Engaging with risk (or not): shared responsibility for biosecurity surveillance and the role of community gardens

Governance of risks to native flora and fauna and agriculture from disease and pests increasingly emphasises the importance of a ‘shared responsibility’ for biosecurity. Few studies, however, have examined factors that influence stakeholders' engagement with such risks and responsibilities, particularly in community, rather than agricultural, settings. In this paper, we focus on a group of stakeholders in a context of heightened regional biosecurity activity, in northern Queensland, Australia. We explore the role that community garden actors may or may not play in biosecurity surveillance. Through interviews with 16 community garden group leaders and local government representatives, we unpack external social factors that contributed to stakeholders' engagement, unengagement, or disengagement with and from biosecurity risks. These factors included institutional characteristics such as land tenure and the presence or absence of management policies and guidelines. However, we found that less formal institutional characteristics such as social networks played a greater role in shaping stakeholder engagement. Unengaged stakeholders were typically unaware of risks posed by plant pests and diseases and had limited network connections to relevant government agencies but expressed an interest in learning and participating in biosecurity surveillance networks. Disengaged stakeholders were more knowledgeable of biosecurity risks and had established network connections but expressed a low interest in or willingness to report a potential biosecurity threat. This case study provides insights into important social dimensions of governing risk among stakeholders and offers recommendations to improve stakeholder engagement within biosecurity surveillance networks.     

Competitiveness through integration in the European Union Strategy for the Alpine Region: a ‘balanced development’ approach

In the last 10 years, the European Union has devoted specific attention and resources to the establishment of macro-regional strategies, with the objective of joining together transnational areas to favour the effective and organized management of common challenges. In most macro-regions, however, the identification of strategies to increase competitiveness is a rather difficult task, given the extreme internal diversity in economic activities. Focusing on the youngest macro-regional strategy – EUSALP – this paper highlights the specific combinations of territorial growth assets that allow to overcome the inefficient use of local abundant strategic resources, in line with a ‘balanced development’ approach. The results, obtained on the basis of a database gathered at NUTS3 level, are useful to provide policy suggestions to support the competitiveness of EUSALP through synergies and complementarities, according to a cooperation networks perspective.     

Assessing stakeholders’ perspectives towards the conservation of the built heritage of Suakin,Sudan

The conservation of built heritage is recognized as a vehicle for sustaining local identity and a powerful instrument for urban regeneration. The problem of how to engage local culture in this process, however, has received comparatively little attention, despite the recognition of ‘stakeholders’ and the importance of their involvement. This research examines how collaboration between stakeholders might be established to conserve and thus help regenerate the historic and largely abandoned port town of Suakin. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with representatives of Suakin’s stakeholder groups and supported through archival analysis and observational studies. The intention was to explore the stakeholders’ views of the ‘conservation drivers’, ‘conservation practice’, and ‘conservation challenges and enablers’ affecting Suakin. The stakeholders’ response provides a preliminary status to the various perspectives concerning the conservation of Suakin’s built heritage. The findings identify a number of major issues impacting Suakin’s conservation and reveal a potential for implementing a comprehensive and inclusive conservation approach. The research establishes the case for further research to determine best methods to enable stakeholders to collaboratively address the issues impacting Suakin’s conservation. This approach to stakeholder involvement represents a new step towards the conservation of Suakin and a new contribution towards the conservation process.     

国外旅游利益相关者研究综述与启示

本文在搜集分析相关文献的基础上,较为系统地对国外相关研究进行了归纳和评述,指出其研究内容主要集中于旅游利益相关者的界定及分类;旅游规划、管理与营销中的利益相关者问题;旅游环境伦理与可持续发展中的利益相关者问题;社区旅游及其协作中的利益相关者问题等多个方面,大多采用实证研究方法。最后本文探讨了国外研究对国内研究的启示,期望能够对国内相关研究产生一定的借鉴意义。     

Children’s participation in research on sensitive topics: addressing concerns of decision-makers

ABSTRACT

Although there is general agreement about children’s engagement in social research, some researchers continue to experience challenges when seeking approval and support for children’s participation from a range of adult stakeholders, particularly when the research involves a sensitive topic. These challenges may reflect different perspectives, conflicting interests, needs or expectations. This paper explores factors that influence the decision-making of key stakeholder groups, including Human Research Ethics Committees, parents and organisational representatives. Building on the kind of objective, rational reasoning that underpins much ethical decision-making, the findings, from interviews with 42 participants across stakeholder groups, draw attention to influential issues grounded in perceptions of: the institution and researcher undertaking the research; the project itself; children’s characteristics and contexts. Collectively, such issues point to the critically important role of mutually respectful relationships between researchers and stakeholders as the basis for designing and implementing ethical research that gives close attention to stakeholder concerns.     

Knowledge bases and regional development: collaborations between higher education and cultural creative industries

This paper builds on the assumption that cooperation between higher education institutions (HEIs) and creative and cultural industries (CCIs) stimulates innovation and economic growth at the regional level. It further assumes that HEIs and CCIs hold different perspectives on their intention to cooperate with external actors and, thus, there is a need for joint arenas to develop and integrate knowledge and practices among stakeholders across academia and industry. With this rationale in mind, the paper’s main objective is to discuss how universities’ roles in the establishment and development of locally embedded CCIs change or evolve over time. Taking a process economics perspective and building on a case study from the South of Norway, two questions are addressed: (1) What are the barriers – structural and cognitive-cultural – hindering cooperation between HEIs and CCIs in Southern Norway? and (2) How can long-term win-win cooperative arrangements between HEIs and CCIs be enhanced? Different knowledge bases, combined with lack of knowledge and understanding of the other sector’s expertise or knowledge content, and thus the lack of common language, were found to be the biggest barriers that must be overcome to stimulate strategic cooperation between HEIs and CCIs in Southern Norway. The findings support the need for a diverse and flexible policy where target initiatives are adjusted to CCIs’ needs and academic departments’ fields of knowledge to decrease barriers to cooperation, with the ultimate aim of moving from a situation of ‘lock-in’ towards the creation of new innovative and valuable relationships.     

Between cooperation and competitive bargaining: the Council of Europe,local and regional networking,and the shaping of the European Community’s regional policies, 1970s–90s

Abstract:

In many ways, the Council of Europe paved the way for European Community (EC) action in local and regional affairs. It was the first European organisation to establish a conference of local and regional authorities in 1957, in which local actors and associations were represented and tried to influence the shaping of European regional policies. This article analyses the links between the Council of Europe and the EC in the development of regional policies from the 1970s to the 1990s by focusing on three transmission vectors: through institutional cooperation between the two European organisations; through competitive bargaining among local and regional groups; and through intensive lobbying at EC level. It argues that the transfer of ideas was not so much achieved through cooperation between the organisations’ experts or political committees but rather by means of transregional networking promoting the idea that local and regional authorities had to be associated with the elaboration and implementation of European regional policy. From 1988, these networks shifted their attention away from the Council of Europe towards the EC because of the possibility to receive direct funding from the European Commission.     

Threats to Common‐Pool Resources and the Importance of Forums: On the Emergence of Cooperation in CPR Problem Settings

This paper focuses on cooperation among organizations in a common‐pool resource (CPR) problem situation. Cooperation is particularly challenging in settings where resource degradation is produced by a variety of different sectors and parts of the population; and where the problem, as well as public responsibilities, transcend borders and jurisdictions. Focusing on transboundary water quality management in the Rhine catchment area, we ask: What drives two actors in a CPR problem situation to cooperate with each other? We argue that the degree of threat to a CPR is an important driver for collective action, and focus on actors’ exposure to and perception of a threat to a CPR. Furthermore, we rely on applications of the ecology of games framework (EGF), taking into account the larger institutional context of CPR management. This allows us to test whether actors’ participation in forums, such as regional and international water body associations, helps to overcome the CPR problem by further enhancing interactions among actors. Based on survey data and applying advanced network statistics (exponential random graph models [ERGM]), we conclude that although problem exposure is one factor that enhances joint cooperation, participation in forums plays an even bigger role for cooperation in a CPR problem setting. Our study contributes to research on cooperation in CPR problem settings, highlights the need to more systematically include the effects that CPR problems have on actors when analyzing CPR problem settings, and stresses the function of forums as triggers for cooperation in CPR problem situations.     

Eye to eye with the innovation paradox: why smart specialization is no simple solution to policy design

This paper revisits common, yet often untested assumptions on factors hampering the implementation – or even clear articulation – of regional innovation strategies. Based on a dedicated framework drawing on political science literature, it reflects on whether there are merit and promise in future higher-level attempts to promote a more strategic take on regional innovation policy. It investigates which relevant factors in local politics, policy and administrative facilitate or prevent the definition of clear priorities for action. Drawing on a Europe wide survey of stakeholders managing strategic processes, it finds that while a number of obstacles need to be overcome, these are regionally specific rather than attributable to restrictive national cultures. Furthermore, it demonstrates how stakeholder involvement bears different challenges at different levels.     

Innovation,knowledge and relations – on the role of clusters for firms’ innovativeness

ABSTRACT

For more than two decades, theories on regional clusters have inspired economic and structural policies at the European, national and regional levels. Based on the assumption that clusters generate innovation, policy-makers at all levels of governance have adopted instruments and mechanisms to stimulate, resource and sustain clusters. Despite the considerable attention paid to the clustering phenomenon, empirical evidence on to what extent firms’ innovation activities benefit from operating in clusters is scarce and inconclusive. This paper contributes to the micro-foundation of clustering effects by examining the characteristics and activities of cluster firms in relation to their innovativeness. Bridging innovation, management and cluster theories, it is argued that structural and relational embeddedness, relational capital and absorptive capacity influence clustered firms' innovativeness. Partial least-squares structural equation modelling of data from 104 firms in two software and information technology service sector clusters reveals that firms’ structural embeddedness (i.e. frequency of interactions) in clusters and external networks facilitates innovation cooperation. Firms’ absorptive capacity reinforces this positive effect of cluster-internal interactions on innovation cooperation. Results also suggest a substitution effect of trust as relational control mechanisms for formal control mechanisms within the cluster. However, the study finds no significant impact of firms’ innovation cooperation within the cluster (i.e. relational embeddedness) on their innovation success.     

Inter- and Transdisciplinarity in Urban-Environmental Research: A Subjective Inventory over Twenty Years

Abstract

The growing call for problem-oriented and practice-relevant research in the public and political debate has its origins in complex problems, for which society expects solutions. This call is echoed in parts of the science community and uses the key argument that complex real-world problems demand cooperation between science and society in terms of inter- and transdisciplinary research. Using the example of urban research at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, I sketch my experiences in developing scientific cooperation between researchers coming from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds and by stakeholder involvement. The target is to deepen mutual understanding of the scientific challenges and to provide system solutions adequate to the societal context. After over twenty years of facing the need for collaboration among a variety of social and natural scientists as well as with relevant stakeholders, and recognizing its advantages and limits, the topic of inter- and transdisciplinarity has, finally, become mainstream in environmental research.     

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.     

Stakeholder Involvement in the Design of U.S. Voluntary Environmental Programs: Does Sponsorship Matter?

Voluntary environmental programs (VEPs) promise to provide firms and facilities additional flexibility in managing their environmental affairs while increasing internal efficiencies and improving their public image. Although stakeholder input is thought to improve program development, little is known about the extent that stakeholders are involved in the VEP design process. Based on a survey of 61 program managers, this research distinguishes between the intensity and diversity of stakeholder involvement and uses these two concepts to assess VEP development relative to government, industry, and third-party sponsorship. Even in the absence of a mandate, all three sponsors include a variety of stakeholders in program design. Although there is evidence that collaborative relationships are developing between sponsors and a range of stakeholder groups, variations in the intensity of involvement among sponsors suggest that some stakeholders may have disproportionate levels of influence in the design of VEPs.     

European Corridors as Carriers of Dynamic Agglomeration Externalities?

Transport corridors are viewed as a promising way forward in European Union (EU) transport policy, assumed to contribute positively to regional economic development. However, the validity of this assumption is not evident. The aim of this paper is to empirically test whether agglomeration economies in European transport corridor regions are positively related to indicators of regional economic development compared to regions outside the scope of corridors. The results build on the notion that the type of agglomeration economy in combination with the structure of the economy matters for prospects of structural economic growth in different regions. In this way, the analysis not only contributes to enhancing the empirical scrutiny of the corridor concept in EU transport policy, but also provides new insights into how corridors contribute to regional economic growth. We find only limited evidence for a corridor effect across European regions on productivity and employment growth externalities. Instead, we find a large degree of spatial heterogeneity interacting with corridors—a heterogeneity that has been little recognized in EU policies. We suggest that recent attention to place-based development strategies may accord well with the kinds of agglomeration effects related to corridor development observed in this study.     

The European Union Higher Education Policy and the Stake of Regionalization

This paper attempts to explore the underlying nature and terms of Higher Education policy. Higher Education policy cannot be viewed outside the changing conditions of the state especially when the inquiry centres on Europe. In the European context, policy making, in order to be efficient, seems to be conducted on two levels, the supranational and the regional. This change in the structure of Higher Education policy making can be considered as an outcome of globalization and the current market economy. The EU's Higher Education policy may be expected to go beyond the national into the supranational level of cooperation with the launching of new initiatives resulting from the Bologna Process and the European Higher Education Area. These initiatives are reshaping the role and responsibilities of Higher Education Institutes towards society and the market. The new role that these institutes are called upon to play indicates a clear tendency towards dissemination and the growing need for cooperation at the regional level.     

Teaching critical thinking in world regional geography through stakeholder debate

Using a stakeholder debate based on a real-world case of regional construction – that of Turkey's application to join the European Union – improved students' critical thinking in an introductory world regional geography course. Such courses are a staple offering among US geography departments, and often the only exposure of non-majors to geographic thinking. A stakeholder debate highlighting regional construction, using structured learning activities and reflection on their own thinking, improved students' critical thinking. We describe the stakeholder debate and its revision after one semester, and provide data from assessment and thematic coding of students' reflection papers.     

European spatial planning reloaded: Considering EU enlargement in theory and practice

The territorial expansion of the European Union (EU) to the new central and eastern European member states raises difficult challenges for European spatial planning. In almost the same manner as structural policy, the conceptual side of European spatial planning has to acknowledge that with enlargement a quantum leap regarding its politics and policy is about to occur. While reflecting on discussions about EU's regional policy and spatial planning on the European level, and sketching a theoretical background, this paper proposes a new way of conceptualizing European spatial planning, taking central and eastern European spatial planning—perhaps as a new epistemic community—into consideration.     

Governance and cooperation in Euroregions: border tourism between Spain and Portugal

There are several obstacles to establish tourism governance policies in a border area and to improve the conceptualization of tourism in border territories transcending the transnational level, using territorial delimitation at Euroregional level. At borders, tourism usually works as a strategic policy tool to strengthen the regional image, shape common identity narratives and facilitate interactions, becoming these regions, nowadays, challenges for the actors of the territory, representing a priority area for the application of territorial development strategies at local level and at the level of the European Union itself. A qualitative analysis was based on performed semistructured interviews with key tourism stakeholders. From the interviewee? perspective, cooperation should be achieved through cooperation agreements between the business sector and economic agents to develop natural, cultural and heritage resources.     

隔离与融合:新疆喀纳斯景区旅游规划中的利益博弈

旅游规划是一个地区对于未来旅游业发展的一种项目计划和制度安排,因此,在旅游规划编制以及落实过程中会涉及到各相关利益方的博弈。在我国一些少数民族地区,未被工业化的社会形态和结构成为一种稀缺的吸引物,旅游业成为当地具有较强比较优势的经济产业。但在旅游开发规划中,当地居民的利益诉求往往被忽视。新疆喀纳斯旅游规划应用了居民区与旅游区相隔离的战略,在达到了功能分区的目的的同时也引起了相关利益方之间的利益博弈,引发了我们对于编制旅游规划的程序和实体改革方向的思考。     

Tourism and cross-border regional development: insights in European contexts

This paper aims to structurally analyse the role of tourism in regional development processes in European cross-border regions with different historical development paths. Departing from an institutional perspective, the research is based on comparison of the position of tourism in region-building processes in the newly developing German–Czech cross-border region and the more ‘mature’ German–Belgian borderlands. Results indicate that the development of local cross-border tourism projects is no guarantee for positive destination-wide regional development impacts. In some cases, these projects may even reinforce asymmetrical socio-economic development directions of neighbouring borderlands. Rather, the socio-spatially equitable distribution of tourism benefits in cross-border contexts depends on several process-based aspects. These include the presence of ‘thick’ (cross-border) institutional arrangements, multi-scalar representation of tourism stakeholders in decision-making processes and a transversal position of tourism in regional development strategies. However, both with cross-border institutional ‘under-mobilization’ (Germany–Czech Republic) and with institutional ‘over-mobilization’ (Germany–Belgium), the informal network position of institutional brokers proved key for safeguarding the integrative character of tourism in the inevitably complex cross-border region-building process.