Various recent policy documents stress the need for the integration of sector policies. Several studies have recently been carried out looking at various aspects of policy integration, especially with respect to the integration of transport, land use planning and environment policy. Although literature in this area of research is growing, it is still however quite limited and rather sectoral. Most of the research is mainly technical and mainly focuses on policy options, instruments or assessment methods, rather than on decision-making processes and/or implementation issues. Little attention has been given to organisational and/or institutional aspects of policy integration and how this relates to theories from organisational, policy or political sciences. This paper provides an overview of theoretical frameworks for analysing policy integration and reviews policy documents and recent major research projects with links to policy integration (particularly within Europe). The paper aims to give a historical perspective on policy integration, summarise recent research, identify key ressearch gaps, consider the transferability of research results and identify promising new areas for future research. The paper is divided into four sections. The first section provides a historical overview of changes and trends in policy perspectives, focusing on the European level. The second section contains a review of literature (from both policy documents and theoretical literature) concerning policy integration. The third section summarises recent research projects (mainly funded by the European Commission) relevant to the integration of transport, land use planning and environment policy. This section also considers the issue of policy transfer. The final section contains conclusions and a number of recommendations for future research in this area. (Author/publisher).
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