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City-regional discourses around organisational forms offer little evidence to analyse and guide cooperative processes in a context-specific way. Design criteria can contribute to overcoming this deficit. This paper operationalises a proposed set of design criteria by drawing on the discourses on collaborative governance and land management. Subsequently, these design criteria are used to analyse an ongoing process for the development of a housing development concept in the Leipzig city region and to reflect on the criteria. This contributes to the question of how collaborative governance of land-use development in city regions should be designed. Important points of reference for the design of cooperations are the conscious selection of the actors to be involved and the development of mutual trust between them, joint definition of rules of the game for cooperation, determination of the nature of the emerging institution, orientation of the joint work towards the future and the development of a common understanding of the situation to be improved.

Many metropolitan regions face concerns over sprawling development, increased costs of maintaining infrastructure, and loss of green space and farmland. Some metropolitan regions have intentionally created spatial policies to govern development patterns and manage growth within their region. This paper compares the spatial policies applied in three case studies: the Puget Sound region (Washington State, USA), Metro Vancouver region (British Columbia, Canada) and Stuttgart region (Baden-Württemberg, Germany). While all three regions share a vision that can broadly be summarised as transit-connected communities, each metropolitan planning organisation leverages a variety of spatial policies. Based on the unique planning cultures, various governmental actors take on different roles at the local, county, regional and state levels. This paper categorises and compares the multi-level responsibilities for defining, mapping, and implementing spatial policies. With this focus, the paper provides an international comparative perspective on approaches, context, and contents of multi-level growth management.

The article argues that to reach circular economy goals urban regions need to identify and understand the challenges and opportunities originating from the differences in spatial settings, and to develop place-based solutions by adequately involving (local) stakeholders. Based on the case study that was conducted in Hamburg within the Horizon2020 project REPAiR, spatial specificities in five different urban areas shall be analysed and strategies that were developed in a co-creative process shall be explored. The results show that the spatial organisation of CE strategies depends on urban structures and stakeholders’ interest and needs to be embedded in the (local) governance setting and a spatial planning system.

This paper identifies and explores key elements for planning and implementing citizen involvement in the area of waste management and circular economy in cities. The analysis has shown that institutions responsible for waste management regard strategic planning, inclusivity, transparency, continuity, and resources as particularly important for reaching the objectives of citizen involvement. However, not all of the four analysed cities have applied these elements to the same extent, due to e.g. a lack of a strategy for citizen involvement, or limited personal and financial resources.

The concept of the smart city has become increasingly popular in recent years and a large number of cities globally follow smart city strategies. By awarding subsidies in the Horizon 2020 programme, the European Union (EU) has taken on an influential role in how smart city projects are conceived and implemented in European municipalities. Using the example of the smart city pilot project mySMARTLife in Hamburg, the purpose of this article is to examine the area of tension between strategically pursuing own objectives and adjustment to external provisions of the EU funding framework. In a qualitative single case study, the article analyses what implications the project mySMARTLife has on urban development practice and local governance arrangements in Hamburg. Examining current literature on smart cities from the perspective of multi-level governance and presenting the current state of research dealing with EU smart city projects, a theoretical framework is developed. The analysis reveals that, due to the EU funding framework, precise project contents are contractually defined at an early stage when local stakeholders have limited involvement in this process. Furthermore, the analysis shows that the EU smart city funding in the project mySMARTLife is more limited to the implementation of individual interventions than to a comprehensive smart city strategy. As a result, this article considers EU-funded smart city initiatives as experimental fields that enable cities to gain experiences that can be incorporated into local strategic development objectives.

Abstract Hamburg participates in the EU-funded research and development project mySMARTlife (mSL) with experiments involving smart city technologies, among others in the field of transportation infrastructure. These experiments are shaped by a public-private consortium in accordance with a call of the EU research and innovation program “Horizon 2020”. They focus on close to the market technologies. The experiments aim at citizen participation. Yet, what technologies are experimented with has been decided and contractually fixed by the consortium beforehand. We explore tensions in this kind of setup, and how entrenched approaches to planning of transportation infrastructure are challenged by new subjectivities, expectations, standards and procedures. From our perspective, it is highly questionable whether a purely expert driven process can produce outcomes that sufficiently reflects local residents’ ideas of sustainable and appropriate changes to urban infrastructures. For this reason, candidate ‘solutions’ for future mobility demands should be exposed to societal deliberation at an earlier stage in their development. Our exploration of (possible) interplays between such an experimental approach to the shaping of infrastructures and the pre-existing integrated approach to planning has been a modest first step, and more empirical research would be needed to draw solid conclusions. It seems worthwhile to analyse more deeply the in- and exclusiveness of the actor constellations in such processes, the role of coincidences or strategies behind the selection of partners, and a possible gate-keeper function of the process initiator.

Rising average temperatures and the increased occurrence of heat islands increase the vulnerability of urban society in Halle (Saale) and Mannheim as well. Dealing with the associated challenges requires not only locally adapted strategies, but in particular an interdepartmental approach and the participatory involvement of those affected. Real laboratories in both cities open up the possibility of testing this in a transformative process. The aim here is, among other things, to learn with and from each other and to generate new knowledge to address the urgent issues. This article discusses the opportunities and challenges that real laboratories are confronted with in terms of knowledge already in the discovery phase and what needs to be taken into account to support this process in the best possible way.

Urban areas account for around 50% of global solid waste generation. In the last decade, the European Union has supported numerous initiatives aiming at reducing waste generation by promoting shifts towards Circular Economy (CE) approaches. Governing this process has become imperative. This article focuses on the results of a governance analysis of six urban regions in Europe involved in the Horizon 2020 project REPAiR. By means of semi-structured interviews, document analysis and workshops with local stakeholders, for each urban area a list of governance challenges which hinder the necessary shift to circularity was drafted. In order to compare the six cases, the various challenges have been categorized using the PESTEL-O method. Results highlight a significant variation in policy contexts and the need for these to evolve by adapting stakeholders’ and policy-makers’ engagement and diffusing knowledge on CE. Common challenges among the six regions include a lack of an integrated guiding framework (both political and legal), limited awareness among citizens, and technological barriers. All these elements call for a multi-faceted governance approach able to embrace the complexity of the process and comprehensively address the various challenges to completing the shift towards circularity in cities.

Recent years have witnessed the emergence of the first EU macro-regional strategies as a new instrument for territorial governance. This paper argues that both the benefits and limitations of the macro-regional approach are largely determined by the existing territorial, political, institutional and socio-cultural context of each big transnational area. Studying the debate about macro-regionalisation of the European territorial cooperation, the paper assesses the prospects for projection of the macro-regional idea upon the Black Sea area. It analyses the complex Black Sea regional context, marked by ongoing political and economic changes, studies the cooperation landscape in the area and concludes that despite the existing high level of multi-functionality in the Black Sea, the region currently lacks clear perspectives for the development of a comprehensive macro-regional approach.

Since the early nineties, the Black Sea region has witnessed fundamental geopolitical changes and significant shifts in its regional context and dynamics. In an attempt to react to the altered circumstances after the collapse of the Soviet Union and to address an increasing number of common challenges, the Black Sea states have jointed efforts in various regional cooperation activities. Throughout the years, the Black Sea cooperation has evolved with different speed and success, reflecting the difficult regional circumstances and attracting increasing external involvement. Today, more than twenty years after the first cooperation activities have been launched, the Black Sea cooperation is still shadowed by persisting historical rivalries, unrecognized territorial entities, ‘frozen conflicts’ and security threats. As a result, despite the many pressing problems of regional character, the cooperation efforts are currently showing rather limited outcomes. Seen against this background, the current paper presents a study of the main challenges and the existing potential for further development of the Black Sea regional cooperation.

The aim of this paper is to map the spatial variations in the size of the shadow economy within Brussels. Reporting data provided by the National Bank of Belgium on the deposit of high denomination banknotes across bank branches in the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, the finding is that the shadow economy is concentrated in wealthier populations and not in deprived or immigrant communities. The outcome is a call to transcend the association of the shadow economy with marginalized groups and the wider adoption of this indirect method when measuring spatial variations in the shadow economy.

Recent years have witnessed the emergence of the first EU macro-regional strategies as a new instrument for territorial governance. This paper argues that both the benefits and limitations of the macro-regional approach are largely determined by the existing territorial, political, institutional and socio-cultural context of each big transnational area. Studying the debate about macro-regionalisation of the European territorial cooperation, the paper assesses the prospects for projection of the macro-regional idea upon the Black Sea area. It analyses the complex Black Sea regional context, marked by ongoing political and economic changes, studies the cooperation landscape in the area and concludes that despite the existing high level of multi-functionality in the Black Sea, the region currently lacks clear perspectives for the development of a comprehensive macro-regional approach.

Enterprises and business associations increasingly influence spatial development policies, being a public task in the first place. They develop own plans and positioning strategies, they contribute actively to political decision-making processes or they determine social norms and values. The production of space and place by private actors is not a new phenomenon. What is different, however, is that strategic entrepreneurial decisions are not only focusing on issues which are directly related to the enterprise’s divisions but encompassing urban or city-regional contexts as well as issues that could not directly be linked to a corporate’s business. This article presents selected case studies to analyse the rationales of enterprises, operating at supraregional level, with regard to their (spatial) involvement in local or regional contexts: Do private sector initiated development processes follow business-driven motivations or do enterprises altruistically assume responsibility for the local or regional place? Does this, according to the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility, even allow for speaking of a Corporate Spatial Responsibility? The qualities and spatial implications of the various business-driven strategic approaches will be systemised and evaluated by means of an analytical matrix. It becomes obvious that the entrepreneurial agenda, compared to the public agenda, is not that integrative. Enterprises only pursue social and spatial approaches, if those are not contradicting corporate goals and if they increase the operating income or improve the corporate’s image.

For several years, the Academy for Spatial Research and Planning (ARL) and the Support Group for Spatial and Environmental Research (FRU) have jointly offered a mentoring-programme. The programme aims to increase the proportion of women in senior positions in the field of spatial and environmental planning through supporting young women pursuing careers in both research and practice. The mentoring programme thus serves as a means for the promotion of young talent and gender equality within the ARL. A one-year partnership between a mentee and an experienced mentor serves as the programme’s centrepiece. This article introduces the main targets and contents of the mentoring-programme and, in addition, discusses the results of a survey of mentees and mentors from the last five years. The survey examined motivations for participating in the programme, assessed expectations with regard to the partnership and asked participants to provide an overall evaluation of the programme. The article concludes by offering proposals for the future configuration of mentoring-programmes in research institutions. The authors form the managing committee of the FRU and jointly take the responsibility for the programme.

Policy and practice perspective

Concepts should fulfil different functions in the framework of a strategic spatial development: orientation, co-ordination, reflection, innovation and activation. How can the new “Concepts and Policy Strategies for Spatial Development in Germany” be placed in this respect? The article considers the orientation of the concepts towards growth and the provision of essential services as well as the strategy “reinforcing strengths”, the concentration of metropolitan regions connected with this and the economic orientation of spatial development. Do objective conflicts result with the orientation towards balance and with the overriding concepts of a sustainable spatial development? Which perspectives are offered by the new instrument of “large-scale communities of responsibility”? And with regard to the planning method: How can concept processes guarantee the necessary openness and adaptability? Further-reaching research questions are derived from the discussion.

The article considers the question how the dilemma of many regions can be solved that a conflict exists between the claim for an orientation towards innovation and the necessity of seeking a consensus between the regional actors. Innovation processes and the creation of consensus are two central functions of modern regional development (chapter 2). However, if one considers the logic of innovation and consensus, it becomes clear that both do not necessarily harmonise (chapter 3). The presented approaches for the separation as well as for the alignment of innovation and the finding of consensus structure the field of possible solutions in order to resolve the contradictions (chapter 4). The approaches for solutions can help to organise regional development processes more intelligently and with a greater orientation towards success (chapter 5).

There are very few regions in Germany today where the current discussion on future demographic developments is not being conducted against the backdrop of looming shrinkage or — at the very least — stagnation. With a population of over four million, the Hamburg metropolitan region is, however, one of these rare cases. All the signs here augur growth — both in the core city and in the surrounding area. The absence of any evident symptoms of a serious crisis possibly goes some way to explaining why there currently appear to be no significant impulses to embark on further steps towards consolidation of the region. Although clear progress has been recorded over recent years in respect of co-operation within the Hamburg metropolitan region, structural limits exist which cannot be overcome. This article present a critical appraisal of achievements to date and outlines perspectives for the future development of the Hamburg metropolitan region.

Co-operation has become a buzzword of our times, but it is both costly and conditioned. Based on empirical studies in Baden-Württemberg, Brandenburg, North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony, it can be shown that regional planners run into difficulties with co-operative approaches: frequently they have to stage-manage co-operation, they are restricted in their selection to those topics which hold the prospect of win-win solutions, can muster only very few co-operands, are ill-equipped to take on the role of initiator, and more often than not are confronted with competing regional actors harnessing the regional willingness to co-operate. From the findings presented, conclusions are drawn as to how planners should improve the situation they find themselves in.

Die Regionalplanung und die Initiative „Südostniedersachsen 2020” zur Erstellung eines Regionalen Entwicklungskonzepts beschreiten neue Wege der Regionalpolitik im Großraum Braunschweig. Sie veranschaulichen damit exemplarisch, wie Elemente des neuen Anforderungsprofils eines Regionalmanagements in der Praxis eingesetzt werden. Gleichzeitig deuten sie an, welchen Herausforderungen sich die regionalen Akteure stellen müssen, wenn dieses planungsmethodische Konzept regional realisiert werden soll.

Angesichts des Bedeutungszuwachses kooperativer Steuerung gesellschaftlicher Prozesse und der „Entdeckung der Region“ entstehen vermehrt intermediäre Organisationen mit dem Ziel, die regionale Entwicklung zu fördern. Sie bewegen sich im Aushandlungsdreieck zwischen Staat, Markt und privaten Akteuren. Das „FORUM für den ländlichen Raum e. V.“ in Nordhessen strebt eine integrierte Entwicklung der Region an. Es veranschaulicht beispielhaft die Chancen und Probleme intermediärer Organisationen: einerseits innovative Impulse als Ergänzung der formalisierten Regionalplanung und Öffnung regionaler Kooperationsvorgänge für bewohnerorientierte Interessengruppen, andererseits Konkurrenzen im bestehenden Institutionennetzwerk und eine abstrakte Regionalarbeit, die sichtbare Ergebnisse kaum zuläßt.