[...] Das Hauptziel des ESPON Programms besteht darin, wissenschaftlich fundierte Erkenntnisse zur Raumentwicklung in Europa für die raumpolitischen Prozesse auf europäischer (und teilweise nationaler) Ebene zu erarbeiten. Damit dient die Einrichtung des ESPON Programms der politiknahen...

Metropolitan areas are concentrated and dense areas filled settlements and include a central urban region with its surrounding residences. Severity and complexity of issues in metropolitan areas along with intricacy and quantity of influential factors in these areas necessitate novel approaches...

Managing and controlling "land take" of agricultural and natural land for urbanisation is the target of European and national policies. Although this objective seems to be increasingly understood among the actors, the prioritisation of issues and the measures taken by governments to achieve it...