Showing papers in "Urban Research & Practice in 2014"

Between suburbanisation and re-urbanisation: revisiting the urban life cycle in a Mediterranean compact city

Abstract: The redistribution of population over larger regions progressively further away from the dense core seems to be the new feature of the (originally compact) Mediterranean cities. With the aim of better understanding the nature of the urban transition taking place in these cities, we studied the phenomenon of population redistribution in Athens Metropolitan Area (AMA) in light of the city’s Urban Life Cycle (ULC). The research was carried out for a time frame of 60 years (1951–2011) using spatial analysis, correlation and multivariate statistics. Results reveal a phase of compact urban expansion occurring in the AMA until 1991, reflected in suburbanisation processes in the immediate proximity of the urban agglomeration. In the following period, the analysis showed signs of a period of transition difficult to interpret within the approach adopted by the ULC theory. A number of municipalities of the urban area experienced positive rates of population growth after decades of decline, while municipalities of th...

The governance of urban shrinkage in cities of post-socialist Europe: policies, strategies and actors

Abstract: This paper presents results of an international comparative research project ‘Smart governance of shrinking cities in a European context’. In recent years, many European cities have experienced urban shrinkage (population decline). Whereas there has been a wealth of research into the governance of growing cities, little consideration has been given to the governance of and policy responses to shrinking cities, particularly in relation to the declining cities of post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe. The aim of this paper is to compare the governance responses to shrinkage in different national contexts and assess the policy responses applied. This is done through the comparison of case studies examining the governance of shrinkage in Leipzig (Germany), Bytom (Poland), Ostrava (Czechia) and Timisoara (Romania). Two different strategies have been identified. First, Leipzig – due to its inclusion in the (former Western) German welfare state – followed a reasonably holistic strategy implemented by strong ...

Living together privately: for a cautious reading of cohousing

Abstract: The paper analyses cohousing as a part of the phenomenon of private residential communities. First, we provide an overview of cohousing and we identify its five constitutive characteristics. Second, we propose a comparison between the constitutive features of cohousing and of other kinds of private residential communities. Third, we argue that the interpretation of cohousing within the context of private residential communities raises some doubts about a completely positive interpretation of the phenomenon and about policies for promoting it.

Twin cities in the process of metropolisation

Abstract: Metropolisation is understood here as the process through which a loose collection of proximally located cities starts to become more functionally, culturally and institutionally integrated. It can be assumed that in theory metropolisation enhances performance, and indeed this conviction underlies many European metropolitan development strategies. Yet little is known about how this potential is realised in practice. This paper explores the process of metropolisation in three European ‘twin cities’: Linkoping–Norrkoping (Sweden), Rotterdam–The Hague (Netherlands) and Gdansk–Gdynia (Poland). We find preliminary evidence that metropolisation is an upward spiral of integration in which policy-makers play an active role.

Planning trajectories in post-socialist cities: patterns of divergence and change

Abstract: This article explores the new planning regimes and planning processes in post-socialist countries and their ability to influence the spatial transformation of cities. It views planning institutions as culturally embedded in the overall process of economic, social, and political transition, while recognizing the power of specific local imperatives and market pressures to shape their response. The research draws on empirical evidence in four countries and their capital cities to highlight the links between the transition to democracy, markets, and decentralized governance on the spatial transformation in post-socialist cities. The main argument is that the new planning institutions have different ability to direct these processes of change, depending on the legal framework, the availability of plans, and the institutionalization of the plan-implementation process. Despite the diverse mosaic of urban experiences in Prague, Riga, Belgrade, and Tirana, planning institutions are viewed as path dependent, influe...

Procedure or performance? Assessing citizen’s attitudes toward legitimacy in Swedish and Norwegian local government

Abstract: A common understanding prevails that political systems generate legitimacy by both democratic procedures and performance in service production. With the increase of NPM models in local services, some scholars argue that performance is becoming a more important source of legitimacy than conventional legitimacy originating from the procedural side of governance. The aim of the article is to discuss and analyze the importance of and relation between these sources of legitimacy. The article examines three hypotheses: (1) the trade-off hypothesis, (2) the synergy hypothesis, and (3) the independence hypothesis. Based on citizen surveys in Norway and Sweden, our analysis argues that the dimensions are synergetic.

Democratic metropolitan governance: experiences in five German metropolitan regions

Abstract: The paper seeks to describe whether reflections about the legitimacy metropolitan governance arrangements found consideration in metropolitan reforms in five German metropolitan regions. Metropolitan regions are an increasingly relevant scale for political decision-making but mechanism for legitimacy and accountability did not keep pace. Given the fact that in most metropolitan institutions only indirect mechanisms of legitimacy such as regional assemblies with representatives from municipal councils or public–private governing boards are at work, one may expect that output legitimacy or legitimacy by performance is the dominant source for legitimacy in metropolitan governance. In fact, citizens care much about the quality and the prize of services such as waste management or public transport but less about the transparency of decision-making procedures behind these services – at least on the scale of the region. The results show a mixed picture. In two out of five regions, directly elected regional assem...

Planning for military real estate conversion: collaborative practices and urban redevelopment projects in two Italian cities

Abstract: Despite the fact that the strategic dismissal of a number of military bases has been affecting contemporary urban and rural areas and becoming a new challenge for city planning and policy-making, little attention has been paid to this complex topic at an international level. Several authors have suggested that collaborative planning processes are crucial for the success of military real estate conversion. This article analyzes the Italian policy for the alienation and leasing of public real estate between 1997 and 2012 through the analysis of two projects whose focus was on military real estate in central Italy. This analysis shows why collaboration was not able to solve the significant urban challenges related to the conversion of these areas. The authors suggest taking national policy and local variables and solutions into further consideration (e.g. the quality and design of the physical environment, the policy tools available in the potentially conflictual institutional setting of military base conver...

Facilitated and emergent social learning in sustainable urban redevelopment: exposing a mismatch and moving towards convergence

Abstract: This article makes a case for the importance of social learning in urban planning and development practice, particularly in the context of attempts to achieve higher standards of sustainability. We proceed by comparing learning outcomes in Vancouver’s Southeast False Creek and Melbourne’s Docklands urban redevelopment projects. We find that the instrumental model of learning supports facilitated learning approaches pursued in a manner that is mostly disconnected from the learning being demanded for improved decision-making and improved results. The emergent learning which can be empirically demonstrated, which is more easily explained by a systems-theory model, lacks exposure to deliberative process.

Local policies and local government legitimacy. The Swedish case

Abstract: Do local policies improve local government legitimacy and how do different forms of legitimacy relate to each other? These questions are analysed on the basis of an extensive survey carried out in ...

‘The Rhinish Greeks’. Bailout funds for local government in German federal states

Abstract: In response to the budgetary problems of local government in Germany, some federal states (Lander) have established bailout funds for their highly indebted local authorities. These schemes commit local governments, on a contractual basis, to strengthen their own consolidation efforts in return for fiscal aid. The ambitious aim is to reduce short-term borrowing considerably or to eliminate annual deficits completely.This article provides an overview of the structure of the schemes with respect to the amounts and sources of funding as well as the conditions of participation and potential sanctions. Furthermore, this contribution explains the motives of the governments of the federal states to establish these schemes.

Councillors’ Perspectives on Democratic Legitimacy in English Local Government: Politics Through Provision?

Abstract: Project also involved researchers from: Sweden, Norway, Germany and The Netherlands The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.

Integrate to compete: Gdańsk–Gdynia metropolitan area

Abstract: The aim of this article was to analyse the problems related to the processes of creation of metropolitan areas. The Polish case of Gdansk–Gdynia metropolitan area constitutes the basis for the discussion as its polycentric structure intensifies the problems that stem from integration and the restructuring of administrative power. The difficulties in the creation of new metropolitan entities are well illustrated by the lack of agreement on the name of a metropolitan area. Local and regional leaders’ different visions on metropolitan government deeply complicate political integration. The complexity of relations between metropolitan and the rural areas creates additional challenges for achieving a cohesive regional policy.

International hubs as a factor of local development: evidence from Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, and Leipzig, Germany

Abstract: This paper discusses regional development in the context of logistics hub strategies, particularly in the air cargo business. It illustrates the associated potential and dilemmas with respect to a case study conducted in Luxembourg, the capital city of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, and its emergence as a global hub for airfreight shipments. For comparative reasons, the paper also sheds light on the Leipzig–Halle Airport, Germany. Both cases illustrate the potential and limitations of international hubs to bring local and regional development forward.

Mirror of the state or independent image? – Conceptual perspectives on the question of a legitimacy shift to the output dimension in local democracy

Abstract: This contribution discusses the theoretical and conceptual implications of asking about the legitimacy of local democracy and the relevance of discussing ‘performance legitimacy’ The role of local government in generating or undermining democratic legitimacy is ambivalent It is questionable whether there can be something like a genuine legitimacy of local government at all, considering its subordinate and functionalised role in the modern (welfare) state In the first part of the article, the complexity and controversial status of political legitimacy in general and local government in particular is exposed It is argued that the effective interplay of justification (giving acceptable reasons for policies) and demonstration (performing successfully by fulfilling promises), which is at the core of generating legitimacy, cannot be deduced from general concepts and fixed in a general model Generating a self-reinforcing dynamic of public support and linking different dimensions of legitimacy (input, throug

UN-Habitat State of the World's Cities 2012-2013, prosperity of cities

Abstract: ‘… This is a time of crises but this is also a time for solutions …’. This statement that is part of the presentation of the Report State of the World Cities 2012/2013 published by the United Natio...

Beyond ‘What do I get?’ Functional and procedural sources of Dutch citizens’ satisfaction with local democracy

Abstract: This paper deals with a dual question: (1) How important are procedural value orientations (pertaining to the democratic quality of decision-making) and functional value orientations (pertaining to the governmental performance in solving problems and delivering services) for Dutch citizens’ ideas about what constitutes good local governance? (2) To what extent and how do these functional and procedural evaluations affect Dutch citizens’ overall satisfaction with local democracy? These questions will be answered on the basis of data collected through a survey amongst 1060 Dutch citizens.

What if performance accountability mechanisms engender distrust

Abstract: An axiomatic assumption in contemporary democratic theory is that accountability mechanisms generate trust and legitimacy in and for democratic systems: in relation to decision-makers (elected officials), facilitators (the public bureaucracy) and outcomes of public policy (scope and quality). However, how wise is it to take this assumption for granted? What if accountability mechanisms applied in democracies with high levels of trust promote distrust rather than trust? This article will elaborate on and analyse the inherent theoretical logic of performance scrutiny as a basis for performance accountability in political-administrative systems inspired by new public management reforms. Performance scrutiny practices derived from Sweden, a high-trust society, are used as empirical illustrations and as a basis to generate hypotheses on how and why practices to analysis performance accountability have the potential to counteract trust.

Introduction: Toward output legitimacy in local government?

Abstract: This special issue is devoted to a theme making its way up the local government research agenda – whether and to what degree local government in Europe derives its legitimacy increasingly from the ...

Cities that talk: urban resistance as challenges for urban planning

Abstract: The 8th annual AESOP Young Academics Conference Cities that Talk was held in Gothenburg, Sweden, 10–13 March 2014, in response to the emergence of a variety of contemporary forms of urban resistanc...

Introduction to the book review special issue: insight into the contemporary cities: narratives and images of five European cities

Abstract: According to the United Nations, by 2008, more than half of the world’s population lived in cities and by 2030, 5 billion of the projected world population of 8 billion will be city dwellers (Unite...

Exchange of knowledge and expertise for sustainable urban development: experiences from cross-disciplinary and transnational cooperation between practitioners and researchers in the Öresund region

Abstract: This article presents the work of a cross-disciplinary Danish–Swedish collaboration project. The aim was to create best practices for sustainable urban settlements in the Oresund Region. Researchers and practitioners from municipalities in the region evaluated local and European projects for new urban areas and urban renewal using six concepts – identity, density, diversity, landscape, resources and governance. These concepts were also used for creating scenarios for four case areas and for a general discussion of sustainable urban environments summarised in a toolbox. The cooperation revealed diverse approaches to urban renewal and the significance of local legislation and financial prerequisites for renewal processes.

Negotiating cohesion, inequality and change: uncomfortable positions in local government, by Hannah Jones, Bristol, Policy Press, 2013, 237 pp, £70.00 (Hardback), ISNB 978-1-4473-1003-7

Abstract: ably with the very insightful discussions of the literature on immigration. The second problem with the place-based argument is that Hinze actually never gets to the finest details of ‘place,’ remaining instead at the level of identifying ‘place’ with ‘neighborhood,’ and ‘neighborhood’ in turn with the fairly large districts of Kreuzberg and Neukölln (rather than, say, the more local Kiez-level). Some of the women she interviews occasionally mention more specific locations such as a subway stop or a local park, and Appendix A shows experiential maps of the invented cross-border area ‘Kreuzkölln’ between the two main districts, as constructed by two of the interviewees. But apart from these promising glimpses, we actually learn very little about the more micro-level places (specific shops, cafes, and street corners) in which hybrid identities are either freely lived out or cramped by prejudices. It is precisely in such specific locations that place-based identities are negotiated. An encounter with the work of Tim Cresswell on place and belonging would have been helpful here in preventing a somewhat unreflective reliance upon coarse-grained current or former administrative designations as stand-ins for ‘place.’ A final point bears mentioning. Despite Hinze’s very clear awareness of the intricacies and pitfalls of nationality based identities, she provides a mostly undifferentiated version of mainstream German ethnic identity. ‘Germanness’ is basically taken for granted as a monolithic category. For example, in the otherwise very differentiated portrayal of the various policy-makers in Berlin and their affiliations with different parties (pp. 41–47), it is only those with some Turkish ethnic background whose ethnic background is thematized as relevant to the issue. The specific (regional, rural, urban, or place-based) backgrounds of the ‘Germans’ are not mentioned. It is only in Chapter 4, during a long discussion of Neukölln Mayor Buschkowsky, that we finally get an analysis of how a ‘German’s’ background might relate to his or her approach to immigration. This monolithic view of Germanness is manifested here and there throughout the book in phrases such as ‘Germany’s perception and reception of its Turkish immigrants...’ (p. 8). In Hinze’s defense, the book is not primarily about the experience of mainstream ethnic Germans. But if part of a better approach to immigration is a fundamental rethinking by mainstream Germans, part of that rethinking must be a reflection on their own specific ethnic and subnational positionalities. Despite these quibbles, Hinze’s book is an insightful and important addition to the literature on migration.

The impact of local factors on the scope of benefits from public investment: the case of tourism infrastructure in Saxon municipalities

Abstract: Following the transition from socialist central planning economies to market economies in all of the former socialist countries, many regions have had to cope with severe structural changes and economic development problems. To overcome these problems, local governments have tried to invest in new public infrastructure to support the development of new industries. This paper looks at infrastructure that supports tourist activities and argues that the impact of infrastructure generally depends on certain local factors which differ between municipalities. One important factor is whether the local population possesses the relevant complementary factors, in particular the right ‘soft skills’.

The Oslo transport packages 1–3: success by local initiatives

Abstract: Queues, traffic jam and chaos characterised Oslo in the 1980s. The region Oslo/Akershus had for decades in vain been waiting for national finance in order to solve the problem. A local transport package based on road charging gave the funding for building roads. The region grew by 22% in population in the period 2000–2012. The road traffic has increased by 6% and the public transport by 38% in Oslo, a massive success. Sixty percent of the funds are now invested in public transport. Public attitudes are rather positive. There are still queues, but they are reduced. The local firm ‘Fjellinjen’ owned by Oslo and Akershus do not pay dividends and has reduced administrative and running costs to 10%.

Urban Politics: Critical Approaches, edited by Mark Davidson and Deborah Martin, London, Sage, 2013, 235 pp, £24.99 (paperback), ISBN 978-0-85702-398-8.

Abstract: This collection of essays by geographers takes as its unifying theme the socio-spatial dynamics of power and contestation in and through contemporary cities. Rather than privileging a particular ov...

Resilient sustainable cities - a future, edited by Leonie J. Pearson, Peter W. Newton and Peter Roberts, New York, Routledge, 2014, xii + 254 pp., £24.99 (paperback), ISBN 978-0-415-81621-2 / £105.00 (hardback), ISBN 978-0-415-81620-5

Abstract: Judged on its title, this book is a brave attempt to tackle multifaceted, topical issues in the urban domain. Motivated by the 2011 Oliphant conference in Melbourne and with a respectable list of c...