Urban growth and sprawl have long put pressure on rural areas, leading to a growing zone of ‘rurban areas' where a multitude of functions, urban or rural, compete for land. The development is acknowledged in European spatial planning documents, which also recommend common solutions. E.g. the spatial policy discussed and recommended in the European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP) emphasises the compact city concept, rural-urban linkages and conservation of nature and cultural heritage. This paper compares planning practice for rurban areas in three cases: Roskilde municipality (Denmark), Staffanstorp municipality (Sweden) and Werv-area (the Netherlands). All three areas belong to the rurban zone and are selected to exemplify pro-active planning. The analysis focuses on how the concept of compact city is perceived and implemented, how rurban areas are managed in order to avoid further urban encroachment, and how resilient green landscapes are ensured. The results reveal significant differences in approaches, reflecting variations in the public involvement in rurban areas development, the role of different administrative levels and the use of zonation. Variation in the use of zonation encapsulates important differences between the cases: pre-zonation based on local discretion (Sweden), zonation based on national legislation and principles with little room of manoeuvre for the municipality (Denmark) and post-zonation with deliberate introduction of urban elements in rural areas and negotiations between stakeholders (the Netherlands).