Introduction

In spatial and environmental policy-making 'the European context' implies the construction and implementation of new institutions that change the traditional nation-state oriented systems of spatial and environmental planning. A new system of governance is clearly rising in these fields. The term 'European polity' can almost be used without a question mark. Since the Single European Act (1986), the environment has been an accepted policy field in the EU. A first step to govern the space in the EU was the publication of the 'European Spatial Development Perspective' (1997) (Faludi 1999). On the global level, the UN conferences on environmental affairs have not yet created a 'global polity', but the UNCED-machinery has been interwoven with so many NGOs that it can claim in some way the status of a regime (Arts 1998).