Positioning European Spatial Planning

The European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP) is being described as 'inter-governmental'. The original initiative was for a Community spatial strategy for the delivery of the Structural Funds. Coming from France, it met with opposition. So it was that the successive six-monthly Presidencies of the EU took turns in managing the process. In truth, however, without Commission support the ESDP would not have come about. Now that the ESDP is on the books, the Commission is claiming a leadership role. Taking a position on this, one needs to view spatial planning against the backdrop of general thinking about European integration. Positions in the literature are often presented as polar opposites, like that of 'neo-functionalists' putting faith in integration on the one hand and that of 'realists' emphasizing the continuing dominance of nation states on the other hand. However, a growing body of literature is not about these 'grand theories', but about the actual workings of European institutions. It takes a middle ground and invokes concepts which planning writers are accustomed to, like networks, discourses and governance. From this literature it appears that mutual learning, a feature also of the ESDP process, is common in European integration. European spatial planning must be seen as part and parcel of an emergent system of European multi-level governance. In it, power is exerted at multiple levels of government. Denying the Community a spatial planning role is not realistic, therefore.     

From Core-periphery to Polycentric Development: Concepts of Spatial and Aspatial Peripherality

Technical changes in the field of transport, communication and information technology, together with long-term structural shifts will, in the new century, allow a degree of spatial reorganization of European economic activity. The validity of conventional (spatial) models of peripherality is increasingly questionable. They should be supplemented by more appropriate 'aspatial' concepts. Although many elements of these are already well understood, coherent models and operational indicators are required. These could provide a sound theoretical basis on which to further the European Spatial Development Perspective's polycentric development objective. They could also provide new opportunities for peripheral regions, and relief from 'overheating' at the core.     

European Spatial Planning Between Competitiveness and Territorial Cohesion: Shadows of Neo-liberalism

This paper analyses the use of the concept of territorial cohesion in policy documents produced by the European Union. It is an idea celebrated in community documents, such as cohesion reports, the Territorial Agenda of the European Union and the Green Paper on Territorial Cohesion; after more than a decade of political debate, the concept is about to gain a legitimate institutional role, after being included in the Lisbon Treaty, and is among the competences that the EU shares with other member states. At first, territorial cohesion seems to oppose the logics of neo-liberalism by reinscribing welfare problems and policies in spatial terms. However, using the analytical framework of cultural critics, and intending cohesion to be a discourse carried on by a community of European scholars and policymakers, the research will discuss the conceptual relationship between competitiveness and territorial cohesion in European policies and narratives.     

A Preliminary Critique of the Best and Good Practices Approach in European Spatial Planning and Policy-making

“Good practices” are found everywhere, particularly in European policies. They are usually taken for granted as familiar events in daily life. For actors involved in policy-making, it seems quite natural to produce, disseminate and use repertoires of good practices. This article discusses this phenomenon, arguing that “good practices” are one of the main tools in Europeanization processes, particularly for the European idea of “good governance”. Analyses of the Interact, Interreg and Urbact programmes of production of good practice repertoires lead to an examination of a number of characteristics of “good practice”: as a kind of regulation through sense-making processes, as a standardization tool in order to compare and measure performances in different situations, as an object of self-reflection and constitution of communities of practices, as a strategic representation and as an advocacy device.     

The Importance of Context and Comparison in the Study of European Spatial Planning

The European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP) was agreed in 1999 at Potsdam, Germany, as a non-binding framework intended to guide spatially significant policy-making at different spatial scales in order to achieve a more balanced and sustainable growth of the EU territory. This paper develops a conceptualization of the nature of transnational planning frameworks such as the ESDP and presents a framework for the investigation of the application of their policy orientations in the spatial planning systems of European states. It is argued that investigations of the application of transnational spatial development frameworks like the ESDP and the ‘Territorial Agenda of the European Union’ document adopted by EU member states in 2007, need to be sensitized to the diversity of territorial contexts in which these apply, and that a contextualized and comparative approach is therefore essential in evaluating their influence in Europe's varied territories.     

Handling the Two Conflicting Discourses of Partnerships and Participation in Regional Planning

This article argues that regional planning is dominated by two conflicting discourses that have different principles of involvement: the discourse of partnerships and the discourse of broad participation. These discourses and principles are not easy to reconcile in practice. On the basis of studies in the literature and a comprehensive case study, this article discusses how these conflicting discourses in regional planning challenge democratic norms, and how this problem is dealt with by the regional political leadership. The article shows that the use of meta-governance strategies and broad arenas of participation might be used in this respect, for example, by constantly having a focus on maintaining democratic anchorage when partnerships are used in regional planning processes.     

An Anatomy of Spatial Planning: Coming to Terms with the Spatial Element in UK Planning

“Spatial planning” is a phrase that now resonates throughout many planning systems across the globe. It is being used as a label to describe pan-national, regional, strategic and even aspects of local planning processes. Within the UK, spatial planning is being utilized alongside, or even in place of, more traditional phraseology associated with planning, such as “town and country planning”. It is being used by a range of institutions of the State, professional groups and academic commentators to describe the processes of planning reform, modernization, policy integration, and strategic governance that politically are now required to make planning fit for purpose in the 21st century. The precise meaning and definition of spatial planning remains difficult to pin down, as does its origins within the UK. This paper attempts to dissect the various components of the spatial planning phrase and set out the meaning and origins of the term in the UK context. It covers re-territorialization, Europeanization and integration origins of spatial planning thinking and provides a conceptual, rather than practical, debate on the anatomy of spatial planning, situated within ongoing processes of institutional transformation, through the lens of governance and distinctiveness in state policy development.     

Planning Small Regions in a Larger Europe: Spatial Planning as a Learning Process for Sustainable Local Development

An enlarged Europe is addressing the challenge of territorial cohesion on the basis of a disciplinary and operative framework formed by a number of evolving documents and provisions to be applied and developed at different administrative and planning levels. Rapid and profound changes have occurred in previous decades as far as institutional framework, the role of actors and issues to be tackled are concerned, within a re-scaling process of territorial governance. In this context, small territories can take advantage of European funds, but experience a hard confrontation with the market economy and supra-local visions, use of resources and infrastructure projects. A decisive role, in many countries, has been gained by regional authorities, which must mediate among various territorial levels, institutions and actors involved in a multilevel governance process. The paper focuses on spatial and regional/territorial planning processes among the European dimension, Member States and regions, on the basis of a case study conducted in Northern Italy. The aim is to determine the role of European spatial planning as a “learning machine” [Faludi, A. (2008) European Territorial Cooperation and Learning, disP 172, (1/2008), pp. 3–10.] able to support processes of mutual learning and cooperation, overcoming the attitude of compliance to upper level schemes and financial programmes rather than innovating usual procedures and territorial planning.     

Planning Time: An Emergent European Practice

In the 1960s, a reduction in the time spent at work promised an increase in leisure time. Architects and planners thought that the effects of this could lead to a new form of city. Nowadays, new changes in production, technology and gender relationships de-synchronize the time regime and have fundamentally changed life in cities. Tourism and globalization exchange across the world different cultures of time. In France, the UK, and other European countries time policy is dealing with the problems arising from these changes. This article presents a short overview of time planning in Italy in two main domains: time for care, and city time. It focuses on issues such as the social demand for new shops's and services' opening hours, or how the life cycles of individuals and populations are accommodated in urban spaces. Other problems, usually not thought of in terms of time concerns, such as rehabilitation of blighted areas, historic preservation and traffic flow control, may also be treated through a time approach. Two models of planning process are presented at the end of the paper.     

Polycentric Systems of Governance: A Theoretical Model for the Commons

Polycentricity is a fundamental concept in commons scholarship that connotes a complex form of governance with multiple centers of semiautonomous decision making. If the decision‐making centers take each other into account in competitive and cooperative relationships and have recourse to conflict resolution mechanisms, they may be regarded as a polycentric governance system. In the context of natural resource governance, commons scholars have ascribed a number of advantages to polycentric governance systems, most notably enhanced adaptive capacity, provision of good institutional fit for natural resource systems, and mitigation of risk on account of redundant governance actors and institutions. Despite the popularity of the concept, systematic development of polycentricity, including its posited advantages, is lacking in the commons literature. To build greater clarity and specificity around the concept, we develop a theoretical model of a polycentric governance system with a focus on the features necessary or conducive for achieving the functioning predicted by commons scholars. The model is comprised of attributes, which constitute the definitional elements, and enabling conditions, which specify additional institutional features for achieving functionality in the commons. The model we propose takes the concept a step further toward specificity without sacrificing the generality necessary for contextual application and further development.     

Strategic Spatial Planning: Collective Action and Moments of Opportunity

The theory and practice of strategic spatial planning makes a significant contribution to debates about contemporary European planning. Whilst its proponents describe a progressive style of governance and new territorial imaginations it is difficult to point to success on the ground. The paper argues that the normative conception of strategic spatial planning and focus on the failure of planners to live up to the ideal diverts attention from understanding the day-to-day work of planners and the ordinary politics of planning. We review some potentially helpful work in political sociology to develop framework that, rather than seeing planners failing to develop appropriate spatial and governance imaginations, may contribute to a better understanding of how planners pursue interests, attempt to manage the costs of collective action and assess institutional constraints and political opportunities.     

The Application of the European Spatial Development Perspective: Evidence from the North-West Metropolitan Area

As a strategic document, the European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP) wants to be 'applied' rather than 'implemented'. Rather than giving shape to spatial development, application is the shaping of the minds of the actors in spatial development. The latter are not passive recipients of messages. They actively explore options, reinterpreting messages on the way. Conformance of outcomes to intentions cannot be assumed. Application is not a separate phase either. Application includes making new working arrangements and elaborating planning documents to make them fit emergent situations. Judging from the ESDP and from how its ideas are being pursued, its makers are well aware of this. Research into the application of the ESDP in the north-west metropolitan area (NWMA) Interreg IIc programme confirms this. So the ESDP may be anything but a paper tiger.     

Contested Nations: Iraq and the Assyrians

Abstract. The formation of nation‐states from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East after World War I, under colonial auspices, proceeded with negotiations in some instances and hostilities in others from previously autonomous communities, some of them formally designated as millets. Iraq comprised a diversity of religious and ethnic communities. The Assyrians, Christian mountain tribes, mostly refugees from Turkish Kurdistan under British protection, were one community which actively resisted integration into the new nation‐state and, as a result, were subject to violent attacks by the nascent Iraqi army in 1933. This episode and the way it was perceived and interpreted by the different parties is an interesting illustration of the political psychology of communitarianism in interaction with nationalism, complicated by religious identifications, all in a colonial context. Subsequent histories and commentaries on the episode are also interesting in illuminating ideological readings.     

Mobility in Central European Late Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age: tibial cross-sectional geometry

An absence of settlement features during the Central European Corded Ware period (Late Eneolithic, 2900–2300 BC) has been interpreted as a reflection of mobile pastoral subsistence. Recent analyses of the Late Eneolithic archeological context reveal that the Late Eneolithic exhibit evidence of sedentary agricultural activities similar to the Early Bronze Age. Since the archeological analyses are not clear cut, we tested mobility pattern differences between the Late Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age using biomechanical analysis of the tibial midshaft cross-sections. The total sample of the 130 tibiae representing five archaeological cultures was used. The results of the tibial midshaft geometry do not support the hypothesis about different mobility in the Late Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age. This conclusion is supported by nonsignificant differences between the Corded Ware females and the Early Bronze Age females. Higher absolute values for the Corded Ware males should be explained either by stochastic variation or by differing amounts of physical demands despite a generally similar pattern of subsistence of the Late Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age. One of the Early Bronze Age samples, the Wieselburger group, is an exception because the individuals show both reduced overall size and bending resistance of the tibial parameters not only in comparison with the Late Eneolithic but also to the rest of the Early Bronze Age. The results suggest that the behavioral processes which affected the tibial midshaft biology operated during the Late Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age as a mosaic across time and between/within cultures.     

Mobility and Social Change: Understanding the European Neolithic Period after the Archaeogenetic Revolution

This paper discusses and synthesizes the consequences of the archaeogenetic revolution to our understanding of mobility and social change during the Neolithic period in Europe (6500–2000 BC). In spite of major obstacles to a productive integration of archaeological and anthropological knowledge with ancient DNA data, larger changes in the European gene pool are detected and taken as indications for large-scale migrations during two major periods: the Early Neolithic expansion into Europe (6500–4000 BC) and the third millennium BC “steppe migration.” Rather than massive migration events, I argue that both major genetic turnovers are better understood in terms of small-scale mobility and human movement in systems of population circulation, social fission and fusion of communities, and translocal interaction, which together add up to a large-scale signal. At the same time, I argue that both upticks in mobility are initiated by the two most consequential social transformations that took place in Eurasia, namely the emergence of farming, animal husbandry, and sedentary village life during the Neolithic revolution and the emergence of systems of centralized political organization during the process of urbanization and early state formation in southwest Asia.

     

An Assessment of the Effectiveness of Strategic Spatial Planning: A Study of Sardinian Municipalities

A political and technical debate about the effectiveness of strategic spatial planning results is ongoing. The debate has taken this direction, rather than focusing on the methods, procedures and organization of spatial planning, because it is difficult to contextualize the development of programmed steps within the time required for their implementation. This article explores the potentialities and challenges of this debate, focusing on its evolutionary excursus in Italy and the region of Sardinia. The aim of this article is to propose a qualitative assessment methodology, capable of comparing different spatial strategic plans, in order to understand the extent to which the plans’ stated objectives were achieved, and to assess what changes the implementation of these objectives achieved in the external environment over the medium and long term.     

Planning for Rural Housing in the Republic of Ireland: From National Spatial Strategies to Development Plans

This paper examines the role of spatial planning as a policy framework for managing rural housing within an integrated territorial development strategy. The paper focuses on the Republic of Ireland, which provides a useful case for analysing spatial planning and rural housing relationships, due to the State's recent shift towards spatial planning (formalized with the publication of the Irish National Spatial Strategy), as well as the level of housing construction that has been observed in an increasingly post-productivist countryside (triggered by counter-urbanization flows, increased affluence and demands for second holiday homes, etc.). The paper reviews all policy instruments that have been used to manage rural housing at various scales (from national strategies to local level development plans). It is argued that while spatial planning adopts an integrative vocabulary, as policy moves down the spatial scale hierarchy, multi-dimensional spatial goals are implemented through traditional, narrow land-use regulation. This often leads to rural housing being addressed in isolation from its wider social and economic context, disconnecting housing from wider rural community issues and ultimately failing to deliver a coordinated and coherent spatial policy for managing rural settlements.     

Romanian Spatial Planning System: Post-Communist Dynamics of Change and Europeanization Processes

This paper addresses the post-communist history of Romania's spatial planning system with the two-fold aim of describing its evolution and identifying the role played by the EU in this process. Taking as a starting point the contradiction between the formal goals of Romanian spatial planning and the actual spatial development patterns, the paper proposes a contextualized analysis of the system's changes. It complements the focus on the formal technical dimension with a look at the broader socio-political context, driving forces and path dependencies. It identifies five episodes within this time frame and argues that they were catalysed by factors outside the immediate technical dimension of spatial planning, such as the changes in the Romanian political scene, the dynamics in the governance and planning culture, the evolution of the economy, the actual development patterns and most notably, by the process of Europeanization. While often the role of the EU is taken for granted as a general positive force for Romania, the paper makes instead the distinction between the use of Europeanization as a rhetorical external driving force and the real changes brought about by the process.