The Economic Performance of European Cities and City Regions: Myths and Realities

The ever-increasing concentration of people and economic growth in the largest cities relative to the rest of the country has slowed down or even reversed in many of the developed European countries over the last decade. This trend contradicts what the global cities, urban economics and new economic geography literature would predict. This trend can be interpreted from two points of view: (1) the trend is due to large obstacles to further large city urbanization and thus is inefficient or (2) this trend highlights alternative pathways to growth than the mega-city approach and may be as, if not more, efficient. This trend may be linked to Europe's uniquely polycentric urban structure with high number of small- and medium-sized cities. In addition, improvements in the access to services, including broadband, outside large cities may have facilitated the higher growth rates of smaller centres and rural regions and increased their appeal for residents and firms. Last but not least, negative externalities in the large cities, such as congestion costs, pollution, labour crowding and high cost of living, may increase the appeal of smaller centres and rural regions.     

Dealing with Sustainability Trade-Offs of the Compact City in Peri-Urban Planning Across European City Regions

The compact city has become a leading concept in the planning of peri-urban areas. The compact city concept is often advocated as “sustainable” because of claims that include lower emissions and conservation of the countryside. The literature shows, however, that there are certain trade-offs in striving for compaction, especially between environmental and social aspects of sustainability. In this article, we describe expressions of the compact city concept in the planning practice of several European urban sample regions, as well as policies and developments that contradict the compact city. We look at examples of positive and negative impacts of the compact city that were observed in the sample regions. Further, we discuss attempts by planners to deal with sustainability trade-offs. Being aware that developments in the peri-urban areas are closely connected to those in the inner city, we compare the sample regions in order to learn how the compact city concept has been used in planning peri-urban areas across different contexts in Europe: in Western, Central and Mediterranean Europe, and with growing, stable or declining populations. We conclude with recommendations with respect to balance in applying the compact city concept.     

Neoliberal Urbanization in Europe: Large–Scale Urban Development Projects and the New Urban Policy

This paper summarizes the theoretical insights drawn from a study of thirteen large–scale urban development projects (UDPs) in twelve European Union countries. The project focused on the way in which globalization and liberalization articulate with the emergence of new forms of governance, on the formation of a new scalar gestalt of governing and on the relationship between large–scale urban development and political, social and economic power relations in the city. Among the most important conclusions, we found that: ?Large–scale UDPs have increasingly been used as a vehicle to establish exceptionality measures in planning and policy procedures. This is part of a neoliberal “New Urban Policy” approach and its selective “middle — and upper–class” democracy. It is associated with new forms of “governing” urban interventions, characterized by less democratic and more elite–driven priorities. ?Local democratic participation mechanisms are not respected or are applied in a very “formalist” way, resulting in a new choreography of elite power. However, grassroots movements occasionally manage to turn the course of events in favor of local participation and of modest social returns for deprived social groups. ?The UDPs are poorly integrated at best into the wider urban process and planning system. As a consequence, their impact on a city as a whole and on the areas where the projects are located remains ambiguous. ?Most UDPs accentuate socioeconomic polarization through the working of real–estate markets (price rises and displacement of social or low–income housing), changes in the priorities of public budgets that are increasingly redirected from social objectives to investments in the built environment and the restructuring of the labor market. ?The UDPs reflect and embody a series of processes that are associated with changing spatial scales of governance; these changes, in turn, reflect a shifting geometry of power in the governing of urbanization.     

The changing system of European cities and regions

This paper analyses the current structure of the system of European cities and regions, relations within the system and how it is changing. Cluster analysis distinguished eight regional types: metropolitan, semi‐peripheral and peripheral service regions; central, semi‐peripheral, peripheral and collapsed industrial regions; and agricultural regions. The core of European industrial societies proves to be almost identical with the city belt that dominated economic development in pre‐industrial Europe. Two possible paths of change are discussed: delocalization of simpler, labour cost‐intensive activities towards the periphery (delocalization hypothesis), or structural changes in industrial core regions and persisting marginal status in the periphery (restructuring hypothesis). Neither hypothesis could be confirmed or rejected unequivocally: there were indicators for the continuing importance of urban service centres but no peripheral industrialization for the continuing dominance of industrial core regions while undergoing structural changes. It is concluded that there are hardly any signs of convergence between core and peripheral regions.     

Urbanities: Grecanici Migration to the City of Reggio Calabria,South Italy

This paper discusses degrees of urbanity or urbanities using ethnographic data from research conducted among the Grecanici communities in the city of Reggio Calabria, south Italy. Urbanization in south Italy is usually associated with social and territorial mobility, education and natural disasters. It is further discussed in terms of a rural/urban duality that masks rather than reveals possible diversities concerning the social life in the city and the links between rural and urban which in the urban environment follow different trajectories. Following the premise that the effects of urbanization cannot be homogenously felt by the actors, I follow the Grecanici migration to the city of Reggio Calabria in the decade of the 1950s in order to argue that urbanities are directly informed by factors such as kinship, neighbourhood identification, education and socio‐economic status.     

城市社区与流动人口聚落的生态关系及其调控——以北京市为例

随着我国城市化进程的加快,流动人口向城市不断集聚,逐渐在城区或城市边缘地带形成一些以地方特色为主的流动人口聚落,学术上称之为异质社区。它们不仅具有各自不同的发生、发展过程,而且在外来流动人口与当地市民之间、异质社区和主流社会之间发生着各种各样的生态关系。本文以北京市部分异质社区为例,对其现状特征、发展趋势和管理措施等方面进行了调查研究,对于协调异质社区与主流社区之间的关系、有效发挥社区的自组织功能、以及城市社区一体化发展有指导意义。     

LGBTTs of Turkey between the east and the west – the city and the world through their eyes in the case of Izmir

The profession of city planning in Turkey does not consider groups such as LGBTTs (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Transvestite (Cross-dressing)). This study aimed to draw attention to the need for Turkish city planning to consider LGBTT people by presenting the results of a survey conducted in Izmir, one of the leading cities in Turkey. The study examines the reasons that LGBTTs, as ordinary individuals in society, become closeted in the urban sphere and how city planning can overcome this challenging problem of a Muslim country that is between the East and the West and is a European Union (EU) nominee. To examine this delicate issue that has not previously been considered in urban/rural planning studies in Turkey, the main discussion first elaborates the nationwide conception of and attitude towards LGBTTs and a wide range of social and economic variables to assess the quality of LGBTTs’ urban living. Then, based on results of the survey, this study attempts to formulate how an inclusive city can be planned for all groups, including LGBTTs. The scope of this study covers the legal and social status of LGBTTs in Turkey, the overall profile of LGBTT survey respondents, these respondents’ place in Izmir and the specific characteristics of an LGBTT-inclusive city. The unique contribution of this study is that it is the first to examine LGBTT individuals’ demands from the city on the basis of their different socioeconomic profiles.     

"酷儿"视角下的城市性和空间政治

围绕城市与同性恋的主题,本文从现代性的视角回顾了同性恋作为一个"社会群体"在城市中的出现和发展,强调了同性恋身份认同本质上的城市属性.文章揭示了同性恋研究在城市研究中的独特地位,并主要探讨了组织和控制城市空间与同性恋欲望和权利表达之间的张力,尤其关注同性恋现象在不同社会语境下"公共空间"的建构.文章以2009年中国大陆主要城市中"同志"社群引发媒体关注的事件为例,展现了这个群体争取公共空间,改变城市社会景观的努力.文章认为当代中国同性恋社群不断提升的社会可见度和日益扩展的公共空间,反映了中国城市和社会发生的积极变化.     

宁波市域城镇体系中重点镇发展的若干问题研究

宁波地处长江三角洲南翼,是长江三角洲城市带的重要组成部分,目前已形成了以宁波中心城市为核心,包括副中心城市、重点镇和一般镇的市域四级城镇体系。但该城镇体系存在空间分布不均,功能分化不明显,规模结构不合理等问题,制约城市化的进一步发展。文章从研究宁波市域城镇体系中重点镇发展的区域背景着手,分析了重点镇发展的动力因素和制约条件,在此基础上探讨了重点镇发展在宁波市域城市化进程中的作用与发展目标。最后,文章探讨了如何建立有利于重点镇发展的集聚动力和约束机制问题。     

临潼城市生态保护初探

历史城市一般都具有自然生态与传统文化同生共荣的特征。研究历史城市的生态保护,对于城市未来的良性发展,具有十分重要的意义。
陕西临潼骊山山色秀美,华清宫温泉载誉中外。城市因帝王行宫而发展,山、水、城独具特色,生态环境良好。在城市化快速发展过程中,临潼城区蔓延式扩张和内部空间的整合,对城市内部生态系统造成改变与破坏;景区在发展旅游过程中,面临生态环境质量下降的问题。本文立足于定性分析,通过对临潼城市生态问题分析,提出落实"景城分治"的基本策略,以及遗址区生态保护应当注意的问题。     

Overcoming barriers to institutional integration in European second-tier urban regions

Within the debates about the socio-economic advantages of cohesive urban regions, several barriers to institutional integration are said to exist, especially when a metropolitan government is absent and integration relies on inter-municipal cooperation. Some barriers are associated with different urban region structures, such as the asymmetric power relations and sociocultural contrasts between municipalities in systems with dominant core cities, or the lack of a leading city to overcome fragmentation and provide a shared identity in polycentric urban regions (PURs). This paper investigates whether urban regions formed around second-tier cities, whose features depart from both dominant core and PUR models, are able to mitigate these barriers when pursuing integration strategies. The analysis relies on interviews with municipal leaders in three representative European case studies, examining how they perceive the barriers to inter-municipal relations in second-tier urban regions. The findings show that perceptions vary not only between regions, with the three cases following different trajectories of integration, but also within regions, according to the geographical and socio-economic context of municipalities and the legacy of past relations. In general, barriers to integration are not minimized without explicit efforts to rebalance power relations, approach political cultures, mobilize core city leadership and develop a metropolitan identity.     

Urbanization patterns: European versus less developed countries

This paper develops a model in which the interaction between transport costs, increasing returns to scale, and labor migration across sectors and regions creates a tendency for urban agglomeration. Demand from rural areas favors urban dispersion. European urbanization took place mainly in the 19th century, with higher costs of spatial interaction, weaker economies of scale, and a less-elastic supply of labor to the urban sector than in less developed countries (LDCs) today. These factors could help explain why primate cities dominate in LDCs, whereas a comparatively small share of urban population lives in Europe's largest cities.     

Strategic spatial planning and contested ruralities: Insights from the republic of Ireland

Since the publication of the European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP), a growing body of literature has emerged related to European spatial planning. Much of this literature is focused on the influence of the ESDP on city regions and urban policy in individual member states. Much less attention has been paid thus far to the influence of the ESDP on the formulation of spatial strategies and plans for rural areas. Within this context, this paper aims to explore the formulation of a national framework for spatial development in the Republic of Ireland, and in particular to examine the expression given to rural development and planning issues. This paper reviews the extent that the Irish National Spatial Strategy can provide a basis for a spatially defined (rather than sectoral based) rural policy by examining the policy construction of rurality and how this will impact on three aspects of rural planning policy: the conceptualization of the urban–rural relationship; managing rural settlements; and rural development. The paper concludes by developing wider lessons from the Irish example in the application of the European Union discourse of spatial planning to rural regions, and the difficulties associated with developing and implementing spatial policies in a deeply contested rural arena.     

Contrasts between first-tier and second-tier cities in Europe: a functional perspective

Second-tier cities have been experiencing renewed interest within policy and research contexts, which is reversing a tradition of relative neglect due to the long-standing focus on large cities and capitals. This paper compares European second-tier and first-tier cities with regard to the presence of urban functions and how these are spread over their urban regions. The analysis shows the existence of a substantial ‘first city bonus’: a surplus of urban functions in first-tier cities which cannot be explained by their size or network embeddedness. We also show that second-tier cities are better served with urban functions in the absence of a dominant capital. In first-tier urban regions, the core municipality exploits the critical mass of the urban region to support its own functions, leaving that region functionally underserved. Second-tier cities lack this absorptive capacity, and their urban regions are endowed with more urban functions. These functional differences mean that second-tier cities demand a differentiated research and policy approach, in which city-regional integration becomes an important territorial development strategy. Rather than the dispersion process in first-tier cities leading to a ‘regionalization of the city’, integration in second-tier urban regions may be seen as a process of ‘citification of the region’.     

European Policy and the Regions: A Review and Analysis of Tensions

This article explores a series of tensions inherent in the series of European policies that are designed to improve the competitiveness of regions in the face of globalization. Its focus is the co-existence of interventionist policies intended to overcome problems of lagging regions such as cohesion policies and those, for example competition policy which are designed to remove barriers to market integration and that are anti-interventionist. Moreover, the changing relationship between the European Union (EU), member states and the regions and problems of how regions are defined complicate policy implementation. To review these issues, the article adopts an agent-centred approach to understanding economic behaviour in the face of globalization in particular geographical and sectoral contexts. This methodology is used to highlight five sources of tension relating to the reality of the experience of globalization. These are illustrated by evidence from a recently completed EU Fifth Framework Programme study of regional adjustment strategies and technological change in five European countries.     

CITIES AND DEVELOPMENT

ABSTRACT This paper starts with a “primer” on what we know about the conceptual and empirical links between development and urbanization. While historical experience of developed countries is reviewed, today's rapid urbanization in developing countries offers an intense set of challenges. Rapid urbanization requires massive population movements and enormous local and inter‐city infrastructure investments in a modern context of heavy government interventions in economies. This context raises under‐researched issues, discussed in the second part of the paper. First concerns the spatial form of development. How much development should be focused in mega‐cities, or huge urban clusters, as opposed to being more spatially dispersed, a critical question facing China and India today? How do we conceptualize and measure both the benefits and costs of increased urban concentration; and how are they linked to a country's evolving national industrial composition? Second, what is the evolution of spatial income inequality under massive rural‐urban migration? Is inequality heightened today relative to the past by national government policies which “favor” certain cities and regions and by local government policies in those cities that may try to deflect migrants by offering them poor living conditions?     

都市区与非都市区的城镇用地增长特征:以长三角地区为例

作为人口与经济活动高度集聚的地区,都市区地域的发展和空间结构特征引起了大量关注。本文以长三角两省一市地区221个区县单元为研究对象,在划分都市空间单元类型的基础上,考察都市区与非都市区以及各类型都市区之间城镇工矿用地增长的差异,并据此探讨在我国特殊经济社会环境下都市区地域的空间发展规律。研究发现,不同地域单元在中心-外围关系上存在差异,都市区进入了均衡扩散阶段而非都市区以中心城市极化为主,孤立都市区的扩散效应较弱,非都市区地域的县域单元受到临近都市区的影响而呈现出不同的城镇工矿用地扩展特征。都市连绵区内不同亚区域存在发展阶段与空间关系上的差异,加剧了都市连绵区空间结构的复杂性。来自中心城市、外资拉动、县域经济内生的多重力量推动都市地域呈现独特的空间规律。     

中国城市地理研究的若干问题:海外学者的观点

海外学者是中国城市地理研究的一支重要力量,取得了许多重要的研究成果,提高了中国城市地理在国际学术界的地位。本文就海外学者对中国城市地理研究的主要问题:经济发展与城市化、全球化与城市发展、体制改革与城市转型及城市地理的理论与方法等方面进行归纳总结,期望加强了解,取长补短,相互学习,共同促进中国地理学的发展。     

基于全局主成分分析的我国省级行政区城市化水平综合评价

根据城市化的内涵,选取13个指标,以1995年、2000年和2005年3个年份全国31个省级行政区为评价对象,构成城市化综合评价立体时序数据表;采用全局主成分分析方法,对其城市化发展水平进行综合定量评价。共提取三个主成分,分别反映人口结构及城市景观变化、城镇居民收入及消费水平、城市基础设施建设方面的信息。分析结果表明,我国城市化发展质量和速度的区域差异明显;在分析期内,城市化发展的总体质量有所提高;城市内部主要指标之间的协调性较好。     

珠三角中心镇城市化对区域城市空间结构的影响——基于CA的模拟和分析

在珠三角的城市化过程中,中心镇的城市化对区域城市空间结构的形成和发展具有重要的影响,定量地研究中心镇的城市化对揭示珠三角地区城市化过程与城市空间结构的变化具有重要意义。本研究以东莞市为例,运用城市元胞自动机模型,模拟市域内1988-2004年的城市扩张过程,分析中心镇城市化对整个城市空间结构的影响。主要结论:1988-1993年,中心镇的城市化对区域城市空间结构影响较小,城市主要沿道路扩张,城市在空间布局上相对松散;1993-1997年,中心镇对区域城市空间结构影响增强,城市以中心镇为中心的扩张非常明显,城市空间沿道路的扩张,基本形成了渐进扩散式的"点-轴"空间发展模式,形成沿道路和中心镇扩展的格局;1997年以后,中心镇的辐射作用进一步增强,形成了"点-轴-集聚区"的城市空间扩展模式,城市空间扩展区在空间上更集中于中心镇。