Open space is essential for well-being in urban life, but it is not possible to rely on the market to provide or preserve it. Using examples from across Europe this book demonstrates the need for governmental intervention to deliver a successful urban space strategy.

1. Rethinking Open Space Planning in Metropolitan Areas 2. Planning and Development of the Fringe Landscapes: On the Outer Side of the Copenhagen 'fingers' 3. Threats to Metropolitan Open Space: The Netherlands Economic and Institutional Dimension 4. Development Constraints Reduce Urban Open Space: Actual Conditions and Future Requirements in England 5. Viability of Cross-Subsidy Strategies: A Netherlands Case Study 6. Does Proximity to Open Space Increase the Value of Dwellings? Evidence from Three Dutch Case Studies 7. Government or Market: Competing Ideals in American Metropolitan Regions 8. Maintaining the Working Landscape: The Portland Metro Urban Growth Boundary 9. The Impact of Open Space Preservation Policies: Evidence from the Netherlands and the US 10. Spaces of Engagement for Open Space Advocacy: A Grounded Theory on Local Opposition in the Netherlands 11. Formalisation of 'Open Space' as 'Public Space' in Zoning: The Belgian Experience 12. Aesthetic Approaches to Active Urban Landscape Planning: European Exemplars 13. Flächenhaushalt Reconsidered: Alternatives to the German Federal Thirty Hectares Goal 14. Planning Open Spaces: Balancing Markets, State and Communities