Abdul Khakee is based at the Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, Angela Hull is based at the Heriot-Watt University, UK, Donald Miller is based at the University of Washington, USA, and Johan Woltjer is based at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands.

'The late Henk Voogd, grand master of planning evaluation and co-author of one of the chapters in this collection, would have been pleased: under the able guidance of the editors, an excellent team of authors leaves past debates between rationalist and communicative planners behind; optimisation is simply of the essence of evaluation. The real issues addressed in this rich book, being the result of a sustained cooperative effort, relate to its scope and dimensions.' Andreas Faludi, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands 'If you need to keep abreast of recent developments in planning evaluation, this volume represents a useful investment.' Institute of Economic Development

• Contents: Preface, Abdul Khakee, Angela Hull, Don Miller and Johan Woltjer; Introduction: new principles in planning, Abdul Khakee, Angela Hull, Donald Miller and Johan Woltjer. Part 1 Socio-Environmental Principles: Methods for assessing environmental justice in planning evaluation - an approach and an application, Donald Miller; Multidimensional evaluation for sustainable development: managing the intermix of mind, artefact, institution and nature, Jenny Stenberg; Is there room for equity in the European Commission policy-making? An evaluation of selected impact assessment reports, Tom Bauler, Alessandro Bonifazi and Carmelo M. Torre; Sustainable development in regional development practice: a socio-cultural view of evaluation, Sylvia Dovlén and Tuija Hilding-Rydevik; An ex-ante evaluation of an urban project through property value increases: a hedonic price approach, Roberto Camagni and Roberta Capello. Part 2 Socio-Institutional Principles: Estimation of a hedonic rent index for the residential real estate market of Bari: a contribution to urban planning, Maurizio d'Amato and Tom Kauko; Looking inside the plausibility of contact in aid programmes and partnerships, Domenico Patassini; Evaluation in area-based regeneration: programme evaluation challenges, Angela Hull; Strategic spatial planning and planning evaluation, developing an entrepreneurial urbanization strategy in South-Holland, Johan Woltjer; Evaluating national urban planning: is Dutch planning a success or failure?, Willem K. Korthals Altes; Evaluative argumentation in fragmented discursive planning: a new theory-in-practice of environmental assessment of rational distributive policies, Angela Barbanente, Dino Borri and Valeria Monno. Part 3 Interactiveness/Communication Principles: Democratic concerns and governance in planning evaluation, Luigi Fusco Girard; Using a communication audit to evaluate organizational communication in planning, Elaine Hogard and Roger Ellis; Policy network theory: an e