Institutional Influences on the Integration of Multilevel Governance and Spatial Policy in European City-Regions

Abstract

Spatial policies for the city-regions of Europe have to be formulated in increasingly complex conditions. These conditions are outlined in the first part of the article. It is argued that the key for a successful policy response is in the organization of connectivity between the domains of the private sector, the internal regional policies, and the transregional policies. However, city-regions exist within different institutional settings, and organizing connectivity has to adapt to such differences. The article constructs a typology of these varied institutional settings based on research of nineteen European city-regions. Each type of institutional framework has its particular risks and opportunities, and these need to be taken into account in generating the appropriate form of informal planning strategy and maximum connectivity.

De planologie van mobiliteit

“…Er zijn twee essentiële kenmerken die steden aantrekkelijk maken en vitaal houden (Jacobs, 1961;Lynch, 1980;Salet, 1996). Het eerste is een grote variëteit aan mensen, bedrijven en activiteiten.…”

“…Het komt voort uit het feit dat de actieruimtes van mobiele huishoudens en bedrijven niet gebonden zijn aan eenduidige territoriale grenzen, terwijl dat voor beleidsarena's meestal wel het geval is (Brenner, 2004;Healey, 2007;Salet en Thornley, 2007). In Nederland is dit het meest evident in stedelijke regio's.…”

“…Met veel fundamenteel onderzoek en beleidsexperimenten wordt thans geprobeerd het concept verder te articuleren (bv. Salet en Thornley, 2007). Vanuit het perspectief van een mobiele stedelijke samenleving, moet het in ieder geval makkelijker gemaakt worden om ruimtelijk en mobiliteitsbeleid op elkaar af te stemmen.…”

The suburban question: grassroots politics and place making in Spanish suburbs

“…This fact has been considered positive in the sense that institutional complexity is reduced, and the regional government -a strong institutiontakes the functions of an actual metropolitan government (Lefèvre, 2003;Salet and Thornley, 2007). Therefore, Madrid has been presented as an example of unitary metropolitan governance where the functional urban region and the administrative region practically coincide and where the existing local governments are very weak (Salet and Thornley, 2007). However, the functional urban region of Madrid has grown significantly and has meant that the number of administrations involved in its governance and the need for coordination among different tiers and different sectors has significantly increased (Lefèvre, 2003;Valenzuela (2010).…”

The political governance of urban peripheries

“…Governments thus try to assume proactive behaviors in the redevelopment of sectors considered strategic for regional and national economies. In many cases, however, intergovernmental partnerships are difficult to arrange around the issue of peripheral development (Salet and Thornley, 2007). Although peripheries provide larger (and possibly cheaper) spaces for new development, they are also vulnerable spaces where rent-seeking strategies can be more aggressive and planning issues of environmental protection, resilience, and sustainable architecture are not self-evidently addressed.…”