Open Space issues
Peri-urban open space under pressure
Peri-urban open spaces in North-west Europe are prone to urban pressure, economic decline and loss of environmental quality and cultural history. The importance of the open space for the quality of the whole region, including the life of city dwellers, is strongly under estimated in public opinion and spatial planning. Although there is an appreciation of the landscape it is also taken for granted and we therefore risk to lose it, out of ignorance.
Open space, not just an absence of built up area
Traditional planning and landscape management practice has not always successfully addressed the complex relationship between urban and rural issues. Open space is usually perceived as an absence of a built up area rather than an environment with its own dynamic culture, heritage, biodiversity and identity.
‘The Future of the Countryside’
In 1988 the EC Commission Communication ‘The future of the Countryside[1] stated that certain rural areas were struggling with problems caused by modernisation, resulting in rural decline and loss of quality and identity. These areas are mostly situated in the densely populated regions of North West Europe but also occur in metropolitan areas of southern and eastern parts of Europe (e.g. Barcelona, Budapest, Milan). For the first time it was recognised that open spaces in regions under urban pressure ask for a specific policy, different from the common rural and mainly agricultural development policy. The communication stated that the Member States should pay attention to this. However, besides the European Spatial Vision for Northwest Europe (2000), no specific actions have been undertaken yet. Specific EU support programmes for urban and rural areas are being developed, but without specific measures for those open spaces under urban pressure.
Sustainable open space
The Interreg IIC project Sustainable Open Space (SOS I) lead to the conclusion that open space can no longer be considered a negative concept but is an essential component in the dynamic spatial development for the whole of North West Europe. SOS I confirmed that open space is a reservoir for heritage and culture as well as for the economic, social, recreational and spiritual well being of its inhabitants of all incomes, interests, creeds and cultures in both urban and rural areas. It is part of the binding agent for the urban and rural relationship, helping to connect communities with landscapes, quality of life, economic vitality and viability. Due to the scale and European context of urbanisation, economic processes and policy making, there is a need to deal with these issues in a trans-regional way.
The innovative thinking and actions in the SOS I project affirmed the value of a partnership involving different regions from North West Europe, all partners having different cultures and backgrounds and working together. SOS I also made clear that knowledge and expertise on issues related to sustainable open space are mostly very local or regional specific. The heterogeneity of actors and stakeholders, mixing traditional urban and rural stakes and issues, is a characteristic for planning sustainable open space. SOS I stressed that in order to elaborate on open space issues on higher planning levels or to co-ordinate approaches, there is a need to gather, combine, innovate and transfer knowledge, while developing a dynamic, lasting transnational network of stakeholders practitioners, experts and politicians.
Landscape identity as the key to sustainable open space
[1] Communication of the European Committee to the European Parliament and the Council, dated 29 July 1988, The future of the countryside, COM(88) 501 def.
