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For decades, the European Union has affected spatial planning in the member states through its environmental policies. To investigate the mechanism by which EU policy becomes joined up to spatial planning, we invoke the concept of 'coupling' from systems and organizational science. We show that coupling is established not only at the EU policymaking level (e.g. within a directive's text), but also during implementation and enforcement. Consequently, it is possible to actively 'manage' coupling either by enhancing its flexibility on paper or by limiting its activation in practice. Drawing on three case studies in the Netherlands, we show that various (de)coupling strategies can be applied, but none are completely satisfactory or risk-free. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to highlight the mechanisms through which institutional arrangements influence the morphology of residential development. By comparing the Netherlands, Flanders and North Rhine-Westphalia, which have quite similar socio-economic and landscape characteristics, it investigates how differences in national institutional environments have contributed to differences in the urban morphology of residential areas. This article fits within a broader institutional “turn” in planning research. While most of these studies focus on how institutions affect the behaviour of actors in the process of planning and development, this article focuses on the physical outcomes of these processes. The institutional analysis of physical outcomes suggests that urban morphology is not only linked to planning systems—the subject of this special issue—but also to housing cultures and property regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]