Megacorridors in north-west Europe: issues for transnational spatial governance Jochem de Vries a , Hugo Priemus a,b, * a De Lijn, Office for Urban Development, Frederiksplein 43, 1017 XL Amsterdam, The Netherlands b OTB Research Institute for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies, Delft University of Technology, Thijsseweg 11, P.O. Box 5030, 2629 JA Delft, The Netherlands Abstract Megacorridors connecting the major urban regions in north-west Europe represent a major challenge for spatial governance. Collective action can only influence developments in these areas when it is innovative. Success depends on strong intersectoral, public–private, cross-border and central-local coordination. This paper discusses the various challenges by grouping them into three categories: the creation and circulation of relevant knowledge, translation of policy objectives into planning concepts and the conversion of these concepts into action. Ó 2003 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Keywords: Corridors; Megacorridors; Governance; Cross-border coordination; Area-based approach 1. Introduction Corridors have proved contentious when defining the appropriate role of spatial governance (see also the in- troductory article of this issue). As an empirical phe- nomenon, corridors contrast sharply with the objectives that spatial planning has traditionally tried to promote, such as the preservation of open space, the realisation of compact cities and a spatial structure that promotes public transport (Kaufmann and Escuin, 2000). When these beliefs are taken as a frame of reference, corridors are often viewed with suspicion. In a country like the Netherlands, where spatial planning is carried out at all levels of government, it has become taboo to use the corridor as a planning concept (Priemus, 2001). How- ever, as the contributions in this volume and the research conducted in the CORRIDESIGN-project clearly indicate, simply ignoring corridors does not make sense either. Important challenges for spatial governance will be overlooked if corridors are not taken seriously. In this contribution, we will present the issues that are relevant for transnational and national spatial governance of megacorridors connecting large urban areas. We do this from the perspective of institutional capacity building, a subject that will be elaborated in the next section. There are at least two ways one can look at mega- corridors (Ipenburg et al., 2001). First, there is a pre- dominantly negative interpretation. This point of view emphasises the problems associated with corridor development, such as unregulated urbanisation and congestion. The term (mega)corridor is then used as something to be avoided or at least something that needs to be channelled in such a way to mitigate the most harmful effects. This interpretation is strongly present in the Netherlands, Flanders, Germany and the United Kingdom. Second, there is an interpretation with a much more positive connotation. This views the mega- corridor as something positive that can provide oppor- tunities for economic development. Carefully chosen and well-developed nodes can create economic devel- opment that would otherwise not take place. Actors employing this positive interpretation, however, also seek to avoid Ôpipe and tunnel effectsÕ that arise when regions or areas accommodate infrastructure but do not benefit from it (Graham and Marvin, 2001). This is dominant in (Northern) France and the Walloon Region * Corresponding author. Address: OTB Research Institute for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies, Delft University of Technol- ogy, P.O. Box 5030, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands. Tel.: +31-15- 2783005; fax: +31-15-27884422. E-mail addresses: priemus@otb.tudelft.nl, groeneveld@otb.tudelft. nl (H. Priemus). 0966-6923/$ - see front matter Ó 2003 Published by Elsevier Ltd. doi:10.1016/S0966-6923(03)00033-4 Journal of Transport Geography 11 (2003) 225–233 www.elsevier.com/locate/jtrangeo