Open space preservation is a planner's issue that is constantly debated, in particular on the success of the implemented instruments. Assessments of policy-effectiveness face many methodological problems that are briefly discussed here. We choose to analyse the contribution of Dutch policies to...

This chapter explores the potential of geospatial analysis to characterize land use dynamics in urban areas and the surrounding urban fringe. It focuses on the difference between policy ambitions and reality with respect to urban densification. Policy ambitions for the containment of urban...

Concern for the socio-economic vitality of rural areas has stimulated various development programmes. This paper proposes a methodology to quantify this policy concept following a strict socio-economic interpretation and use it to assess the structural characteristics and performance of rural...