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Metropolitan planning is a fairly new practice that refers, amongst other topics, to open spaces. The objective of this research is to determine the changing role and treatment given to open spaces in successive metropolitan plans through an evolutionary analysis of Barcelona. The paper begins by providing the conceptual foundations of open space planning in metropolitan contexts and by briefly contextualising the study-area. The methodology is based on a guided analysis of 26 supra-municipal plans. In addition, other research methods are also used to obtain the results, consisting of the systematic overview of the analysed plans. The discussion examines the trajectory of the Barcelona case study with regard to international developments, showing that there is an overall consistency between them. The text concludes by recommending improvements for guaranteeing proper metropolitan open space planning, such as the need to go beyond zoning procedures and to take into account civil society and local political circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses several papers published within the issue, including one by Marco Amati on the London Green Belt and another by Susannah C. Gunn on the debate about meeting housing demands.

Recent changes in planning and planning for housing have altered organisational arrangements, strengthening regional planning and housing remits. Like other planning policy agendas, housing policy has also been expected to become more sustainable, resulting in changes in its approach. Most recently, it has been required to focus more on ensuring better housing delivery. This paper reflects on the implications of these changes' on green belt policy making at the regional level. It concludes that the emphasis on finding sustainable housing solutions in conjunction with the need to find more housing land has indeed put pressure on some regions to adopt a more flexible green belt approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the New Labour government took office in 1997 it has made a number of calls for the reform of the London green belt, culminating in the recent 'Barker Reviews' that propose to revise the green belt boundaries and make it more flexible. So far little research has examined how the green belt operates under the current planning system to question how practicable these green belt reform proposals are. Drawing on a survey and a series of interviews to show how the green belt reform proposals are viewed at the local level, this research seeks to show the areas in which the current green belt is both flexible and useful as a planning tool to reach consensus in the urban fringe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the social reconstruction of green belt policy in Scotland through a historical overview of the academic, practice and policy literatures. Attention is drawn to the reinterpretation and extension of the social amenity and health objectives of early green belt policy introduced by the Department of Health in Scotland; the diversity of policy implementation in practice; and the recent attempts of the Scottish Executive to reform green belt policy in the context of the modernisation and reform of the land use planning system so as to accommodate spatial planning principles and to facilitate a cultural change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policies to preserve open space in the Netherlands have evolved over a long period of time. In the interwar period pressure groups were actively trying to put the issue of open space on the political agenda. Their pleas were only partly met. After the Second World War, and as part of the establishment of the welfare state, an intricate planning system emerged serving many goals, a key one being the preservation of open space and therefore the containment of urbanisation. The most well-known policy concept is that of the Green Heart, basically a green belt surrounded and intersected by urban belts. Initially, however, the planning system proved to be not very effective. The period from the end of the 1960s until the end of the 1990s was characterised by efforts to improve the effectiveness of the planning system, also in terms of preserving open space. Recent years have become critical in terms of policies towards green belts. Central government has taken the decision to fundamentally change its role in spatial planning, partly handing over the responsibility for policies preserving open space to lower levels of government. Recently the issue of preserving open space returned to the agenda. According to many what is happening is 'messing up the landscape'. What is called for is strong and effective guidance by central government. However, it is unlikely that a return of the restrictive policies of the 1980s and 1990s will be seen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]