understand more about the difficulties and vagaries of structural reform, not only in Greece but also in all other EU countries who found themselves in a similar situation in the late 2000s and early 2010s.' -- Nikos Karadimitriou, University College London, UK
'Original and thought-provoking, based on the author's own experience on spatial planning in practice, this book identifies the need to resolve the strong conflicts and hidden agreements in Southern Europe and illustrates a new institutional design of modern/post modern democratic states after their deep financial crises and neoliberal recovery practices.' -- Joaquin Farinos Dasi, University of Valencia, Spain
'What did urban planning have to do with the 2008 financial crisis and, more generally, what does it have to do with global economic trends? This book by Louis Wassenhoven illustrates this masterfully through the revealing concept of 'institutional design'. The book is not only of interest to urban planners in Southern Europe - the context used as a case study - but will enlighten policy-makers all over the world.' -- Umberto Janin Rivolin, Polytechnic of Torino, Italy