Regional and transnational spatial planning1: problems today,perspectives for the future

This introductory contribution presents some results of the EURBANET project, dealing with European urban networks in the framework of the INTERREG IIC programme of the North‐western Metropolitan Area (NWMA). This project was conducted between 2000 and 2001 by researchers of Delft University of Technology, the University of Glasgow, the University of Dortmund, the Catholic University of Leuven and the University of Nijmegen. The central objective of the EURBANET project was to explore the role of polynucleated urban regions in the reinforcement of the competitive strength and quality of life in the NWMA, as a contribution to transnational spatial planning in the NWMA. Four polynuclear urban regions are involved: Randstad Holland, the Flemish Diamond, the RheinRuhr Area and Central Scotland (Glasgow‐Edinburgh region). One of the conclusions is that it is necessary to move between scales: from the European Union to national spatial policies (and vice versa), between national policies and regional spatial policies and between regional and urban spatial policies. At each scale, specific demands for spatial planning policies in polynuclear urban regions are becoming increasingly relevant. This is a challenge for spatial policies and policy domains like infrastructure policy, transport policy, housing policy, economic and environmental policy. We present an analysis of how polycentricity has become central to recent discussions on European and north‐west European spatial and economic planning. We launch a spatial network approach to integrate spatial policies. These wide perspectives contrast heavily with the current less satisfactory practice of spatial planning on the level of urban networks and transnational governance.     

Measuring Regional Cohesion Effects of Large-scale Transport Infrastructure Investments: An Accessibility Approach

Transport infrastructure is considered one of the main policy instruments to achieve the cohesion goal, although the inclusion of cohesion effects in assessment methodologies is scarce and uneven. Although most cohesion studies are constrained to the analysis of regional disparities in economic indicators, this approach can be broadened to include other regional performance indicators. One of these indicators could be accessibility measures, from the point of view that accessibility, representing a competitive advantage of locations, constitutes a “desirable good” closely related to the welfare of each region. This paper suggests using changes in the spatial distribution of accessibility as a proxy to assess regional cohesion effects of transport infrastructure investments. However, as the conclusions taken depend heavily on the formulation of the accessibility measure, we recommend computing a set of accessibility indicators and analysing their results in a complementary way. The proposed methodology is tested by assessing regional cohesion effects of the large-scale road and rail transport infrastructure investments carried out in Spain in the period 1992–2004. The results obtained show that cohesion has improved for the road mode, while regional disparities have increased for the rail mode. This paper identifies the main factors driving this final cohesion effect and explores the strengths and weaknesses of the different accessibility indicators that were considered. The approach suggested in this paper has the potential to be applied in transport planning processes, and may eventually complement existing strategic assessment methodologies.     

The European Union and Major Infrastructure Policies: The Reforms of the Trans-European Networks Programmes and the Implications for Spatial Planning

The European Union (EU) has been involved in influencing major infrastructure in the fields of transport and energy mainly by means of the Trans-European Networks (TENs) programme begun in the 1990s. Other macro-planning and wider spatial planning exercises, including the European Spatial Development Perspective, made reference to such infrastructure systems, particularly in relation to the need for connectivity and mobility, but normally did not attempt to intervene in an area seen as one of the prerogatives of national states. Much more important have been the wider programmes of liberalization pressed by the EU since the 1980s, but these have had no specific geographical content. A revision of the TENs programmes since 2008 has led to proposals to increase the role of the EU, by drawing up continent wide schemas indicating needs for future investment in many fields of both transport and energy, and introducing new procedures to streamline decision-making by designating projects as of European interest. The initiatives in transport and energy are described here, including the two Regulations currently under discussion within the EU institutions. These include major proposals for cross-European multi-modal transport corridors within an EU core network, and regional schemas for energy drawn up primarily by energy industries and government counterparts. Both are likely to be of real significance for spatial planners throughout the continent, and have major impacts on the shapes of future infrastructure networks. These proposals are analysed, as cases of the rescaling and re-ordering of government, giving more force to the EU in these fields, and reinforcing sectoral- or silo-based decision-making. It is argued that somewhat different outcomes will result in the few areas, such as the Baltic, where long-term macro-regional collaboration has been present, from the rest of Europe, where these sectoral programmes may complicate further the mix of planning impacting on each region, making even more confused the accountability of governance. Suggestions are made for the careful assessment of these schemas by national and regional governments, and for the creation of some spatial planning analytical capability at the EU level, which could examine this type of proposals, with powerful spatial impacts.     

论区域开发战略分析的理论框架

本文论述职能开发、领域开发以及内发开发、外发开发的接近方式,比较分析其理论基础、执行手段及期待效果,提出能够简便地分析区域开发战略的理论框架     

Green infrastructure under pressure. A global narrative between regional vision and local implementation

This paper focuses on green infrastructure planning in three different regions, namely, the Ruhr in Germany, the Capital Region of Denmark and Greater Manchester in the UK. We investigate planning cultural research heuristics and propose a conceptual refinement of existing planning cultural research and approaches. We use framing and storytelling to show how societal beliefs and cultural assumptions are consolidated as spatial frameworks that guide planning practice. Theories of spatial governance describe how spatial frames are mediated, accepted and changed through institutionalized structures. We present arguments from urban design and implementation research to illustrate how planning ideas materialize. The empirical material presented in this paper shows how cultures of green infrastructure planning operate in diverse spatial contexts and that a dynamic perspective is useful for understanding how planning cultures develop and change over time.     

Infrastructure and Growth in a Spatial Framework: Evidence from the EU regions

This paper examines the return to infrastructure in the European Union regions in a spatial framework. It innovates on the earlier literature on infrastructure and growth by a combination of regional focus, disaggregation of infrastructure types and consideration of spatial dependence. Different types of infrastructure capital are considered as determinants of economic performance at the Nomenclature des Unités Territoriales Statistiques level. To account for growth spillovers among regions, a spatial Durbin model is estimated. The results confirm the important role of infrastructure and identify the highest rates of return as associated with telecommunication, quality and accessibility of transportation networks, with a positive impact of roads and railways.     

长江经济带交通基础设施空间均衡度研究

利用1997-2013年长江经济带各省份数据,研究了交通基础设施空间均衡和极化程度及其影响因素,并构建动态面板数据模型,采用系统GMM估计进行了实证检验。研究结果表明:长江经济带交通基础设施发展较快,但存在空间非均衡和空间极化特征;铁路密度和公路密度的空间非均衡程度依次递减,区域间差距是空间非均衡的主要原因;公路密度空间极化程度不断增加,且高于铁路密度的极化程度;财政支出、国际贸易、人力资源和新经济地理四大因素对交通基础设施空间均衡和极化具有影响,但影响效果不同。本文拓展了交通基础设施的研究,为长江经济带交通基础设施协调发展及互联互通战略顺利实施提供了政策依据。     

The resurgence of regional design

Regional design, long a backbone for spatial planning, even if under other names, has become topical again for two reasons – as a key strategy and as a key tool in spatial management. This is due to several reasons. New conditions of urbanization that result from the convergence of several factors highlight the need for spatial strategy formation and application at supra-metropolitan scales. These new conditions include globalization, climate change, booming urban population, increased mobility and interconnectivity, and new infrastructure technologies. These forces driving urbanization today and into the future play out at the urban scale, which is increasingly encompassed in the city-region. The solutions to the impacts and problems that these forces cause must be dealt with by a strategic urbanism at a scale that matches. This scale of urbanism can be denoted as regional design. To justify these claims and to understand the origins of regional design and its relevance today and into the future, the master strokes in its history are presented next. After that, we discuss current concepts and practices in regional design. In conclusion, we offer answers to the question: why a resurgence of regional design?     

Urban development,redevelopment and regeneration encouraged by transport infrastructure projects: The case study of 12 European cities

This paper attempts to describe the potential of urban transport infrastructure projects such as metro, regional rail and tram, to indirectly work as a catalyst for the development and redevelopment of urban areas as well as the regeneration of declining areas. The paper presents the outcome of research on a sample of 12 European cities—Athens, Bratislava, Brussels, Helsinki, Lyon, Madrid, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Stuttgart, Valencia, Vienna and Zurich. This research is part of the Transecon project which was funded by the European Commission under the competitive and sustainable growth programme of the fifth framework— and concerned with all kinds of different indirect effects (economic, social and spatial) of new transport infrastructure investments in European cities. The outcome of the research points out that urban transport infrastructure may have a catalytic effect on the development, redevelopment and regeneration of urban areas but there are a lot of other influencing factors which make such re-urbanization processes a successful or unsuccessful story.     

From infrastructure to digital networks: accessibility and connectivity in transport geography research at Aberdeen

ABSTRACT

This paper considers the contribution made to transport geography research at the University of Aberdeen over the last century. In section one, the earliest work in transport geography emphasised the physical connectivity provided by transport through infrastructure networks. Section 2 discusses the contribution made at Aberdeen to debates around accessibility and connectivity. This work had a strong rural dimension and evidenced a growing recognition of the importance of technology in transport. It provided the springboard for research on digital connectivity with important contributions to the wider domain of transport studies in the fields of flexible transport, rural connectivity, transport and energy and social media and big data as reported in Section 3. Section 4 brings the story of transport research at Aberdeen up to the present. It frames research under the banner of intelligent mobility (IM), which links technology and mobility to the wider societal objective of enabling the smarter, greener and more efficient movement of people and goods. Contributions are reported to the fields of shared mobility, smart rural mobility, transport security and privacy and accessibility. Finally, a return to the theme of infrastructure networks and connectivity is highlighted in work on global production networks in aviation.     

Mind the gap: Town planning and Manchester's local railway network: 1947–1996

This article uses Manchester as a case study to explore post‐war relationships in Britain between local rail networks and urban form. During this period, Manchester's rail network has been severely rationalized with only limited investment in new infrastructure, although local services have been underpinned by public subsidy. During the 1950s and 1960s, there was little formal land use planning policy with regard to the rail network, but in the late 1970s strategic policies crystallized which sought to steer major activity generators to nodalities generally well‐served by public transport. However, these policies were undermined in the 1980s by Thatcherite deregulation. The early 1990s has seen more positive trends with the opening of Manchester's light rail line and the development nationally of policies aimed at creating more sustainable urban form through synergy between local rail networks and urban development. But there is evidence of counter‐trends and the whole future of the rail system has been thrown into doubt because of rail privatization. Conclusions are drawn that focus on the need for changes in the institutional arrangements for transport planning and strategic town planning through the creation of a strong regional tier of government, as found in other EU countries.     

巨型城市走廊理念及其规划与管制

城市走廊是城市系统的空间形式之一,在区域与城市发展及规划中由来已久。随着全球化、信息化、经济一体化的发展,巨型城市走廊开始显现。本文以基础设施带、区域发展核心及规划理念等几个方面阐述巨型城市走廊理念。以发达国家和发展中国家的巨型城市走廊为实例,探讨巨型城市走廊发展中存在的问题及其规划与管制。     

Towards a network of regions: The United States of Europe

Starting from the changing role of governments in planning (physical, environmental, economic, etc.), this paper calls attention to the drastic structural changes taking place in the regional scene after the transition towards market orientation and global competitiveness. The main focus is on European developments. In addition to économie forces, two phenomena will be highlighted, namely, the transition towards a network economy and the profound technological changes taking place at the regional and urban level Particular attention will be devoted to European spatial dynamics in a networked society. Various new geographical configurations and maps of Europe will be shown, followed by some exploratory remarks on future trends. The main message of the paper is that transport planning in Europe needs to be integrated with the emerging new economic networks. The paper ends with some policy conclusions.     

Transport Infrastructure and Regional Integration in the Middle East

The soft aspects of the infrastructure of regionalism in the Middle East have previously been studied, while the impact of the region’s hard infrastructure, in particular transport infrastructure, has received little attention. This paper contributes to the study of regionalism in the Middle East by investigating the relationship between hard infrastructure and economic integration. It analyzes whether the state of domestic and cross‐border transport infrastructure in the region promotes regional trade. This is done by addressing the following sub‐questions: 1) What is the condition of domestic and cross‐border transport infrastructure in the Middle East? And 2) What is the relationship between domestic and cross‐border transport infrastructure and regional trade in the Middle East? These questions are answered by examining Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Turkey as representative samples of the broader region. It is argued that regionalism relies on the development of domestic and cross‐border transport infrastructure and where the latter is limited, regionalism cannot deepen. The study concludes that domestic and cross‐border transport infrastructure performance is weak in several of the countries studied and that this weakness hinders regional economic integration regardless of the level of the region’s soft infrastructure.     

RESEARCH BRIEFING: A Regionalization Strategy to Promote Integrated Local Development: The Comarcal Development Plan of Galicia

This paper reports on the administrative innovation for promoting integrated sectoral and spatial planning, based on the designation of Comarcas, by the Galician regional government in Spain. The region has suffered from peripherality and a heavy bias towards low productivity agricultural, fishing and food processing industries. Traditional regional policies had led to urban expansion but rural desertification. The Galician government embarked in 1991 on a radical new approach to development planning based on building new administrative entities based on urban and village networks. The new planning delivery system now exists and is already active in promoting more balanced and integrated planned development.     

珠江三角洲巨型区域空间组织与空间结构演变研究

选取1990年、1995年、2000年,2005年和2010年珠江三角洲各城市数据,构建综合指标体系,利用全局主成分分析测算珠三角空间组织格局演变过程,提取珠三角空间组织格局演变的城市经济、物质空间和人口空间因子。研究发现:①珠三角空间组织格局经历"单中心"向"双中心"的演变过程,并开始呈现多中心网络化趋势;②城市区域空间组织经历缓速演变、加速演变和转型演变三个阶段,效率由低级向中、高级形态变化;③从全球化、区域化、市场化、城市化和分权化等维度来解释珠三角城市区域空间组织和效率格局演变的动力机制。建议从增强城市竞争力、推进空间均衡和加强资源环境协调等角度引导珠三角空间组织格局演变。     

新国家空间理论视角下城市群的国家空间选择性研究

基于新国家空间理论,将城市群置于社会经济转型宏观背景下,分析其空间选择的国家空间项目与国家空间策略,并初步探讨了其空间效应。城市群作为目前国家空间选择性的具体形式,其产生背景、依据以及生产策略体现了国家空间选择性内涵与演变路径,是国家应对城市企业主义危机采取的一种新型城市与区域治理形式。在国家空间项目及其策略的支持下,城市群享有优先于其它地区发展的特权并实现经济快速发展,从而培育地方增长极并推动区域协调发展。然而,城市群的空间选择并未改变城市企业主义的逻辑而是将其转移到了区域尺度,并且存在城市间竞争激烈等一系列问题,亟待与其它空间项目与策略的配套实施以实现区域崛起并提高国家竞争力。     

城市创新基础设施空间格局与创新产出——基于中国290个地级及以上城市的实证分析

知识经济背景下,创新成为区域与城市发展的关键,而创新基础设施作为国家和区域创新体系的重要组成部分,在提供创新支撑、聚集创新资源、提升创新能力等方面具有重要作用。本文首先界定了创新基础设施的概念,构建了测度城市创新基础设施的指标体系,之后基于中国290个地级及以上城市的数据,使用主成分分析和GIS技术分析中国城市创新基础设施的空间格局,并通过构建知识生产函数模型,实证研究城市创新基础设施对城市创新产出的影响。研究表明：①创新基础设施是指保证创新相关活动顺利进行的各种物质工程设施和公共服务系统的总和,包括支撑创新活动的国家重大科技基础设施、科教基础设施、产业技术创新基础设施及创新创业服务基础设施。②中国城市创新基础设施水平整体偏低,且存在显著的空间差异,整体上表现为东部发展水平高于西部。③中国城市创新基础设施水平对城市创新产出具有显著的正向影响。研究从政策层面进一步明确了创新基础设施建设的重要性,为国家推进创新基础设施建设提供科学依据。     

Spatial Agglomeration of Manufacturing in Greece: Sectoral Patterns and Determinants

This article aims to demonstrate how the industry characteristics of manufacturing sectors affect the patterns of their spatial agglomeration. It also addresses several intricate issues concerning the measurement of localization economies and estimation of their main determinants in manufacturing industries. The original empirical analysis employs annual industrial data from the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) during the period 1993–2006 in Greece at the prefecture level, i.e. for 51 prefectures. The data processing reveals three important findings. The first is the temporal persistence of localization economies in the Greek manufacturing. The second refers to the high level of agglomeration associated with the high-technology industries as well as the resource- and scale-intensive industries. Lastly, there are significant effects of industry characteristics related to knowledge externalities, labour skills and productivity, scale economies and own-transport expenditure on spatial agglomeration, as resulted from the use of alternative geographic concentration indices and panel data models. Results obtained have implications for policy-makers, who can enhance the regional manufacturing activity by affecting these industry-specific factors. Amongst others, planning measures and policies which aim at promoting the local development and regional convergence should focus on reducing transport costs for firms or sectors, by improving the infrastructure capacity, interconnectivity and quality of services.     

Talk to the hand: strategic spatial planning as persuasive storytelling of the Loop City*

The paper analyses how the spatial vision of the Loop City for the Øresund Region has played an important persuasive role in legitimizing and mobilizing local and national political support for a light rail link along the outer ring road in the Greater Copenhagen Area. The paper discusses the persuasive power of spatial concepts and supportive storylines in bringing transport infrastructure projects onto the national policy agenda. In conclusion, the paper calls for critical attention to the rationalities underpinning practices of persuasive storytelling in contemporary strategic spatial planning.