Ecological Rationality in Spatial Planning: Concepts and Tools for Sustainable Land-Use Decisions (Cities and Nature)

Spatial planning defines how men use one of the most important and scarce resources on Earth: land. Planners therefore play a key role in countering or deepening the current ecological crisis. To foster ecological transitions, planning scholars and practitioners need to be equipped with sound theories and practical tools. To this end, this book advocates a re-foundation of spatial planning under the paradigm of “ecological rationality”, based on the revaluation of early pioneers of ecological planning and mutual fertilization with different disciplines, including decision-making science, ecology, (eco)system theory, land use science and political ecology. The key principles of ecological rationality and its application to spatial planning are discussed and this conceptual framework is used to explain the main underlying drivers of ecological degradation and their spatial manifestations at the local level. Current policy instruments in the European context, which can be used to underpin ecological planning, such as Green Infrastructure and the Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystem Service (MAES) initiative, are also examined. Acknowledgements 7 Prologue 8 Contents 11 1 Standing on the Shoulders of Giants—Reviving Ecological Approaches in Planning Traditions 14 1.1 Introduction and Outline of the Book 14 1.2 Reviving and Renewing Ecological Approaches in Planning Traditions 19 References 34 2 The Concept of Ecological Rationality and Its Application to Spatial Planning 37 2.1 Definition(s) of Rationality 37 2.2 Different Forms of Rationality and the Current Primacy of Economic Rationality 39 2.3 The Different Forms of Rationality and Spatial Planning 47 2.4 Ecology, Ecosystems, and Landscapes—Definitions and Main Concepts 51 2.5 The Concept of Ecological Rationality 55 References 60 3 Bridging the Gaps: Connecting Spatial Planning with Land-Use Science and Political Ecology 62 3.1 Ecological Rationality Principles in Planning Structures and Processes 62 3.2 The Inherent Incapacity of Current Decision-Making Systems to Pursue Ecological Rationality 65 3.3 Land-Use Science, Political Ecology, and the (Missing?) Link with Spatial Planning 70 3.4 Landscape Ecology and Spatial Planning 76 3.5 Wrap-Up 80 References 81 4 Towards a Conceptual Framework for Ecological Rationality in Spatial Planning 84 4.1 The Proposed Conceptual Framework for Ecological Rationality in Spatial Planning 85 4.2 Understanding the Drivers of Landscape Transformation (1): Social Metabolism and the Metabolic Rift 87 4.3 Understanding the Drivers of Landscape Transformation (2): Production and Overproduction of Space and the Spatial Fix 93 4.4 Towards a Unified Framework of Ecological Rationality and Reconfiguration of Space 102 4.5 Processes of Landscapes’ Reconfiguration: Expansion, Intensification and Simplification in Urban and Rural Areas 105 4.5.1 Urban and Suburban Areas 105 4.5.2 Rural Areas 107 References 117 5 A Closer Look to Processes of Territorial Transformations in Europe: Urbanization, Agricultural Intensification and Land Abandonment 121 5.1 Recent and Ongoing Macro-processes of Territorial Transformation in Europe 121 5.2 Urbanization in the EU in the Frame of Post-political Planning 122 5.2.1 Agricultural Intensification and Land Abandonment 136 5.3 Wrap Up and Ways Forward—Bringing the Politics in Again 144 References 146 6 Policies and Regulatory Frames in the EU and the Needed Link with Spatial Planning 150 6.1 The EU Policy Frame and Spatial Planning 150 6.2 The Habitat Directive and the Water Framework Directive 157 6.2.1 The Habitat Directive 157 6.2.2 The Water Framework Directive 158 6.3 The European Biodiversity Strategy, MAES and Green Infrastructure as a Spatially Explicit Approach to Integrate Ecosystem Services and Spatial Planning 161 6.3.1 Ecosystem Service and Spatial Planning: A Trendy Topic in Need of Some Critical Reflections 163 6.3.2 Green Infrastructure in the EU—An Approach to Operationalize Ecological Rationality in Spatial Planning? 170 6.4 The Common Agricultural Policy and the Rural Development Policy: Towards a Possible Territorialization 177 6.4.1 CAP and Rural Development Policy: A Basic Glossary 177 6.4.2 CAP as an Hybrid Territorial Policy—Spaces of Integration with Spatial Planning 181 References 189 7 Conclusions and Ways Forward: Five Propositions for Bringing Back Ecological Rationality in Spatial Planning 198 7.1 The Ways Forward: What Do We Need to Equip Planning and Planners to Deliver Ecological Rationality 198 Epilogue 203 Bibliography 205