Deconstructing Spatial Planning: Re-interpreting the Articulation of a New Ethos for English Local Planning

This article reviews recent debates about the emergence of “spatial planning” as a new ethos for English planning, suggesting that continued uncertainty around the term's use is partly caused by a failure to consider its emergence as the product of a contested political process. Drawing on an interpretive approach to policy analysis, the article goes on to show how this new organizing principle is a complex articulation of different and potentially contradictory reform impulses. The result is to destabilize the concept of spatial planning, showing how it has been constructed as an “empty signifier”, an unstable and tension-filled discursive stake in an ongoing politics of reform. Finally, it is argued that this has significant implications for the ways in which implementation success and failure should be understood and for analysis of planning reform initiatives and systems more widely.     

Putin's Russia: shaping a ‘grand strategy’?

Since the middle of the last decade the Russian leadership has conducted a strategic overhaul, publishing a cascade of new concepts, strategies and doctrines that attempt to frame plans in a long‐term horizon to 2020 and beyond. Following Vladimir Putin's re‐election in 2012, a series of presidential instructions and new plans have been published to update this overhaul. This article examines this commitment to strategic planning and whether it is tantamount to a grand strategy. The article explores the various understandings of Russian strategy in the existing literature, before sketching a definition of grand strategy. It suggests that Moscow has shaped a broad horizon and made some progress towards achieving the goals it has set out. But a grand strategy is more than formulating plans, it is also the coordination of relevant organizations and resources—‘conducting the orchestra’—to execute effectively the plans. The article thus concludes by exploring the difficulties Moscow faces: on the one hand, an evolving and competitive international context and, on the other, a domestic context burdened by a heavy inheritance from the USSR and contemporary Russian problems. Taken all together, these suggest that although Moscow is committed to strategic planning, a grand strategy remains a work in progress.     

Post‐communist Russia: a historic opportunity missed

This article analyses the nature of the current Russian system and its future trajectory. First, the continuity between the Yeltsin and Putin presidencies is made clear. The nature of the Russian system has, to a great extent, been influenced by Yeltsin, who strengthened demands not for independent institutions but for a new and more powerful authoritarian leadership. Putin has consolidated the system, based on personalized power. But despite signs of economic growth and outward stability there is evidence that the Russian system is unsustainable in the long‐term. The current system is based on a modification of the petro‐economy that reproduces the merger between power and business with the rentier class. Thus far, however, the model has not been able to solve social conflicts or stop the degradation of ‘human capital’. Nor is it likely to do so in the future.     

URBAN POLICY IN RUSSIA: A GEOGRAPHIC PERSPECTIVE

A senior Russian urban geographer describes current features of the Russian urban settlement system, recounts erroneous planning practices of the past, and prescribes changes for the improvement of settlement planning in the future. Of particular interest are tables, disaggregated to the economic regional level, showing spatial variations in the number of new cities registered over the period 1927–1989. In an interesting modification of conventional former Soviet thinking, a case is made in favor of such processes as polarization of space, agglomeration, spontaneous transformation of urban economic profiles, and place-based rather than norm-based planning.     

Urban shrinkage: an unspoken challenge of spatial planning in Russian small and medium-sized cities

Shrinkage since the collapse of state socialism has been evident in many Russian cities, especially in small and medium-sized (SMS) ones. The Russian state, de jure, has been promoting the idea of self-governance; thereby, urban municipalities ought to develop and adopt own planning decisions to cope with various challenges, including those related to depopulation. The current research focuses on planning responses to urban shrinkage. It aims at understanding how the phenomenon is conceptualized in the planning documents of Russian SMS cities and what solutions are proposed to cope with it in the conditions inherited from the Soviet times housing and infrastructural deficit. The empirical evidence for the analysis is drawn from over 70 SMS cities located in Central and Southern Russia. Results state that despite obvious and persisting urban shrinkage, most of the reviewed documents ignore or underestimate the phenomenon. Instead of suggesting flexible solutions, which would help overcome the shortage of urban infrastructure not aggravating shrinkages’ effects in the cityscape, long-term spatial plans are being developed with hope for future growth proposing measures that contribute to the intensification of urban sprawl and fragmentation.     

National Planning Systems Between Convergence and Incongruity: Implications for Cross-Border Cooperation from the German–Polish Perspective

Convergence of national planning systems in Europe has become an important issue in the context of transnational and cross-border planning, which in turn plays a key role in the policy of creating a cohesive European space. Converging trends concerning planning styles and structures may undoubtedly be detected and also include new European Union (EU) member countries. Yet, by a minute's inspection of the (long-established) German and of the (created in the run-up to EU membership) Polish planning system from a cross-border planning perspective, it becomes obvious that similar structures may not coincide with a similar idea of what spatial planning is about. As highlighted by two chosen examples—cross-border twin-city and metropolitan planning—this results in significant hindrances for planning cooperation in its own right. The article concludes that any convergence of planning systems—if it was to have a constructive impact on cross-border planning—needs to be based on the acceptance of joint planning standards, objectives and values.     

Measuring the performance of planning: the conformance of Italian landscape planning practices with the European Landscape Convention

The assessment of the performance of planning is debated. The evaluation of the conformance of a given national planning system with a set of principles is similarly received with critical and favourable remarks. A relevant case study consists of the conformance of European landscape planning practice with the principles of the European Landscape Convention (ELC). Italy incorporated in 2004 the principles of the ELC with the Code on Cultural Assets and Landscape (CL), which opened the way for new laws, tools, observatories and atlases. The aim of this article is to demonstrate the usefulness of an assessment exercise concerning the conformance with the ELC of planning practice in Italy. We scrutinize planning systems and tools established by peripheral administrations, according to a qualitative and comparative framework. We refine our analysis by focusing on 10 most recent cases and identifying critical issues in current landscape planning practice. The results are promising and show that landscape planning in Italy is increasingly in line with the ELC.     

Planning Control on the Northern European Periphery

From different pasts and currently different connections to EU, Latvia and Norway in the last few years have created new legal frameworks for their national planning systems and hence for planning control. This paper explores similarities and differences between these two planning control systems and related tendencies in the revision of planning legislation adopted in recent times. Methodologically, the study makes a distinction between acting organizational subjects and the rules of the game that affect their performance. Together with the planning organization, such formal institutional factors indicate modes of planning control as well as possibilities for creating coherence across planning hierarchies. The conclusion indicates similarities between the two systems, but also differences. These apply to some extent to organization, responsibilities and contents of planning control on regional and national levels and especially to their respective institutional approaches for creating consistency and symmetry in planning across local, regional and national levels. The recent legal revisions do not indicate any kind of tendency for convergence between these planning control systems. On the contrary, some of these changes reveal different approaches to modes of planning control.     

Soft power,Russia and the former Soviet states: a case study of Russian language and education in Armenia*

Abstract

As in human relations, attraction can be an influential force in international relations. A well-known tool in Western countries, in Russia ‘soft power’ has come into play mainly under Putin’s presidency in the 2000s. This paper focuses on language and education as sources generating ‘soft power’. It looks first on the institutional framework progressively established to attract and integrate culturally the former Soviet space. Second, it studies the evolution of the Russian language and education in Armenia. The findings suggest that even if the previous decline in the usage of Russian has been reversed, the monopoly once enjoyed by this language seems to be over. Russian is promoted in a multicultural environment – alongside English, French, German or Chinese – which reflects the new geopolitical reality. Multicultural landscape characterises also the Armenian higher education system.     

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.     

中国俄国史研究百年检视与思考

中俄交往始于蒙古西征和金帐汗国时代(1238-1480年),中国学人撰写俄国史自1878年刊印的鹭江奇迹人的《俄国志略》,到今天已经有整整140年的历史。中国的俄国史学科伴随民族命运、国家危机以及世界形势的变化而生,自诞生之日起即负有学人情怀、民族重任和学术职责三重使命。因此,俄国史学科在中国一直发挥着“知夷”和“盗火”的两大作用。中华人民共和国成立后,俄国史(包括苏联时期和俄罗斯联邦时期)研究获得了70年的巨大发展,主要成就有:1985年中国苏联东欧史研究会成立(1992年英文更名为中国俄罗斯东欧中亚史研究会),高等院校、社会科学院、党校、国家有关部委及党政机构纷纷设立俄国史或俄罗斯问题研究机构,建立了从历史学学士、俄国史硕士到俄国史博士的三级专业人才培养体系,俄国史和俄罗斯问题研究的专业期刊创立并连续出版,大量的俄国通史、中俄(中苏)关系史、专题著作、各类教科书、翻译著作(来自俄文、英法、法文、德文、波兰文等)出版,中国俄国史学者积极参与国际学术会议和国际合作研究,具有中国特色的中国“俄罗斯学”新学科正在建立过程中。     

The Potential Implications of the European Union Water Framework Directive on Domestic Planning Systems: A UK Case Study

The transformation of planning across Europe in recent years has been characterized by new processes at different spatial scales that reach across traditional boundaries. This Europeanization of planning processes is reflected in the emergence of cross-border initiatives, new spatial relationships and the enhancement of regional policy-making. In using the case of the UK this article analyses the possible ramifications of adopting the European Water Framework Directive (WFD). It is demonstrated that the WFD, despite its apparent focus on water regulation, is symptomatic of wider European Spatial Planning processes that are seeing a reshaping of attitudes, witnessing the emergence of new networks and challenging traditional sovereignties of planning.     

Ideology,Semiotics, and Clifford Geertz: Some Russian Reflections

This article, written by a Russian cultural historian, analyzes the concept of “ideology” in the work of Clifford Geertz and his role in understanding the figurative nature of ideology as a cultural system. The author compares Geertz's semiotic approach to culture with the semiotics of culture developed by Russian theorists, particularly Yuri Lotman, showing the convergence and divergence of the two different national traditions. This understanding of the nature and functions of ideology opens new possibilities for discussing the tortured relations of ideology and literature, showing the way fiction can affect the formation of ideological systems and influence practical politics. The analysis is illustrated by examples from Russian political life of the 1990s,when revolutionary changes demanded new sets of ideological metaphors that in their turn shaped the direction of events.     

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。     

Whose Permits? The Tenacity of Permissive Development Control in Flanders

This paper explains how a permissive planning permit system is embedded in Belgian/Flemish society and how this contributes to urban sprawl. We base our analysis on an institutionalist approach as developed in previous and current research and analyse the Flemish planning permit system since 1962 as one of different interacting planning systems, all (re)produced, maintained, transformed and struggled over by specific individual and collective actors and shaped by a range of institutional dynamics. The analysis shows how in the dynamics of the Flemish planning permit system, a general struggle between actors defending property-based private initiative and actors arguing for collective action in space is especially apparent. In this struggle, property ownership expressed through a permissive planning permit system and limited enforcement of regulations is seen to be predominant, especially in the 1960s, 1980s and 2000s. Changes in the 1990s, making the planning permit system more strict, have partly and momentarily challenged the institutional frame which structures the predominant planning permit practice, but left the logic of individual property largely untouched. Today, the Flemish planning permit system has again been reoriented towards the protection of private property, which hampers the capacity of government to implement a coherent spatial policy.     

Serbian Spatial Planning among Styles of Spatial Planning in Europe

The classification of spatial planning styles in Europe has been successively reviewed a few times. Most recently, it has been done in the framework of the European Spatial Planning Observatories Network (ESPON) 2.3.2 project dealing with the territorial governance. Based on national overviews for 29 European countries, this project uses the classification of spatial planning systems in four styles: comprehensive-integrated, regional-economic, land-use and urbanism. This study did not take into account the spatial planning system in Serbia since it is neither in the European Union nor a member of the ESPON similar to Norway and Switzerland. This article uses the form of national overviews elaborated for the ESPON project and puts Serbia in a comparative spatial planning perspective, classifying it between the comprehensive-integrated and land-use planning styles.     

Finnish Mosaic of Regional Innovation System—Assessment of Thematic Regional Innovation Platforms Based on Related Variety

The emphasis of Finnish innovation policy has very much been on promoting actions that can be labelled as science–technology–innovation mode of innovation, which is based on the production and use of codified scientific and technical knowledge. However, recent research has emphasized also the importance of more experienced-based mode of learning and innovation, which can be labelled as doing–using–interacting mode of innovation. This study is an attempt to shed light on the current development phase of Finnish innovation system facing the new paradigm. The Finnish innovation system is seen as a mosaic of regional innovation systems. The regional innovation systems are analysed through a developed framework including elements of theories of innovation systems and cluster theories as well as two recent national-level strategy documents. One of the main concepts of the study is related variety in regional innovation platforms. This study also aims at creating a pragmatic framework for describing related variety at the regional level by combining aspects from two theoretical frameworks. The empirical data were gathered in a series of workshops in all the Finnish regions during the year 2008. The result maps Finnish thematic regional innovation platforms fuelled by related variety.     

面临新城市贫困我国城市发展与规划的对策研究

文章论述了我国新城市贫困的基本特征及其对城市发展的影响,指出新城市贫困已经对我国城市的经济、社会、空间发展以及城市管理产生了前所未有的冲击,社会公平问题已经成为关系到我国城市持续健康发展的重大问题。面临新城市贫困的严峻现实,我国城市发展必须兼顾效率与公平,扩大就业应当是我国城市健康发展的重要保障,也是解决新城市贫困问题的最终手段;而城市规划必须关注城市的社会发展,以促进城市可持续发展为终极目标,要在城市规划的指导思想、方法、内容以及规划实施的管理上进行深入反思并作出相应改进。     

Imperial nationalism as the driver behind Russia's invasion of Ukraine

The roots of Russia's invasion of Ukraine are to be found in two areas. The first is the revival of Tsarist imperial nationalist and White Russian émigré nationalist denials of the existence of Ukraine and Ukrainians. Russian imperial nationalists believe the eastern Slavs constitute a pan Russian nation of Great Russians, Little Russians and White Russian branches of one Russian nation. The second is the cult of the Great Patriotic War and Joseph Stalin and the revival of Soviet era discourse on Ukrainian Nazis (i.e., nationalists). A Ukrainian nationalist in the Soviet Union and Vladimir Putin's Russia is any Ukrainian who seeks a future for his/her country outside the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Russian World and who upholds an ethnic Ukrainian (rather than a Little Russian) identity. The Russian World is the new core of the Eurasian Economic Union, Russian President Vladimir Putin's alternative to the EU's Eastern Partnership. In the contemporary domain, Ukrainian nationalists are Nazi's irrespective of their language preference or political beliefs and if they do not accept they are Little Russians. Putin's invasion goal of denazification is a genocidal goal to eradicate the ‘anti-Russia’ that has allegedly been nurtured by Ukrainian nationalists and the West.