Neo-Corporatism and Environmental Policy

The ecologically sustainable development (ESD) process represented a significant attempt by the Commonwealth Government to involve pro-environment and pro-development protagonists in a major environmental consultative forum. The government's inclusion of peak interest organisations into an exclusive consultation process resembles a neo-corporatist approach to interest intermediation. However, neo-corporatist theory has been applied almost exclusively to economic policy areas and interest organisations representing capital, labour and the state. Analysing the involvement of select environmental organisations in the ESD process, this paper argues that neo-corporatist theory can be extended to include non-production-based interest organisations. The implications of environmental organisation participation in a neo-corporatist structure are examined, including a discussion of the tension between neo-corporatist and new social movement theories.     

Is the Future of Mobility Electric? Learning from Contested Storylines of Sustainable Mobility in Iceland

Planning for sustainable mobility is a complex and demanding task and the knowledge of how to trade off multiple, often conflicting, goals is not entirely clear. One of the most contentious and confounding issues in the context of urban planning has been, and continues to be, the place of the automobile within the evolving sustainable mobility paradigm. The recent emergence of strong policy and planning support for the introduction of electric vehicles raises thorny questions as to whether or not this development will be complementary to, or conflicting with, other sustainable mobility planning goals, such as the pursuit of compact cities, restrictions on automobiles, promotion of walking and bicycling, and support for public transport. The results of a recent pilot study conducted in the Reykjavik city region suggest that a strategy of provision for electric vehicles on a large scale may represent a continuation of the dominant transport engineering approach, drawing scarce financial and institutional resources away from path-breaking measures such as the efforts to create denser development patterns and promote non-motorized and public forms of transport.     

The Rise of the “City-region” Concept and its Development Policy Implications

As well as enjoying a rich scientific history, the concept of the “city-region” has also attracted particular attention in recent years. Combinations of an urban core or cores, linked to semi-urban and rural hinterland by functional ties, are increasingly regarded as the “adequate” scale for the implementation of development policies. The popularization and widespread use of the city-region concept for policy-making has important implications for the design and implementation of development strategies. It first signals a change from sectoral to territorial approaches to development and requires the adjustment of development strategies to widely varying contexts, leading to much greater policy diversity and innovation. It also involves a more complex governance structure, characterized by the horizontal and vertical coordination of numerous institutional public and private actors, and enables experimentation with bottom-up and participatory policy-making. This paper evaluates these changes and critically addresses their normative implications, especially in light of the facts that there is still little agreement on how the city-region is defined, that the term has become appropriated by urban elites, and that the problems faced by city-regions may not be that different from those operating at other geographical scales.     

Defining public service beyond broadcasting: the legitimacy of different approaches

The development of public broadcasters’ Internet services has compelled practitioners and researchers alike to ponder public service beyond broadcasting. Yet, for public service as a key cultural policy tool, rethinking is also needed on the level of regulatory definitions. Are we witnessing a policy transformation into a media‐neutral public service concept? If so, what are the implications for the legitimacy of public service beyond broadcasting? Relating the current situation to a wider policy context, this article scrutinizes different regulatory approaches, tentatively characterized by (1) extending broadcasting, (2) adding to broadcasting and (3) demoting broadcasting. The approaches are illustrated with three cases: Norway, Germany and the UK. Assessing the different approaches, I discuss advantages and pitfalls, and the implications for the legitimacy of public service freed from broadcasting rationales. As policy actors strive to create stable conditions in an unstable situation, I argue, they should keep in mind both the risks of succumbing to details or pursuing exhaustive lists in basic definitions, and the linguistic and cultural characteristics of each polity.     

Quo vadis,Delhi? Urban heritage and gender: towards a sustainable urban future

Historic architectural heritage is important to sustainable urban planning policy, particularly in cities that have heritage sites and/or themselves have ancient archaeological value. Delhi is one of the oldest living cities in the world. However, the vision of its planning policy is limited to valuing heritage for itself and for its economic value instead of also exploring the ways in the city’s heritage might contribute to the social organisation and utilisation of the urban public space. Particularly, like most national policy documents on heritage, it ignores the heritage/gender nexus, which has implications for the identity and status of women in Delhi, community development and ecological preservation. But twenty women practioners and scholars of development in Delhi referred to heritage as a challenge as well as opportunity for gender and urban sustainability when asked for their perspectives on the most important sustainability issues in the city. I argue that Delhi’s urban planning strategies must acknowledge the gender/heritage nexus to enable holistic and gender-inclusive urban development for the present and future generations of its citizens, which is an important thrust of the sustainability agenda.     

Green industry development in different types of regions

ABSTRACT

At the regional level, the imperative of sustainable development often manifests itself in an emphasis on developing green industries. However, regions vary in their preconditions for achieving this. In this paper we link regional preconditions to various pathways for green industry development. This provides the foundation for identifying place-based policy implications for growing green industries in different types of regions, grounded in the emerging perspective in innovation studies on transformative innovation policy. The paper thereby helps to understand the pathways for greening the economy in different regional contexts and how such green pathways can be promoted through policy.     

Coordinating Transport and Urban Planning: From Ideologies to Local Realities

In Europe, the idea that coordinating transportation and urban planning is a necessary condition for setting sustainable urban development into motion has spread throughout academic and professional circles. While this concern is not new, the objectives underlying transport and urban planning coordination have deeply changed over the last decades. How have local authorities translated the requirements and objectives of national laws? How have they accounted for the evolution of these global objectives? What factors explain innovation and continuity in the relationship between land use planning and transport policies? In a comparative research between Switzerland and France, we addressed the question of political change by reconstituting the “trajectories” of four urban areas: Geneva and Bern in Switzerland and Strasbourg and Bordeaux in France. We have described the policy paths of these urban areas since the end of the 1960s by focusing on the contents of master plans, the principal technical solutions and projects that have been implemented, and the means of inter-sectorial coordination used. For each case, factors of change or inertia have been identified by focusing on three main variables that are often studied alternatively in public policy analysis: ideas, institutions and interests.     

Scaling‐Up,Scaling‐Down,and Scaling‐Out: Local Planning Strategies for Sea‐Level Rise in New South Wales,Australia

Globally, sea‐level rise is expected to impact on many coastal regions and settlements. While mitigation of global greenhouse gas emissions remains an important task, adaptation is now seen as a critical component of the policy equation. Local government is a key player in adaptation planning and managing risk through their mandated role in land use planning and development control. Yet, managing the predicted impacts of climate change is proving to be a complex and difficult task for planners and policy makers. This paper reports on a case of local government deliberation on possible planning responses to address future sea‐level rise impacts in New South Wales, Australia. Using structured, expert opinion of planners and other technical experts engaged in a collaborative network in the Sydney region, we explore the feasibility of implementing planning and policy measures at the local and regional scales to respond to inundation risk as a result of sea‐level rise and storm surge events. Our research shows how local governments employ specific scale‐oriented strategies to engage private and public actors at different scales to manage legal, financial, and technical risks in coastal adaptation.     

The Element of Sustainability in the Greek Statutory Spatial Planning System: A Real Operational Concept or a Political Declaration?

This paper focuses on the response of the Greek statutory spatial planning system to the concept and principles of sustainability. The query to be answered is the following: Have the structure, institutions, processes and instruments of the planning system been affected by sustainability principles and in what way? Furthermore, are there any public policy results contributing to sustainable development and attributable to spatial planning? Methodological approach is based on cross-examination of a group of assumed sustainability criteria on the one side and recent changes/transformations in the key-factors of the spatial planning system (institutions, processes, instruments) on the otherside. The approach is complemented by reverse direction considerations: in cases of operational processes leading evidently up to sustainability the responsible policy sector is acknowledged and any factual connection to spatial planning is addressed. The main conclusion is that for the time being sustainability objectives in strategic and top-down spatial planning in Greece rather perform the function of a political manifesto and 'legalize' traditional weaknesses than drive real development towards a sustainable course. The chances for operational success are expected slim in the near future and originate mostly from the European Union (EU) political and economic pressures, producing however fragmented, single-dimension (mainly environment conservation) results for which commitment of the involved societies has never been accomplished and confirmed.     

Urban Indians: Patterns and Transformations

For centuries American Indians have been an object of Western fascination. All too often this fascination has been an invented view of Indian people. This is especially evident with the recent movement of Indians to urban areas within the United States and Canada. Not only has this movement been ignored by society in general but it has also received almost no comment in the geographical literature. In this analysis the complex character of urban Indian communities is sketched, a variety of interpretations of these communities is outlined and the implications for planning and public policy are examined. The recent emergence of Indian organizations provides an innovative alternative for planning and public policy—cultural planning for urban redevelopment.     

美国城市蔓延之后的规划运动及其启示

本文以对我国城市规划的借鉴和启示为目的,探索性的从社会历史视角分析了导致美国城市蔓延的原由,并述评了美国各界针对蔓延问题引发全面反思,和在规划界形成的目前具有广泛影响力的"聪明增长"、"新都市主义"和"可持续发展"等新规划思潮、主张及其反对者的批判观点。在此基础上,指出我国城市化过程中以"前车之鉴"谋求可持续发展,探索符合国情的城市空间模式的关键点:①警惕蔓延;②完善城市交通格局;③挖掘"单位制"的新生命力;④促进混合高强度土地利用和开发模式。     

Public–Private Plan Development: Can Early Private Involvement Strengthen Infrastructure Planning?

Private parties, who are usually involved in later stages of design, construction and maintenance, can potentially strengthen the early plan-making stages of infrastructure planning. They can bring in knowledge, expertise and experience to help address complexity in planning. Such early private involvement can be accommodated through several models for which experiences in Dutch infrastructure planning practice differ. In this article, we assess the potential of early private involvement for strengthening infrastructure plan development by examining evaluative studies and conducting interviews with public and private actors involved in four early private involvement models in Dutch infrastructure planning: market consultation, early design contest, market reconnaissance and unsolicited proposal. We conclude that in order to unlock the potential of early private involvement government needs to incorporate incentives for creativity, reward private involvement and strike a balance in the setup of the investigated models between conceptual freedom for private solutions and transparent public guidance in preconditions and regulations. Early private involvement could, thus, provide opportunities for conceptual creativity and innovation and opportunities for public–private collaboration, which can strengthen plan development.     

Cultural rights and their contribution to sustainable development: implications for cultural policy

Abstract

This article aims to analyse the meaning and implications of cultural rights for cultural policies concerned with sustainable development. Although references to both cultural rights and sustainable development have become widespread within cultural policy documents in recent decades, the actual conceptual and operational implications often remain vague, as an ambitious discourse that may conceal a poverty of resources and capacities. As a result, the ideal horizon suggested by cultural rights and sustainable development may not always be achieved in practice, nor are the mechanisms to achieve it always well known. In this respect, the article aims to dissect the actual requirements posed by cultural rights and sustainable development, including their different notions and areas of synergy and intersections, in order to shed light on relevant cultural policy approaches. To this end, a range of examples taken from a variety of contexts will also be examined as areas of expressed needs or areas of possible solutions.     

Conflict, Uncertainty, and the Role of Planning and Analysis in Public Policy Innovation

Innovation by "groping along," in which appointed public officials experiment during program implementation after little, if any, initial planning and analysis, has been promoted as a more accurate model of policy innovation than the rational comprehensive model of policy change. Analysis of two cases of environmental regulatory policy innovation suggests that administrative agencies may be more likely to follow the conventional model of the policy cycle when high levels of conflict are likely to accompany policy initiatives. The cases also suggest, however, that public officials will experiment during the innovation process when they are uncertain about the nature of the problem and the probable impacts of alternative solutions.     

Competition and Cooperation in Industrial Clusters: The Implications for Public Policy

Alfred Marshall believed that, while the benefits of clusters resulted from cooperation between firms, competition was an important driving force. In contrast, contemporary theories of clusters place most emphasis on collective action. This article seeks to distinguish processes of competition and cooperation within clusters, through a critical reading of different theoretical approaches. This distinction has important implications for the scale and nature of public policy. An emphasis on competitive processes implies a more macro-economic role for public agencies in seeking to raise investment in innovation while the fostering of cooperation implies measures to support decentralized public-private research collaborations.     

Municipal Contact Centres: A Slower Approach Towards Sustainable Local Development by E-government

Abstract

It is Swedish government policy to use information and communication technologies to increase sustainability. This has implications for planning and local organization of communities. In the municipalities where most public services are provided, there are growing numbers of local contact centres (CCs) aiming to meet citizens' needs for information and coordination of public services. The CCs localize public services and combine different services into a one-stop practice focusing on needs and demands of individual citizens and their unique situations. The municipalities hereby have to plan for service provision in new ways to meet more individualized needs that are also in line with improved sustainability. CCs are both local offices and advanced services on-line, as e-governmental services. E-government could be considered fast government, but this article aims to turn that obvious first impression upside down and discuss how e-government can slow down and make services more local, personalized and sustainable. Theoretically we take off from a time-geographical modelling of slow processes that has implication for slower, more sustainable development. Based on in-depth case studies of municipal CCs we argue that they are tools towards improved sustainability and localism, and that they are “slowing up” administrative processes. In particular, we point out that e-government has a potential to plan for, and promote, sustainability and slow local development.     

Discourse Yes,Implementation Maybe: An Immobility and Paralysis of Sustainable Development Policy

Sustainable development policies are on the move. Cities the world over are repositioning, repackaging and remarketing themselves as green and sustainable, and sustainable development is the moniker imported to spark the process. At the same time, sustainable development, as a normative point of departure, is itself going through cycles of reinterpretation and re-composition. The research in this article aims to understand this process by mapping the trajectories of sustainable development policies, and understanding sustainable development as a contextually grounded policy in motion. In Luxembourg, as planners are confronted with finding ways to manage growth, sustainable development has come to permeate all levels of the planning system. To understand how this came into being, research methods were employed that included document screening and a series of conversational interviews that were later transcribed and coded. In so doing, the discourse around sustainable development policy could be reconstructed and analysed. The results showed that the multi-scalar, cross-national, and simultaneously micro-level governance structures pose many obstructions to the implementation of sustainable development policies that are imported from abroad. Thus, policy is ultimately immobile, and a policy paralysis can be considered.     

Local sustainable development: a knowledge base for adaptation planning

Towards the end of the century, Serbia will face a dramatic increase in annual temperature between 2°C and 6°C and decrease in annual accumulated precipitation up to 12%. Recent 2014 floods in Serbia, with more than 30 victims, and more than 30,000 displaced people, with overall damage close to €1.5 billion, reflected those trends and the likely risks that region will face due the changing climate. Those risks may influence the development process at the local level. This paper assesses the existing priority measures in local sustainable development strategies and re-interprets their characteristics using a methodological framework for the definition of adaptation measures. It offers a new understanding of the ongoing local sustainable development approach in the potentially most vulnerable municipalities in Serbia. The study focused on following properties of developmental measures: cost-effectiveness, structural characteristics, target realm, spatial determination, time frame, climate responsiveness, and sector and budget allocation of development measures at the local level. The results of the analysis suggest that the initiation of adaptation planning should consider the improvement of the methodological framework – the introduction of inter-sectoral and cross-sectoral planning practice, cost–benefit analysis, the involvement of individual actors in planning and dynamic planning approaches.     

High-tech development and spatial planning: comparing the Netherlands and Taiwan from an institutional perspective

High-tech development has been broadly accepted as a prominent matter of regional development policies and plans at the global level. Strategies to enhance it have evident implications for spatial planning policies, plans and visions. Consequently, careful attention should be paid to the role that spatial planning policies play in the national and regional efforts to advance high-tech development in a particular place. This study addresses the relationship between the spatial planning system and high-tech development, searching to explain the spatial implications resulting from this relationship. It approaches the topic by comparing high-tech development experiences in the Netherlands and Taiwan from an institutional perspective. Although both countries have used a range of spatial strategies for economic growth through high-tech development, the results show that their different institutional settings, power relations between different levels of government and conceptions of science park have led to the implementation of two very distinct spatial strategies, shaping different spatial patterns of high-tech development clustering in these two regions. The findings demonstrate the potential of the institutional approach to study international planning issues, and contribute to theories of high-tech development and spatial planning.     

试论城市规划的政策化趋势

城市规划的改革与发展是一个倍受我国城市规划界关注的问题。除了传统的城市空间组织功能外,近年来城市规划的利益调控功能受到了研究者的广泛关注。通过对传统城市规划理论与实践的反思,城市规划的公共政策属性得到了更多的认可,城市规划的政策化趋势更为明显。本文在比较"以空间组织为中心"和"以利益协调为中心"两种规划视角的基础上,分析了城市规划的政策化发展趋势,阐述了城市规划中的政策输入与输出过程,并针对我国规划研究中的不足,提出了相应的对策。