An Institutionalist View on Experimentalist Governance: Local-level obstacles to policy-learning in European Union Cohesion Policy (#66)
Stefan Telle
Abstract
The paper has the dual objective of contributing to theory development as well as to the debate about the added value of EU Cohesion Policy. Experimentalist governance theory suggests that a virtuous feedback loop between policy design and implementation can the input- and output-legitimacy of policy making. EU Cohesion Policy formally resembles this experimentalist setting, but persistent debates about its added value suggest that the virtuous loop is blocked. The paper uses new institutionalism theory to systematically identify theoretical explanations for this blockage. It argues that the experimentalist link between organizational structure, pooling of experiences, greater participation, and policy learning is highly precarious. First, the rational-choice perspective suggests that the link rests on the optimistic assumption of a common utility function among the participating actors. Moreover, the structural funds provide strong incentives for grant-seeking. Second, the discursive perspective shows that the identification of shared interests depends on highly demanding speech conditions. Third, the sociological perspective highlights that the evaluation of information is socially conditioned. Therefore, learning may be based on fallacious assumptions and lead to undesired results. The paper substantiates these insights with empirical evidence from one case of institutionalized cross-border cooperation in East Central Europe.
20pp (Refereed articles, December 2017, no 66)
Telle, S. (2017) An Institutionalist View on Experimentalist Governance: Local-level obstaclesto policy-learning in European Union Cohesion Policy, European Journal of Spatial Development, 66.
Vision vs. Evaluation – Case Studies of Light Rail Planning in Denmark (#65)
Morten Skou Nicolaisen, Mette Olesen and Kristian Olesen
Abstract
Light rail transit (LRT) is a popular public transport mode used to upgrade the public transport system and support urban development strategies. Despite the seemingly poorer socio-economic return of LRT in cost benefit analyses (CBA) compared to bus rapid transit (BRT) systems, LRT solutions are often chosen over BRT. Several studies show that the decisions to build such systems have not primarily been based on the socio-economic feasibility of the systems. Rather, they are often justified in terms of the branding value and positive image for public transportation, as well as the perceived ability to reduce road congestion and stimulate urban development. Drawing on Actor Network Theory (ANT), the paper analyses how LRT systems have been applied in a Danish context and the role that the CBA has played in this process. The results show that conventional socio-economic factors in CBA, such as travel time savings, play a relatively minor role compared to the larger urban transformation visions that LRT projects are embedded in.
26pp (Refereed articles, October 2017, no 65)
Nicolaisen, M. S., Olesen, M. & Olesen, K. (2017) Vision vs. Evaluation - Case Studies of Light Rail Planning in Denmark, European Journal of Spatial Development, 65.
The construction of a trading zone as political strategy: a review of London Infrastructure Plan 2050 (#64)
Jean-Baptiste Geissler, Luca Tricarico and Giovanni Vecchio
Abstract
The recent London Infrastructure Plan 2050 appears as an attempt for coming up with innovative answers to infrastructure issues, aiming at providing new spaces where different actors can collaborate, defining adequate visions and governance bodies. Our hypothesis is that the plan can be interpreted through the relevant and yet ambiguous concept of ‘trading zone’, which highlights the setting up of new spaces for confrontation but also shows their use as political vehicles to advocate for increased powers and resources. To investigate the issue, the paper reviews the literature on the concept of trading zone in order to discuss in this perspective the London Infrastructure Plan planning process. The analysis is developed as follows: after a theoretical discussion of trading zones and their relationship with infrastructure planning processes, two significant aspects of the London Infrastructure Plan are examined: the stakeholders’ engagement required by strategic planning processes, and the ongoing planning processes of London, influenced by the Localism agenda. Consequently, the London Infrastructure Plan 2050 is described and reviewed in the light of its political strategic meaning, providing a discussion of its vision, contents and planning process. The analysis uses and rediscusses the concept of trading zone by observing how local authorities may use planning processes to strategically position themselves and influence the complex governance of infrastructure planning.
22pp (Refereed articles, July 2017, no 64)
Geissler, J-B., Tricarico, L. & Vecchio, G. (2017) The Construction of a trading zone as apolitical strategy: a review of the London Infrastructure Plan 2050, European Journal of Spatial Development, 64
Innovation Networks in Different Industrial Settings: From Flexible to Smart Specialization (#63)
Håkan Ylinenpää, Jukka Teräs & Daniel Örtqvist
Abstract
The key research objective of this paper is to analyse industrial specialisation by developing innovative networks linked to the region. Institutional and entrepreneurial innovation systems, smart specialisation and a network based research framework for entrepreneurship are used as conceptual foundations in the paper. Based on theoretical elaborations our analyses illustrate how certain interventions have stimulated regional development and innovation in two specific Scandinavian regions. Our results highlight that both regions have gone from interventions fostering flexible specialization, with the motive of staying resilient and competitive over time, to an approach based on smart specialization with a focus on one or a limited number of strong industries.
18 pp (Refereed articles, December 2016, no 63)
Ylinenpää, H., Teräs, J. & Örtqvist, D. (2016). Innovation Networks in Different Industrial Settings: From Flexible to Smart Specialization, European Journal of Spatial Development, 63.
Multi-level Territorial Governance and Cohesion Policy: Structural Funds and the Timing of Development in Palermo and the Italian Mezzogiorno (#62)
Simone Tulumello
Abstract
This article explores the role of changing arrangements of multi-level territorial governance in the European Cohesion Policy. It hypothesises the existence of a temporal duality between successful/unsuccessful phases of Cohesion Policy between the 1990s and 2000s, that is, a structural change in the implementation of Structural Funds stemming from the reforms at the turn of the millennium. The article seeks to understand the implications of such a duality using case study analysis, with the theoretical aim of exploring in-depth the connections between the European and the local scale. It analyses in the long term (1994-2013) the use of Structural Funds for urban development in a specific context, the city of Palermo in the Objective 1 region of Sicily, under-explored by international literature. The phases of Structural Funds are understood in the wider context of Palermo, Sicily and Southern Italy, emphasising the temporal coherence between (i) the phases of autonomous/dependent development, (ii) evolution/involution in the implementation of cohesion policies, and (iii) shifting multi-level territorial governance arrangements. The local case confirms the duality hypothesised and, based on this, wider considerations for the future of Cohesion Policy are set out.
23 pp (Refereed articles, October 2016, no 62)
Tulumello, S. (2016). Multi-level Territorial Governance and Cohesion Policy. Structural Funds and the Timing of Development in Palermo and the Italian Mezzogiorno, European Journal of Spatial Development, 62
When soft planning and hard planning meet: Conceptualising the encounter of European, national and sub-national planning (#61)
Eva Purkarthofer
Abstract
Despite continuous research efforts, the role of the European Union regarding spatial planning remains unclear. This article proposes to employ the concepts of soft spaces and soft planning to better comprehend how European spatial planning finds its way into the national planning systems. The EU contributes to the creation of soft spaces, differing from administrative entities, while at the same time, it acts as a driver of soft planning, focusing – both for strategic and legal reasons – on coordination, cooperation and mutual learning, rather than ‘hard’, regulatory planning. The article claims further that instead of depicting the connections between the EU and its member states, research should pay increased attention to the encounter of European and domestic planning within a country. The scales, actors and instruments that deal with EU inputs within a country might prove to be crucial factors that ultimately determine the impact of EU policies on spatial planning. To illustrate the encounter of European and domestic planning in the light of soft and hard planning, the article introduces a conceptual framework and thereby provides an outline for further empirical research.
20 pp (Refereed Articles, May 2016, no 61)
Purkarthofer, E. (2016). When soft planning and hard planning meet: Conceptualising the encounter of European, national and sub-national planning, European Journal of Spatial Development, 61
Territorial Cohesion: An EU Concept (#60)
Eduardo Medeiros
Abstract
This article addresses the concept of Territorial Cohesion, which has been gaining increasing interest within academia and the EU policy circles. In particular, this article examines its relevance and main dimensions, and also suggests a comprehensive definition based on those dimensions. Additionally, this paper proposes a methodology which can be used to measure Territorial Cohesion in a given territory. Furthermore, the article also highlights the importance of the territorial dimension as a key topic in the EU political agenda and, at the same time, gives a contribution to answer several questions for debate expressed in the Green Paper on Territorial Cohesion.
30 pp (refereed Articles, April 2016, no 60)
Medeiros, E. (2016). Territorial Cohesion: An EU concept, European Journal of Spatial Development, 60
Unpacking polycentricity at the city-regional scale: Insights from Dusseldorf and Stockholm (#59)
Peter Schmitt, Kati Volgmann, Angelika Münter and Mitchell Reardon
Abstract
The normative concept of polycentricity has become a promising tool to pursue spatial policy goals such as spatial equity and justice, sustainable and balanced development, and, more recently territorial cohesion, at various scales across Europe. As earlier research has shown, a number of city-regions use the concept for their planning and development work. In pursuit of polycentric development, they call for a robust terminology, solid analysis and methods. As a result, literature analysing polycentricity at the city- or mega-regional scale has grown significantly and it appears that some consensus has been achieved in regards to the main facets and dimensions. Recognizing that the potentials to comprehend city-regional dynamics by focussing on the extent to which polycentric urban patterns evolve has not yet been fully utilised, this paper intends to contribute to a more comprehensive view on polycentricity at the city-regional scale. In doing so, we study the (potentially) emerging urban patterns of two cases, the Dusseldorf and Stockholm city-regions, employing different theoretical starting points and analytical approaches. With this in mind, we aim to unpack the concept of polycentricity at the city-regional scale and to offer academics, as well as planning professionals and policy-makers, further insights into qualifying, analysing and understanding the complexity of the topic at hand. Likewise, we argue that sound strategies to promote and mobilise different facets of polycentric development should be carefully reflected and related to the theoretical, methodological and even normative starting point of any attempt to comprehending polycentricity.
26 pp (Refereed Articles, December 2015, no 59)
Schmitt, P. Volgmann, K., Münter, A. & Reardon, M. (2015). Unpacking polycentricity at the city-regional scale: Insights from Dusseldorf and Stockholm, European Journal of Spatial Development, 59
A Planning Palimpsest: Neoliberal Planning in a Welfare State Tradition (#58)
Helen Carter, Henrik Gutzon Larsen and Kristian Olesen
Abstract
In this article, we analyse the evolution and transformation of Danish spatial planning from its tentative origins in liberalist politics, through its rise as a central feature of the welfare state project, to its more recent entrepreneurial forms in a context of neoliberalisation. The article demonstrates how transformations of Danish spatial planning discourses and practices must be understood in context of previous discourses and practices sedimented as layers of meaning and materiality through time and over space. These layers do not completely overlay one another, but present a palimpsest saturated with contradictions as well as possibilities. We propose the notion of the ‘planning palimpsest’ as a helpful metaphor for drawing attention to the historical-geographical characteristics of planning discourses and practices.
20 pp (Refereed Articles, June 2015, no 58)
Carter, H., Larsen, H.G. & Olesen, K. (2015). A Planning Palimpsest: Neoliberal Planning in a Welfare State Tradition, European Journal of Spatial Development, 58
Spatial planning practices of adapting to climate change (#57)
Bart Jan Davidse, Meike Othengrafen and Sonja Deppisch
Abstract
Although spatial planning is considered as crucial for climate change adaption, e.g. in the EU White Paper on Adaptation, there are uncertainties regarding the role of adaptation strategies in spatial planning practices. In this paper the potential role of spatial planning for climate change adaption is investigated by distinguishing between two adaptation strategies: avoidance and minimisation. A case study in Stockholm, Sweden, serves to analyse the implementation of these ways of adaptation in the strategic and detailed planning stages. Spatial planning documents reveal a mix of avoidance and minimisation strategies. Expert interviews were used for further analyses of the spatial planning processes around these documents. It was found that minimisation measures prevail, and that only under extraordinary circumstances, avoidance measures could be implemented. A conclusion is that a more prominent focus on avoidance measures is needed to utilise the full potential of spatial planning and to ensure more robust adaptation measures. In order to achieve this, a normative adaption hierarchy is proposed as a guiding spatial planning principle in decision making about adaptation to the effects of climate change.
21 pp (Refereed Articles, April 2015, no 57)
Davidse, B. J., Othengrafen, M. & Deppisch, S. (2015). Spatial planning practices of adapting to climate change, European Journal of Spatial Development, 57
The "Blue Banana" Revisited (#56)
Andreas Faludi
Abstract
This essay is about the “Blue Banana”. Banana is the name given subsequently by others to a Dorsale européenne (European backbone) identified empirically by Roger Brunet. In a background study to the Communication of the European Commission ‘Europe 2000’, Klaus Kunzmann and Michael Wegener put forward the allegedly radical alternative called the “European Bunch of Grapes”. However, the juxtaposition is questionable, and for two reasons. Firstly, Brunet’s frame of reference was France and his point was that, other than how Kunzmann and Wegener present it, his Dorsale barely straddled French territory. It was thus an indictment of the dominant position of Paris and not a comment on European development. Secondly, and importantly, Brunet portrayed the Dorsale as a polycentric urban network with features similar to those which Kunzmann and Wegener ascribe to their Bunch of Grapes. So the implications of the two concepts for European development are the same: Much like the Bunch of Grapes, the Dorsale celebrates, if not urban networks as such, then the particular network in the Rhineland for forming the basis for its prosperity. If it had been the intention of Brunet to make recommendations applicable at the European scale, arguably he would have done much as Kunzmann and Wegener have: recommend polycentric development.
26 pp (Refereed Articles, March 2015, no 56)
Faludi, A. (2015). The ’Blue Banana’ Revisited, European Journal of Spatial Development, 56
The Impact of the Local Government Institutional Framework on the Distribution of Intergovern-mental Grants: Greek Republic as a Case Study (#55)
Konstantinos J. Hazakis & Panagiotis G. Ioannidis
Abstract
The article analyses grant allocation from central governments to municipalities in Greece during the period 2003-2010. A quantitative analysis is based on two simple models that include normative socioeconomic and institutional factors. Data of 970 municipalities and 50 prefectures of Greece over the period 2003-2010 clearly show that institutional variables such as years of general elections and prefect’s experience exert more influence on grant allocation than normative variables such as GDP per capita. A substantial transfer of competences from central to local government could significantly ameliorate local tax revenues.
26 pp (Refereed Articles, August 2014, no 55)
Hazakis, K. J. & Ioannidis, P. G. (2014). The impact of the local government institutional framework on the distribution of intergovern-mental grants: Greek Republic as a case study, European Journal of Spatial Development, 55
The Limits of Polycentrism at the City-regional Scale: The case of Luxembourg (#54)
Antoine Decoville & Olivier Klein
Abstract
Over the last fifteen years, promoters of the European spatial planning policy have presented polycentrism as the most promising strategy for answering the challenge of a more even spatial development. However, there is still no empirical evidence proving that this conceptual tool is adaptable to all scales. In this paper, we propose two different approaches of urban hierarchy with regards to its capacity to structure spatial development at a city-regional scale: the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. The first one depicts a classical urban hierarchy based on the location of urban amenities. The second one, which takes into account the accessibility to these amenities, shows the polycentric model in a more nuanced manner. Our results underline the differences between these two models and call for caution with respect to the adoption of the polycentric model at this spatial scale, since it could potentially lead to an increase in urban sprawl.
20 pp (Refereed Articles, February 2014, no 54)
Decoville, A. & Klein, O. (2014). The Limits of Polycentrism at the City-regional Scale: The case of Luxembourg, European Journal of Spatial Development, 54
A Critical Assessment of the Added Value of Territorial Cohesion (#53)
Frank Othengrafen & Andreas P. Cornett
Abstract
This paper, by drawing on various interpretations or storylines of territorial cohesion and by referring to the national policy contexts in Denmark and Germany, critically assesses the concept of territorial cohesion and its added value by exploring what difference the formal recognition of territorial cohesion makes for EU, national and regional policymaking in terms of adapted policy objectives, altered perceptions of territory and place and modified policy instruments. It is argued herein that even though territorial cohesion obviously changes the rationales underlying the cohesion policies and strategic European spatial development policies by emphasising the potential of territorial capital for innovation and employment, the concept of territorial capital is not completely new. Some of the objectives or meanings can be found in former EU cohesion or spatial development policies; additionally, some EU member states such as Denmark have pursued this type of strategy since the early 1990s. Additionally, in Germany, instruments for social and economic cohesion already cover territorial aspects, meaning that the added value of the concept of territorial cohesion can critically be questioned. Furthermore, Denmark and Germany are both sceptical with regard to the introduction of new funding priorities and instruments; the old ones obviously work sufficiently as convergence among regions could be achieved from a country-by-country perspective. Nevertheless, an important advantage of the concept of territorial cohesion is that it offers added value for rethinking current (spatial) policies, strategies and instruments in EU member states that do not have such a long tradition or established system of spatial development policies. From this perspective, the concept of territorial cohesion has sharpened the attention paid to the territorial implications of European policies from a broader perspective, and thus it may serve as a conceptual tool to deal with these issues, not only from an economic but also from a spatial planning and policy coordination perspective.
30 pp (Refereed Articles, October 2013, no 53)
Othengrafen, F. & Cornett, A. P. (2013). A Critical Assessment of the Added Value of Territorial Cohesion, European Journal of Spatial Development, 53
Impact of Structural Reforms on Planning Systems and Policies: Loss of Spatial Consciousness? (#52)
Daniel Galland & Stig Enemark
Abstract
This paper argues that a planning system that allows its policies and practices to gradually lose spatial consciousness and spatial coordination capacities within and across different levels of planning administration is less likely to make national and regional plans and strategies matter or have a say in future spatial development processes. The reasoning behind this argument stems from the case of Denmark, where a structural reform that changed the country’s geographies of inter-governmental arrangements in 2007 significantly transformed the configuration and functioning of the national planning system. Originally designed to support the principle of equal development through spatial planning policies aimed at the promotion of equal access to public and private services across the national territory, the Danish planning policy framework has increasingly evolved towards expressing a lack of explicit spatial consciousness in its current plans and strategies. At the same time, the Danish planning system seems to reveal narrower measures of spatial coherence in terms of horizontal and vertical coordination and integration of sectors and policies within and across different levels of planning administration. Based on an analysis regarding the evolution of planning policies and an examination of the current governance landscape influencing planning practices at national and regional levels, the paper attempts to generate an understanding concerning how the underlying rationale and the institutional relations of Danish spatial planning have been reoriented over time.
23 pp (Refereed Articles, September 2013, no 52)
Galland, D. & Enemark, S. (2013). Impact of Structural Reforms on Planning Systems and Policies: Loss of Spatial Consciousness?, European Journal of Spatial Development, 52
Territory: An Unknown Quantity in Debates on Territorial Cohesion (#51)
Andreas Faludi
Abstract
There are complaints about territorial cohesion being a vague concept, but in relevant debates territory, too, figures as an unknown quantity. Thus, is it the fixed property of any state, region or local administrative unit, or is it a malleable social construct; rather than being filled with bounded territories, does space overall contain a dynamic network with fuzzy internal, as well as external boundaries, with implications for territorial cohesion? After all, if the former were to be true, territorial cohesion would refer to qualities of what is inside bounded territories. If it were to be the latter, then the meaning of territorial cohesion would include qualities of the relations within a complex network of socially constructed, sometimes ephemeral constructs. There are implications for the ways subsidiarity and multi-level governance are invoked in EU discourse where there is a similar failure to question the underlying notion of territory. What is relevant here is the distinction between a ‘territorial’ and ‘relational’ geography. Considered opinion suggests that these alternatives can and, in view of the persistence of the principle of territorial representation, must be reconciled. However, though firmly entrenched, some constitutional theorists question the very principle. The debate is far from conclusive but at least it shows that discussion, even of this apparently fundamental principle is possible.
16 pp (Refereed Articles, August 2013, no 51)
Faludi, A. (2013). Territory: An Unknown Quantity in Debates on Territorial Cohesion, European Journal of Spatial Development, 51
Challenges to Local Government Innovation: Legal and Institutional Impediments to the Exercise of Innovative Economic Development Policy by Subnational Jurisdictions (#50)
Adam Grydehøj
Abstract
A local government can use innovative governance practices to expand its jurisdictional capacity, thereby promoting local economic development. There are, however, legal and institutional impediments to the exercise of such innovative economic development policy. Using the subnational jurisdiction of Shetland as a case study, this paper considers how local government innovation can be a key driver of economic development. Local government innovation can nevertheless become subject to legal challenges by authorities in the higher-level jurisdictions (Scotland, the United Kingdom, and the European Union in the case of Shetland). Community concerns related to standards of good governance can compound these difficulties, resulting in a significant decrease in democratic accountability and a weakening of the local government’s de facto capacity to plan and implement policy. Before local governments can make the most of multilevel governance, local communities and high-lever jurisdictions must re-assess standards of legitimacy for local government functions and structures.
21 pp (Refereed Articles, April 2013, no 50)
Grydehøj, A. (2013). Challenges to Local Government Innovation: Legal and Institutional Impediments to the Exercise of Innovative Economic Development Policy by Subnational Jurisdictions, European Journal of Spatial Development, 50
Compact city development: High ideals and emerging practices (#49)
Hege Hofstad
Abstract
Compact city development has, over the last 20 years or so, emerged as the preferred response to the goal of sustainable development. As such, it is pertinent to examine planning practices to see whether the traditional economic bias in planning is now balanced by aims and practices in support of environmental and social sustainability. In this light the social, environmental, and economic goals linked to densification and mixed use development will be the main focus of this article. In addition, the article assesses whether distinct institutional practices support the balancing of these goals. The empirical basis is formed by urban plans in four Scandinavian cities in combination with qualitative interview data. The article concludes that on a discursive level, social, environmental and economic goals are represented in compact city strategies. Institutionalised practices, however, show that economic goals remain at the core of planning. Environmental and social aims still play second fiddle, but new measures are in development that may gradually strengthen their influence over urban development practices.
23 pp (Refereed Articles, October 2012, no 49)
Hofstad, H. (2012). Compact city development: High ideals and emerging practices, European Journal of Spatial Development, 49
Job Matching Efficiency in Skilled Regions: Evidence on the Microeconomic Foundations of Human Capital Externalities (#48)
Daniel F. Heuermann
Abstract
Inspired by the literature on the role of local career networks for the quality of labour market matches we investigate whether human capital externalities arise from a higher job matching efficiency in skilled regions. Using two samples of workers in Germany we find that an increase in the regional share of highly qualified workers by one standard deviation is associated with between-job wage growth of about five per cent and with an increase in the annual probability of a job change of about sixty per cent. Wage gains are incurred only by workers changing jobs within industries. We find highly qualified workers in skilled regions to respond to these wage differentials by changing jobs more often within rather than between industries. Taken together, these findings suggest that human capital externalities partly arise because workers in skilled regions have better access to labour market information, which allows them to capitalize on their industry-specific knowledge when changing jobs.
27 pp (Refereed Articles, August 2012, no 48)
Heuermann, D. F. (2012). Job Matching Efficiency in Skilled Regions: Evidence on the Microeconomic Foundations of Human Capital Externalities, European Journal of Spatial Development, 48
Connecting Territorial Knowledge Arenas – the Interrelationship between CEMAT and EU Activities in Spatial Development Policy (#47)
Matti Fritsch
Abstract
Against the background of the increasing importance of evidence, knowledge and learning in both domestic and transnational policy development processes, this paper analyses how non-EU and intra-European Union knowledge arenas in spatial development policy and planning are connected by focussing specifically on the interrelationship between CEMAT and European Union activities and arenas of co-operation. The Council of Europe Conference of Ministers Responsible for Spatial/Regional Planning (CEMAT) has long served as a platform for pan-European (including both EU members and non-members) co-operation in spatial development, but has recently been sidelined by EU initiatives in this field of activity and even faced the possibility of discontinuation. Analysing potential areas of competition and complementarities/synergies and reviewing the recent Russian CEMAT Presidency, the paper argues that CEMAT retains an important role in connecting EU debates, practices and research with actors outside the European Union. However, institutionalised collaborative mechanisms and the systematic exchange of information between CEMAT and the EU in this field should be strengthened, particularly in a direction from EU to CEMAT and in the domain of research and evidence. Continuing with a sub-optimal level of co-operation between CEMAT and the EU in this field or even discontinuation of CEMAT would undoubtedly hamper the involvement and integration of non-EU members in the debate on European spatial development policy and would probably rather quickly lead to the significant disruption of the territorial knowledge channel linking the EU and Russia as well as that with the EU neighbourhood more broadly, while also significantly inhibiting the processes of learning on a pan-European level and stalling the development of a trajectory towards the emergence of something that would resemble a pan-European ‘epistemic community’ in spatial development policy and planning.
25 pp (Refereed Articles, March 2012, no 47)
Fritsch, M. (2012)., Connecting Territorial Knowledge Arenas – the Interrelationship between CEMAT and EU Activities in Spatial Development Policy, European Journal of Spatial Development, 47
Sustainable Development and Spatial Planning: Some considerations arising from the Greek case (#46)
Pavlos Marinos Delladetsima
Abstract
The paper aims to elaborate on the notion of sustainable development in relation to spatial planning and to question its applicability based on the experience arising from the distinct socio-economic situation in Greece. Experience accumulated in the country with the adoption of sustainable development as a spatial policy concept proves to be in contradiction with perceptions that consider it as a basis for improving the plan making process and the planning system as whole. In this respect, it is argued that sustainable development is not a feasible proposition for planning in Greece and offers little to alleviate urban development and sprawl problems. Further, the paper highlights how a globalised approach to sustainable development and planning in Greece has made a negligible contribution to reinvigorating a weak and disjointed system, while also creating significant adverse effects in spatial policymaking.
21 pp (Refereed Articles, March 2012, no 46)
Delladetsima, P. M. (2012). Sustainable Development and Spatial Planning: Some considerations arising from the Greek case, European Journal of Spatial Development, 46
A Solution in Search of a Problem: A 'Garbage Can' Approach to the Politics of Territorial Cohesion (#45)
David Evers
Abstract
Those who promote spatial planning or spatial policy at the European level have increasingly done so under the banner of ‘territorial cohesion’. Since the inclusion of this term in the draft Constitution as an objective of the European Union, territorial cohesion has drawn the attention of an increasing number of actors and interests. By virtue of its vague but undeniably positive connotation, it is emerging as a successful metaphor in European policy discourse. In this paper it is argued that the territorial cohesion policy process should be understood in terms of the opportunities the concept presents to individual actors to solve contingent problems. Linking the ‘solution’ of territorial cohesion to different problems (garbage can model) has resulted in the production of a plurality of oftentimes mutually exclusive interpretations. Nevertheless, in the discursive struggle for hegemony between these interpretations, some progress is being made towards a common understanding.
24 pp (Refereed Articles, February 2012, no 45)
Evers, D. (2011). A Solution in Search of a Problem: A ‘Garbage Can’ Approach to the Politics of Territorial Cohesion, European Journal of Spatial Development, 45
Lost in Translation? – The Bristol Accord and the Sustainable Communities Agenda (#44)
Neil Evans
Abstract
The Bristol Accord, agreed at an EU Ministerial Informal meeting in December 2005, was the UK‟s contribution to the emerging EU urban agenda. Although nominally positioned within contemporary European debates on sustainable urban development and linked to previous Ministerial Informals on urban policy, it can be seen as an example of the „uploading‟ of national policy to the EU policy arena. This paper argues that by drawing too closely on domestic policy agendas (as well as the very wide-ranging nature of the sustainable communities agenda) little has resulted from the Accord. This contrasts with the more sustained legacy of the Leipzig Charter, the 2007 successor agreement to the Bristol Accord which, while also an example of the uploading of national policy, has been more successful in tapping into the mainstream of EU urban policy.
23pp (Refereed Articles, December 2011, no 44)
Evans, N. (2011). Lost in Translation? – The Bristol Accord and the Sustainable Communities Agenda, European Journal of Spatial Development, 44
Cohesion Policy Contributing to Territorial Cohesion – Future Scenarios (#43)
Andreas Faludi & Jean Peyrony
Abstract
The Barca Report advocates for developmental policies to be ‘place-based’: integrated as far as they affect ‘places’. The debate on territorial cohesion is equally concerned with integrating relevant policies and actions. This requires well-established democratic institutions and adequate responses to the demands of technical systems and of markets. Following Lisbeth Hooghe and Gary Marks, the respective arrangements are described as Governance Type I and Type II. All levels of government, including that of the EU, partake in both types, but relations between them are problematic, particularly in the context of Europe 2020: Will this EU strategy be mainly a matter for Directorate-Generals and their various clients pursuing their policies (Governance Type II), or will Cohesion policy, with its more integrated and decentralised approach, involving many levels of government and stakeholders (Governance Type I) form platforms for integrating them? This paper presents four scenarios; each based on a combination of strong/weak Governance Type I and Type II, which are labelled as the ‘Anglo-Saxon’, ‘Saint-Simonian’, ‘Rhineland’ and the ‘European’ Scenarios. The authors prefer the latter, but the best one can hope for in the short term is for this option not to fall by the wayside.
21pp (Refereed articles, September 2011, no 43)
Faludi, A. & Peyrony, J. (2011). Cohesion Policy Contributing to Territorial Cohesion – Future Scenarios, European Journal of Spatial Development, 43
Participation in planning – a study of urban development in Norway (#42)
Eva Irene Falleth & Gro Sandkjær Hansen
Abstract
In Norway, the dominance of neo-liberal ideas has resulted in a private planning practice whereby the developer is the principal actor in opaque negotiations between planning authorities and developers. We examine patterns of contact between stakeholders in urban development planning. Based on information obtained from a survey of the 145 most populous municipalities in Norway, as well as from case studies in Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim, we find considerable interaction between the stakeholders involved in the planning process. The interaction patterns are different for civil society actors and private developers. We find that while developers have contacts with the planning authorities, the civil actors have contacts with the politicians. In the initial phase, i.e. before formal planning begins, this pattern is highly significant. Politicians frequently feel bound by negotiations and agreements that are made by the planners and the developers during the initial planning process.
19pp (Refereed Articles, August 2011, no 42)
Falleth, E. I. & Hansen, G. S. (2011). Participation in planning; a study of urban development in Norway, European Journal of Spatial Development, 42
European Cohesion Policy and Territorial Cooperation with Neighbouring Countries: Towards Deeper Coordination? (#41)
Nicolas Gaubert & Yann Richard
Abstract
The European territory cannot remain isolated from what happens beyond its borders. Many interactions currently exist with neighbouring countries. However, European institutions have not yet successfully understood the consequences of this reality. It is clear from the official documents relating to cohesion policy reveal a closed vision and inward looking concept of the European territory. Into the 2000s, such a vision, combined with a lack of coordination between the various DGs of the European Commission, has hampered the development of many regions located on the external borders of the European Union. Recently, the Commission has tried to come up with a new modus operandi in terms of better coordination between the cohesion and neighbourhood policies, with new regulations in respect of the structural funds and the financial instruments pertaining to external cooperation. These new regulations introduce real improvements to the previous instruments. However, the new instruments still suffer from significant shortcomings. This paper addresses the important issue of territorial cooperation with third countries by raising three main questions. What is the content of the new regulations released by the Commission in December 2006? What kind of improvements did they bring to the former regulations? And, what kind of obstacles to these reforms have emerged?
24pp (Refereed Articles, October 2010, no 41)
Gaubert, N. & Richard, Y. (2011). European Cohesion Policy and Territorial Cooperation with Neighbouring Countries: Towards Deeper Coordination? European Journal of Spatial Development, 41
Human capital in the German urban system - patterns of concentration and specialisation (#40)
Anna Growe
Abstract
In the knowledge economy human capital plays a crucial role in various economic processes and thus also in spatial development. But human capital is an economic resource that is distributed unequally in space. Some regions show a higher density of human capital than others. This paper discusses questions relating to the spatial concentration and specialisation of human capital in the German urban system. Due to an increasing interest in human capital the questions are asked, where is human capital located in the German urban system and how does the distribution change over time. The paper relates to geographical theories of concentration and specialisation. It will be shown that human capital is a heterogeneous category containing different occupational groups showing different spatial patterns. Some display increasing spatial disparities; others are fairly balanced over space.
23pp (Refereed Articles, August 2010, no 40)
Growe, A. (2010). Human capital in the German urban system – patterns of concentration and specialisation, European Journal of Spatial Development, 40
The Process Architecture of EU Territorial Policy (#39)
Andreas Faludi
Abstract
When preparing the European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP), Member States were supported by the European Commission but denied the EU a competence in the matter. Currently, the Treaty of Lisbon identifies territorial cohesion as a competence shared between the Union and the Member States. This paper is about the process architecture of territorial cohesion policy. In the past, this architecture resembled the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) which the White Paper on European Governance praised, but only in areas where there was no EU competence. This reflected zero-sum thinking which may continue even under the Lisbon Treaty. After all, for as long as territorial cohesion was not a competence, voluntary cooperation as practiced in the ESDP process was pursued in this way. However, the practice of EU policies, even in areas where there is an EU competence, often exhibits features of the OMC. Surprisingly effective innovations hold the promise of rendering institutions of decision making comprehensible and democratically accountable. In the EU as a functioning polity decision making is thus at least part deliberative so that actors’ preferences are transformed by the force of the better argument. This brings into focus the socialisation of the deliberators into epistemic communities. Largely an informal process, this is reminiscent of European spatial planning having been characterised as a learning process.
18pp (Refereed Articles, August 2010, no 39) Award-winning paper Regional Studies Association Annual International Conference 2010.
Faludi, A. (2010). The Process Architecture of EU Territorial Cohesion Policy, European Journal of Spatial Development, 39
EU territorial governance: learning from institutional progress (#38)
Umberto Janin Rivolin
Abstract
EU territorial governance is a concept now familiar to European planners and decision makers. However, the lack of an official definition makes its relationship with planning activities and processes in the EU member countries unclear. Looking back at the recent history of various attempts to factor territory into the EU policy agenda, this article proposes a systematic review of institutional documents regarding, in a direct or indirect manner, EU territorial governance. The aim of the article is to assess the positioning of this concept in an institutional perspective from direct sources, in order to discuss possible implications for planning in the context of European integration.
28pp (Refereed Articles, April 2010, no 38)
Janin Rivolin, U. (2010). EU territorial governance: learning from institutional progress, European Journal of Spatial Development, 38
Sectoral Trends and British Regional Economic Growth – A Spatial Econometric Perspective (#37)
Declan Curran
Abstract
This paper aims to look beneath the surface of British sub-regional aggregate GVA growth over the period 1995-2004, by examining how the differing growth dynamics of the secondary and services sectors have influenced the overall regional growth process. A spatial econometric analysis is undertaken which tests regional secondary, services and aggregate real GVA per capita for absolute and conditional convergence at the NUTS 3 level as well as on a set of functional economic areas, constructed using NUTS 3 level commuter flow data. A number of explanatory factors influencing secondary, services, and aggregate regional economic growth are also identified.
28pp (Refereed Articles, June 2009, no 37)
Curran, D. (2009). Sectoral Trends and British Regional Economic Growth – A Spatial Econometric Perspective, European Journal of Spatial Development, 37
The Portuguese, Slovenian and French Presidencies 2007-2008 - A Sea Change in European Spatial Planning? (#36)
Andreas Faludi
Abstract
This paper gives an account of the successive presidencies of Portugal, Slovenia and France. It asks whether European spatial planning is undergoing a sea change: a transformation caused by the unintentional cumulative impact of pragmatic organisational changes. The paper also invokes the notion of a ‘two-level game’ to characterise the situations in which European planners constantly have to look over their shoulders to how their own national constituencies operate. Against this backdrop, the paper establishes that, albeit under the territorial cohesion flag, there has indeed been a sea change in the institutionalisation, not in a formal but rather in an informal sense. The new arrangements feature semi-permanent working groups with a lifespan extending beyond presidential terms. In addition there is now substantial member state input, with meetings of the National Territorial Cohesion-related Contact Points the functional equivalent of the Committee on Spatial Development from the ESDP era. The professionalism of the whole process, in which one can safely assume that close to one hundred experts from all over Europe have taken part, is clear and particularly so since the Portuguese Presidency where focus was placed on the plans and ideas of the Commission, in particular the Green Paper on Territorial Cohesion, and on territorial cohesion policy as giving strength to cohesion policy as such. This emphasis – other than under the German Presidency – on cohesion policy is not really surprising. Portugal is one of its beneficiaries. Slovenia is the paragon among new member states and one of the chief priorities of its presidency has been to launch the discussion on the Lisbon Strategy – now the umbrella under which EU cohesion policy comes – post-2010. France regards itself – rightly – as a leading light in regional policy and planning: Indeed it practically invented EU cohesion policy. This all makes the renewed focus on EU policy understandable and augurs well for a more cooperative relationship in future between the member states and the Commission in this area.
33pp (Refereed Articles, May 2009, no 36)
Faludi, A. (2009). The Portuguese, Slovenian and French Presidencies 2007-2008 - A Sea Change in European Spatial Planning? European Journal of Spatial Development, 36
European Territorialization and the Eastern Neighbourhood: Spatial Development Co-operation between the EU and Russia (#35)
Matti Fritsch
Abstract
The advancing European discourse on spatial development policy and, more recently, territorial cohesion contributes to the emergence of an increasingly sharpened territorial profile of the European Union by supporting the development of a single, more integrated and cohesive EU territory. This internal European Union process obviously also has external implications for the wider European neighbourhood. Within this setting at the interface between the internal and external dimensions of European territorialization, this article investigates co-operation in spatial development policy between the two major regional actors, the European Union and the Russian Federation. Initially, the analysis is theoretically framed by clarification of the concept of territory/ality and its relation to European Union governance while exploring the influence of geopolitical relations between the EU and Russia on existing co-operation in this policy field. An investigation is then made of CEMAT, ESPON, the ESDP process, VASAB, and the INTERREG Community Initiative as channels for co-operation between the EU and Russia. It is argued that EU-Russian co-operation in spatial development policy is of an explicitly multi-level nature that incorporates a peculiar mix of regional, national/bilateral, and pan-European/supranational co-operation initiatives, although the main channels of Russian access to European Union spatial policy initiatives are those in which the national level retains a strong role. Thus, collaboration efforts across the EU’s external border cannot be generalized but rather are contingent on broader geopolitical relations between the EU – as well as its member states – and Russia.
27pp (Refereed Articles, May 2009, no 35)
Fritsch, M. (2009). European Territorialization and the Eastern Neighbourhood: Spatial Development Co-operation between the EU and Russia, European Journal of Spatial Development, 35
Conflict or consensus: The challenge of integrating environmental sustainability into regional development programming (#34)
Sofie Storbjörk, Kaisa Lähteenmäki-Smith &Tuija Hilding-Rydevik
Abstract
Within the context of both national and EU policy, sustainable development (SD) emerges in the Nordic countries as a horizontal perspective to be systematically integrated into regional development programming. Research on this type of integration has, however, been somewhat scarce. This paper deals with the question of how the relation between environmental and economic sustainability – as part of the overall SD framework – is played out in the context of regional development programming at both the national and regional levels. Three issues are raised in the analysis, pointing to challenges of achieving environmental policy-integration. First, working with cross-sectoral interconnectedness or ending up in sectoral traps, where partnership learning processes are hampered by both a lack of responsibility for, and ownership of, the overall SD-perspective and interactions dominated by sectoral struggles where the different roles, mandates and perspectives of various key factors are strong. Second, achieving ‘win-win’ or getting stuck in environment-economy conflicts, where the policy-rhetoric picturing the existence of possible ‘win-win’- opportunities in which environmental and economic sustainability benefit each other show some empirical support at the same time as troublesome conflicts and tough regional development priorities raise questions of where principled priority lies in practical decision making. Third, rhetorical declarations, pockets of good practice or systematic policy integration, where the paper highlights a focus on environmental sustainability in rhetorical declarations and through flagship win-win examples though the study does not provide evidence of any overall transformation of regional development practices taking place. Indeed, policy-integration in terms of rhetorical declarations is more common than evidence of systematic integration. Despite indications of changing patterns of interaction and learning in respect of partnerships between actors from different sectors, the conflict perspective remains more representative of the practical realities and day-to-day concerns expressed in the interviews with both national and regional representatives.
22pp (Refereed Articles, April 2009, no 34)
Storbjörk, S., Lähteenmäki-Smith, K. & Hilding-Rydevik, T. (2009). Conflict or consensus: The challenge of integrating environmental sustainability into regional development programming, European Journal of Spatial Development, 34
What can we learn from previous attempts at Master Planning in Norwegian Rural Municipalities? (#33)
Helge Fiskaa
Abstract
This article provides an account of Norwegian master planning in rural municipalities and discusses some of the experiences gained in relation to prevailing and future planning. Examinations of master planning in five rural municipalities conclude – contrary to criticism raised – that such planning was useful for local political practice and development and introduced a long-term strategic element into the thinking of these municipalities. The master plans seem to have balanced broad co-ordination with manageability and the need for both control and flexibility. The municipalities played a leading role in the planning work, and even if cooperation with private actors was limited the plans satisfied private interests. Further examination of these processes indicates that, given current trends, the recognition and adaptation of such experiences for future planning systems and practice would be very useful.
23pp (Refereed Articles, March 2009, no 33)
Fiskaa, H. (2009). What can we learn from previous attempts at Master Planning in Norwegian Rural Municipalities? European Journal of Spatial Development, 33
Cognitive mapping of public space: Causal assumptions and core values among Nordic city planner (#32)
Tomas Hellström
Abstract
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18pp (Refereed Articles, September 2008, no 32)
Hellström, T. (2008). Cognitive mapping of public space: Causal assumptions and core values among Nordic city planners, European Journal of Spatial Development, 32
Mobility as Stress Regulation: A Challenge to Dialogue in Planning? (#31)
Tore Sager
Abstract
Most people consider both conflict and negotiation to be unpleasant experiences. It is particularly stressful to try to reason with others who do not share one’s values and who therefore might appear unreasonable. Those who are habitually involved in this type of long-lasting dialogue which includes building consensus and trying to understand and respect other ways of thinking, are likely to experience mental strain. People in conflict ridden communities would thus have a motive to look for stress-reducing strategies, such as ‘voting with their feet’ or other forms of physical distance regulation. The more mobility that a society offers, the more likely such strategies for keeping stress at a tolerable level would tend to be used. However, the tenets of discourse ethics require compresence when dealing with tensions in troubled communities. Furthermore, communicative planning benefits from place attachment and social inclusion, some similitude of preferences, and strong commitment to one’s home community. These are characteristics that might wither as a result of frequent travels away from home. As such, hyper-mobility may potentially be seen as a challenge to communicative planning and deliberation in a pluralistic society.
31pp (Refereed Articles, September 2008, no 31)
Sager, T. (2008). Mobility as Stress Regulation: A Challenge to Dialogue in Planning? European Journal of Spatial Development, 31
Rural response to urban-biased land use policy - New bottom-up planning strategies in Norway (#30)
Eva Falleth & Hege Hofstad
Abstract
Many rural councils are in favour of dispersed low density housing as it takes advantage of a country location. They are likely however to increasingly come into conflict with the planning system and with governmental planning policies which favour a planned and dense development. We discuss the degree to which six rural councils on the urban edge have developed dispersed housing as a strategy and how this is addressed in their planning. Five of them have strategies for dispersed housing and used local planning as a means of realizing this goal. Nevertheless, only two had proactive plans to address this strategy. Despite governmental policy to ban dispersed housing, such areas are identified in negotiations between local and regional authorities who then subvert institutional barriers. We conclude that while central planning policy does not seem to constrain dispersed housing, local planning does. Local authorities do however set limits on dispersed housing through sector interests.
17pp (Refereed Articles, August 2008, no 30)
Falleth, E. & Hofstad H. (2008). Rural Response to Urban-biased Land use Policy - New Bottom-up Planning Strategies in Norway, European Journal of Spatial Development, 30
Implementation of the Habitat-agenda - residents' interest and actions in citizen-participation processes – a comparison of residential areas in Sweden and Russia (#29)
Madeleine Granvik, Per G. Berg & Ulla Berglund
Abstract
Within the politics of sustainable development citizens are expected to play an active and direct role in the implementation process. The potential for citizens to actually assume this role remains, however, unclear. This paper explores the prerequisites for citizen participation in accordance with the UN document the Habitat-agenda. In the paper we discuss the actual requirements for democratic participation in local urban communities, emphasising the level of the individual, in both the Swedish and the Russian context. Do residents have the interest, time and will to work as local actors toward sustainable habitation? Is there a difference in collective action in Swedish and the Russian residential areas? This has been studied in the context of four cases: the small-house area Kungsgärdet and the multi-family house area Gottsunda in Sweden, and the small-house area Perevalka and multi-family house area Drjevlanka in Russia. The results indicate that the conditions cannot be considered optimal in any of the cases, as local participation is generally not prioritised by the citizens. Some differences emerged in terms of attitudes concerning general participation in local matters between the four residential areas, though a clear exception here was the question of citizen participation in actual planning or implementation processes, which afforded relatively similar results in all four cases. Few people actively participated or wanted to participate. In one of the Russian areas, however, a few of the respondents expressed an interest in participating for change in the area, which is the first prerequisite for implementing the Habitat agenda. An initial assumption of the study was that participation would be greater in Swedish residential areas, due to Sweden's relatively long tradition of democratic practice, as compared to Russia. That assumption can now, in general, be dismissed even if there was slightly higher citizen participation for change in the Swedish cases.
24pp (Refereed Articles, July 2008, no 29)
Granvik, M., Berg, P.G. & Berglund, U. (2008). Implementation of the Habitat-agenda - residents' interest and actions in citizen participation processes – a comparison of residential areas in Sweden and Russia, European Journal of Spatial Development, 29
'Territorial cohesion' as a category of agency: the missing dimension in the EU spatial policy debate (#28)
Enrico Gualini
Abstract
EU spatial policy is a remarkable expression of how this ‘sui-generis institution’ is moving – against all odds – towards increased ‘positive integration’. While its development may be seen as consistent with a ‘European model of society’, it is nevertheless apparent that current political-institutional discourse on spatial policy also reflects the EU’s unresolved contradictions on its way to becoming more ‘effective and democratic’.
Apparently, while progressing in institutionally ‘mainstreaming’ spatial issues, the EU keeps having a hard time developing its policies beyond settings defined by limitedly innovative expert processes and restricted intergovernmental negotiations.
One result of this can be seen in the current trend towards supporting EU-wide policy choices by means of, so-called, ‘evidence-based’ approaches. What remains unaddressed in light of this search for ‘objective’ consensus is the fact that a mature EU spatial policy can only develop through actively engaging in innovative subsidiarity based forms of agency. This is particularly so in respect of ‘territorial cohesion’, a policy concept which – as even official EU documents admit – can only gain effective meaning through its appropriation and enactment by local-regional governance actors.
The paper discusses these issues in the context of recent developments in EU spatial development policy, and particularly in relation to an analysis of the ‘Territorial Agenda’ process. In light of the features adopted by this process, it argues that it is now both scientifically and politically expedient to address the meaning of ‘territorial cohesion’ as a category of agency, that is, as the expression of concrete patterns of spatially contingent interests, interactions and practices of governance.
21pp (Refereed Articles, March 2008, no 28)
Gualini, E. (2008). ‘Territorial cohesion’ as a category of agency: the missing dimension in the EU spatial policy debate, European Journal of Spatial Development, 28
Population Dynamics from Peripheral Regions: A North Atlantic Perspective (#27)
Godfrey Baldacchino
Abstract
This paper argues for the need to adopt a dynamic approach to demography and migration in the peripheral (often island or remote rural) regions of the North Atlantic. It cautions against the simplified and false dichotomy between gentrification and depopulation, calling rather for a more fluid appreciation of the manner in which people exploit opportunities for mobility as they connect with, and from, peripheral places. In so doing, the paper also identifies the limitations of both data-collection methodologies for demographic purposes, as well as public policy generally, wedded as these are to static categories of time and location. It also reviews qualitative material from Prince Edward Island, a small island province of Canada, which highlights why immigrants may privilege their mobility to ‘settling down’: some of the reasons given speak to the difficulty of ‘fitting into’ a tight, albeit friendly, island community. Finally, the paper suggests policies that may facilitate the better integration of geographically remote communities into the wider knowledge economy.
20pp (Refereed Articles, February 2008, no 27)
Baldacchino, G. (2008). Population Dynamics from Peripheral Regions: A North Atlantic Perspective, European Journal of Spatial Development, 27
'Risks' as a justification for, and a challenge to, European territorial co-operation (#26)
Ulrich Graute & Stephan Schöps
Abstract
Under the new ‘European territorial Co-operation’ objective of the EU’s cohesion policy the programmes for the funding period 2007-2013 refer to ‘natural’, ’environmental’ or ‘flood’ risks. To reduce these risks, activities are funded which allow for better risk assessment, control, prevention, and management.
The subject of the paper is an analysis of whether and how environmental and natural risks were in the past addressed. Based on this, the draft programmes for the new funding period will be examined. The key questions are as follows: How do European territorial co-operation programmes approach risks of various kinds? And secondly, the structural funds provide a considerable amount of funding for dealing with risks - but do the funds also encourage appropriate actions in response to the risks identified?
The paper will analyse how programme actors and project partners react to risks and how they approach risk reduction or prevention. Examples are taken from the INTERREG III B CADSES programme (2000-2006) and from the preparation of its follow-up programmes for European Territorial Co-operation in Central Europe and South-Eastern Europe (2007-2013).
15pp (Refereed Articles, November 2007, no 26)
Graute, U. & Schöps, S. (2007). ‘Risks’ as a justification for, and a challenge to, European territorial co-operation, European Journal of Spatial Development, 26
Making Sense of the 'Territorial Agenda of the European Union' (#25)
Andreas Faludi
Abstract
European planning has gone through a number of metamorphoses from the European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP) to an, albeit tentative, policy to achieve territorial cohesion. The first section of this paper discusses developments since the turn of the century. The second section focuses on the renewed Member State initiative to produce an ‘evidence-based’ document, ‘The Territorial State and Perspectives of the European Union’, leading to the ‘Territorial Agenda of the European Union’ presented in May 2007 under the German Presidency. The third section discusses the substantive policies as proposed in the Territorial Agenda. The forth section focuses on institutional developments, including acceptance on the part of the Member States of the need for an EU territorial cohesion policy, and with it of the role of the Commission in the taking of important initiatives. The conclusions seek to make sense of these developments in the evolving context of European integration. A postscript discusses the prospects for territorial cohesion policy under the ‘Reform Treaty’.
22pp (Refereed Articles, November 2007, no 25)
Faludi, A. (2007). Making Sense of the ‘Territorial Agenda of the European Union’, European Journal of Spatial Development, 25
Closing the GAP: Territorial Cohesion through Polycentric Development (#24)
Evert Meijers, Bas Waterhout & Wil Zonneveld
Abstract
This article discusses and analyses national polycentric development policies aiming at cohesion. Due to its insertion in the 1999 European Spatial Development Perspective ‘polycentricity’ has become an important concept in discussions on Europe’s territorial and economic development. Its content remains however rather unclear. This paper contributes to the discussion on the meaning of polycentricity by looking at national polycentric development policies. These policies can be distinguished according to two types of disparities, or gaps, which they try to bridge. The first concerns the gap between different levels of the national urban hierarchy, the most common being the gap between a primate capital city and the next category of cities. The second gap is the one between cities located in regions with diverging rates of socio-economic development. On the basis of a conceptual and quantitative discussion of these gaps a basic definition is presented of what polycentric development policies are about: policies that address the distribution of economic and/or economically relevant functions over the urban system in such a way that the urban hierarchy is flattened in a territorially balanced way. A discussion of the polycentric development policies of France, Poland and Germany illustrates our findings. The article concludes that for the period 2007-2013 – the new EU budget period – a clear synergy is needed between EU and national policies and that without such synergy policies cannot be effective.
25pp (Refereed Articles, October 2007, no 24)
Meijers, E.J., Waterhout, B. & Zonneveld, W.A.M. (2007). Closing the GAP: Territorial Cohesion through Polycentric Development, European Journal of Spatial Development, 24
Comparing the influence of Structural Funds programmes on regional development approaches in Western Scotland and Silesia: Adaptation or Assimilation? (#23)
Martin Ferry
Abstract
The implementation of EU Structural Funds (SF) programmes is credited with influencing the focus and content of domestic regional development activities, enhancing coordination of national and sub-national levels tasked with regional development and strengthening partnerships between public, private and voluntary actors. However, the influence of programmes is uneven. Analyses, based on the Europeanization literature, present a complex relationship between EU and domestic factors. A range of variables has been identified to explain this differential influence. The paper contends that, when considering New Member States (NMS) from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), this approach requires reorientation. In the face of strategically weak and under-resourced domestic approaches, programmes are driving, rather than attempting to adjust, the domestic regional development agendas. To support this, the paper takes a comparative approach, assessing the influence of programmes in cases from opposite ends of the SF implementation spectrum: the UK (Western Scotland) and Poland (Silesia).
29pp (Refereed Articles, October 2007, no 23)
Ferry, M. (2007). Comparing the influence of Structural Funds programmes on regional development approaches in Western Scotland and Silesia: Adaptation or Assimilation? European Journal of Spatial Development, 23
Private Security and Public Space: New Approaches to the Theory and Practice of Gated Communities (#22)
Bill Smith Bowers and Tony Manzi
Abstract
This article reviews a range of arguments and some of the evidence on the emergence of gated communities or as they will be described in this article gated residential developments (GRDs). The focus of the article will be the UK context, and it takes issue with the largely negative dominant academic narratives of GRDs, that they are private sector enclaves of high income households. The article argues that interest in GRDs has been limited from both an empirical and theoretical perspective and that this phenomenon requires more complex analysis, situating it within a broader process of ‘securitization’. The article considers a case study of a housing development, comprising gated and non-gated properties and including privately owned and socially rented properties, illustrating the desires of residents for increased security. The analysis uses the concept of ‘club economics’ to consider the critical issues behind the development of ‘private neighbourhoods’ and considers alternative classifications of gating.
17pp (Refereed Articles, November 2006, no 22)
Bowers, B.S. & Manzi, T. (2006). Private Security and Public Space: New Approaches to the Theory and Practice of Gated Communities, European Journal of Spatial Development, 22
The European Spatial Development Perspective Shaping the Agenda (#21)
Andreas Faludi
Abstract
The fact that they have created the European Union (EU) notwithstanding, Member States are suspicious of, and even hostile to it. This creates a dynamic that is often puzzling, and this is also true for spatial planning. The latter is not a competence of the European Community, but there is the inter-governmental European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP) and INTERREG. Also, in this framework, the European Spatial Planning Observation Network (ESPON) has been set up with the purpose of providing an analytical base for following through on the ESDP agenda. Meanwhile, the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe has identified territorial cohesion as an objective of the Union and a competence shared with the Member States. While waiting for its ratification, the European Commission formulated its proposals for cohesion policy for 2007-2013. Against this backdrop, Member States resumed their initiative to give them a presence in a future territorial cohesion policy led by the Commission. In the changed circumstances after the French and Dutch ‘no’ to the Constitution, their ‘Territorial Agenda for the European Union’, due to be Adopted in May 2007, will be even more significant. The Slovenian Presidency of 2008 may put this document before the European Council, which would be the first time that territorial issues had been discussed at this level.
22 pp (Refereed Articles, November 2006, no 21)
Faludi, A. (2006). The European Spatial Development Perspective Shaping the Agenda, European Journal of Spatial Development, 21
A transport network for a City network in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region: linking the performance of the public transport service with the perspectives of a monocentric or a polycentric urban system (#20)
Alain L'Hostis and Hervé Baptiste
Abstract
The objective of this contribution is to establish a method linking the performance of the regional rail transport network and two principles of territorial organisation around a central pole (monocentric option) or in a city network (polycentric option), applied to the Région Nord-Pas-de-Calais in France. The first step here is to define a set of urban centres, on which the spatial organisation principles are applied.
The analysis of the quality of transport service is established from an indicator ex-pressing the possibility to accomplish daily trips between two cities with a ‘fast train at the right moment’ from home and back. The method allows us to analyse the answer of the transport system to expressed or potential demand, but it is also used to analyse the spatial organisation of the system and to link it to spatial planning objectives. From this point of view, the organisation of the Région Nord-Pas-de-Calais appears more to exhibit a monocentric pattern around Lille than to lend significant sup-port to the polycentric idea. The promotion of such a polycentric organisation will then only be possible through a voluntarist regional planning policy.
18 pp (Refereed Articles, October 2006, no 20)
L'Hostis, A. & Baptiste, H. (2006). A transport network for a City network in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region: linking the performance of the public transport service with the perspectives of a monocentric or a polycentric urban system, European Journal of Spatial Development, 20
Backward and forward linkages, specialization and concentration in Finnish manufacturing in the period 1995-1999 (#19)
Timo Tohmo, Hannu Littunen and Hannu Tanninen
Abstract
This study focuses on industrial concentration and regional specialization in Finland in the late 1990s. Our results show increasing specialization and at least for some industries in-creased geographical concentration. Thus, there was no single process driving all industries in the same direction. Our results are in line with previous studies reporting increased regional specialization and industrial concentration in Europe (see e.g. Puga, 1999; Mon-fort and Nicolini (2000); Amiti, 1998; Niiranen, 1997 and 1999; and Koutaniemi, 2003). In addition, our results suggest that the most concentrated industries benefit from high economies of scale or a high level of technology. We also examine the linkages in Finnish manufacturing industries. The most interesting outcome of the study is that the most concentrated industries were found to be more reliant on imports from other countries than on intra or inter industry linkages. This indicates that there was no ‘home-market effect’, meaning that upstream firms are located in areas where there are a relatively high number of downstream firms. This is a particularly interesting result, because linkages are at the centre of location theory (Venables, 1996; Krugman and Venables, 1995; and Tervo, 1999). It may however be that technological change and a shift in economic policy thinking towards research and development, with a focus on technology, and the gravitation towards international trade and collaboration played a more important role than industrial linkages in shaping industrial concentration patterns in Finland during the 1990s.
27 pp (Refereed Articles, April 2006, no 19)
Tohmo, T., Littunen, H. & Tanninen, H. (2006). Backward and forward linkages, specialization and concentration in Finnish manufacturing in the period 1995-1999, European Journal of Spatial Development, 19
The role of environmental NGOs and citizen groups (#18)
Karel Martens
Abstract
While there is a vast body of literature on participatory planning, researchers have hardly addressed the question of how traditional modes of governance can be turned into more democratic forms of decision-making. The aim of this article is to investigate to what extent non-governmental organizations (NGOs) can serve as change agents. Following the classical role of NGOs as a watchdog over governmental operations, it is hypothesized that participatory experiments instigated by NGOs might come closer to the communicative ideal than their government-initiated counterparts. The hypothesis is tested using an experiment with democratic planning in Haifa, Israel. The main conclusion of the analysis is that NGOs may be able to pressure governmental institutions into altering existing practices, but that the dominant actors remain the ones that shape such new practices. The consequence here being that NGO-instigated participatory practices suffer from the same shortcomings as the democratic experiments initiated by governmental bodies. The article ends with two suggestions on how NGOs could gain more control over the design of new democratic practices.
20pp (Refereed Articles, November 2005, no 18)
Martens, K. (2005). The role of environmental NGOs and citizen groups, European Journal of Spatial Development, 18
Hypermobility and the Planning of Society (#17)
Tore Sager
Abstract
The almost utopian state in which most people behave as if they were footloose and fancy-free has the potential to bring about a situation where transport planning no longer relies on forecasts. The type of decision-making that is prevalent in a society depends upon the kinds of information available. In modern, Western-type democracies, it is taken for granted that well- informed planning and decision-making are grounded in the reliable prediction of impacts. Therefore, if unlimited mobility undermines predictability, it poses a threat to public planning and democratic governance in the transport sector. This exploratory and somewhat speculative essay about a possible future analyzes the planning consequences of the ‘death-of-distance’ literature. It seeks to clarify just how planning might be transformed by the loss of consequential impact analysis. It is moreover Suggested that the likely responses to mobility-induced unpredictability – private rule following and public planning rituals – would challenge modernist ideals.
23pp (Refereed Articles, September 2005, no 17)
Sager, T. (2005). Hypermobility and the Planning of Society, European Journal of Spatial Development, 17
The Dangers of Transplanting Planning Instruments: The case of land fragmentation in Central Europe (#16)
Terry van Dijk
Abstract
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.
39 pp (Refereed Articles, September 2005, no 16)
Van Dijk, T. (2005). The Dangers of Transplanting Planning Instruments: The case of land fragmentation in Central Europe, European Journal of Spatial Development, 16
Regional science research in the Nordic countries in the light of some chosen international journals (#15)
Raul Ramos, Vicente Royuela & Juan Carlos Duque
Abstract
This article analyzes the evolution of research in regional science in the Nordic countries in the period 1991-2000, situating it in an international context. With this aim in mind, we first elaborate on the rankings of countries, authors and institutions in terms of the publications in a sample of nine top international regional journals. Second, we compare the publication patterns of Nordic authors with the ones observed at the international level. The results show that the Nordic countries’ share in regional research has been relatively low (especially when compared to other disciplines). Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway appear in the rankings while Iceland is not present. The analysis of their publication patterns has also thrown some light on the peculiarities of regional research in these countries. Nordic author’s contributions are on a par with international standards, with two exceptions: a greater interest in social and political issues, and more use of quantitative techniques.
21 pp (Refereed Articles, September 2005, no 15)
Ramos, R., Royuela, V. & Duque, J.C. (2005). Regional science research in the Nordic countries in the light of some chosen international journals, European Journal of Spatial Development, 15
Potential Implications of the EU Water Framework Directive in Sweden (#14)
Beatrice Hedelin
Abstract
The Water Framework Directive (WFD) is currently being implemented throughout Europe. As the Directive is likely to introduce major changes to the way in which water is managed in Sweden, this study aims to highlight some of the potential implications of its implementation. The requests of the WFD are compared with the current Swedish municipal system for water planning. Both organisationally and in terms of actual content the current study highlights significant differences in both approach and outcomes. The organisational changes envisaged will bring about a situation where, in essence, two parallel water management planning systems exist. This however implies that there will be significant problems ahead in terms of accountability and legitimacy, as the formal relationship between these separate systems is not clear, while the new system lacks clear linkages to the representative democratic model. The identified differences in terms of content however imply a more effective approach to water management and the potential for a more informed planning process. In order to make this arrangement work, forms of effective co-operation between the municipalities and the Water Authorities, as well as for the involvement of the general public and other concerned interests, need to be developed.
17pp (Refereed Articles, May 2005, no 14)
Hedelin, B. (2005). Potential Implications of the EU Water Framework Directive in Sweden, European Journal of Spatial Development, 14
Beyond Evaluation Standards? (#13)
Petri Virtanen and Ilpo Laitinen
Abstract
It has now become a truism to suggest that evaluation is a highly respected, appreciated and venerated enterprise. This article is based on three central claims. First, evaluation standards and ethical principles are useful only to the extent that one recognizes what they can and cannot do. Secondly, they can never be applied in algorithmic fashion, but must always be interpreted in the evaluation ‘case’ at hand. And thirdly, they are, at least to some extent, shaped by cultural norms and understandings. It appears, as this article concludes, that morally correct action does not become certified on the basis of an order or a norm, because even one counter-example is enough to conclude that dependency between a morally correct action and a norm is not logically valid. Morality should also express an individual's own freedom and the motives of action related to it. Standards do not have any causal consequences as such.
15pp (Refereed Articles, October 2004, no 13)
Virtanen, P. & Laitinen, I. (2004). Beyond Evaluation Standards? European Journal of Spatial Development, 13
Disaster Prevention in Urban Environments (#12)
Henk Voogd
Abstract
Disasters always have very undesirable consequences, especially when they occur in urban environments. This paper discusses some problems with regard to disaster prevention policy in the Netherlands. This policy was put to the test in May 2000, when a devastating fireworks accident in the Dutch town Enschede took place, destroying a significant part of the built environment of this town, with an investigation by an independent evaluation committee painfully highlighting the failure of the local and national authorities’ preventative policies. The Enschede disaster stimulated many new activities at various levels of government with regard to the need to improve disaster prevention and control. However, recent studies reveal that the lessons of Enschede have yet to be put into practice. This raises questions about the usefulness of a ‘command-and-control’ prevention approach. Alternative approaches are discussed and a comparison is made with the implementation of a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA).
20pp (Refereed Articles, September 2004, no 12)
Voogd, H. (2004). Disaster Prevention in Urban Environments, European Journal of Spatial Development, 12
Spatial County Planning as a Regional Legitimating Process (#11)
Roar Amdam
Abstract
In Norway’s new regional policy setup, the 19 county municipalities have been given a key role as regional planning and development actors. This is not however a completely new role for the counties, though their role has undoubtedly been strengthened, while at the same time the locus of national regional development policy seems to have moved from government to governance. This change of policy implies that the regional planning and development work done by the counties must be a collaborative process between the international, national, regional and local levels, and between the public, private and voluntary sectors. In a regional policy process based on governance however, the counties will not be the only regional development actors. They have to cooperate and compete with other established and newly created regional development actors and agencies in order to become political legitimate institutions. As far as we have scientific knowledge about how the counties will fulfil their role, we believe that they can only do the best they can within the room for manoeuvre bequeathed to them in the context of the actual political power structure adopted. In this paper, we will discuss county planning in the context of the formation of ‘political will’ seeing it as a legitimating process, focusing in the main on the interaction between the state level and the local authorities. As far as can be seen from a ‘political legitimacy’ perspective, this process is incomplete, lacking in particular the juridical discourses of national state support for the counties through the delivery of legal acceptance and the economic tools designed for the role of regional development actor. Thus, the process fails to fulfil the legitimating ‘bottom up’ process, while in addition failing to bestow county planning with the necessarily level of ‘top down’ legitimacy and acceptance. As long as this weakness exists in county planning, the counties will suffer from a ‘power deficit’ as they will continue to lack the very tools needed to become powerful regional development actors in the new regional policy framework.
22pp (Refereed Articles, September 2004, no 11)
Amdam, R. (2004). Spatial County Planning as a Regional Legitimating Process, European Journal of Spatial Development, 11
Incorporating the Impact of ICT into Urban and Regional Planning (#10)
Juha Talvitie
Abstract
This article examines the need for urban and regional planning practices to be further developed in the light of both the emergence of the information/knowledge/network society and in particular the impact of information and communications technology, (ICT), on spatial change. The ways in which urban and regional planning practices may best be altered in this regard is also addressed.
One major aspect of current spatial development trends can be highlighted with reference to the changing nature of our advanced societies’ economic base, where knowledge and skills are becoming the most important factors in production. This fundamental economic change moreover envisages a whole host of new functional and organisational possibilities. In consequence, the traditional ways of running businesses in industry, services and other organisations, as well as the activities of every day life will also undergo a process of fundamental change. Additionally, changes in the traditional prerequisites governing the location of various activities will occur because they now have new determinants.
These developments moreover will have a diversified spatial impact. Therefore, ICT, as the main driving force in the development of the information society, should be taken into account in urban and regional planning as an important new aspect in this process. Planners should therefore recognise this new need and challenge.
The incorporation of the spatial impact of ICT into planning practices will not however occur without the purposeful actions of those who are responsible for practical planning or those who regulate and support planning.
Thus, there is a clear need for further information, knowledge and understanding about the spatial impact of ICT and about its consequences on urban and regional development. Planners need updated education and training as well as new planning methods and models based on new spatial and urban theories. In addition, planning legislation and governmental guidelines should include provisions for the impact of the development of the information society and ICT on planning.
32pp (Refereed Articles, September 2004, no 10)
Talvitie, j. (2004). Incorporating the Impact of ICT into Urban and Regional Planning, European Journal of Spatial Development, 10
Processes of Residential Differentiation in Socialist Cities: Literature Review on the cases of Budapest, Prague, Tallinn and Warsaw (#9)
Sampo Ruoppila
Abstract
This paper reviews the literature on the processes of residential differentiation in Budapest, Prague, Tallinn and Warsaw during the era of state socialism. It identifies the housing types that were part of the housing provision regime at different periods of the socialist era, and discusses the inequalities in access to them, examining how they affected the development of the socio-spatial pattern. The study finds that despite the egalitarian ideology of socialism, the socialist housing provision system produced several socio-occupational residential differentiations. Sometimes these were the direct result of projects conducted by the public sector itself; there were inequalities in access to public rental housing. Sometimes these were a result of the toleration of, or support for, differentiation in co-operative and owner-occupied housing. Furthermore, the study finds that there was continuity in the appreciation of some residential areas. Therefore, developments during socialism did not always challenge the capitalist past, but rather actually often continued its socio-spatial patterns, especially within inner city areas.
24pp (Refereed Articles, February 2004, no 9)
Ruoppila, S. (2004). Processes of Residential Differentiation in Socialist Cities: Literature Review on the cases of Budapest, Prague, Tallinn and Warsaw, European Journal of Spatial Development, 9
Migration Processes – Challenges for German Cities (#8)
Heinrich Mäding
Abstract
In recent years, demographic processes have rightly attracted growing attention. In addition to the natural development of the population (with the phenomena of population decline and over aging), the various forms of migration (international and inter-regional migration, core city-periphery migration) present cities with a number of political challenges. This paper describes some of the important trends, induced problems, and options for action with regard to Germany.
24 pp (Refereed Articles, November 2003, no 8)
Mäding, H. (2003). Migration Processes – Challenges for German Cities, European Journal of Spatial Development, 8
Differential Economic Performance (DEP) in the Periphery: Evidence from Swedish rural areas (#7)
Vânia Ceccato and Lars Olof Persson
Abstract
Understanding Differential Economic Performance (DEP) at the local and regional level is a key element in devising practical strategies and programmes for sustainable regional development in different contexts. This paper contributes to the understanding of the factors underlying persistent differences in DEP between rural localities. The basic hypothesis is that the DEP of rural areas can be explained by a combination of ‘tangible’ and ‘less tangible’ factors and the way in which these interact in specific national, regional and local contexts. Natural and human resources, infrastructure, economic structure and investments are together with institutions, networks and community values the most decisive factors that help to characterise DEP for the Swedish case studies. Findings show that such factors not only define the different opportunities and constraints for local development, but also illustrate how effective the local and regional system is in tapping into resources and opportunities and in ameliorating constraints. This sheds light on the importance of taking a broader perspective regarding policies towards regional development, making them much more focused on contextual and environmental aspects than uni-faceted, sectoral measures. The paper also provides a discussion of the implications of the results for policy and gives an account of new research questions for future studies.
28pp (Refereed Articles, October 2003, no 7)
Ceccato, V. & Persson, L.O. (2003). Differential Economic Performance (DEP) in the Periphery: Evidence from Swedish rural areas, European Journal of Spatial Development, 7
Restructuring Competitive Metropolitan Regions in North-west Europe: On Territory and Governance (#6)
Wolfgang Knapp & Peter Schmitt
Abstract
This paper intends to build a bridge between academic debates on the contemporary rescaling of political economy, with regard to urban governance, and the strategic approaches produced by policy makers and planners with a view to establishing region-wide governance-structures for metropolitan regions. To do so, the authors use empirical evidence from several north-western metropolitan regions, namely London, Paris, Randstad and RheinRuhr, which were under study in the framework of two research projects, namely, EURBANET and GEMACA. The paper commences by discussing whether ‘places’ can actually compete, and this will be followed by a short historical survey of the nation state’s interest in developing global cities and metropolitan regions as competitive territories.
After taking into account their specific ‘spatial configurations’ we will then focus on the territorial shapes of such regions. The authors present a rather simple method to demarcate city-regions as comparable ‘Functional Urban Regions’. It will then be argued that to optimise their development and to exploit their potentialities, political focus should be directed towards upgrading the economic, institutional and social base, which is a prerequisite for entrepreneurial success. The article chiefly deals with the issue of establishing appropriate city-regional ‘organizing capacities,’ and provides a critical overview of the situation in four exemplary regions. In the concluding section this perspective will be extended by discussing in what sense these ‘Functional Urban Regions’ are actually ‘regions’?
43pp (Refereed Articles, October 2003, no 6)
Knapp, W. & Schmitt, P. (2003). Restructuring Competitive Metropolitan Regions in North-west Europe: On Territory and Governance, European Journal of Spatial Development, 6
Spatial Interaction and Regional Unemployment in Europe (#5)
Annekatrin Niebuhr
Abstract
The findings of recent studies on adjustment processes suggest that regional labour markets in the EU and the US differ significantly. Low wage flexibility and limited labour mobility in European countries involve persistent unemployment differentials across regions. However, the spatial dimension of regional labour market problems is largely neglected in the corresponding analyses. In contrast, the present paper focuses on the spatial structure of regional unemployment disparities. Regions are tightly linked by migration, commuting and interregional trade. These types of spatial interaction are exposed to the frictional effects of distance, possibly causing the spatial dependence of regional labour market conditions. The spatial association of regional unemployment is analysed for a sample of European countries between 1986 and 2000 by measures of spatial autocorrelation and spatial econometric methods. The results indicate that there is a significant degree of spatial dependence among regional labour markets in Europe. Regions marked by high unemployment as well as areas characterised by low unemployment tend to cluster in space. The findings suggest that different forms of spatial interaction affect the evolution of regional unemployment in Europe.
26pp (Refereed Articles, October 2003, no 5)
Niebuhr, A. (2003). Spatial Interaction and Regional Unemployment in Europe, European Journal of Spatial Development, 5
Location as the reason for the problems of old industrialised settlements: The Case of Estonia (#4)
Raigo Ernits
Abstract
In this paper we will chart the problems of small single-company (so called mono-functional) industrial settlements in post-socialist Estonia. The major research question asked will thus be whether the disadvantageous location of these industrial plants is the reason for problems in such settlements. Using the notion of gravity models, we will calculate the distance factors of such settlements in relation to larger centres, and compare them across different groups of different kinds of settlements. The conclusion arrived at is that advantageous location (location close to a larger centre) is a necessary though not a sufficient condition for guaranteeing the development and success of settlements. The main determinant factors in the success of a settlement are the fulfilment of the conditions for a good social and economic environment, while it is undoubtedly the case that a healthy environment favouring the growth and deployment of entrepreneurial skills develops more easily in settlements located nearer to larger centres.
16pp (Refereed Articles, February 2003, no 4)
Ernits, R. (2003). Location as the reason for the problems of old industrialised settlements: The Case of Estonia, European Journal of Spatial Development, 4
Reaching the Peripheral Regional Growth Centres: Centre-periphery convergence through the Structural Funds' transport infrastructure actions and the evolution of the centre-periphery paradigm (#3)
Jörgen Gren
Abstract
The centre-periphery concept can be used in a wide variety of ways, not the least to extract funding, as is shown in the Nordic case. More importantly, the centre-periphery concept is at the very heart of most national regional policies and aid schemes as well as being at the heart of the EU’s cohesion/convergence efforts undertaken in the framework of the Structural and cohesion funds. It then follows that the goal of virtually all studies concerning the centre-periphery paradigm has been to assess whether there is convergence or divergence in development between the centre and the periphery, and what are the factors associated with the “success” of core regions or the atypical success-stories in peripheral areas. In this context, the importance of transport infrastructure for improving the accessibility and competitiveness of peripheral regions is recognised in the context of the Structural Funds. The long-term structural effort needed to reduce disparities in terms of basic infrastructure, of which transport is a large part, is particularly reflected in the allocation of almost 1/3 of total EU funding to these types of measures (objective 1 areas).
The purpose of this article is to provide a systematic analysis of the contribution and impact on centre-periphery convergence of the Structural Funds transport infrastructure actions, but also to discuss the possible evolution of the centre-periphery paradigm in the light of recent developments in economic development, cohesion and accessibility in European peripheral areas. Indeed, it seems as if infrastructure investments under the Structural Funds have actually been quite successful in reducing the gap between core and periphery. To understand why and how, we have to analyse the emergence of regional growth centres in peripheral areas. The article will argue that these regional growth centres play an increasingly important role in the definition of the centre-periphery concept as well as in challenging the traditional centre-periphery paradigm.
22pp (Refereed Articles, January 2003, no 3)
Gren, J. (2003). Reaching the Peripheral Regional Growth Centres: Centre-periphery convergence through the Structural Funds' transport infrastructure actions and the evolution of the centre-periphery paradigm,European Journal of Spatial Development, 3
Rationality Types in Evaluation Techniques: The Planning Balance Sheet and the Goals Achievement Matrix (#2)
Tore Sager
Abstract
There is a strong tradition among planners to conceive of their task as one of inserting rationality into public debate and decision-making. The article examines how Morris Hill and Nathaniel Lichfield tried to develop the goals achievement matrix and the community impact evaluation (the planning balance sheet), respectively, as rational ex ante evaluation techniques for transport and land-use planning. Special attention is given to the ways in which they modify the economic rationality of the cost-benefit analysis. Furthermore, the techniques are assessed against the need for economic efficiency achieved by instrumental (means-end) rationality, dialogue and participation achieved by communicative rationality, and non-cycling planning recommendations achieved by consistency (transitivity).
30pp (Refereed Articles, January 2003, no 2)
Sager, T. (2003). Rationality Types in Evaluation Techniques: The Planning Balance Sheet and the Goals Achievement Matrix, European Journal of Spatial Development, 2
The Struggle against Social Exclusion at the Local Level: Diversity and Convergence in European Cities (#1)
Enzo Mingione & Marco Oberti
Abstract
This article is based on the results of the European comparative research project ESOPO (Evaluation of Social Policies at the Local Urban Level: Income Support for the Able-Bodied) directed by Chiara Saraceno (Saraceno, 2002). The research explored the configuration and impact of income support programmes in favour of able-bodied individuals in 13 cities of 6 European countries.
In the face of rising unemployment and for a growing section of the population the difficulty of finding a steady job, most European countries have adopted anti-poverty strategies. Minimum income benefit in various forms constitutes a central element of income support for disadvantaged populations. Although its stated objective is often the same – to combat exclusion – there is a fairly large degree of heterogeneity in the way this policy is organized at local level, even in strongly centralized countries. Beyond simply revealing institutional differences, the comparative study of local experiences gives us a closer understanding of the rationale according to which each city – with its own mode of development, political and social history, culture, associative or community resources and, more broadly, the characteristics of its civil society – structures its anti-poverty strategies. Comparative analysis of local situations has the advantage of highlighting the different complexity of the processes at work, as well as of the local configurations which result from them. These may involve arrangements and relationships between public institutions, intermediate organizations, the Church, family networks and local community. Moreover, such an approach allows us to discern both the diversified forms and levels of intervention of these various actors and the principles involved by looking at the interaction between people and institutions.
In drawing on this research which is focused on a comparative study of the models of anti-poverty social policies, we will discuss some important issues. First, we will argue that poverty cannot be separated from the social conditions which generate it and from the social structures in which it is embedded. Second, we will demonstrate that the comparative study of anti-poverty models enables us to define more precisely the systems that mobilize resources other than those implemented on the basis of well known and formalized criteria. In fact, they are sometimes very localized and based on particular arrangements between the public sphere and the civil society. Finally, we will show how these local systems that implement anti-poverty social policies are not necessarily leading to strong institutionalization and public regulation through a linear process of modernization. Although the challenge of social integration is driving all countries towards greater intervention, it is also obliging them to introduce new and more flexible forms of regulations.
23pp (Refereed Articles, January 2003, no 1)
Mingione, E. & Oberti, M. (2003). The Struggle against Social Exclusion at the Local Level: Diversity and Convergence in European Cities, European Journal of Spatial Development, 1