The dangers of transplanting planning instruments: the case of land fragmentation in Central Europe

After the collapse of socialism and the consequent land privatisation process, Central Europe was left with an unfavourable agricultural production structure. In this light, the exchange of Western European knowledge on land consolidation seemed logical and effective. Looking back, a match that seemed at the time to be straightforward now appears much more complex. This paper aims to provide insight into the complexity of transplanting planning instruments by analysing both the inherent problems of this approach and the alternative solutions. In this type of situation, the need to start from a transparent terminological base is vital to cross-national exchange, and, as such, the strategic issue of a given problem and alternative solutions to it should be dealt with before attempting to address the operational details of any given solution.