Territorial governance in Europe: A comparative study

Due to its millennial history and recent events, Europe is an institutional context with very specific characteristics, ranging from high geographical and cultural differentiation to close cooperation within the European Union (EU). The variety of state and social models has contributed to shape and consolidate a heterogeneous territorial governance landscape. Not surprisingly, the comparative study of territorial governance originated in this context and has so far developed in Europe more than elsewhere. Focusing on the way the public authority allocates land use and development rights, three prevailing models are currently recognised, labelled conformative, performative and neo-performative. The most recent comparative analyses use these models and the respective role of the market Vs public actors in the definition of development decisions to show that territorial governance systems allocating rights on a case-by-case basis after project evaluation prove more effective than traditional systems based on generalized prescriptive zoning.