Showing papers in "Environment and Planning C-government and Policy in 2017"
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the role of electoral and political institutions, regulatory agencies, the creation of politically credible commitment to transition policies, power and incumbency, institutional systems and varieties of capitalism, sources of regime stability and instability, policy feedback effects, and types of gradual institutional change.
Abstract: Improving the understanding of the politics of sustainable energy transitions has become a major focus for research. This paper builds on recent interest in institutionalist approaches to consider in some depth the agenda arising from a historical institutionalist perspective on such transitions. It is argued that historical institutionalism is a valuable complement to socio-technical systems approaches, offering tools for the explicit analysis of institutional dynamics that are present but implicit in the latter framework, opening up new questions and providing useful empirical material relevant for the study of the wider political contexts within which transitions are emerging. Deploying a number of core concepts including veto players, power, unintended consequences, and positive and negative feedback in a variety of ways, the paper explores research agendas in two broad areas: understanding diversity in transition outcomes in terms of the effects of different institutional arrangements, and the understanding of transitions in terms of institutional development and change. A range of issues are explored, including: the roles of electoral and political institutions, regulatory agencies, the creation of politically credible commitment to transition policies, power and incumbency, institutional systems and varieties of capitalism, sources of regime stability and instability, policy feedback effects, and types of gradual institutional change. The paper concludes with some observations on the potential and limitations of historical institutionalism, and briefly considers the question of whether there may be specific institutional configurations that would facilitate more rapid sustainable energy transitions.
161 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the "old industrial region" moniker conceals as much as it reveals because, for all their apparent similarities, they have pursued very different repertoires.
Abstract: Smart specialisation is the most ambitious regional innovation programme
ever launched in the EU and it affords a unique opportunity to explore the
interplay between institutions, innovation and development. The article
argues that smart specialisation makes unprecedented demands on public
sector bodies to nurture more collaborative forms of economic search and
craft more inclusive forms of regional governance. To explore these issues
with the granularity they deserve, the article offers detailed case studies of
two regional innovation policy repertoires, in Wales and the Basque
Country, arguing that the "old industrial region" moniker conceals as much
as it reveals because, for all their apparent similarities, they have pursued
very different repertoires. The article concludes on a more general note by
suggesting how regional innovation studies could be enriched by engaging
with theoretical perspectives from other fields.
139 citations
TL;DR: The evolutionary turn in economic geography has shed new light on historically contingent regional preconditions for innovation and economic growth, which has the potential of improving the analytical input to regional innovation system approaches.
Abstract: The evolutionary turn in economic geography has shed new light on historically contingent regional preconditions for innovation and economic growth, which has the potential of improving the analytical input to regional innovation system approaches. Evolutionary economic geography has renewed interest in and sharpened the conceptual lens on firms, their organizational routines and knowledge bases as well as the long-term, self-sustaining development dynamics, which may arise from their co-location in regions. At the same, it has been pointed out that an overreliance on imported evolutionary frameworks (such as Nelson and Winter’s theory of the firm and their lack of an explicit social ontology) may lead to a ‘theoretical relegation’ of institutions and agency. It seems also that the policy agenda of evolutionary economic geography has remained largely implicit. In comparison, regional innovation system has been developed in closer interaction with policy-makers and has been used widely as a framework for t...
101 citations
TL;DR: The prospect of limited access to natural resources has renewed the debate on environmental sustainability and the search for appropriate policy instruments as discussed by the authors, and alternative and sustainable models of environmental sustainability have been proposed.
Abstract: The prospect of limited access to natural resources has reignited the debate on environmental sustainability and the search for appropriate policy instruments. Alternative and sustainable models of...
50 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that lack of focus on agency, intention, and interest is a weakness in regional innovation studies and studies focusing on knowledge dynamics, and propose a conceptual framework for a study of institutions bottom-up.
Abstract: This paper argues that lack of focus on agency, intention, and interest is a weakness in regional innovation studies and studies focusing on knowledge dynamics. There is a need to systematically anchor a role for agency in institutionally oriented regional innovation studies, and thus to reach beyond snapshots of top-down institutions, and to produce a more nuanced view on institutions bottom up. To elaborate the conceptual link between institutions and combinatorial knowledge dynamics, this paper discusses two intertwined theoretical lenses, and proposes a conceptual framework for a study of institutions bottom-up. First, the basic tenets of institutions are discussed; second, a conceptual distinction between cumulative and combinatorial knowledge dynamics is introduced; and, third, a conceptual framework to study institutions bottom-up to complement top-down oriented studies is proposed. The main scientific motivation here is to open a bottom-up view on institutions by linking them to the combinatorial ...
48 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors conducted a telephone survey of 1202 SMEs (1-249 employees) in England to assess the use and non-use of external support between 2008 and 2011.
Abstract: To improve SME growth and competitiveness, governments often encourage business owner-managers to make use of external sources of support. Whether they seek this depends on the degree to which they perceive themselves to need assistance. Additionally its use can be constrained by market failures. In this paper, we model whether SME owner-managers seek information and advice from formal sources, including public and private providers. In 2011, the researchers conducted a telephone survey of 1202 SMEs (1-249 employees) in England to assess the use and non-use of external support between 2008 and 2011. Using a contingency approach, we model various influences on the use and non-use of formal support and identify those owner-managers who face more concerns but have less confidence in their capabilities. We find the demand for support, especially from private providers, is fuelled by a firm’s objective to grow and a size threshold, although this is moderated by various concerns which increase the likelihood of using public sources. The willingness to take informal advice can act as a stepping stone to using formal sources. Whilst market failures affected less than a fifth of firms, those with women directors were particularly affected as were newly founded firms.
44 citations
TL;DR: In the public policy literature, natural disasters can garner the attention of public policy researchers as discussed by the authors, and many communities face increasing vulnerability to the risks posed by natural hazards, such as floods, wildfires, and hurricanes.
Abstract: Many communities face increasing vulnerability to the risks posed by natural hazards, such as floods, wildfires, and hurricanes. In the public policy literature, natural disasters can garner the at...
41 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a multi-dimensional framework for public health risk communication is developed as a means of advancing understanding, practice, and policy in the oil rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria.
Abstract: Local communities within oil producing countries in Africa often face formidable environmental challenges that generate conflicts and concerns around exploitation, environmental impact, and health risks. A key feature of these concerns has been the paucity of effective risk communication mechanisms and the impact this has on the public understanding of risk. Risk communication has been identified as a significant factor in explaining why the health consequences of environmental degradation remain unabated in oil producing communities. This paper evaluates health risk communication in the oil rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The study is based on 69 interviews conducted in the Niger Delta region. The paper argues that the health of the local population is being impaired by risk incidences relating to oil and gas exploration activities, the effects of which are amplified by inadequate communication of health risks to the public. The study argues for and suggests ways in which health risk communication processes can be improved in the Niger Delta. A multi-dimensional framework for public health risk communication is developed as a means of advancing understanding, practice, and policy.
41 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used the case of animal welfare to contribute to academic debates about audit and better regulation reforms designed to reduce administrative burdens and increase regulatory effectiveness, and they explored farmers' record-keeping practices and the contrasting role regulatory records are understood to play in assurance and good animal husbandry by farmers, regulatory inspectors, and veterinary experts.
Abstract: This article uses the case of animal welfare to contribute to academic debates about audit and better regulation reforms designed to reduce administrative burdens and increase regulatory effectiveness. Combining desk-based policy document analysis, on-farm field visits, and 31 interviews with livestock farmers and animal health and welfare inspectors in England, it explores farmers' record-keeping practices and the contrasting role regulatory records are understood to play in assurance and good animal husbandry by farmers, regulatory inspectors, and veterinary experts. Farmers experience record-keeping as something they must do to satisfy external regulatory demands rather than anything that good farmers might themselves use in caring for their livestock. As a result they regard paperwork as burdensome and often fail to comply with record-keeping requirements. By contrast, inspectors and animal welfare experts frame record-keeping and analysis as central to good animal husbandry and to a properly anticipa...
37 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the engagement of the private sector and citizens has received increasing attention in climate change adaptation, and private actors play an important role in the implementation of local level adaptation.
Abstract: The local level and private actors play an important role in the implementation of climate change adaptation. The engagement of the private sector and citizens has received increasing attention in ...
37 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a special issue on climate governance entrepreneurship is presented, where entrepreneurship is understood as acts performed by actors seeking to "punch above their weight" in a movie.
Abstract: This is an introductory paper to a special issue on climate governance entrepreneurship, where entrepreneurship is understood as acts performed by actors seeking to ‘punch above their weight’. By c...
TL;DR: When tackling the undeclared economy, an emergent literature has called for the conventional rational economic actor approach (which uses deterrents to ensure that the costs of unde-clared work outw....
Abstract: When tackling the undeclared economy, an emergent literature has called for the conventional rational economic actor approach (which uses deterrents to ensure that the costs of undeclared work outw...
TL;DR: In this article, the effects of governance re-scaling, and how this is negotiated by prevailing regimes of energy provision, are examined in the context of devolution within the British state, to Wales.
Abstract: Much can be learned about the scope for changing the trajectory of energy system development by examining the effects of governance re-scaling, and how this is negotiated by prevailing regimes of energy provision To advance this proposition, this article uses Barry's concept of ‘technological zones’ to analyse how devolution within the British state, to Wales, has affected the politicisation and organisation of electricity infrastructure decisions The evidence presented centres on arguments about energy governance and devolution in two government inquiries While logics of democratic accountability to Wales were asserted, along with arguments for more territorially integrated approaches to energy infrastructure decisions, the more dominant discourse emphasised swift and stable procedures to facilitate major investment and infrastructure delivery The research shows that while intensifying place-based conflicts and pressures for governance re-scaling potentially disrupt the reproduction of infrastructural systems they do not automatically do so, which should direct our attention to the conditions which shape their politicisation
TL;DR: The gradually decreasing connectivity of habitats threatens biodiversity and ecological processes valuable to humans as mentioned in this paper, and green infrastructure is promoted by the European Commission as a key instrument for green infrastructure, which can be used as a green infrastructure.
Abstract: The gradually decreasing connectivity of habitats threatens biodiversity and ecological processes valuable to humans. Green infrastructure is promoted by the European Commission as a key instrument...
TL;DR: The UK has a national strategy to decarbonise its energy sector, yet the transfer of key responsibilities to its devolved administrations has meant that they control many of the powers that deter...
Abstract: The UK has a ‘national’ strategy to decarbonise its energy sector, yet the transfer of key responsibilities to its Devolved Administrations has meant that they control many of the powers that deter...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors assess the early operation of the UK's Angel Co-investment Fund, established in 2011, and find that it is not yet impacting the supply side, either in terms of stimulating the formation of new angel groups or enhancing learning amongst less experienced angels.
Abstract: Co-investment funds – which invest alongside private investors, especially business angels – thereby leveraging their networks and experience and minimizing public sector transaction costs – are a recent approach by governments in various countries to address the early stage entrepreneurial funding gap which is perceived as a barrier to the ability of firms to scale-up. However, little literature exists on their operation, impact and effectiveness. This paper assesses the early operation of the UK’s Angel Co-investment Fund, established in 2011. Interview evidence from angels and business managers suggests that the Angel Co-investment Fund is improving the availability of finance by enabling firms to raise funding rounds of between £500,000 and £2 m, hence addressing some aspects of the broken finance escalator model. However, our evidence suggests that it is not yet impacting the supply side, either in terms of stimulating the formation of new angel groups or enhancing learning amongst less experienced angels. Some aspects of the operation of the investment process have attracted criticism from angels and entrepreneurs which need to be addressed. Nevertheless, there is sufficient evidence for positive impact to justify the scheme’s expansion.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors follow rescaled state policy through to its reception and appropriation by business, community and family networks that operate in the real estate industry, which is a major land user.
Abstract: As states concentrate their developmental capacities in space, the sub-national scale has emerged as a focal point of policy-making in India. The rescaled spatiality of the state is being inscribed on land. Land is the primary resource available to sub-national states to attract private investment in post-reform contexts. Yet, the promulgation of innovative policies is only the start of the space-state relationship. This paper follows rescaled state policy through to its reception and appropriation by business, community and family networks that operate in the real estate industry, which is a major land user. Dynamic multi-dimensional spatial relations involving scales and networks do not engage with a staid, centralised, formal state. Instead, real estate firms work with a state that is itself networked, and that straddles formality and informality, as well as shadows. India’s land economy is animated in this teeming space of state, scale and networks.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify two alternative collaborative spatial planning discourses: a leading government with societal participation and self-governance by societal actors with government participation, and conclude that the boundary between the roles of governments and societal actors in collaboration discourses is shifting.
Abstract: This article identifies two alternative collaborative spatial planning discourses: a leading government with societal participation and self-governance by societal actors with government participation. It shows how the boundary between the roles of governments and societal actors in collaboration discourses is shifting, but also how both collaborative planning discourses exist alongside each other in two Dutch urban regions: Eindhoven Region and Parkstad Limburg. In both regions, these alternative discourses on role division in collaborative planning are similar, even though Eindhoven is a growing region in which the local and regional governments collaborate intensively with companies, and Parkstad Limburg is a shrinking region that more actively involves citizens. The article concludes with reflections on the need to manage boundaries in collaborative planning.
TL;DR: The Russian state is strengthening its positions in the Arctic in order to exploit its resources, develop transport routes, and reverse depopulation trends in the country's northern regions.
Abstract: The Russian state is strengthening its positions in the Arctic in order to exploit its resources, develop transport routes, and reverse depopulation trends in the country's northern regions. The am...
TL;DR: Transition from the stored energy of fossil fuel-based systems to fluctuating renewable energy sources requires a fundamental change in both the energy supply system and governance arrangements as mentioned in this paper, and the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energies requires fundamental change.
Abstract: Transition from the stored energy of fossil fuel-based systems to fluctuating renewable energy sources requires a fundamental change in both the energy supply system and governance arrangements. Ac...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors re-examined the implications and conceptual limitations of the theory of state rescaling in non-Western contexts, while the reconfiguration of state spaces has taken place in ma...
Abstract: Recent studies have re-examined the implications and conceptual limitations of the theory of state rescaling in non-Western contexts. While the reconfiguration of state spaces has taken place in ma...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide a critical review of participation in neighbourhood planning, supported by original empirical evidence drawn from case study research, finding that participation is modest and partial, concentrated amongst a few, relatively advantaged communities, and relatively privileged interests within those communities.
Abstract: Neighbourhood planning, introduced through the Localism Act 2011, was intended to provide communities in England with new opportunities to plan and manage development. All communities were presented as being readily able to participate in this new regime with Ministers declaring it perfectly conceived to encourage greater involvement from a wider range of people. Set against such claims, while addressing significant gaps in the evidence, this paper provides a critical review of participation in neighbourhood planning, supported by original empirical evidence drawn from case study research. It does so at an interesting time as the community, and/or neighbourhood, appears across political parties as a preferred scalar focus for planning. Challenging Ministers’ assertions, while mirroring past experiments in community planning, participation is found to be modest and partial, concentrated amongst a few, relatively advantaged communities, and relatively advantaged interests within those communities. The paper...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compare two large-scale anti-land acquisition protests, the Wukan protest in China's Guangdong province and the Singur protest in the Indian state of West Bengal, to examine how the subnational state partakes in land acquisition and how rural protesters engage with different levels of the state in their resistance.
Abstract: As China and India urbanize, land acquisition by state and private actors has become highly contentious in both countries. This article compares two large-scale anti-land acquisition protests—the Wukan protest in China’s Guangdong province and the Singur protest in the Indian state of West Bengal—to examine how the subnational state partakes in land acquisition and how rural protesters engage with different levels of the state in their resistance. The comparative analysis finds that the different involvement of the subnational state in land speculation has produced different spatiality and dynamics of protests. In China, rural protesters target the bottom-level authority such as village councils, often taking on a cellular form of mobilization geographically confined to their particular villages. By comparison, in India rural protesters target the regional state governments and they engage in associational forms of mobilization by building ad hoc alliances with political parties and NGOs beyond the affect...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore how differing regulatory frameworks are shaped through highly localized discourses that include communities opposed to fracking, and illustrate how community opposition has catalysed important processes that have enhanced understanding of the environ...
Abstract: Contemporary shale gas extraction, also known as ‘fracking’, has become one of the most contentious environmental issues facing Europe and North America. Academic and policy debates have hitherto focused principally on questions related to scientific disputes, risk perception, potential health impacts, and the wider economic and geo-political dimensions to energy security. This paper draws on extensive qualitative research in Texas and Lancashire, undertaken between 2012 and 2015, to explore how differing regulatory frameworks are shaped through highly localized discourses that include communities opposed to fracking. Whilst there are significant differences between these two examples, including the extent of environmental monitoring, the local context remains a pivotal arena within which the regulatory and technical dimensions to fracking are being contested and scrutinized. The two cases illustrate how community opposition has catalysed important processes that have enhanced understanding of the environ...
TL;DR: In this paper, the development of small hydropower installations in Wales is examined to establish the economic and community benefits of such schemes, and the economic value of small Hydropower developments, the nature and scale of impacts on local social capital and on communities are examined.
Abstract: Investments in renewable energy have been identified as one mechanism for encouraging development in lagging regions, with community owned or operated facilities potentially having a relatively greater impact. The development of small hydropower installations in Wales is examined to establish the economic and community benefits of such schemes. The sector displays a number of locally beneficial economic characteristics that are absent from larger scale renewable investments. However, this is shown to be a fragile sector dependent on a small number of key individuals and institutions, and with an investment model relying on depreciating UK government subsidies. Following an introduction, the paper first examines why renewables, and small-scale, community renewables in particular, have attracted attention as a part response to declining economic, social and environmental conditions in rural communities. It then describes the Welsh energy and policy context before describing the data and the method employed in the research. The paper then examines the economic value of small hydropower developments, the nature and scale of impacts on local social capital and on communities, and then the extent to which small hydropower might be considered distinct from other local energy sectors in terms of business behaviours and inter-organisation relationships. The discussion then focuses on factors affecting prospects for the small hydropower sector, and which will limit how far development of the sector can lead to transformative outcomes for communities close to the natural resource.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the role of sub-national government in the emergence of a distinctive sustainability-oriented pathway for domestic end-use energy demand reduction in Wales, and highlight the multi-level governance challenges involved.
Abstract: Combining insights from research on systems innovation and sustainable transitions with multi-level governance perspectives, this paper examines the ‘Arbed’ domestic housing retrofit programmes in Wales. In so doing, the paper demonstrates the critical role of sub-national government in the emergence of a distinctive sustainability-oriented pathway for domestic end-use energy demand reduction in Wales, and highlights the multi-level governance challenges involved. The governance processes contributing to this purposive transformation (e.g., policies and institutions; a ‘shared’ normative vision; network building; competencies, resource mobilisation, etc.) are illuminated and how they simultaneously cut across multiple spatial scales is discussed. Rather than simply viewing such transition arenas as simple sites of experimentation, the paper argues that sub-national sustainable energy transitions and pathways are shaped by pressures and opportunities that are mediated by unique place and context-specific conditions that exert influence on the mobilisation of resources, governance capabilities and actor-networks.
TL;DR: In this paper, an innovative approach to mitigating climate change beyond the international negotiations and hard-law approaches is governing by disclosure, the acquisition and dissemination of information to in the public.
Abstract: An innovative approach to mitigating climate change beyond the international negotiations and hard-law approaches is governing by disclosure – the acquisition and dissemination of information to in...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide insights into the implications of the European Commission's smart specialisation agenda in a specific, cross-border context, and critically reflect on the impact of the smart specialization agenda on the European Union.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to provide insights into the implications of the European Commission’s smart specialisation agenda in a specific, cross-border context. The paper critically reflects on som...
TL;DR: In this paper, an interesting juncture for regional competitiveness policy evaluation is discussed, where increasing demand for evaluation is emerging at a time when policy complexity is highlighting the limits of existing techni...
Abstract: Regional competitiveness policy evaluation is at an interesting juncture. Increasing demand for evaluation is emerging at a time when policy complexity is highlighting the limits of existing techni...
TL;DR: In this article, the role of policy for the emergence and development of new regional industrial growth paths remains largely unexplored, and the authors take an institutional perspective and suggest that the regional innovation system approach can contribute to conceptualising and analysing the role for policy for new regional economic path development, arguing that in order to turn regional preconditions into new growth paths, regional innovation systems require strong policy capacities, consisting of formal and governance capacities.
Abstract: Over the past few years, a growing body of work in economic geography and innovation studies has enhanced our understanding of forms and determinants of regional industrial path development. The importance of policy, however, has received limited attention and accordingly, the role of policy for the emergence and development of new regional industrial growth paths remains largely unexplored. This paper takes an institutional perspective and suggests that the regional innovation system approach can contribute to conceptualising and analysing the role of policy for new regional industrial path development. We argue that in order to turn regional preconditions into new growth paths, regional innovation systems require strong policy capacities, consisting of formal and governance capacities. In the empirical part, we analyse the emergence and further development of two new growth paths in the region of Scania in southern Sweden, namely biogas and new media. Based on personal interviews with policy makers, representatives from knowledge and supporting organisations and firms as well as a document analysis, we investigate how policy interventions have influenced the rise and evolution of these two industries. We show that in both cases, policy-led initiatives have played an important role in enabling new path development. We find that policy can play multiple roles in nurturing and maintaining new growth paths and that these are closely interlinked with particular policy capacities of regional innovation systems.