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.     

Linking polycentricity concepts to periphery: implications for an integrative Austrian strategic spatial planning practice

This contribution searches for a regional planning conception that allows for a mutual recognition and practical translation between strategies for urban regions and peripheries beyond separate urban and rural categories; taking the Austrian strategic spatial planning context as the example. For this, various notions of polycentricity are discussed and assessed with regard to periphery. The Austrian strategic spatial development concept ÖREK sets out a focused work programme with changing responsibilities and participation of actors. The objectives are targeted and the processes are implementation oriented. Amongst other topics, urban regional issues and peripheral, declining regions are worked on separately. A conceptually integrative, plan-like strategic instrument across the topics and for the whole of Austria is lacking. The ESPON notion of ‘inner peripheries’ is proposed as a complementary concept to the ESDP notion of polycentricity, helping to create a bridge between urban regional and periphery strategies. This has the potential to guide strategic planning practice efforts in Austria towards a yet missing strategic spatial plan for the whole of the country beyond urban and rural categories. Practice relevant conclusions related to the case of Austrian strategic spatial planning are drawn and a need for further, comparative research in a European context is identified.     

试论乡村聚落体系的规划组织

乡村地理学是人文地理的重要分枝学科,乡村聚落的演化是乡村地理学的重要研究内容。在新的经济、社会发展背景中,乡村的意义与价值正在被重新认识,对其进行合理的规划组织,以形成与区域宏观社会经济背景相匹配的聚落体系,对城乡区域空间的整体协调发展具有重要的现实意义。文章阐述了乡村聚落体系演化理论、规划组织理论。关于乡村聚落体系演化,本文提出了区域空间进程中的四个阶段:农业社会阶段、过渡性阶段、工业化阶段、技术工业和高消费阶段。文章还研究了国际上对乡村聚落体系组织的战略方法,包括职能地域一体化战略、选择性空间封闭战略、乡村城市发展战略。文章结合江苏的有关案例,重点论述了中心镇及中心村选建、设施配置、政策配套等内容,指出:①通过中心镇的建设实现乡镇合并、重组;②通过中心村的建设实现农业空间的集约化经营,推动城市化进程;③通过配套支撑体系来实现对乡村聚落体系优化的引导。提出了中心村选建的主要标准:①区位优势;②联系合理;③规模经济;④节约用地。     

RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROBLEMS IN AFRICA: SOME LESSONS FROM WESTERN NIGERIA

I n an analysis of regional problems within Africa, the frequent imbalance between the geographic distribution of resources and of population suggests that rural development and resettlement will play an increasingly important role in mobilizing the continent's latent resource base. With the almost universally increasing rates of population growth in Africa, pressure for redistribution of people is increasing, most of which manifests itself in accelerating rates of urbanization. But it is also apparent that developing urban areas can only effectively absorb a small proportion of maldistributed population. Therefore national planning programs are increasingly focusing upon the need to reconstruct or to reorientate the economic milieu of rural areas, as is demonstrated by increasing investment in rural development and settlement schemes.     

European cross-scale spatial planning and territorial frames in the Italian Median Macroregion

This article describes the preliminary outcome of interdisciplinary research that arises from a study by the Italian Ministry of Infrastructures and Transport and the Abruzzo Region (IT) on local development processes in central Italy, and specifically in the Median Macroregion, whose results have been extended to European context. It concerns the European spatial planning, specifically the study of an original interpretative model of European space, called Territorial Frames – TFs, a particular multi-scale infrastructural mesh that connects the ‘local’ territories with ‘global’ ones and that can represent the activating element of processes and policies of spatial development of settlements, of processes of valorization of the productive, naturalistic and landscape sectors. This new model interfaces with the territorial reticular component through the concept of polycentrism, also projecting evolution, and with that of the governance of development projects, using the potential of European Macroregions. The main objective of the research is to feed the topic of spatial planning, oriented to the integration between territories through a cross-scale approach, and to the activation of new processes of sustainable territorial development, with reference to the economically disadvantaged inner areas in a context of Macroregional governance.     

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.     

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.     

The Problems of Adjusting to Slow Growth in the Niagara Region of Ontario

During the 1970s it became clear that earlier forecasts of population increase and urban expansion in the Niagara region were too great. There has been a steady decline in the national birth rate since the 1950s and a decline locally in the rate of net in-migration. Moreover, a worsening economic climate, increasing development costs, and greater planning restrictions have led to a decline in the rate of land conversion from rural to urban uses. These changing circumstances afford an opportunity to plan for more compact urban areas and thus protect the area's valuable agricultural land. However, attempts to achieve these ends have been constantly frustrated by a regional and local planning process which has been loath to recognize such a conservationist cause or the need to plan for slower growth. In this report I will review three issues: the changing trends in future urban growth in the Niagara region; the regional plan and the designation of future urban areas; and the problems that have contributed to conflict and delay in approving that plan.     

Regional development processes and policies in Australia: a review of research 1990–2002

This article offers a selective review of Australian research on regional development. The themes reviewed include divergence and convergence, resource dependent regional growth, the spatial centralization of the economy, spatial divisions, the social construction of regional identity and regional problems, differentiation between the capital cities and between rural areas, indigenous issues, the suburbanization versus centralization debate, the regional effects of economic reform, regional policy debates, and industry clusters. Australia illustrates regional development processes in a low population density, resource dependent, medium sized economy, managed by neo‐liberal economic policies and with limited government intervention in regional policy.     

Assessing Territorial Impacts of the EU Cohesion Policy: The Portuguese Case

This article examines the territorial impacts of the EU Cohesion Policy in Portugal, between 1990 and 2010, at the national level. To reach some conclusions, after a brief overview of the existing literature on territorial impact assessment (TIA) procedures, we present the main features of a proposed TIA technique, which we called TARGET_TIA, and applied to our study case. This analysis permitted us to go beyond the general scope of the EU Cohesion Policy evaluations, which concentrate mainly on the socioeconomic and environmental dimensions, by placing on evidence other key-territorial dimensions, such as Territorial Governance/Cooperation and Polycentricity. Findings indicate that, in general, the EU Cohesion Policy had positive territorial impacts in Portugal, namely by supporting the construction of absent and necessary physical infrastructures. However, the lack of spatial planning and strategic vision limited a more effective and efficient use of Cohesion Funds in Portugal.     

Contested Spaces? The Use of Place Concepts to Communicate Visions for Peri-Urban Areas

In Dutch planning, there has always been an important role for spatial concepts. Their role has arguably changed with the recent decentralization of planning to the regional and local level. At the national level, guiding concepts of a more procedural nature have replaced the more substantive and place-based spatial concepts, leaving more room for regional and local interpretation. At the regional and local level, spatial concepts are still in use, but this seems to be in a more communicative, negotiating and developing role than before. In this paper, we analyse how place concepts are used to exercise power, mobilize recourses and frame meaning over the use of the peri-urban areas, in the changing Dutch planning context. This paper focuses on two competing place concepts for overlapping green urban fringe areas in The Hague Region, which have been promoted by different actor constellations and which represent different visions about the meaning of these peri-urban areas. The case study allows conclusions about the changing role of spatial concepts in Dutch spatial planning.     

区域服务业空间分层发展演变研究——以浙江省服务业发展为例

当前加强服务业空间布局演变研究,对于优化工业经济发展、促进经济转型具有较大指导意义。本文在总结其它学者关于服务业空间发展演变的基础上,以浙江省服务业发展情况为例,通过数据分析,阐述服务业的分类、内在发展演变机制等。总结得出浙江省服务业在三个层面的空间布局演变特征,一是在区域内与区域外,形成了区域服务业的引进、替代与走出去格局;二是区域内发达与欠发达地区,形成了区域内服务业的空间差异与优势互补发展格局;三是在城里与城外,形成了服务业在城区、城郊及与农村的分工格局。     

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。     

地域尺度重组下的我国城市与区域规划体系改革

中国传统的空间发展单元正在经历前所未有的地域尺度重组和经济社会重构过程,尺度运用已经成为我国调控空间发展的重要治理手段。本文基于尺度与尺度重组理论,梳理了我国国家治理的新型空间尺度,归纳了我国城市与区域规划体系的现状及其对新型空间尺度的适应性。在此基础上提出,适应尺度重组及尺度重组下国家空间治理重塑的新要求,必须尝试对我国城市与区域规划体系进行改革,整合区域空间规划体系,进一步完善都市区发展与建设规划,善用新区、试验区等的规划,并以治理理念引导规划思维的转变。     

基于"以人为本"生态区域基质的城市规划空间结构

通过城市规划空间结构历史演化过程分析,我国经历了从农业区域基质到工业区域基质的五次城市规划空间结构演化更替的过程,且每次规划空间结构更替都有特定的社会经济历史背景。我国带着不同社会经济体制所遗留的各种痕迹和烙印,迈入了以市场经济、经济全球化、区域经济集团化为宏观背景的信息化社会,且我国还处于工业化、城市化的中期。面对新世纪的发展环境,并结合我国国情,提出了基于“以人为本”生态区域基质的以生态经济区为单位来组织现代城市规划空间结构体系的基本思想,并构建了我国现代城市空间结构体系的基本框架。     

Effects of commune-internal migration in Finland on the spatial distribution of population and on dwelling house utilization

"The article is based on a programme of research which has been pursued for some years with the purpose of describing the extent and spatial orientation of commune-internal migration [in Finland], a topic about which very little has previously been known, relating this form of migration to total population movement and to dwelling house requirements and utilization. The analysis yields information on the dynamics of population changes occurring in areas on the margins of permanent settlement, while at the same time taking into consideration the effects of regional and in particular housing policy decisions upon the spatial distribution of population."     

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.     

基础设施建设水平与城乡生态经济系统发展的耦合分析——安康地区的实例研究

基础设施是一个多因素多层次的动态系统,随服务对象的不同,基础设施具有不同的概念和内涵。城市和乡村,都是在特定的自然环境基础上经过持续的文化、经济建设,而形成的社会、经济、自然复合生态系统。本文通过构建耦合关系分析模型,研究了两者之间的相互作用机理。     

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.     

中国区域发展战略演变与驱动因素研究

本文利用五年计划或规划资料分析中国区域发展战略的动态演变过程,并运用内容分析法和政策工具框架进行实证检验,在此基础上从空间效率和空间公平的角度分别进行政治、经济、社会、文化和生态层面的主导驱动因素分析。研究结果表明,中国区域发展战略经历了平衡发展、优先发展和协调发展三个发展阶段,不同阶段促进区域发展战略演变的动因存在差异:平衡发展阶段考虑巩固国防、开发资源、改善交通、建立现代化工业体系和提高内陆地区人力资本;优先发展阶段考虑国家财政经济实力、治国理念、科技创新、经济效益和环境效益对比以及增强劳动力流动性;协调发展阶段考虑经济体制改革、环境治理、协调地方政府利益以及公共服务均等化。