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Refereed/Peer-reviewed A survey of residents in the Locarnese region of Canton Ticino, Switzerland was used to examine perceptions of exposure to environmental risk in the context of the deliberative Swiss planning system. There is a growing risk of wildfire in the region, and unless residents’ risk perceptions are understood and effectively integrated into decision making, confidence in environmental planning processes could erode. The research analyses how peri-urban residents conceptualise risk, place and environment, and how they perceive their influence over local planning outcomes. Descriptive and inferential statistics reveal high appreciation of lifestyle and amenity values, and support for firefighting services. While respondents recognise the increasing exposure to wildfires and landslides, it was the current level of urban expansion that was seen to be heightening risk at the interface between forests and settlements. Although Swiss deliberative governance arrangements offer citizens opportunities to be involved in decision making through official channels, respondents who were younger, of local background or who were less educated were particularly dissatisfied with their influence over planning. We discuss the implications of these findings for the distinctive Swiss planning system in the context of other countries’ ambitions to develop more effective, democratic environmental planning. In particular, the relative ease offered by popular referenda may be creating a disproportionate sense of citizen entitlement to be heard on local planning issues. Dialogues of risk reduction must continue to evolve between the population and government actors to encourage residents to engage more fully with relevant topics of risk for their region.

Most studies use quantitative measures to assess spatial planning outcomes. Instead, this paper proposes a novel qualitative framework to assess spatial planning outcomes that seek to understand wh...

In recent years, policy-makers and researchers have identified regional development agencies as the most suitable actors to carry out public tasks. One of these tasks has been the coordination of regional development processes. Both practitioners and researchers argue that legitimacy is a prerequisite for these regional actors to function properly. Although legitimacy is a key issue, little is known about the challenges that arise while producing it. Selecting six regional development agencies in Switzerland and applying an interview-based research method, this explorative study analyses how regional development agencies deal with legitimacy issues. The findings indicate that the main problem with which regional development agencies struggle is not procedural rightfulness but means–end coordination. By proposing a clear distinction between legitimacy and justification, we aim to stimulate the debate on how to operationalize legitimacy and further the discussion of the functioning of regional development agencies. Consequently, we introduce the concept of ‘asymmetric justification’ to the debate on regional development processes in order to shed a light on the functioning of regional development agencies.

In Deutschland und der Schweiz wird seit einigen Jahren intensiv über Flächenverbrauch und Zersiedelung debattiert. Kantonale Richtpläne sowie Landesraumordnungsprogramme und Regionalpläne enthalten verbindliche Vorgaben zur Steuerung der Siedlungsentwicklung. Es fehlt an Studien, welche die regionale Umsetzung dieser Vorgaben untersuchen. Der vorliegende Beitrag analysiert die Umsetzung ausgewählter Instrumente der überörtlichen Raumplanung zur Steuerung der Siedlungsentwicklung in Regionen Deutschlands und der Schweiz unter Verwendung des Policy-Arrangement- Konzepts. Die Fallstudienanalyse umfasst die Planungsregionen Oberland (Bayern) und Südlicher Oberrhein (Baden- Württemberg) sowie die Kantone Zürich und St. Gallen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass raumplanerische Instrumente in Aushandlungsprozessen umgesetzt werden, in denen Spielräume und Alternativen ausgelotet werden. Zentral ist dabei eine regionsspezifische Gemengelage aus (i) einer Verzahnung formeller und informeller Instrumente und Prozesse, (ii) einem Spannungsfeld zwischen übergeordnetem Kontext, überörtlichem Steuerungsanspruch und kommunaler Planungshoheit und (iii) sich überlagernden übergeordneten und regionsspezifischen Diskursen. Das Policy-Arrangement-Konzept hilft damit, besser zu verstehen, wie Raumplanung funktioniert. In Germany and Switzerland, land use and urban sprawl there has been a central topic of public debate for several years. Cantonal structure plans in Switzerland as well as state and regional plans in Germany contain binding regulations for managing settlement development. Studies that examine the implementation of these regulations are lacking. This paper analyses the implementation of selected instruments of supra-local spatial planning for managing settlement development in Germany and Switzerland using the Policy Arrangement Approach. The case study covers the regions Oberland (Bavaria), Südlicher Oberrhein (Baden-Württemberg) and the cantons of Zurich and St. Gallen. The results show that actors implement spatial-planning instruments in situative negotiation processes in which they exploremargins and alternatives. Central to these processes is a regional specific overlapping of (i) interlinkings of formal and informal instruments, (ii) the interplay between local autonomy, supra-local control and superordinate context factors, and (iii) the overlapping of supra-local and regional discourses. The results show that the Policy Arrangement Approach helps to better understand how spatial planning works.

In this article, we investigate knowledge exchange at the intersection of science and Swiss public policy in the fields of spatial planning, land use and soil management. Based on a literature review and expert interviews, we identify six types of knowledge exchange, and examine the barriers to and opportunities for knowledge exchange. These six underlying concepts suggest knowledge exchange is a challenging task because different expectations exist on how knowledge should be exchanged.

Der Beitrag untersucht am Beispiel der Stadt Zürich, inwiefern Postwachstum ein Leitbild für die Wohnraumwicklung sein kann und welche Voraussetzungen postwachstumsorientiertes Wohnen braucht. Dabei werden zunächst Kriterien für eine zukunftsgerichtete Wohnraumentwicklung diskutiert. Anschließend wird untersucht, inwiefern diese Anforderungen an nachhaltiges, ökologisches und soziales Wohnen bereits postwachstumsorientiert sind. Als Ergebnis werden elf Kriterien für postwachstumsorientierte Wohnbauprojekte vorgeschlagen.

The adaptation of agricultural systems to climate change remains one of humanity's greatest challenges. Regions with complex, knowledge-intensive farming practices have many components that can be adjusted to increase systemic resilience. An argument for the importance of evolutionary adaptation pathways is developed with a case-study of the viticultural region of the McLaren Vale in South Australia. In a series of walk-and-talk interviews, farmers describe their business risks and the opportunities to adapt. Their responses suggest a sophisticated ecological understanding facilitated by their life-experiences, learning networks and relationships with governance, research and marketing organisations. In particular, a new exploitation of agrobiodiversity is generating on-farm resilience by spreading the risks of production and providing opportunities for the region to better respond to changing environmental and market conditions. Individual farmers have developed unique climate change adaptation pathways, but effective cooperation has also enabled the evolution of a regional adaptation cluster. Regions such as the McLaren Vale with a path dependence of innovation could have a cultural heritage that supports attempts at adaptation, which will in turn make them vital first-movers in the search for effective responses to climate change risk.

Regional governance has received growing attention, not only from researchers, but also from politicians and practitioners of regional development. The understanding and usage of the concept, however, are highly heterogeneous: sometimes regional governance is described or explained in terms of its characteristics, processes and impacts, while at other times, it is framed as a tool for regional development. This article develops a definition and framework for a systematic assessment of various regional governance forms. For this purpose, it draws on material from a three-round Delphi survey among practitioners and researchers who are experts of regional governance. On this basis, a consolidated definition of regional governance is proposed as ‘the vertical and horizontal coordination of regional transformation processes beyond administrative boundaries by state and non-state actors’. Furthermore, the framework identifies five dimensions of regional governance: (a) participation, (b) bindingness, (c) formalisation, (d) regional autonomy and (e) power relations. These dimensions are disaggregated into a total of 21 indicators to systematically describe and analyse different regional governance forms., Regional governance has received growing attention, not only from researchers, but also from politicians and practitioners of regional development. The understanding and usage of the concept, however, are highly heterogeneous: sometimes regional governance is described or explained in terms of its characteristics, processes and impacts, while at other times, it is framed as a tool for regional development. This article develops a definition and framework for a systematic assessment of various regional governance forms. For this purpose, it draws on material from a three-round Delphi survey among practitioners and researchers who are experts of regional governance. On this basis, a consolidated definition of regional governance is proposed as ‘the vertical and horizontal coordination of regional transformation processes beyond administrative boundaries by state and non-state actors’. Furthermore, the framework identifies five dimensions of regional governance: (a) participation, (b) bindingness, (c) formalisation, (d) regional autonomy and (e) power relations. These dimensions are disaggregated into a total of 21 indicators to systematically describe and analyse different regional governance forms.

Climate change severely affects Alpine regions. Adaptation to climate change is needed in order to deal with these impacts, but the implementation of national adaptation strategies is inhibited by multiple obstacles. Regional strategic frameworks are just emerging, adaptation is of little priority to local agendas and policy mainstreaming is limited on all administrative levels. This paper provides a better understanding of the governance of adaptation to climate change in Switzerland, an example of a federal system with a strong focus on subnational levels and multilevel governance. We conceptualize governance as a network of policies, measures, actors and knowledge, and visualize their interactions using D3.js, a data-driven JavaScript library. The findings illustrate the typical division of labour in federal multilevel governance systems. The national level provides a strategic framework and funding and conducts coordinating measures at subnational levels, especially the local-level implementation of concrete measures. Conducting comparable mappings for other countries would allow interesting comparisons and insights into common barriers and opportunities to adaptation to climate change.

Governance of forest recreation: analysing the case of mountain bike trails In the last years, leisure and recreation activities in forests have become more important. Sustainable forest management not only fulfils the functions of protection and use, but also promotes the welfare and recreation function of forests. For this, it is not only necessary to be aware of societal demands, but also to understand how forest planning and management decisions are taken. Such questions are analysed in governance research. In this article, we use the Institutional Analysis and Development Framework to analyse the governance structures and processes in the planning of four mountain bike trails in Swiss forests. The cases show that the following governance characteristics have been decisive for the realization of the mountain bike trails: 1) the inclusion of the local actors (e.g. forest owners, hunters, nature conservation organisations), 2) the clear lead of a specific institution in the planning process and 3) the funding of the trail.

Urban Forestry in der Schweiz: funf Herausforderungen fur Wissenschaft und Praxis (Essay) Die Debatte um «Urban Forestry» ist in der Schweiz angekommen. Urban Forestry umfasst verschiedene Aktivitaten in Wissenschaft, Praxis und Gesellschaft, die sich mit Baumen, Wald und Grunraum in Stadten und Agglomerationen beschaftigen. Was genau Urban Forestry als Begriff und Konzept genau leisten kann und soll, ist aber noch unklar. Daher skizzieren wir in diesem Beitrag zunachst den Stand der Debatte zu Urban Forestry. Daraus leiten wir funf Herausforderungen ab, die sich aus unserer Sicht fur Wissenschaft und Praxis derzeit stellen: 1) Entwickeln und Umsetzen von integrativen, sektorubergreifenden Strategien fur den stadtischen Grunraum, 2) Sicherstellen eines weitsichtigen Okosystemmanagements, 3) Verbessern der Koharenz von Instrumenten und Programmen, 4) Ermoglichen von Dialog und Beteiligung, 5) Sichern der Finanzierung durch neue Partnerschaften.

Recreational activities have undergone a change from mainly passive forms (e.g. rest, relaxation, reinvigoration, solitude and escape) to more active forms (e.g. mountain biking, climbing and running). Correspondingly, the demand for forest recreation infrastructure to support the more active forms has increased. However, very little is known about what features characterise the planning and management of forest recreation infrastructure. This study takes four in-depth mountain-bike trail cases in Switzerland to characterise the planning and management of forest recreation infrastructure. The analysis is performed using the institutional analysis and development framework (Ostrom in Governing the commons: the evolution of institutions for collective action, Cambridge University Press, New York, 1990) and qualitative data based on cases and interviews. We argue that by considering the identified external features (formal and informal rules, location) and process features (partnerships, public participation, conflicts, profitability perspectives, time frame of process, funding of process and approval), we can better plan and manage active forms of forest recreation. Conflict situations and response strategies associated with mountain-bike-trail planning and management are also identified. The findings are relevant for other regions facing the growing use of forests for recreational and leisure activities.

Replacement of conventional energy sources with renewables such as solar panels and wind turbines requires adequate land. Impact assessments should be conducted to identify sites exhibiting least conflict with current and future land-uses and corresponding ecosystem services. We assessed the electricity potential and geographical distribution of wind turbines and solar panels for current land-use and under three Swiss land-change scenarios. The future scenario A2 with limited construction regulations, a liberalized market and more building surfaces increases the electricity potential of solar panels by 69% from 16.6 TWh (potential under current land-use and regulations) to a future 28.2 TWh. An increase of approximately 26% electricity potential from solar panels is expected for scenario B2 (regionalized economy) and the trend scenario. Wind-electricity potential could increase by 61% from 93 to 150 TWh under A2, and 29% under a B2 or trend scenario. The electricity potential for solar panels remains largely unaffected by conflicts with ecosystem services, but electricity production from wind could be reduced by as much as 98% due to conflicts with ecosystem services. Depending on the scenario used, low-conflict sites for solar panels and wind turbines could contribute between 85% (trend and B2 scenario) and >100% (A2 scenario) to the Swiss energy target of generating 25 TWh from new renewable energy sources by 2050. This includes expected technological developments. Positive impacts of sustainable energy production on regional economies are moderate and will not lead to strong changes in regional-economic development.

Die Neue Regionalpolitik, die Regionalen Naturpärke und vieles mehr: die Entwicklung der Regionen ist in der Schweiz ein zentraler Pfeiler der Politik. Doch wie funktionieren regionale Entwicklungsprozesse wirklich? Und wie liessen sie sich besser unterstützen? Das Factsheet analysiert bestehende Modelle und leitet Handlungsempfehlungen für die Praxis ab. Das Factsheet basiert auf einer Doktorarbeit an der Eidg. Forschungsanstalt WSL über «Governance der Regionalentwicklung», die unter anderem untersucht, wie regionale Entwicklungsträger in der Schweiz regionale Entwicklungsstrategien erarbeiten und umsetzen., Willi Y. & Pütz M. (2018). Governance der Regionalentwicklung: Wie Regionen ihr Potenzial nutzen können. Swiss Academies Factsheets 13 (3).

Urban Forestry: definitions, trends and consequences for forest stakeholders in Switzerland Since the mid-1990s the term “urban forestry” is used as an umbrella term for different activities in research and practice dealing with trees, forest and green space in cities and agglomerations. Though, urban forestry means more than just city forestry or forestry in urban areas. On the occasion of the 17th International Conference of the European Forum on Urban Forestry (EFUF) in Lausanne from June 3–7, 2014, challenges and trends of the debates around green cities and urban nature have been discussed. This article gives an overview over the debate and pursues three goals: 1) the term urban forestry is defined and conceptualized from different perspectives; 2) current trends and challenges as discussed at the EFUF conference are sketched out; 3) correspondingly, consequences for forest stakeholders in Switzerland are deduced. Forests in urban areas can not be managed with traditional forestry concepts only. An important precondition to successfully deal with the current challenges is intersectoral and interdisciplinary cooperation. Five fields of action are focused on: urban green strategies, management partnerships, crosssectoral monitoring, integrative research, training and education, and interdisciplinary networks to share experiences and transfer knowledge.

Among the different functions forests offer, recreation is increasing in importance to a growing global population. This is at a time when multifunctional forest management can no longer cover its costs solely from the revenue from wood production. The governance of forest recreation is assumed to be different from that of other forest functions but is poorly understood, which limits proper forest management. Meanwhile, conflicting interactions between forest users are increasing. In this paper, we study forest recreation governance with a particular focus on forests in urban areas in developed countries. The paper first identifies key governance challenges for forest recreation and then provides a better understanding of forest recreation governance, focusing on the role of stakeholders and institutions. This is done using the Institutional Analysis and Development framework. We use urban forest areas of Switzerland to illustrate and exemplify the developments in forest recreation and their consequences for forest governance. The study draws on different empirical sources and analysis techniques, including statistical data, focus groups and document analyses. The findings show that six main action situations need to be considered when analysing forest recreation governance. In each action situation, several stakeholders are involved. We argue that understanding the governance of forest recreation is one of the future challenges in forest management and planning, particularly in urban areas. Finally, our study shows that the applied framework is appropriate and useful in analysing the structure and arrangements of forest recreation governance. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Currently the number of conflicts between forest users is increasing due to new and growing societal demands for forest recreation in addition to the traditional forest function of wood production. Outdoor sports and forest education programmes are adding to the demands on forest use. Even between recreational users there is conflict, e.g. between bikers and hikers. These two causes of conflict are expected to become more acute in the future, which poses new challenges to both forest policy-makers and forest managers. Therefore, analyzing the dynamics and mechanisms of forest recreation governance is crucial to better address societal demands, to maintain or enhance the provision of different forest services, and to manage forest conflicts. This paper analyses forest conflicts that can be traced back to the increasing demand for forest recreation using the Institutional Analysis and Development Framework. The paper focuses on conflicts in urban forests using four case studies from Switzerland. The paper a...

Since 1990, cross-border cooperation in the European Union (EU) has been funded by the INTERREG programs. The planning and implementation of INTERREG projects, as well as the preparation of regional development strategies in each INTERREG program area, involves state and non-state actors. The different institutional frameworks of the EU and the participating nations makes cross-border cooperation a complex task of coordination. This article aims to clarify the role of INTERREG in the development of cross-border governance in the Lake Constance area. The main influence of INTERREG up until Funding Phase III (2000–2006) can be seen in the involvement of new actors from economics and civil society. In the subsequent funding phase (IV), which introduced strict and detailed guidelines for project application and implementation, thus complicating access to INTERREG funding, the involvement of new non-state actors in INTERREG projects seems to be declining. Today, the most important actor in cross-border...

This study delivers empirical evidence regarding the adaptive capacities of spatial planning systems and related factors both supporting and hindering climate change adaptation in the European Alps. Many international and national adaptation strategies consider spatial planning an important policy field for climate change adaptation. Existing adaptation studies, which focus on spatial planning, support these expectations but deliver only a small amount of empirical evidence regarding the specific capacities of spatial planning that support or hinder climate change adaptation. The objectives of this study are firstly to assess how climate change adaptation is addressed in spatial planning systems, and secondly to identify the adaptive capacities of spatial planning to climate change. The study focuses on spatial planning systems in the European Alps and builds upon a content analysis of spatial planning legislation and instruments, as well as an expert survey administered to planning authorities. T...

Landnutzungssysteme und die Vielfalt der Biodiversität lassen sich in Deutschland anhand des Netzes von Großschutzgebieten untersuchen. Im vorliegenden Schwerpunktheft stehen Natur- und Nationalparke sowie Biosphärenreservate im Fokus, die sich in unterschiedlicher Weise mit Flächenkonkurrenzen und Akzeptanzproblemen auseinandersetzen müssen. Der Arbeitskreis „Biodiversität und nachhaltige Landnutzung in Großschutzgebieten“ der Akademie für Raumforschung und Landesplanung (ARL) hat sich mit dieser Thematik befasst. Der vorliegende Beitrag zeigt dabei die Forschungsfragen auf, die in den nachfolgenden Beiträgen dieses Heftes debattiert werden. Dazu gehört, welchen Einfluss unterschiedliche Landnutzungssysteme auf die Beschaffenheit von Ökosystemleistungen haben, wie die Großschutzgebietstypen hinsichtlich ihres jeweiligen Beitrages zu Erhalt und Entwicklung von Biodiversität zu bewerten sind, welche Rolle speziell dem Wald und dessen Bewirtschaftung im Hinblick auf Biodiversität und nachhaltige Landnutzung zukommt und welche Konfliktmuster durch Raumnutzungskonkurrenzen bestehen. Untersucht werden auch konkrete Governance-Ansätze in Großschutzgebieten vor dem Hintergrund von Flächenkonkurrenzen und es wird der Frage nachgegangen, wie in Großschutzgebieten gewonnene Erfahrungen auf die Gesamtfläche übertragen werden können. Darüber hinaus liefert dieser Beitrag die grundlegenden Definitionen zum Thema des Heftes. Schließlich werden aus unterschiedlicher fachlicher Perspektive Forderungen an politische und planerische Akteure gestellt, die eine nachhaltige Entwicklung von Großschutzgebieten in Deutschland unterstützen sollen. Eine stringente Stärkung des Stellenwertes von Großschutzgebieten auf Bundesebene mit entsprechenden administrativen Strukturen steht hier ebenso im Fokus wie die Forderung nach einer stärkeren Qualitätssicherung und -entwicklung der Großschutzgebiete. Auch das Spannungsfeld zwischen der Notwendigkeit des stärkeren Prozessschutzes und der Intensivierung der Landwirtschaft im Zuge der Gemeinsamen Agrarpolitik der EU wird in den Forderungen aufgegriffen. Land-use systems and biodiversity in Germany can be investigated using the network of protected areas. This issue focuses on nature parks, national parks and biosphere reserves that are confronted with various problems related to competition for land and acceptance. The working group “Biodiversity and sustainable land use in protected areas” of the Academy for Spatial Research and Planning (ARL) has tackled this topic. This paper reviews the research questions that are debated in this special issue of “Raumforschung und Raumordnung”. These questions include the influence of different land-use systems on the state of ecosystem services, how the different types of protected areas should be evaluated in terms of their individual contributions to the conservation and development of biodiversity, the role played specifically by woods and forestry management with regard to biodiversity and sustainable land use, and the patterns of conflict that exist due to competing land uses. Attention is also paid to concrete governance approaches in protected areas against the background of competition for land and the question of how experience gained in protected areas can be transferred to ‚normal‘ landscapes. The paper also provides basic definitions relevant to the topic. Finally, from the perspective of various disciplines, the working group calls for policy and planning actors to support the sustainable development of protected areas in Germany. Here the focus is not only on a stringent strengthening of the status of protected areas on the federal level combined with appropriate administrative structures, but also on promoting improved quality assurance and quality development of the protected areas. Of further relevance to these calls for action is the field of tension between the necessity for strengthened process protection and the intensification of agriculture in the context of EU Common Agricultural Policy.

Der Beitrag untersucht Grosschutzgebiete aus der Perspektive der raumbezogenen Governance-Forschung. Im Mittelpunkt steht die Analyse der Governance-Regime ausgewahlter Grosschutzgebiete in Osterreich und der Schweiz. Es wird eruiert, durch welche Merkmale und Strukturen die Governance-Regime der Grosschutzgebiete charakterisiert sind und wie dabei die Zusammenarbeit der Akteure beurteilt wird. Der Beitrag verbessert so zum einen das Verstandnis der regionalen Governance von Grosschutzgebieten. Zum anderen werden mithilfe der Ergebnisse Empfehlungen fur ein effizientes Management und eine bessere Organisation von Grosschutzgebieten gegeben.

Regional policies across Europe aim at stimulating regional development in non-core regions through fostering entrepreneurship. However, the policies applied in non-core regions and the concepts of entrepreneurship these policies are based on differ. Therefore, the goal of this review is to identify different understandings of entrepreneurship and their role for regional development processes in European non-core regions. To this end, empirical studies investigating entrepreneurship in European non-core regions from 1999 to 2011 were analysed. The results of the analysis are presented along three drivers and outcomes of entrepreneurship identified inductively from the literature: innovation, social capital and institutional change. We made out seven different types of entrepreneurship in European non-core regions. These seven types of entrepreneurship comprise particular mechanisms through which they stimulate regional development. Further research should study the interplay between these different mechan...

Recreational use of Swiss forests: their importance for the regional economy Forests fulfill conservation, production and welfare functions. If forests are not considered isolatedly, but rather as part of a landscape or a region, their positive impact on regional welfare becomes apparent. The regional economic impact of the recreational use of Swiss forests is investigated in the case study regions of Sihlwald, a typical local recreation area, and Bergell, a destination for nature-based tourism. The relative importance of forests in the decision to visit the case study regions is identified by means of a conjoint analysis that assesses the forest affinity of visitors. Both the regional added value and the employment effects of the recreational use of forests are identified in an economic impact analysis. The results show that although they have a high affinity for forests, visitors to local recreation forests, such as the Sihlwald, spend little and generate rather small regional economic impacts. In contrast, the findings for nature-based tourism destinations, such as the Bergell, show a different picture: although the forest is not the most important criterion when selecting the destination, the regional economy benefits from higher consumer expenditures. The amount of visitor expenditure most notably depends on the variety and quality of tourism services in and around the forest area. Hence, to promote the regional economic importance of the recreational use of forests, tourism services in forest areas would have to be created or enhanced.

The paper deals with urban sprawl and land use planning to examine the role of scale and power for regional environmental governance processes. Urban sprawl is chosen as a field of study because it represents an environmental problem; and land use planning is regarded as the political intervention to solve the problem. Moreover, land use planning is a well suited policy field for environmental governance research because a variety of (state and non-state) actors is involved and various mechanisms of coordination (hierarchy, cooperation, competition) are effective. In order to analyse scale and power relations in detail, the example of a land use conflict in the metropolitan region of Munich, Germany is used.

Entrepreneurship as local entrepreneurial potential for regional development in rural areas. Evidence from a Delphi-survey in Switzerland. The promotion of entrepreneurship is part of many regional policies. By implementing such policies, however, stakeholders often neither share a common interpretation of the term entrepreneurship nor do they have indicators for the measurement of entrepreneurship at hand. This paper offers both a definition and a set of indicators to measure entrepreneurship in peripheral regions. The results are based on a Delphi-survey of experts for regional development in Switzerland.

There is currently a debate in Switzer- land about the future of peripheral rural areas and adequate policies for maintaining the de- centralized settlement patterns of the country. This article presents an interdisciplinary analy- sis of the issues of decentralized settlement by focusing on the challenges faced in this realm by the region of Surselva in the Canton of Grisons. More precisely, we analyze the economic, insti- tutional, infrastructural and ecological implica- tions of recent socio-economic changes in this region, showing that the current pressure on de- centralized settlements is a multi-dimensional phenomenon. The analysis draws on data stem- ming from 19 qualitative interviews, secondary socio-economic and survey data, as well as eco- logical modeling. Overall, the results show that there is not a uniformity of pressures on de- centralized settlements in the Surselva region. At the economic level, the situation is one of a patchwork, polarized regional development, where areas of decline co-exist with pockets of dynamic growth. At the institutional level, mu- nicipalities in the declining areas have come un- der strong pressure to amalgamate, in spite of local resistance. The effect is looming political catharsis in these areas. Concerning infrastruc- ture, the general problem is inefficiency due to oversize capacities, either because of shrinking demand (in declining areas) or high seasonal fluctuation of demand (in growth areas). Finally, ecological modeling shows that the eventual ex- tension of land use would lead to a loss of bio- diversity resulting in a significant change of the landscape. In the conclusion, the implications of these findings for Swiss regional policy are discussed more generally.

The paper discusses the impact of power structures on large-scale urban development projects. These projects are characterized by the involvement of a large number of both private and public institutions, changing actor constellations and power asymmetries; thus they are appropriate for analyzing power relations in conflicts. By analyzing a waterfront development project in Buenos Aires, our explorative case study shows the relevance of different power resources during the planning and development process. Furthermore, it reveals the strategies of different actors and the exercise of power. Due to the outstanding importance of public discourse and communication within the professional elite, the paper highlights the complementarity of power and discourse. The management model of Puerto Madero uses a particular form of private-public partnership and demonstrates the changing power asymmetries and their impact on the planning process. Our results show that, despite the complete privatization of rea...

Die Untersuchung wurde durch eine vergleichbare Studie in Koln – unter der Leitung des Soziologen Prof. Dr. Jurgen Friedrichs und in Kooperation mit dem Kolner Stadt–Anzeiger – inspiriert, die viel Beachtung fand und kontrovers diskutiert wurde (vgl. Friedrichs, Husing & Turk 1997). An dieser Untersuchung, die beim korrespondierenden Autor bestellt werden kann, haben auser den Verfassern noch mitgearbeitet: Thomas Abraham, Markus Heigenhauser, Manuela Kase, Christian Klaus, Christoph Mehne, Anne Schnutgen, Dieter Schuler, Nicole Skirde und Christoph Winkelkotter .