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.     

Europe exposed: mapping the impacts of EU policies on spatial planning in the Netherlands

National laws, local traditions and practices largely define which spatial planning policies are pursued and how they are carried out. Still, like many other policy areas, an unmistakeable process of Europeanization is underway in planning. On the one hand, informal bottom-up Europeanization is occurring through the increasing interaction between scholars and practitioners and by the growing body of spatial information and analyses available at the European Union (EU) level. On the other hand, formal top-down Europeanization occurs when EU policies – competition, economic development, agriculture, nature protection, air quality, etc. – impact domestic spatial planning systems, policy and practice. In this study, we investigate this second kind of Europeanization, using the case of the Netherlands as an example. Specifically, we construct a map revealing the location of EU sectoral policy using six distinct impact types. We observed that many policies overlap and various inter-sectoral tensions (horizontal coordination) are present. The empirical analysis moreover revealed, in line with recent theoretical literature on multilevel governance, that domestic policies and practices, particularly at the national level, determine the way European policies affect planning. This finding has implications for all member states, but particularly those whose national planning is undergoing fundamental reform.     

The Annales de l’Industrie (1820–1827): A Technological Laboratory for the Industrial Modernization of France

In France, during the Restoration, various attempts at industrial modernization were made. One of these consisted in the circulation of technical ideas through industrial exhibitions and the technical press, the latter channel being represented by treatises, manuals, dictionaries and technological journals. One of the first of these journals was the Annales de l’industrie. This paper considers two aspects. First, the institutional environment: the French tradition of technological writing, the national industrial exhibitions, the legacy of the école centrale experiment, and the influence of the Parisian Royal Academic Society of Sciences. Second, an analysis of the contents of the journal is the occasion for a discussion of technological progress on the level of the traditional arts and crafts, the dominant mode of industrial production during the 1820s. Other themes discussed are the avoidance of scientific terminology, official innovation policy, Great Britain as the model to be emulated, and the tension between apprenticeship and modern technical education.     

Digital fixation: the law and economics of a fixed e-book price

Fifteen OECD countries, ten of which EU members, have regulation for fixing the price of printed books. At least eight of these have extended such regulation to e-books. This article investigates the cultural and economic arguments as well as the legal context concerning a fixed price for e-books and deals with the question of how the arguments for and against retail price maintenance for e-books should be weighted in the light of the evidence. It concludes that while the evidence in defence of a fixed price for printed books is slim at best, the case for a fixed price for e-books is weaker still while the legal acceptability within EU law is disputable. Against this background, introducing a fixed price for e-books is ill-advised.     

DEVELOPMENTS IN EQUID HARNESSING AND DRAUGHT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND HAN CHINA: INDEPENDENT OR INTERCONNECTED?

The interconnectedness of the ancient European, Eurasian and Chinese worlds is not doubted, but just what was exchanged and how the transmission of ideas took place is a question very much under investigation. This paper examines peculiarities of equid harnessing and draught across this vast area as a case in point to consider such issues as diffusion and independent invention, especially in relation to the emergence of single draught vehicles.     

清代外销油画《镇海楼》颜料的分析鉴别

为研究清代外销油画《镇海楼》颜料成分及颜料层状况,利用数码显微镜、傅立叶红外光谱、X射线荧光光谱并结合扫描电镜能谱技术对其进行观察和检测。研究表明,此幅清代油画中红色颜料分别为朱砂和赭石,蓝色颜料为普鲁士蓝,黄色颜料则为雄黄和铁黄,白色颜料为铅白。通过显微镜观察发现画中部分颜料层有开裂和局部剥落现象。本研究分析为中国清代油画的材料技法、保护修复及美术史研究提供了极具价值的信息。     

Cultural imbalances on a world scale 1

Andrea Ellmaier and Béla Rásky, ed. Veronika Ratzenböck, trans David Westacott and Susanne Watzek, Cultural Policy in Europe—European Cultural Policy? Nation‐State and Transnational Concepts Vol. 5 of Schriftenreihe der Österreichische Kulturdokumentation, Internationales Archiv fur Kulturanalysen, Vienna 1998