Good governance as a strategic choice in brownfield regeneration: Regional dynamics from the Czech Republic

Abstract

The application of principles of good governance in brownfield regeneration, for instance through improved transparency and participation of various groups of stakeholders, varies between regions and cities. In this article, we approach good governance as a strategic response of actors in the struggle for creating development opportunities on brownfield land. Good governance has been mostly seen as a normative consideration, but it is not clear why regions with lower development prospects would employ it more than better developed regions, as it recently happened in the Czech Republic. We assume that the public administration at the regional and municipal level plays an active role in devising strategies to attract investors for brownfield redevelopment. This process brings public administrations in interaction with each other and with investors, regulators and civil society groups within a society-wide brownfield redevelopment field. This field is an arena where all these different actors struggle for redeveloping their brownfield land. Regional and municipal administrations from developed regions stand to benefit from their higher economic growth potential and hence have a dominant position within the field. We identify the latter as the incumbents or "power-holders" of the national brownfield regeneration field. Less developed regions have lower attractiveness for brownfield redevelopment, which places them in a subordinate position in the field. They are so-called challengers that are likely to favour alternative strategies for their brownfields, going beyond mere economic attractiveness. By comparing differently developed regions and regional capitals in the Czech Republic, we show how some challengers use good governance, such as responsiveness, participation and transparency, as an alternative strategy to attract investors despite their economic predicament. For regional capitals, however, good governance is practiced both by highly developed and less developed cities. We draw evidence from interviews with key stakeholders and socioeconomic data at the regional and municipal level in the Czech Republic. In the conclusion, we show some of the identified limitations in good governance, such as obstacles to participation, responsiveness or transparency, and how they can be recognized and overcome.

The fate of socialist agricultural premises: To agricultural ‘brownfields’ and back again?

“…Therefore, redevelopment of structures within these long-term brownfields is not usually possible and demolitions remain as the only solution. On the other hand, a renewal of agricultural brownfields by means of demolitions usually makes the regeneration projects even more expensive, which makes such efforts even more difficult and challenging (Klusáček et al, 2018;Kunc et al, 2018;Limasset et al, 2018), especially for developmentally weak regions.…”

Uncovering Patterns of Location of Brownfields to Facilitate Their Regeneration: Some Remarks from the Czech Republic

“…The majority of brownfields are located in the Liberecky Region (29% of the total) and in the South Moravian Region (21% of the total); however, this is rather due to the very good and detailed work of managers of this regional database than a real picture of the distribution of brownfields in the Czech Republic. More on the problem of Czech brownfields databases can be found in the work of Klusacek et al [17]. The selection of seven NUTS 3 regions (out of 13 regions in total plus Prague as the capital city) has been influenced by our endeavor to study regions with a higher representation of countryside in their areas together with the good availability of data and availability of sets of brownfields.…”

Exploring Research Trends and Building a Multidisciplinary Framework Related to Brownfield: A Visual Analysis Using CiteSpace

“…Based on a questionnaire survey, Navratil et al [45] obtained residents' preferences for brownfield redevelopment and found that future brownfield uses such as culture/sport and children's parks are the most popular options. Klusáček et al [46] assumed that the public administration at the regional and municipal level plays an active role in devising strategies to attract investors for brownfield redevelopment.…”