Environmental policy integration in urban spatial planning: the approach of Rotterdam

An integrated approach to spatial planning and environmental policy has not yet been adopted by many national, regional or local administrations. However, such integration is likely to provide a better streamlined planning process incorporating the environmental improvements and the physical developments in the urban areas. Within Europe some attempts to integrate spatial and environmental planning can be found in western countries like the Netherlands. In this paper we review the local policy concerning spatial and environmental planning on the experience of the city of Rotterdam. We discuss two methods for an area-oriented planning approach which have been applied in Rotterdam.