Integrating Transport, Land-Use Planning and Environment Policy in European Countries

Abstract

Various recent policy documents stress the need for the integration of sector policies.
Several studies have recently been carried out looking at various aspects of policy
integration, especially with respect to the integration of transport, land use planning and
environment policy. Although literature in this area of research is growing, it is still
however quite limited and rather sectoral. Most of the research is mainly technical and
mainly focuses on policy options, instruments or assessment methods, rather than on
decision-making processes and/or implementation issues. Little attention has been given to
organisational and/or institutional aspects of policy integration and how this relates to
theories from organisational, policy or political sciences. This paper provides an overview
of theoretical frameworks for analysing policy integration and reviews policy documents
and recent major research projects with links to policy integration (particularly within
Europe). The paper aims to give a historical perspective on policy integration, summarise
recent research, identify key ressearch gaps, consider the transferability of research
results and identify promising new areas for future research. The paper is divided into four
sections. The first section provides a historical overview of changes and trends in policy
perspectives, focusing on the European level. The second section contains a review of
literature (from both policy documents and theoretical literature) concerning policy
integration. The third section summarises recent research projects (mainly funded by the
European Commission) relevant to the integration of transport, land use planning and
environment policy. This section also considers the issue of policy transfer. The final
section contains conclusions and a number of recommendations for future research in this
area.