The issue of decentralization in the postsocialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) has faded from the research agenda since the democratic transition and EU accession. Conventionally presented as a global policy goal for supporting local democracy, improved governance and reduced regional inequalities, decentralization has been met with uncertain results in less developed regions. EU Regional Policy, initially supporting decentralization and related regionalization processes in CEE, has met challenges in lagging regions facing institutional legacies and capacity limitations. Perceived failures of decentralization point to a trend of re-centralization of regional policy in CEE countries, on the part of both national and EU levels, potentially exacerbating the trend of increasing regional polarization within countries. The cases of Estonia and Hungary illustrate these tendencies, drawing attention to national responses and the need for a continued dialogue on institutional development and EU Regional Policy reform in order to better target regional inequalities.
Cohesion Policy has provided new impulses for development in Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) that continue to be challenged by regional disparities. This paper investigates the effects of the European Union Cohesion Policy on regional development. After presenting historical development patterns of the investigated area and opportunities afforded by this policy, its effects on a variety of indicators are analysed for the period 2007–2014. The analysis allowed confirming positive effects of EU Cohesion Policy on the development of CEE regions. However, these effects differ across the investigated area. Moving forward, it will be crucial to develop institutions and policies characteristic to each region that are stable and efficient without external funds.
The Positive Energy District (PED) concept is a localized city and district level response to the challenges of greenhouse gas emission reduction and energy transition. With the Strategic Energy Transition (SET) Plan aiming to establish 100 PEDs by 2025 in Europe, a number of PED projects are emerging in the EU member states. While the energy transition is mainly focusing on technical innovations, social innovation is crucial to guarantee the uptake and deployment of PEDs in the built environment. We set the spotlight on Norway, which, to date, has three PED projects encompassing 12 PED demo sites in planning and early implementation stages, from which we extract approaches for social innovations and discuss how these learnings can contribute to further PED planning and implementation. We describe the respective approaches and learnings for social innovation of the three PED projects, ZEN, +CityxChange and syn.ikia, in a multiple case study approach. Through the comparison of these projects, we start to identify social innovation approaches with different scopes regarding citizen involvement, stakeholder interaction and capacity building. These insights are also expected to contribute to further planning and design of PED projects within local and regional networks (PEDs in Nordic countries) and contribute to international PED concept development.
Ongoing urban densification in Nordic regions raises sustainability trade-offs related to compactness, land use and urban green space. In Norway, green spaces comprising both natural and agricultural areas are highly valued cultural landscapes protected by the status of ‘green structure’. Yet, neoliberal development forces put pressure on urban green spaces, potentially exacerbating social inequalities and challenging governance structures formally oriented towards sustainability. In the case of Trondheim, Norway, competing priorities under development pressures unfold in the upholding of urban green space strategies and public values between core and periphery areas. Based on interviews, popular media and policy analysis, this contribution uses the multi-actor perspective to compare two current cases of urban development in green areas in terms of shifting public discourses. The first covers development in the urban fringe, where land reserved for agricultural use succumbs to suburban development pressure. The second turns to development in urban green space at the central university campus, used by the public for parkland and recreation, which bowed to public pressure. The examples point to differing values regarding urban green space in core versus periphery areas that materialise in public opposition, triggering debate and institutional review. Compared to state and market sectors, the community sector is shown to be underrepresented in the processes shaping the development proposals, while citizen engagement is a determining factor in shifting public discourse. Results show the need for collaborative governance structures across sectors, using intermediaries, to support a deeper understanding and integration of multiple perspectives in the shaping and negotiation of local sustainability discourses.
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