Planning Cultures and Histories: Influences on the Evolution of Planning Systems and Spatial Development Patterns

Abstract

This special issue addresses the influences of planning cultures and histories on the evolution of planning systems and spatial development. As well as providing an international comparative perspective on these issues, the collection of articles also engages in a search for new conceptual frameworks and alternative points of view to better understand and explain these differences. The articles focus on three main aspects: the change in planning systems and its impact on spatial development patterns; the interrelationship between planning cultures and histories from a path-dependency perspective; and the variations in physical development patterns resulting from different planning cultures and histories. Papers from different parts of the European continent present evidence at different scales to illustrate these aspects. In all cases, the specific combinations of political, ideological, social, economic and technological factors are important in determining urban and regional planning trajectories as well as spatial development patterns.     

China’s urban ideology: new towns,creation cities,and contested landscapes of memory

ABSTRACT

This paper argues that “the urban” has emerged as the most significant ideological realm in contemporary China. In developing this argument, I suggest an alternative approach to how we theorize urbanization in China. Seeking to avoid the dichotomized analyses that often characterize scholarship on China’s urbanization, the paper suggests reading “the urban” as an ideological device. Such a reading calls for an analytical distinction between the city as a technology of socialist party-state planning and government and urbanization as a messy social process over which the state struggles for control. It also calls for a recognition of the ways that ideology itself has shifted dramatically in China, from the Mao-era centrality and coherence of class struggle and its overriding goal of proletarianization to a much less coherent post-reform message of “stability”. The paper begins with a brief discussion of ideology and Gramsci’s notion of “common sense” in a Chinese register. It then considers the film 24 City, directed by Jia Zhangke, as a template for understanding urban spaces as sites of conflict between the city as an ideological device and urbanization as a social process. New urban spaces are then explored in an effort to tease out their complex and contradictory ideological renderings. I conclude with an argument about the openness and contradictions of China’s urban spaces and how an ideological analysis can resist the kind of theoretical closure that much work on urbanization in China seems to aim for.     

论城乡关联发展与文化整合

本文对城市化的内涵进行了新的诠释,指出城市化应是城乡关联发展的过程,其实质是城乡文化的整合。在这个基础上,本文对城乡关联发展研究的理论动态作了详细的评析,并指出人们越来越重视城乡网络化关联发展研究。城乡关联发展是城市化不可回避的发展态势,这为城乡之间的文化整合创造了前提条件。城乡文化整合是城市化在城乡关联基础上的深化和拓展,体现了城市化过程中城乡居民共享文明的根本目标。本文还对城乡文化和城乡文化整合进行了分析。     

Planning Culture—A Concept to Explain the Evolution of Planning Policies and Processes in Europe?

Abstract

This article examines the complex relations between spatial planning and its cultural context (including the specific socio-economic patterns and related cultural norms, values, traditions and attitudes). To be able to analyze the extent to which spatial planning adapts to external pressures such as Europeanization, a “culturized planning model” with the three dimensions “planning artefacts”, “planning environment” and “societal environment” is used. It can be observed that the “harmonization” of spatial planning practices can result from external pressures such as EU regulations as well as (horizontal) collective learning processes. However, “harmonization” does not necessarily result in convergence. Adaptational pressures such as Europeanization often result in the customization of existing structures, frames and policies (“planning artefacts” and “planning environment”) but do not fundamentally change the underlying core cultural traits (“societal environment”). These cultural traits are quite resistant to change and help maintain a diversity of planning cultures and policies in Europe.     

Storytelling as Method in Spatial Planning

Abstract

Drawing on the case of the Wageningse Eng in the Netherlands, this paper considers the role of “storytelling” within spatial planning practices. It moves away, though, from seeing it as merely a model of spatial planning, where “storytelling” is sometimes used to justify planners' ideals for the landscape, or a model for spatial planning, which pushes for a normative use of “storytelling” as a means of encapsulating local knowledge and the views of those who live in, and use, the landscape. Rather, the paper engages “storytelling” as a method for revealing how formal planning practices may be destabilized by more vernacular narratives seeking to subvert dominant discourses and processes. In doing so, it seeks to not only show the contested nature of participatory planning within the Netherlands, but also the ways in which narratives—as revealed via such a method—construct specific positionalities with real implications for notions of inclusivity within planning practices.     

Opening up the Compendium: An Evaluation of International Comparative Planning Research Methodologies

It is two decades since the European Compendium of Spatial Planning Systems and Policies was conceived. Since its publication in 1997, the Compendium has become a widely cited reference in comparative planning literature.¹ It remains one of the few comprehensive reviews of spatial planning policy and practice across western Europe. The Compendium also represents one of the few studies to develop a typology for distinguishing between national planning systems. A number of comparative research studies on spatial planning have since built on the methodological foundations laid by the Compendium although its typology of national planning systems is not always used or interpreted as originally intended for a variety of reasons. In the context of extensive reform of planning approaches in Europe, the paper examines what can be learned about methodologies for international comparative research in planning based on the experience of the Compendium study and subsequent major comparative planning studies. We conclude that while broad typologies remain useful in explaining general trends, they may hide as much as they reveal. Future studies should widen the criteria used to build ideal types beyond formal characteristics in order to address planning in practice.     

The specifics and spatial structure of circular migration in Russia

Abstract

This article aims at distinguishing recurrent population movements within the territory of the Russian Federation between urban localities of different sizes and rural areas in connection to the processes of urbanization, suburbanization, and de-urbanization. Incomplete urbanization and the strong polarization of socio-economic space in Russia have resulted in two powerful contradictory population flows: centrifugal seasonal sub- and de-urbanization and centripetal labor migration from rural and small towns to large urban centers. The article discusses three forms of recurrent population mobility in Russia: (1) daily commuting of urban and rural inhabitants within metropolitan areas; (2) commuting to large cities and their suburbs for long-term employment intervals (weekly, monthly, etc.), (3) second-home commuting to countryside dachas. Unfinished urbanization in Russia not only attracts rural and small towns’ population to major cities but also keeps it within the latter. It slows down the real de-urbanization and induces specific dachas (second-home) suburbanization/de-urbanization, with these processes being closely interrelated. An opportunity to earn money in cities together with the impossibility of moving to major centers due to expensive housing encourages households to remain in small towns and rural areas. Meanwhile, inhabited rural localities (even ones distant from cities) attract seasonal population (dachniks).     

Towards a Framework for Cooperation: Spatial Public Diplomacy on the Island of Ireland

Abstract

European spatial planning arguments advocate a blend of strategic thinking, coordination and related initiatives to promote and secure territorial cohesion. These ambitions embrace a set of normative agendas around economic, social and environmental convergence, competitiveness, policy coordination and efficient infrastructure provision across space. In practice, territorial management then involves devising interventions across inter-connecting scales of governance which comprise complex agency relations, differentiated places and defined communities. In transnational contexts, attempts to foster appropriate spatial governance arrangements and relations across sovereign borders necessitate re-crafting planning and development cultures and service delivery practices to advance territorial cohesion. Transnational working necessarily involves cooperation across an extended range of institutions, interests, influences and potential actors. This paper examines attempts to secure bi-lateral commitment to a joint planning framework for the two distinct territories on the island of Ireland. Specifically, it traces the formal and informal activities involved in the development of the 2013 Framework for Cooperation between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Informed by ideas of cross-border regionalism, it discusses the necessary spatial public diplomacy involved in the social reconstruction of strategic spatial planning to improve policy coordination and cross-border working.     

Planning and the Culture of Governance: Local Institutions and Reform in France

Legislation introducing major reform of the French planning system is now 6 years old. It was intentionally seen as part of a trio of reforming statutes that linked spatial planning to institutional reform of local government. Taking as its starting point, the idea that planning is inevitably an embedded activity, it explores the relationship between institutional reform and the reform of planning in France generally, and then more specifically in the Région urbaine de Lyon. It concludes that the search for greater simplicity and clarity is not borne out by results on the ground. The French case demonstrates that the success or failure of planning reform is intimately linked to the nature of local government.     

Spatial Governance across Borders Revisited: Organizational Forms and Spatial Planning in Metropolitan Cross-border Regions

In Europe, cross-border cooperation in spatial planning has intensified in recent years. Organizations with varying institutional characteristics have emerged in urban areas that cross a national border. They deal with problems stemming from the cross-border situation. The institutional and spatial aspects of organizations on the sub-national level in nine European cross-border metropolitan regions are compared in this article. The analytical concept of metropolitan governance applied here takes into account the simultaneous existence of different cross-border organizations as well as their spatial and functional relationships. Subsequently, this article assesses the impact of governance on spatial planning in two cases, Basel and Lille, where institutional changes occurred on the sub-national level between 2000 and 2010. The way organizational and spatial attributes of new forms of cross-border metropolitan governance influence the coordination of spatial policies is discussed here. The comparison of organizational characteristics and capacity to coordinate reveals important differences. Furthermore, comparing spatial scales shows how new cross-border perimeters are drawn along existing national territories. Organizations' competences and interests are decisive for the coordination and implementation of spatial policies.     

城乡空间互动-整合演进中的新型农村社区规划体系设计

本文以城乡空间互动-整合演进的理念为依托,横向思考城市与乡村在社会经济发展、居民理想生活诉求层面的异同,着力探讨新型农村社区规划原理及规划体系的核心内容,指出经济空间互动、生活空间延展、社会文化空间更新、城乡交通空间链接及田园生态景观空间表征是城乡空间互动-整合演进不同阶段新型农村社区规划的基本原理,故农业生产空间规划、农村社区居住空间规划、农村社区公共空间规划、农村社区交通空间规划、农田与绿地空间规划构成了新型农村社区规划体系。新型农村社区规划体系的确立必将对城乡空间的合理规划与管理提供有益的参考。     

Strategic spatial planning – a missed opportunity to facilitate district heating systems based on excess heat

ABSTRACT

Strategic spatial planning is important for developing long-term visions and strategies towards regional and local sustainability. This paper explores if and how strategic spatial planning could be useful for overcoming some barriers related to new sustainable ways of heating residential areas, using district heating systems based on industrial excess heat. This longitudinal study builds on interviews with municipal and private actors in six Swedish municipalities. It highlights that important barriers can be overcome by influencing the design and location of residential districts and industrial activities. Further, it identifies missed opportunities in local spatial planning practice as stakeholders are involved late in the planning when much is set, leaving little space for stakeholders to have an impact. Consequently, there might be a lack of knowledge and expertise in how such issues could enhance planning. Strategic spatial planning could facilitate conditions for excess heat-based systems of district heating as it implies a broader systems perspective which could enhance a broader planning scope. Plan programs could bring about more strategic spatial planning processes as these require early stakeholder involvement. If taking stakeholder involvement one step further to stakeholder collaboration or co-production, an even broader planning scope would be achieved.     

Institutional Arrangements and the Morphology of Residential Development in the Netherlands,Flanders and North Rhine-Westphalia

Abstract

This article aims to highlight the mechanisms through which institutional arrangements influence the morphology of residential development. By comparing the Netherlands, Flanders and North Rhine-Westphalia, which have quite similar socio-economic and landscape characteristics, it investigates how differences in national institutional environments have contributed to differences in the urban morphology of residential areas. This article fits within a broader institutional “turn” in planning research. While most of these studies focus on how institutions affect the behaviour of actors in the process of planning and development, this article focuses on the physical outcomes of these processes. The institutional analysis of physical outcomes suggests that urban morphology is not only linked to planning systems—the subject of this special issue—but also to housing cultures and property regimes.     

A multi-stakeholder examination of destination image: Nanluoguxiang heritage street,Beijing, China

ABSTRACT

Perceived destination image is rarely examined through the gaze of stakeholders other than visitors, in particular residents and tourism business operators. This hinders the comprehensive understanding of destination image and limits its practical implications for destination marketing and management. Therefore, this study proposes a multi-stakeholder approach to image evaluation to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the destination image and better inform destination planning and management. Taking Nanluoguxiang hutong tourism site in Beijing as an example, the image perceptions of residents, on-site business operators, and domestic and international tourists are compared. Questionnaire surveys with both types of tourists and semi-structured interviews with residents and business operators are the main research methods. Major between group differences are identified in the evaluation of the authenticity of this Beijing hutong area, its representation of traditional Beijing culture and whether or not it is a place in which to relax. Results demonstrate that visitors, residents and business operators share similar cognitive images of Nanluoguxiang as a traditional historical street and a special business street with Beijing character. However, the historical and cultural values of Nanluoguxiang are undervalued. Moreover, distinct differences exist between the actual motivations for visiting held by domestic and international tourists and their motivations as perceived by residents and business operators. Suggestions are made to better meet the expectations and desires of all stakeholder groups through the provision of participatory programmes and activities to enrich the visitor experience of hutongs and the hutong lifestyle while maintaining a boundary between tourists and residents’ personal space to reduce unnecessary interruptions to residents’ daily life.     

An interactive point pattern analysis web application and teaching exercise

ABSTRACT

This paper introduces a web-based, interactive point pattern analysis “game” that allows users to generate quickly and repeatedly a point pattern on screen and immediately learn whether the pattern is statistically different from random. It uses two point pattern analysis methods: quadrat analysis (QA) and nearest neighbor analysis (NNA). Studies have shown that gaming approaches, digital tools, and interactive instruction for teaching spatial thinking complement and enhance students’ geospatial skills. This game challenges students to achieve randomness, demonstrates the differences between QA and NNA, and easily permits in-class use by running in any web browser.     

From Formal to Semi-formal and Informal Communication in Urban Planning. Insights from Polish Municipalities

Abstract

The communicative turn within planning theory results in a high diversity of planning forms, adapted to particular spatial and social contexts. The degree of their embedment in the official planning law is varied, therefore a precise definition of what is “formal”, “semi-formal” or “informal” may be a difficult task. Nevertheless, such attempts need to be made if we want to achieve a general conceptual and normative order in planning theory. In this study, 18 Polish municipalities experiencing a relatively fast growth in urban planning in recent years were examined. The analysis of the emerging new forms of public communication gave the following results: all the information produced within the planning process is perceived as public, though not all is publicly available; formal planning procedures are usually extended by the multiplication of statutory communication channels; the list of actors taking part in planning is dominated by landlords, developers and entrepreneurs, which affects plan formulation with an overbalance of economic factors. A general conclusion is that we may be witnessing a gradual shift from the traditional, hierarchical mentality in Polish planning towards a more communicative model.     

Spatial Proximity and Intercompany Communication: Myths and Realities

Abstract

Spatial proximity is credited with numerous virtues in the economic literature. In particular, for a company to be located near other companies is seen as conducive to the development of business relations. Spatial proximity is also considered to contribute to the quality and efficiency of these relations by facilitating face-to-face meetings that foster the exchange of complex knowledge and, in particular, the emergence of innovation. This article explores the notion of spatial proximity in intercompany relations, its capacity to facilitate exchange, as well as the link with the methods of communication employed (information and communication technologies and face-to-face). It is based on a distinction between real proximity (the spatial distance between firms), perceived proximity (the spatial distance as evaluated by the firm itself) and active proximity (spatial proximity that facilitates the exchanges). The data come from a survey conducted in 2008 with more than 2000 firms located in the Brittany region (France). The findings emphasize the relative nature of the notion of spatial proximity and the distinction in some cases between real and active proximities, and show that the positive perception of the role of spatial proximity is sustained by the increased face-to-face contact it entails.     

Planning strategies and practices in non-core regions: a critical response

ABSTRACT

The development of non-core regions has attracted growing interest within the current debates of economic geography, regional studies and spatial planning. The divergence between economically successful core regions and less privileged non-core regions continues despite policy interventions aimed at tackling spatial disparities and income inequalities. While traditional growth-oriented policies raise concerns over their effectiveness and relevance beyond large cities and metropolitan regions, there is growing interest in exploring new research paths and policy options that are better able to address development challenges in non-core regions. Contributors to this special issue engage with these debates by reflecting on planning policies and practices in five European countries, paying special attention to identifying planning strategies for non-core regions. This paper argues that alternatives to growth-oriented models require additional conceptualization and analysis to translate values into policies and institutions.     

The Spatial Distribution of French Agricultural Cooperatives: An Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis

Abstract

This paper studies the spatial dynamics of French agricultural cooperatives using the recently developed exploratory spatial data analysis tool. Analysis at the level of French districts in 1995 and 2005 shows strong evidence for global and local spatial autocorrelations in the geographical distribution of agricultural cooperatives. The presence of spatial disparities between French districts is confirmed by the detection of such specific spatial patterns as district clusters, a group of neighbouring districts with the same high or low level of agricultural cooperative activities. A typology of all the different Regions is developed to examine the specific spatial patterns of the agricultural cooperative activities. The results indicate that major organizational changes in cooperatives do not significantly modify the initial dynamics concerning the location of activities.