Search

This paper discusses the future challenges of strategic spatial planning in Europe in the coming decades. The paper argues that one of the core challenges for strategic spatial planning is to regain its political legitimacy. Strategic spatial planning has increasingly lost its political support after the global financial crisis in 2007–2008 and a decade of austerity policies. Strategic spatial planning must make itself relevant again by addressing the most prominent challenges for contemporary urban areas, such as the current energy crisis. The energy crisis has demonstrated the need for an even faster transition to renewable energy sources, which requires large areas for energy infrastructures on land. The paper argues that strategic spatial planning could play an important future role in supporting the sustainable energy transition by identifying appropriate spaces of production and building support for such production facilities among local communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Territorial, economic and social cohesion in European Union (EU) regions are major challenges that regional policies are aimed at. These policies have a strong focus on innovation-driven models as key processes for reducing disparities and promoting regional development. Since the 1980s, innovation and technology policies have gained momentum and legitimacy to stimulate multiple development patterns and growth models, mainly from national economic dynamics to well performing regional systems. Theories of knowledge and learning have been developed in more successful places, producing concepts that seem unattainable for less successful ones. Given that less developed regions have been overlooked in innovation studies, this paper reviews the literature on territorial innovation models in Europe in order to understand theoretical and practical gaps for these regions and to identify trends that support the need to redirect conceptual, political and instrumental attention of territorial innovation systems. It debates the different forms of innovation in regions, the variety and role of actors, the quest for geographical and place-based resources, the determinants for innovation and the 'how' and 'for what' demands of regional development. The discussion anticipates critical questions that try to promote a 'normative turn' in innovation policy, propose research avenues and discuss policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural regions are considered a key element to allow a shift towards sustainable development. However, to what extent they are able to innovate and how they integrate into interactive innovation processes considering their distance from urban centres remains unclear. By drawing on 15 case studies of interactive innovation in agriculture and rural development in a variety of rural regions across Europe, and combining a rural-urban typology with data on the quality of AKIS (Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems), four classes of ruralities were defined. In them, the innovation process was analysed by paying special attention to the analytical aspects of: (i) organizational structure; (ii) initial idea; (iii) finance; (iv) access to extraregional resources. The results show that innovation in more rural regions is often inspired by external ideas, while drawing on already well-established networks. Rural entrepreneurs as individual actors drive innovation, but struggle in 'thin' environments with little support and scarce private funding. The private sector can buffer lack of AKIS support, but embedded NGOs and producers' organizations act as last resorts in more remote regions. The study contributes to a profounder understanding of how rurality impacts innovation processes, offering an analytical framework for future rurality studies and policy interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question, “what is territorial cohesion” has reverberated through European spatial policy since the publication of the European Spatial Development Perspective in 1999. Over the last 10 years, the European Spatial Policy Observation Network (ESPON) has made many efforts to define and measure the concept of “territorial cohesion”. Many such attempts assume that a policy concept must be defined in order to be “operationalized”. Or, in other words, that we must determine what the concept is before we can determine what it can or should do. This paper challenges this assumption in two parts. In the first, I review a number of ESPON projects to show how complex and uncertain these essentialist definitions have become. In the second, I analyse a number of national, regional and local government responses to the 2008 Green paper. I show that, whilst a clear and coherent definition has not been established, this concept is already operationalized in different policy frameworks. Bringing this together, I argue that users of such concepts ought to approach the issue differently, through a pragmatic line of enquiry: one that asks what territorial cohesion does, what it might do and how it might affect what other concepts, practices and materials do. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial policies are currently the focus of resurgent interest, in particular in the context of seeking to stimulate innovation. This interest has developed alongside a gradual shift in industrial policy-making capabilities to regional and local governments, such that the corresponding policies require analysis on multiple geographical scales. This paper introduces a special issue on territorial industrial development policies that are directed towards stimulating innovation. The issue has its roots in the 11th annual conference of the European Network of Industrial Policy (EUNIP), an academic network with specific interests in the analysis of industrial development and public policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the challenges of urban regeneration and sustainability have been brought together in discourses concerning the re-shaping of inner-city districts of large cities. Currently, sustainable development in regeneration policies is mostly dominated by the environmental dimension and qualities of the built environment, with some focus on the more easily quantifiable aspects of social and economic dimensions. There is, however, limited discussion about integrating socio-economic aspects of sustainable regeneration in the literature. This paper presents a critical exploration of the role of the existing small business base in facilitating more sustainable urban re-development from a socio-economic standpoint. Indigenous food outlets in Birmingham's Eastside district—a re-development initiative branded as exemplar of sustainable urban development—are used to illustrate the role of small businesses in the day-to-day life of districts undergoing regeneration. The paper reflects on challenges and benefits from retaining and supporting established businesses throughout the re-development process and concludes with some reflections on lessons learnt from the case study. It argues that planners, policy-makers and developers should accord greater attention to the role of established businesses to foster urban districts that strive towards integrating aspects of socio-economic sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More and more European cities are confronted with population decline in a structural sense. This development of “urban shrinkage” has different causes, but similar effects: the city's hardware, software and mindware deteriorate. In this paper, we explore and assess policy strategies to respond to urban shrinkage in a European context. Four strategies are identified: (1) trivializing shrinkage, (2) countering shrinkage, (3) accepting shrinkage and (4) utilizing shrinkage. We suggest that accepting shrinkage by improving the quality of life for the city's existing residents is the most suitable and sustainable strategy. Dealing with shrinkage is a complex urban governance process that asks for a mental transformation from growth to shrinkage as well as regional rather than local thinking. Moreover, due to the fiscal burden of shrinkage, city governments will be increasingly dependent on the willingness of citizens to help. Civic engagement, however, is not something that can be simply dictated. Therefore we conclude that the authorities of Europe's shrinking cities should first enable their citizens to care for their community before asking them to do so. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern cities in the open European space-economy are powerhouses of creative ideas, smart technologies, sustainable developments and socio-economic wealth. They play a pivotal role in the future of an urbanized Europe, but they are also confronted with grand challenges, notably far-reaching demographic transformations, environmental decay and climatological change, unequal social participation and ever-rising mobility trends. The challenges for urban environments may be turned into new opportunities, in particular, in such domains as advanced infrastructure and logistic systems, environmental and climate-neutral facilities, creative and knowledge-intensive strategies for socio-economic prosperity and well-being. Cities—and in particular metropolitan areas—may thus act as spearheads of sustainable economic growth for European countries. These observations call for appropriate long-range policy strategies for metropolitan areas—and networks of cities—in the highly diversified European space-economy. Such policy actions would need to be supported by solid, multidisciplinary and evidence-based research on the challenges and opportunities of urban environments in Europe. The main contribution of this paper lies in the systematic strategic approach to transform urban megatrends and challenges into research and policy concerns for Europe. The analytical framework employed to highlight and better understand such research and policy response in Europe from a typological perspective is built around four interconnected pillars (cornerstones) that form the focal points for identifying strategic future images that may be instrumental in mapping out the research and policy challenges for the “New Urban Europe”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Expansion of territories targeted by travellers and growth of attendance rates make tourism sector of significant interest for the implementation of policies on environmental protection at the European Union (EU) level. The need to protect local natural heritage, to integrate tourism industry development policies with the ones pertaining to other sectors that characterize a given territory and to enhance the overall environmental performance are some of the priorities that may appear conflicting at times. This paper discusses a method of analysis and planning aiming to promote potential directives of local governance. This method, representing the outcome of a process coordinated and shared across territories, is oriented towards the sustainable development of the area and refers to the implementation of integrated policies, The Interreg Eco Tourism (INTER.ECO.TUR) project, co-financed by the European Commission under the EU's INTERREG IIIC, provided the research with a useful case study to analyse the dynamics of sustainable tourism development within the European Mediterranean area. The debate of its results offers evidences on the possibility to develop such a governance process effectively, providing insight into an assessment methodology enriched by a clear-cut analysis of its applied experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An enlarged Europe is addressing the challenge of territorial cohesion on the basis of a disciplinary and operative framework formed by a number of evolving documents and provisions to be applied and developed at different administrative and planning levels. Rapid and profound changes have occurred in previous decades as far as institutional framework, the role of actors and issues to be tackled are concerned, within a re-scaling process of territorial governance. In this context, small territories can take advantage of European funds, but experience a hard confrontation with the market economy and supra-local visions, use of resources and infrastructure projects. A decisive role, in many countries, has been gained by regional authorities, which must mediate among various territorial levels, institutions and actors involved in a multilevel governance process. The paper focuses on spatial and regional/territorial planning processes among the European dimension, Member States and regions, on the basis of a case study conducted in Northern Italy. The aim is to determine the role of European spatial planning as a 'learning machine' [Faludi, A. (2008) European Territorial Cooperation and Learning, disP 172, (1/2008), pp. 3-10.] able to support processes of mutual learning and cooperation, overcoming the attitude of compliance to upper level schemes and financial programmes rather than innovating usual procedures and territorial planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper surveys transnational city networks for sustainability to determine the substance of their work and the potentials for more efficient and successful implementation of sustainable development through networking. It also analyses the challenges and limits of sustainability-oriented networking, taking into account issues such as network organization, priorities, strategies, and communication methods as factors for success. A wide breadth of goals and means characterizes sustainability networks although most are organized and maintained in a very similar fashion. The large gap existing between regions active in networking and others and the fact smaller, more regionally-oriented cities play a dominant role in sustainability-related networks demonstrate the latent potential of such networking and the unique dynamics at work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many European metropolitan regions, new economic centres have emerged at the edge of large cities or in their (post-)suburban areas. This paper explores the possible contribution of these new centres to a more sustainable regional development of European metropolitan regions. The realization of sustainable business parks is even more complicated at 'greenfield' sites than at 'brownfield' sites. With the absence of space scarcity or congestion problems, the temptation to choose easier, less sustainable solutions is hard to resist. Nevertheless, in the Dutch Randstad region, some edge-city and suburban business locations try to meet high sustainability standards. Two case studies in Hoofddorp and Almere illustrate the tough road towards truly sustainable business parks, focusing on the role of the various stakeholders that either encourage or discourage the realization of sustainability potentials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Periods of ongoing growth in the economy and demographics have come to a halt for many European regions for various reasons, challenging their economic development prospects. Despite the heterogeneous nature of stagnation, decline, peripheralization or even stigmatization to be found there, these configurations ‘beyond growth’ have in common that short-term ‘fire-fighting’ policy approaches aiming to foster regional economic growth face some important limitations. We argue that this has to do, among other things, with the overall direction of established and orthodox planning approaches that are predominantly based on growth-oriented paradigms and implicitly or explicitly work with dichotomous categories such as core–periphery and metropolitan versus non-metropolitan spaces; these do, however, not capture local realities in these cases. Using the notion of non-core regions, we plead for conceptualizing non-core regions and their regional economic development trajectories in different ways: thinking ‘beyond growth’. Such alternative ideas should be informed by alternative understandings of growth, development and sustainability in order to influence theories and concepts, but also to support new approaches to planning practice. To this aim, we discuss non-core regions from a social constructivist perspective, elaborating some points of departure for conceptualizing and practising regional planning ‘beyond growth’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Following the discourse about sustainable development based on the Brundtland Commission's report and the processes in the UN Committee on Environment and Development, a sustainable urban development would require considerably more ambitious policies than today in order to limit energy consumption, reduce pollution and protect natural areas and arable land. Re-use of urban areas and more effective utilization of building sites is a possible strategy to this end. However, continuous growth in the building stock will make it increasingly difficult to bring urban development in wealthy countries within the frames of what is ecologically sustainable and equitable in a global perspective. Planning for a sustainable urban development must be oriented towards long-term goals and utilize knowledge about the environmental consequences of different solutions, but should not be based solely on means-ends rationality. Rather than aiming at consensus including all stakeholder groups, planning for sustainability should facilitate alliance-building among those population groups who can support the basic equity and environmental values of a sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the creative and cultural policies that are developed on a European cross-border scale. It provides a comparative case study of the Pyrenees-Mediterranean Euroregion, located on the French–Spanish eastern border and the Greater Region between Luxembourg, Germany, Belgium and France. The analysis is based on the concept of cultural development, which is related to Euroregions to emphasize the uses of culture, identity and creative resources in strategies of territorial attractiveness and institutional capacity-building. The analysis then shows how the dynamics of cultural development concretely impact Euroregional policies: implications, or even strengthening, of arts and creativity in cross-cutting policies—tourism and sustainable development, promotion of cultural diversity and the human dimension of development. Furthermore, these dynamics underline the contribution of cultural policy to the construction of territoriality, and subsequently the contribution of Euroregions to the territorial and cultural construction of Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It can be argued that creating a reputation for sustainable development for the benefit of a competitive advantage resonates with institutional theory. In principle, this opens up the possibility to relate a given sustainability agenda with theoretical frameworks based on old institutional economics (OIE) and/or new institutional economics. This is particularly true in arenas where qualitative factors cause a discontinuous change from the previous structure, such as amid urban regeneration. Using empirical evidence from three very different European cities, Budapest, Amsterdam and Trondheim, it is shown that OIE has plenty to offer for a “patchy” and evolving problem area such as the analysis of planning and property development in an urban setting. The position taken here is that good community governance needs the support of the private sector too. Smart policies, regulations and especially incentives set at the local and regional levels are an imperative to meet the sustainability goals set out in the Rio-1992 agenda. This international comparison attempts to provide some guiding answers to the empirical question as to how sustainable the three cases of country- and city-specific governance are in terms of their property development. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Within Europe, Rotterdam is by far the largest port and supplier of fossil energy sources. City and port have a “sandwich” position in the low lands between a sea with a rising level and rivers with increasing peak discharges. It is certainly no exaggeration to say that sustainability forms a matter of life or death for Rotterdam as a Delta City. The question of a sustainable Rotterdam or not is related to the following issues: (1) water management (preventing hazards; the restoration of the estuary; salinization); (2) urban renewal; (3) the spatial and climate footprint of the ever-growing port and (4) energy transition. Currently all these issues are dealt with largely independently of one another. For a genuinely sustainable future, linkages have to be made between strategies, projects and actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a concept of sustainable development as a model for the socio-economic development in post-communist countries in Europe. Socio-economic development through transformation of lifeworlds; Approaches to the eco-development concept; Need for a socio-economic order in post-communist Europe; Importance of technology in eco-development; Ecological consciousness.