This book examines spatial planning approaches to natural hazards across selected EU Member States, featuring country studies from Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom. It highlights the common strengths and weaknesses in how European planning practices address natural hazards such as river floods and earthquakes. By analyzing these approaches, the book explores the vital role that spatial planners and planning can play in natural risk assessment and management, aiming to reduce community vulnerability to such hazards. It also offers recommendations for methods and procedures in spatial planning. Contributing authors include Silvia Cozzi, Miranda Dandoulaki, Helen Fay, Mark Fleischhauer, Adriana Galderisi, Stefan Greiving, Jaana Jarva, Scira Menoni, Jorge Olcina Cantos, Kalliopi Sapountzaki, Heidi Virkki, and Sylvia Wanczura. The publication was partly funded by the European Commission under the 6th EU Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP6) project “Applied Multi-Risk Mapping of Natural Hazards for Impact Assessment” (ARMONIA), which aims to provide harmonized methodologies for integrated risk maps to enhance spatial planning in disaster-prone areas across Europe.
