This book is a product of a 2000–2004 EU-funded research project (Urban Pressure on Rural Areas (NEWRUR)) ‘which dealt with the changes and dynamics linked to urban pressure on rural areas within European city regions’ (p. 1). The initial chapters explain the policy background, i.e. the search for a European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP), and various concepts, such as ‘polycentricism’, ‘spatial planning’ (a somewhat broader profession than traditional UK-type land use planning), and ‘territorial cohesion’. The specific role of city-regions in this search, and associated ideas such as ‘urban–rural partnerships’, ‘peri-urban regions’, are explored, though not always in great depth. Later chapters include four ‘evaluations of the factors that contribute to city-region success or failure in achieving the kind of regulatory aims spelt out in the ESDP’, in England (Cambridge and Norwich), France (Annecy and Valence), Spain (Andalusia) and Germany (Munich) respectively. A final chapter reviews the earlier material, and attempts to draw some ‘lessons for the future?’
There is not much in here that is directed specifically towards (or from) agriculture, or indeed other specific land uses and economic sectors, with the exception perhaps of housing. The book is more concerned with the roles and objectives (or ambitions?) of various levels and segments of government, from the European down to the local level. Even so, relationships with the private sector and with non-governmental organizations and interest groups are not dealt with in detail, even in the four case-study chapters. Despite its presence in the book's title, ‘competitiveness’ – a term borrowed from economics – also receives little analysis. Although the English is generally good, the absence of an index (or even a listing of section titles) is a drawback.
Thus the book is a useful insight into the world of spatial planners, and illustrates both idealism and intellectualism at the European level. Depending on your point of view, this may be taken as a warning or an inspiration. The question mark in the title of the final chapter seems justified.
