From discourse to facts: The case of the ROM project in Ghent, Belgium

In the 1990s a strategic approach to the organisation and modelling space at different scale levels – local, regional, national, transnational and supranational – became more prevalent. Increasingly, the way to solve complex spatial problems is assumed to depend on the ability to combine strategic visioning with short-term to long-term action programmes, which has been gaining the necessary support from the major actors (political, economic, ecological and other pressure groups, as well as citizens in general). The ROM Project in the Ghent Canal Zone is such a project, and was set up to develop an integrated strategic plan for the purpose of tackling problems that can only be solved by developing a selective consensus and deciding on joint actions among the different actors at the different scale levels. The ROM Project has received awards from the European Commission and from the European Council of Town Planners.