This is the prologue of the Policy Options Paper, June 1999, for Vision Planet project, financed by the Community Initiative Interreg IIC.
The project, entrusted to EU member countries Austria, Germany and Italy, promotes co-operation in the spatial planning field within the CADSES area (Central European, Adriatic, Danubian and Southeast European Space). This area also includes Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Macedonia (FYROM), Moldava, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, along with parts of Poland and Ukraine. In the case of Italy, the regions involved in this research project are the Adriatic Regions. The space comprised in the Vision project has an area of 1,5 million of km² and a population of 187 million. It includes some of the most developed areas of Europe (Vienna region, Baden-Württemberg, Baviera, Emilia-Romagna and Veneto) along with those least developed (Kosovo, Albania, Macedonia).Vision Planet is a transnational project involving an analytical process for the evaluation and description of the current situation with the goal of elaborating cooperative approaches and possible policy solutions. Vision focuses on three principles for a European spatial development policy: (i) the development of a balanced and polycentric urban system; (ii) the provision of parity of access to infrastructure and knowledge; (iii) a sustainable development and the careful management of natural and cultural heritage. The proposals are addressed to national, regional and local authorities, the European Commission and other EU institutions; financing institutions and investors; non-governmental organizations; the professional community of spatial planners; regional policy-makers and the scientific community.Supported by the programme as the most important action tools, co-operation and transnational, cross-border planning are to be viewed as the result of a world-wide and continental democratization. This type of regional and cross-border level contact and co-operation has the potential to influence national policies and could prove to be an additional guarantee of stability and security. The main objective of this programme is the common and joint elaboration of a document on spatial development perspectives of the CADSES area. The co-operation established will encourage trustful relations based on mutual understanding and common assessment of development problems among the countries within the area.As part of Vision Planet programme, the International Adriatic Conference aims at comparing arguments and perspectives (resulting from specialized studies or political-administrative experiences) with three important issues: (i) the monumental, historical and architectural heritage of great cultures which have passed through the Adriatic shores, and the common natural environment; (ii) economy and transportation as essential elements to achieve sustainable development and a possible integration; and (iii) settlement policies and the related social aspects.Needless to say, these three issues are inter-connected. For example, tourism is a common economic resource which depends on environmental protection and cultural heritage enhancement, as well as on transportation infrastructures and specific economic actions.Europe is working at the unification process. However, many issues need indepth attention such as the request for regional autonomy and defence of specific cultures of ethnic minorities. The tragedies, well known to all of us, continue. Yet, we cannot allow the continued tension between peoples to foresake the work leading towards integration and the respect of minorities and their cultures. The acknowledgement that we are all debtors to the great cultures which sailed across our sea (Romans, Byzantine, Ottomans, Venetian, Austro-Hungarians) and the committment to defend them together, must not be considered a utopia. Instead, it is perhaps one of the few ways to mitigate intolerance and outrage. The Adratic area is a formidable element, potentially able to drive such a widespread cultural, social and economic diversity back to a common matrix.For the reconstruction of local systems, economy and transportation are the basic factors for sustainable development. These factors must be analyzed, considering each situation, despite many inherent differences. A convenient starting point is the analysis of the spatial dimension of the CADSES countries’ social and economic processes. This analysis is a fundamental issue of the Vision Project and a prerequisite for future economic and social evolution. It is therefore necessary to identify the local systems on which a social evolution strategy could be built. Thus, Vision Planet does not consider each nation individually, but several "Action Areas" comprising regions of bordering countries which share similar problems and features.To achieve growth and development, massive knowledge transfer is essential and must be based on technological innovations and on the spread of information through an efficient network linking institutions to research groups. A highly relevant issue is certainly a transportation policy which aims at linking the Adriatic area to the most important traffic routes.Economic growth has to include settlement policies able to manage social transformations. The unbalances, already evident and which will inevitably increase or appear in other fields, could be managed through transnational and cross-border interventions. These interventions represent the basic philosophy of the Vision Planet programme.