Gateway 4 STRATEGIC SPATIAL PLANNING FACING THE CRISIS: RETHINKING LOCAL DEVELOPMENT THROUGH EXPERIMENTATIONS OF STRATEGIC VISIONING IN SPLIT CROATIA Natasa Avlijas, Università degli Studi Roma Tre, Italy, Dino Bori and Valeria Monno, Politecnico di Bari, Italy Croatia is a country which is facing the challenges and uncertainties embedded in a complex and difficult transition process towards a market economy. In this country, which is still plagued by a high unemployment rate and low competitive capacity in international markets, the formulation of local economic development strategies is considered a fundamental step to overcome the social-economic crisis. The national law on Local and Regional Self-government, which was passed in April 2001 together with some other changes in the legal framework, was considered a first important step towards the achievement of this goal. By approving this law, the Croatian Government recognized that effective local development starts from the “bottom-up”. But, notwithstanding this, in many Counties, which are the administrative units responsible for local development, the formulation and implementation of a local development strategy, intended as an effort aimed at producing a “plan”, has proved difficult if not completely unsuccessful. This is the case of Splitsko-Dalmatinska zupanija whose centre is Split, the second most important city in Croatia. Difficulties in formulating a shared local development strategy depend on different but interwoven reasons. Although in this county local development is considered the only way to escape a lasting economic crisis, the rise of an intense competition between cities and municipalities, due to the absence of any national reliable policy aimed at boosting the growth of small and medium enterprises, paralyses any local development strategic policymaking effort. In fact, although cities and municipalities are not formally involved in the process of strategic policymaking, they are stronger than county in terms of both financial and human resources and thus they do not hesitate to go against the county in order to have a say in any decision arenas and get funds for their own development.

At the same time, the dominant “western” conception of local development permeating the search for a shared strategy, which presupposes the existence of well established and transparent rules of interactions, clashes with a reality characterized by the flourishing of invisible, “grey” networks of power in which actors are not clearly recognisable and the rules of the game are not transparent. These networks, sustaining a “wild” economy based on real estate speculation, not only exploit local environmental resources, but they also undermine any innovative attempts aimed at building social capital. In a context in which old social practices and local/global cultural patterns of development are in “a constant state of negotiated flux” and new actors and rules of interaction are generated in the formal and every day life practices, strategic planning, as an activity aimed at producing a “plan”, inevitably fails to intercept and favour the emergence of “locally” based development projects and opportunities as they emerge in self organising every day life practices. Basing our arguments on an experiment of strategic visioning that we carried out in Split, in this paper we argue for the need to rethink strategic planning as a continuous and creative process based on an enlarged conception of participation and aimed at producing multiple and possible alternative futures of “local” development. In fact, as our experimentation reveals, strategic visioning exercises, if intended as in-depth explorations into strategic critical issues and prospective changes, can enable and encourage people to generate new knowledge and, above all, new “locally” based development “scenarios”. These scenarios, allowing people to assess present and future development paths represent a base to counter “grey” networks of powers as well as to transform latent conflicts and divisions into cooperation. Thus, in fragmented and complex environments, strategic planning intended as continuous knowledge generation process might be a way to reconstruct social relations which are so needed to trigger innovative “local” development paths. But, in this processes an enlarged conception of knowledge generation is required: one in which knowledge generation is considered as an open and an ongoing everyday practice which cannot be anymore exclusively associated to events organised to produce a shared plan, nor as an activity carried out by few people which meet in some decision arena.

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URBAN POLICY AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES IN THE TRANSITITON ROMANIA Prof.dr. Jozsef Benedek, University of Babes-Bolyai, Romania The main goal of this paper is to offer an analysis about the urban development strategies in Romania. The focus will be on the transition period (after 1989). Although we cannot abstract the outcomes of the urban strategies from the previous period, when the communist state regulation had full control on the urban policy. Urbanisation was the main goal of communist developments based on the idea of modernisation of the society. Therefore we will offer a brief overview of the communist urban planning strategies. It has been resulted an unbalanced urban hierarchy dominated by the capital city of Bucharest and with a weak level of small cities both in terms of functions and infrastructure. The change of the political system in 1989 has established a new environment for the urban system in Romania, marked by the EU and NATO integration process, by the further globalisation of the Romanian economy, privatisation and liberalisation of the urban land- and housing market, decentralisation and growth of the weight and importance of local level. Under this circumstances a new urban development strategy has evolved based on the following elements: a) development of a polycentric and balanced urban system, diminishing the overwhelming role of Bucharest and reinforcing the second level of urban centres and the level of small cities; b) a new urbanisation wave has started in 2002, where the main aim is the declaration of new towns. It relies on the fact, that in 1997 the dominant internal migration form became the urban-rural migration, without precedent in the modern history of Romania and therefore the urban population of the country is declining. As result the urbanisation level of the EU candidate country Romania is well behind the EU level (52%), a situation which should be mastered by the new strategy of urbanisation. THE EVOLUTION OF E-COMMERCE STRATEGIES IN DUTCH RETAILING: DOES GEOGRAPHY MATTER? Ron A. Boschma and Jesse W. J. Weltevreden, Utrecht University, The Netherlands Until recently, evolutionary economics paid little attention to geographical issues (Boschma and Lambooy, 1999). Basically, evolutionary economics is a theory of economic change, which focuses on

the (limited) capability of firms to develop and implement new organisational routines. Applying evolutionary thinking to the field of economic geography, key questions are: where do new organisational routines arise, how do they diffuse in space over time, and does geographical proximity, controlling for other factors, affect the diffusion process. In this paper, we analyse from an evolutionary perspective how retailers respond and adapt to b2c e-commerce, and to what extent geography plays a role (Leinbach et al., 2001). On the one hand, Internet retailing can be regarded as a potentially disruptive innovation (Burt and Sparks, 2003). It can make business models obsolete (e.g., substituting in-store shopping), it provides the possibility of an alternative distribution channel, it can diminish the relevance of geography (e.g., physical proximity between retailer and consumer is no longer required) (Cairncross, 2001), and it may dramatically change the composition and nature of retail sectors in cities. On the other hand, there are constraining forces that may dampen the effects of b2c e-commerce. Evolutionary economics, building on notions like bounded rationality, heterogeneous agents and selection, is well equipped to address this research challenge. Routines and habits can explain why retailers and consumers may be rather reluctant in exploiting this new channel of commerce. Since behaviour of economic agents is routinised, their responses to external change are neither optimal, nor will they be the same for all firms. Although firms can learn from their mistakes and from other firms, organisational change in general, and imitation of successful strategies in particular, are often hard to realize, due to cognitive constraints and firm-specific routines. From such an evolutionary point of view, we expect no dominant design, but, instead, a whole variety of e-commerce strategies among retailers. In our research, we distinguish between eight Internet strategies, ranging from small to large disruptions for retailers’ physical channel(s). In other words, we account for multi-channel strategies in which the Internet is used by retailers as a complementary channel to a varying degree. Building on evolutionary theory, our objective is to assess which factors contributed most to the choice of a particular strategy. As such, we aim to analyse the diversity of behaviour of retailers with respect to the adoption of e-commerce, how different behavioural patterns evolve over time (through selection and innovation/imitation), and how these are affected by enabling and constraining structures

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at the individual level (routines, habits), the locational level (e.g. does geographical proximity promote inter-organisational learning) and the network level (such as social networks). To address these matters, a telephone survey among 2,462 independent and multiple retailers with one or more outlets in eight city centres in the Netherlands has been conducted from May till August 2004. A total of 929 retailers participated in our research, meaning a response of 38 percent. Goodness-of-fit tests show that our sample is a good equivalent of the total population of retailers in the eight city centres at a detailed sectoral level. We employ logistic regression techniques to determine which factors (i.e., firm- and sector-specific features, geography and networks) had an impact on the selection of particular types of strategy. In addition, our database enables us to relate their effects to performance indicators at the firm level, such as the current development of turnover, number of customers, and the competitiveness of firms, as well as future expectations concerning these matters. Since we are currently analysing the data, it is too early to draw conclusions. The following independent variables have been included in our estimation models. To begin with, we account for the impact of routines at the level of the firm and the entrepreneur, in order to explain their response to b2c e-commerce. We expect that retailers expand their strategy only in small steps, resulting in the (hesistant) recombination or integration of the old (offline) and the new (online), or what Schumpeter called ‘neue kombinationen’: it takes time to gain experience and to incorporate a new Internet strategy in existing sets of routines. To account for the impact of firm-specific and sector-specific features on the adoption of Internet strategies, we have included variables like the age of the company, the type of firm (e.g., small independent retailers versus retail chains), the age and Internet experience of the entrepreneur, the type of strategy employed in the past, the type of products sold (e.g., ‘low-touch’ versus ‘high-touch’ products), etc. (Wrigley & Lowe, 2002). Retailers not just learn from their own experience. They may also do so from their local environment. From an evolutionary perspective, we expect that Internet strategies of retailers will converge within a city, but not necessarily between cities. This is because of three reasons. First, close proximity of retailers facilitates learning and imitation of (successful) Internet strategies: knowledge spillovers often tend to be geographically localized.

Second, proximity may also mean intense local rivalry, which puts high pressures on retailers to follow and imitate new strategies of successful local competitors without delay (Malmberg and Maskell, 2002). This is especially true for inner cities where the selection environment is quite harsh, due to, e.g., high rental prices. Third, local demand in some cities may be more demanding (i.e., more open-minded towards e-commerce). In such circumstances, local retailers are not only pushed to be more innovative, they also benefit and learn from customers’ reactions (Witt, 2001). Our database contains data (such as the address of each retailer, and the intensity of (local) competition) that can account for the effects of local knowledge spillovers and local rivalry. When assessing the impact of local demand, we make use of another database collected by the authors, which provides detailed information on e-shopping behaviour of consumers in the eight inner cities. Besides their local environment, retailers may also learn from their own networks that may, or may not, extend the boundaries of their city. To account for the impact of network relations on the adoption of Internet strategies, we have measured the importance of relationships with external agents (e.g., for acquiring knowledge required for installing, processing and managing their website), the nature of the external relationships (e.g. based on pure market relations or social networks), etc. In sum, this study sheds light on the relevance of applying evolutionary theory to empirical research in the field of economic geography. Among other things, it demonstrates that geographical issues should be incorporated when explaining the evolution of new organisational routines, as the adoption of new Internet strategies in the Dutch retailing sector shows. Geography matters indeed, and should, therefore, be taken seriously in applied evolutionary economic research. References Boschma, R.A. & J.G. Lambooy (1999). Evolutionary Economics and EconomicGeography. Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 9, pp. 411-429 Burt, S. & W. Sparks (2003). E-commerce and the Retail Process: A Review. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 10, pp. 275-286. Cairncross, F. (2001). The Death of Distance 2.0: How the Communications Revolution Will Change our Lives. New York, Texere. Malmberg, A. and P. Maskell (2002). The elusive concept of localisation economies.

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Towards a knowledge-based theory of spatial clustering, Environment and Planning A, 34, pp. 429-449. Leinbach, T.R. & S.D. Brunn, Eds. (2001). Worlds of E-Commerce: Economic, Geographical and Social Dimensions. Chichester, John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Witt, U. (2001), Economic growth- What happens on the demand side? Introduction. Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 11, pp. 1-5. Wrigley, N. & M. Lowe (2002). Reading Retail: A Geographical Perspective on Retailing and Consumption Spaces. London, Edward Arnold. THE SPATIALISATION OF UNEVEN DEVELOPMENT IN STRATEGIC PLANNING: AN ANALYSIS OF SPATIAL POLICY IDEAS AND STATE RESCALING IN SOUTH YORKSHIRE Gordon Dabinett, University of Sheffield, England Uneven spatial development has been regarded as a legitimate concern of governments for a considerable period of time. Most commonly this is expressed through policies that have an explicit or implicit objective to influence the distribution of economic development or growth. For example, any major imbalance in the regional distribution of wealth creation and retention is commonly perceived to potentially pose threats to economic, social and political stability. It is also argued that wider ‘national’ or ‘European’ interests underpin the aims of such measures. However, the expression of common territorial interests has become increasingly contested within emergent multi-level governance behaviours and the construction of new roles for cities and regions in a globalised knowledge economy. Furthermore, strong normative views on spatial policy and planning have emerged where strategies are seen to not only provide frameworks to justify investment but also to promote new forms of regulation and governance. In this view, a spatial strategy typically articulates organising ideas and principles that have a capacity to influence and structure the actions of agencies, and become seen to be as much about social processes, institutional design and mobilisation, as the creation of wealth and jobs. This paper seeks to explore the relationship between policies designed to address uneven spatial development and changes in spatial governance within a specific territory, the South Yorkshire sub-region in the UK. The paper reflects on practices in

the region since 1997, a period in which strategic planning has been shaped by the establishment of a regional development agency and introduction of a regional economic strategy for the Yorkshire & Humber region; proposals for an elected regional assembly and the production of a regional spatial strategy; the sub-regional delivery of EU Structural Funds; and the promotion of the ‘city-region’ in urban boosterist activities of the ‘Core Cities’ and ‘Northern Way’ campaigns. The paper develops an analytical framework based on current explanations of changes in spatial governance and regional development, and applies this to examine the rhetoric and ideas about uneven spatial development within strategic spatial planning in the study region. Critically it seeks to examine how uneven development is ‘spatialised’ within these ideas and policies and to assess these formulations within varied notions of spatial justice. ‘LET’S PLAY DOCTORS OF SPACE’: STRATEGIC SPATIAL PLANNING AS SPATIAL PLAY Richard Ek, Lund University, Sweden The ‘comeback’ of strategic spatial planning in Europe and elsewhere makes it urgent to deconstruct and analyse how spatial planners and policy makers do strategic spatial planning (strategic spatial planning as a verb, as performance), using specific spatial knowledge/power resources. In this paper, the first step towards a conceptual framework for the study of doing strategic spatial planning as spatial play is presented. The conceptual framework is built on the following theoretical sources: literature on performance, different disciplinary perspectives on play, Louis Marin’s account on utopia as spatial play and Jean Hillier’s recent work on planning fantasies. Special focus will be on what seems to be a crucial element in doing strategic spatial planning: the spatialisation of ideas. IN SEARCH OF SPATIAL SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: A CRITICAL REVIEW OF STRATEGIC SPATIAL PLANNING POLICY AND EMERGING SETTLEMENT TRENDS IN THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND Menelaos Gkartzios, Declan Redmond and Mark Scott, University College Dublin, Ireland Recent years have witnessed unprecedented interest in Europe in the formulation of spatial strategies for territorial development, undoubtedly influenced by

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the completion of the European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP) in 1999. The ESDP has proved a pivotal document in shaping policy action throughout Europe as its key concepts and policy themes are increasingly translated and applied into individual member state’s national and regional policies and strategies. Within this context, this paper aims to explore the formulation of a national framework for spatial development in the Republic of Ireland, and in particular to examine the preference given to balanced regional and spatial development. In December 2002, Ireland’s Department of Environment and Local Government (DOELG) formally published the National Spatial Strategy (NSS) 2002-2020, which is intended to provide for the first time, an explicit national framework for dealing with spatial issues. ESDP promoted concepts have been instrumental in providing a new vocabulary in Irish planning discourse, particularly given the lack of tradition in regional and spatial planning in the state, and have enabled spatial planning frameworks to embrace a wider agenda than regulatory approaches to land-use management in an attempt to secure integrated policy delivery and more effective linkages between strategic and local planning. The success of the Irish economy during the 1990s has been well-documented and indeed provides an inviting model for new EU accession countries in Eastern Europe, keen to emulate Ireland’s success in achieving rapid economic convergence with the EU average. However, much less international attention has been given to the impact of economic growth on regional and urban patterns of development. Balanced spatial development and sustainable development are at the core of the Irish spatial strategy, with a policy prescription which favours strengthening the State’s urban structure, counter-balancing the growth of the capital city (Dublin), reducing dependency on car travel and encouraging sustainable modes of transport, integrating land-use planning and transportation policy; encouraging efficient settlement patterns that minimise land-take and urban sprawl; and increasing urban densities and brownfield development. However, in contrast to this policy direction, evidence suggests that the emerging geography of Ireland displays distinctly unsustainable characteristics, such as urban sprawl and metropolitan decentralisation, persistent urban-generated rural housing, and increased traffic congestion. In particular, there is strong evidence to suggest that Dublin is becoming a ‘dispersed city’ with all the subsequent environmental problems of

urban sprawl, including the increased spatial separation of most daily activities, longer commuting distances and increased dependency on the private car, the loss of rural character and amenities in the surrounding countryside, and the related environmental pollution. For example, the population of two local authorities in Dublin’s hinterland, Kildare and Meath, between 1996 and 2002 increased by 21.4 per cent and 22.1 per cent respectively, while Dublin city itself experienced a significantly less rapid increase of 6.1 per cent over the same period. Furthermore, some towns within commuting distances to Dublin showed a marginal decrease in population, while nearby rural areas experienced a plethora of new residential developments. This paper will primarily explore recent changes in population growth and distribution, and the housing markets of city regions. In this context, the paper will also examine the effectiveness of a suite of policy initiatives to implement the national spatial framework’s goals. These include both explicit spatial policies, such as planning guidelines and regional planning guidelines, and sectoral policies with a spatial impact, including the civil service decentralisation programme, housing affordability initiatives and transport. THE VISION OF THE EUROPEAN CITY, FROM OSWALD SPENGLER TO COM (2004) 60 Michael Hebbert, University of Manchester, England In the summer of 2005 the European Commission proposes to adopt a thematic strategy for the urban environment – out for discussion as document CEC COM (2004) 60 – as a line of action within the Sixth Environmental Action Plan. The ancestry of the strategy is traced to the polemical Green Paper on the Urban Environment issued by DGXI in 1990. The genesis of that paper is reconstructed from interviews with the two men who write it. I set René Schoonbrodt’s contribution to the Green Paper in the context of his own philosophical writings about the European City, which echo Hannah Arendt in their emphasis on the political importance of the street as a public realm. The paper also positions him and the Green Paper in the contested landscape of ideas about European architecture and urbanism, showing how links to the neotraditionalists Maurice Culot and Léon Krier have been of less significance then the wider stimulus to street-based, pedestrian-friendly, morphologically informed urbanism. This forward-looking design tendency, unlike its

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conservatively-inclined North American counterpart, adds the missing dimensions of physical space to the optimistic Neo-Weberian contributions which Arnaldo Bagnasco and Patrick Le Galès have bought to the European city literature. Wrapping these contemporary analyses together, the prognosis for the future of the European city – as sustainable design type, field of collective action, and crucible of economic innovation – is contrasted with the pessimistic early 20C analysis of Max Weber and Oswald Spengler, who believed that the European city had only a past. An earlier draft of this paper is being given as the keynote address to the meeting “Urban Elites”, the 6th Congress of Finnish Historical Association, February 19th 2005. BACK TO THE FUTURE – EMERGENT STRATEGIES IN STRATEGIC SPATIAL PLANNING Gérard Hutter and Thorsten Wiechmann, Leibniz-Institute of Ecological and Regional Development (IOER), Germany Strategic spatial planning emphasises the dynamic nature of strategy making for sustainable and balanced spatial development. Mobilising ideas, processes of strategy making as well as institutional capital and capacity building are key concepts for understanding regional and urban governance. Yet, one argument is missing in this complex landscape of spatial planning which can be imported from strategic management research - the idea of considering emergent strategy as a non-intentional pattern in a stream of decisions and actions. To show this and some implications:

• strategic planning is briefly described within the context of spatial plan-making. Then,

• the ideas of emergent strategies and integrating them into processes of strategic spatial planning are sketched.

• The case of Dresden illustrates how the concepts of emergent strategies and planned emergence can be applied to strategy making within a municipality that takes different rationalities and perspectives on spatial development into account.

(1) Strategic spatial plan-making can be understood as “a social process through which a range of people in diverse institutional relations and positions come

together to design plan-making processes and develop contents and strategies for the management of spatial change” (Healey 1997, p. 5). Accepting variety in perspectives and developing coherent, common ideas about spatial development are seen as an ongoing double challenge to plan-making. Embracing diversity and developing coherence is of importance especially for strategic spatial planning with its classic claim to integrate sector policies and encourage citizens to place making. Yet, diversity and coherence not only lie in the path of the future, they lie as well in the path of the past. Thus, emergent strategies should be considered. (2) The term emergent strategies emerged within the area of strategic management research (Mintzberg 1994). The term dwells on the fact that planned strategic intentions and derived detailed action programmes can go unrealised while unexpected patterns of day-to-day activities are salient for strategy making. Hence, strategies not only can be formulated, they can be discovered in hindsight through noticing, understanding, and using existing patterns for enforcement and communication with stakeholders. Planners do not have to be strategy makers. They can be finders (Mintzberg 1994). Till now, this notion of recognising existing patterns of strategic significance in hindsight has gone unnoticed within the field of strategic spatial planning. Spatial planning is predominantly about the future. It is concerned about making new strategies for dealing with new contexts (Wiechmann & Hutter 2005). To be rooted in the past, is mainly a topic for institutional analysis (e.g. institutional inheritance in form of knowledge and social capital). But, institutions develop slowly and changing them is a long-term endeavour. Planning is more flexible in the medium term if it is practised as a process of planned emergence (Grant 2003). Considering emerging realities within strategic spatial planning requires an intense communication process. Plan statements are used to focus discussion and for strategic learning. Especially under unstable context conditions finding consensus on a limited number of fundamental assumptions, arguments, and decision criteria is crucial for common orientation and for affirming or challenging decisions emerging in fragmented processes of strategy making. Within this process, a minimum consensus can be of more use than maximising shared ideas. (3) There is some empirical evidence that the strategy process within the City of Dresden is changing to meet future challenges of spatial planning under conditions of moderate population

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growth and very scarce financial resources for public investments (Hutter & Wiechmann 2005). Attempts can be observed to recentralise decision making within the municipality wherein spatial planning statements serve as criteria for selecting the most-needed investment projects. Not to our surprise, primarily the mayor of Dresden and departments with cross-sector functions (e. g. department responsible for comprehensive urban planning) are engaged in this discussion process. The process is organised by a working group encompassing officials and scientists. Grounded in the belief that it is important to know more about the specific strategy making in departments with sector functions, an inquiry was conducted to describe these practices. This revealed significant differences. For instance, spatial planning statements referring to “hot spots” of urban regeneration fairly correspond to the decision criteria of the housing and traffic planning departments. The paper investigates if and how this case of a strategy process can be interpreted as attempt to consider emergent strategies for strategic spatial planning. References Hutter, G. / Wiechmann, Th. (2005): Stadtumbau als strategischer Prozess – Möglichkeiten der Kommunikation kommunaler Akteure für neue gemeinsame Prioritäten am Beispiel Dresden. In: Weiske, Ch. / Kabisch, S. / Hannemann, Ch. (Eds.): Kommunikative Steuerung des Stadtumbaus – Interessengegensätze, temporäre Koalitionen und Entscheidungsstrukturen in schrumpfenden Städten, Wiesbaden, pp. 131-154 Mintzberg, H. (1994): The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning, New York et al. Wiechmann, Th. / Hutter, G. (2005): Die Planung des Unplanbaren - Was kann die Raumplanung von der Strategieforschung lernen? In: Dangschat, J. S. / Breitfuss, A. / Frey, O. / Hamedinger, A. (Eds.): Strategieorientierte Planung im kooperativen Staat, Wiesbaden (forthcoming) Grant, R. M. (2003): Strategic Planning in a Turbulent Environment: Evidence from the Oil Majors. In: Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 24, pp. 491 – 517 Healey, P. (1997): The revival of strategic spatial planning in Europe. In: Healey, P. / Khakee, A. / Motte, A. / Needham, B. (Eds.): Making Strategic Spatial Plans. Innovation in Europe. London, Bristol / Pennsylvania, pp. 3 – 19

HOW TO ORGANIZE THE PROCESS OF INNOVATION? STRATEGIC OPPORTUNITIES AND FUNCTIONAL LIMITATIONS OF A NEW MODE OF PLANNING Oliver Ibert, University of Bonn, Germany Some of the most urgent challenges for contemporary regional and urban development, such as re-constructing cities in an ecological way, re-integrating excluded neighbourhoods, or re-developing business opportunities in shrinking regions, call for innovative solutions. Especially in locked-in (see Grabher 1993), old industrial regions, these kind of structural problems predominate. However, market actors often do not supply the sorely needed innovations. In such cases it becomes increasingly important to initiate innovation processes from within the public sphere. Against the background of a qualitative empirical investigation of two of the most ambitious regional development and restructuring endeavours in recent German planning history, the International Building Exhibition Emscher Park (1989-1999) (see Shaw 2002) and the World Exhibition EXPO 2000 Hannover (1990-2000) (see Revilla-Diez 2003), the paper explores opportunities and limitations for planners to organize innovation processes. The creation of innovation is a highly ambiguous task per se, however, within the institutionalised public planning system the task becomes even more intricate. Planners struggle with a threefold paradox. An ungifted actor organizes an unpredictable process under adverse circumstances (Siebel, Ibert and Mayer 2001). Nevertheless, the cases of IBA Emscher Park and EXPO 2000 reveal some options to overcome these paradoxes. What makes the innovation process work? Departing from innovation-theoretical considerations the paper distinguishes three main principles of organizing the innovation process (Siebel, Ibert and Mayer 2001, Ibert 2003).

• Planning by circumventing planning: The traditional understanding of planning emphasizes the clear-cut goals, comprehensive information and the successive specification towards a solution as main characteristics. Innovation-oriented planning, however, has to circumvent these features:

- Fuzzy aims. An innovation, or "the doing of new things" (Schumpeter 1947) is by definition something substantially new. As such, it cannot be known in advance.

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Processes of innovation provide a rather general orientation through fuzzy aims rather than precise goals.

- Scant information. As long as the precise goal of a process remains unknown it will be impossible to discriminate important from unimportant information. It becomes reasonable to collect only scant information at the beginning of an innovation process and to delve more deeply into the details at its end.

- Reversibility. Processes of innovation seldom progress smoothly and straightforwardly; rather, they typically include surprises and disruptions. In such cases it is rational to avoid fixations as long as possible in order to maximize flexibility and openness.

• Enacting Charisma: Routine and habit stifle

innovation. Innovative planning strategies often enact charismatic (Weber 2002), exceptional framing conditions in order to irritate routine and to overcome habitual repetition.

- Festivals. Innovation processes instrumentalise festivals as sources for charismatic irritation. The events IBA and EXPO enacted extraordinary and exceptional conditions that helped to encourage uncommon practices as well as unorthodox solutions.

- Stage effect. Innovative planning projects often present their solutions to the public. A critical audience demands high-quality solutions and unusual contributions to (good) practice.

- Task forces. Innovative teams often gather within separate and functionally independent organisational units. Problem solving may bypass the established organisational routines that dominate the public administration.

• Enabling learning processes: While

charismatic processual elements provide a supportive framework for innovation-oriented processes, the process itself

features important elements that stimulate creative learning.

- Integration of strangers. Creativity is often explained as an unpredictable reaction to a strange, surprising impulse. Planning for innovation aspires to unlock established actor constellations and to systematically integrate "strangers".

- Heterarchic collaboration. Asymmetrical power relations constrict creativity since powerful actors can avoid learning in critical moments. Innovation requires a heterarchic collaboration.

- Redundancy of options. A multitude of optional solutions promotes innovation. Innovation-oriented planning often includes processes of parallel problem solving, such as several independent teams competing for different solutions for the same task.

The paper will conclude with a close examination the most important limitations of innovation-oriented planning.

a.) Limited scope. Learning processes presuppose supportive external conditions, which are seldom situated in those locked-in regions within which they are most sorely needed.

b.) b.) Limited repetition. Innovation-oriented planning depends strongly on exceptional, charismatic circumstances. Since charisma is a rare resource, it should be exploited sparingly and with discernment. Processes of innovation-oriented planning can seldom be repeated.

c.) c.) Limited transferability. Separate task forces that work under exceptional conditions are powerful vehicles for the generation of new ideas, but they produce unique solutions for individual cases rather than systematic and transferable knowledge (Ibert 2004).

Acknowledgement The paper is based on the research project 'The organization of innovation - New forms of town and regional planning' (Project leader: Walter Siebel, Research Fellows: Hans-Norbert Mayer and Oliver Ibert) which has been conducted between 1999 and 2002 at the University of Oldenburg, Working Group of Urban Research (AG Stadtforschung). The

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author gratefully acknowledges financial support by the German Research Foundation (DFG). References Grabher, G., 1993, 'The weakness of strong ties. The lock-in of regional development in the Ruhr Area', G. Grabher, (ed.), The Embedded Firm. On the Socio-Economics of Interfirm Relations, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 255-278. Ibert, O., 2003, Innovationsorientierte Planung. Verfahren und Strategien zur Organisation von Innovationen, Opladen: Leske + Budrich. Ibert, O., 2004, 'Projects and firms as discordant complements. Organisational learning within the Munich software ecology', Research Policy 34(10), pp. 1529-1546. Revilla Diez, J., 2003, 'Hannover after the World Exhibition EXPO 2000 - An attempt to establish an ICT-cluster', European Planning Studies 11(4), pp. 379-394. Schumpeter, J. A., 1947, 'The creative response in economic history', The Journal of Economic History VII(2), pp. 149-159. Shaw, P., 2002, 'The International Building Exhibition (IBA) Emscher Park, Germany: A model for sustainable restructuring?' European Planning Studies 10(1), pp. 77-97. Siebel, W., Ibert, O., Mayer, H.-N., 2001, 'Staatliche Organisation von Innovation: Die Planung des Unplanbaren unter widrigen Umständen durch einen unbegabten Akteur', Leviathan 29(4), pp. 526-543. Weber, M., 2002, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Grundriss der verstehenden Soziologie, Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr DISFAVOURED ZONES OF NORTHERN ROMANIA Oana-Ramona Ilovan, “Babeş-Bolyai” University, Romania After 1990, different social and economic systems have felt differently the Romanian economic transition and industrial restructuring. The Romanian industry has had a significant decline, a similar involution being characteristic to the North-Western Development Region of Romania. This has led to the quantitative decrease of the labour force to half or even less. In the typology of the Romanian problem-regions, the disfavoured zones have been included, for the first time, in 1998. These zones are a specific feature of the northwestern regional industry of Romania. One of them, Rodna disfavoured region, is the focus of our study. In this context, our paper analyses the causes at the origin of disfavoured zones (both economic and social ones), the initial legislation and the extant one, the decision-making factors

involved, the desiderata of this regional policy and its consequences (especially for Rodna zone), and the impact of Romania’s inclusion in the European Union structures, upon the regional policy targeting the disfavoured zones. The disfavoured zones of northern Romania, included into the North-Western Development Region, are Rodna, Vişeu-Borşa and Baia Mare. The economy of these zones has the following features: the dominance of the industrial activities, with a functionality highly marked by this sector, and the underdevelopment of the service sector. This is why the loss of jobs in industry has been significant at the level of the local communities and has led to the chronic economic and social disequilibrium (e.g. degraded economic development, long-term unemployment, the deterioration of the living standard). In the areas declared disfavoured zones, there were two significant moments in their evolution: the year 1990 (the beginning of the transition to the market economy, a concurrence one) and 1997 (the great collective dismissals from industry). The economic restructuring was necessary due to the involution of the dominant activity. In order to exemplify the development strategy of the region, considered in other parts of Romania as well, we propose the case of Rodna mining zone. This is useful to be expanded to the other regions having the same situation. Rodna mining zone was declared a disfavoured zone in 1999 by means of governmental decision (no. 640/1999), as well as Baia Mare and Borşa-Vişeu mining zones (203/1999 and 204/1999, respectively). According to these governmental decisions, the disfavoured zones may function from three to ten years and, for each one, several investment fields of interest have been established (e.g. agriculture, production, commerce, environmental protection etc.), where fiscal facilities have been introduced for the potential investors. Unfortunately, the Romanian government has sustained several passive measures (compensatory payments after the 1997 collective dismissals, without any or few programs targeting the reconversion of the labour force) and has not understood the effects that this policy has on a long term. Rodna disfavoured zone has 1226 km2 and a population of 53 774 inhabitants (in 2003). A strong point of this zone is the diversity of the local resources. Moreover, the existence of the development alternatives is an opportunity that

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should be taken into account. Therefore, among the successful solutions for the zone’s rehabilitation, the following two are the most viable ones: the development of commerce and tourism (the zone having the capacity of promoting multiple tourist functions) and the development of furniture industry that can ensure the superior processing of the extant local resource. It is certain that the disfavoured zones will disappear because the closing of the “Concurrence” chapter, in the context of the negotiations with the EU has ended with Romania’s commitment to give up gradually the facilities granted these years to the disfavoured settlements. Baia Mare, Borşa-Vişeu and Rodna (in northern Romania) are among the 22 disfavoured zones, which will have to disappear, with this statute, by the end of 2009. The economic rehabilitation of these disfavoured mining zones has been possible only by granting the statute of “disfavoured zone” to them. Nevertheless, the fiscal facilities have been unattractive in zones with (1) low accessibility, (2) no public utility equipment and (3) no capacity to manage the autochthon natural and human resource. At present, the “assisted zones” appeared as an alternative to the disfavoured ones, where the fiscal facilities have disappeared and thus leading to a statute of normal functionality, obeying the lows of concurrence. This way the implementation of several programmes, where the local communities are involved, (a) will eliminate the above-mentioned flaws and (b) will solve the extant economic and social problems of these areas. STRATEGY FOR SPATIAL INEQUALITY AMONG KABUPATEN / KOTA IN EAST JAVA PROVINCE IN INDONESIA Nurul Istifadah, Airlangga University, Indonesia Regional economic development is the process by which local government and the private sector manage their resources and build a pattern of partnership to create the new job opportunities and increase their regional economic activity. (Kuncoro, 2004: 127) The purpose of economic development is to improve the economic growth highly, job opportunities, price stability, and to reduce and decline the level of poverty and income inequality. How can it reach this goal? This is determined by the development strategy chosen.

The spatial approach to national development problems is not only about regional equality, but also about regional inequality. It is a serious problem. Several regions reached economic growth quickly, but the others were slow. The level of regional progress differs, because they have different resources and redistribution income inequality exists from central government to local government. Usually, Investors prefer to invest their capital in the cities where they have facilities, such as transportation, electricity networking, telecommunication, banking, insurance, and skilled labour. (Kuncoro, 2004: 127) The problem of spatial economic inequality in Indonesia is not only among islands in Indonesia (Jawa and others), but it is between Kawasan Barat Indonesia / West Indonesia (Kabarin) and Kawasan Timur Indonesia / East Indonesia (Katimin), and the other regions, such as the provinces, kabupaten / kota as well. East Java Province is the biggest population density among others in Indonesia. Probably, inequality can be happened for among kabupaten / kota in East Java Province, because they have the differential resources and development output. The differentiating of development level among kabupaten / kota in East Java will have impact for differentially level of the regional welfare, and cause regional inequality higher than that one. In order that, it required classification of the kabupaten / kota di Jawa Timur based on economic fundamental indicator. The fundamental indicator of regional economic is the real condition of the regional economic such as: region economic growth, Gross Domestic Regional Bruto (GDRB) per capita, and Human Development Indeks (HDI). (Kuncoro, 2004: 125) Human Development Index (HDI) comes from three indicator: longevity, knowledge, and group of rasio pendidikan tinggi primer, secundary, gross tertiary (one of three) and decent standard of living. This research is intended to know (1) how classified kabupaten / kota in East Java based on economic growth, income per capita, and Human Development Index (HDI), (2) based on the classification, we will know about the pattern of spatial inequality for the kabupaten / kota in East Java Province, (3) summarized strategy for spatial inequality among kabupaten / kota in East Java.

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Researching for the pattern of spatial inequality of the kabupaten / kota in East Java use to make economic growth indicator, income per capita, and Human Development Index. And, to know spatial inequality among kabupaten / kota in East Java used to make inequality index Williamson and entropi Theil. The larger Entropi Theil index, the greater the inequality, and Williamson index is too. PLANNING FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT – LARGE-SCALE EMPLOYERS; TRANSPORT AND ENGENDERING SOCIETAL CHANGE John McDonagh, National University of Ireland, Ireland The desire to bring about sustainable and balanced development is perhaps one of the key challenges currently facing European development. This challenge is particularly felt in attempts to mediate between increasing demands for personal mobility and the threat this poses to ‘environment’ and ‘quality of life’ of both rural and urban residents. There is wide consensus also of a growing transport problem and that current levels of transport use are unsustainable. Furthermore there is no agreed strategy to develop an integrated transport system which will support communities through greater development in terms of jobs and a strong economy; protect the environment and, provide for a better quality of life experience. In Ireland, recent economic and cultural transformation is reflective of this challenge. In particular there are fundamental changes in people’s attitudes and practices toward commuting - now considered an integral part of many Irish people’s everyday life - and people’s preparedness to live further away from places of work and rely on private cars to meet their transport requirements. This dependency on the private car for transportation necessitates large-scale infrastructural development while, at the same time, results in environmental, social and economical problems. What is also becoming increasingly apparent is that with recent changes in transport policies in various industrialised countries seeing the rise of public-private partnerships involving individual employers, employers’ groups and business associations, the part played by government agencies, institutions and large employers in terms of policy creation, alternatives and changing attitudes, is crucial in effecting social change and attitude to the way transport is viewed.

Contextualised by the literature on the contested and conflicting views of sustainability and the key debates on transport and sustainability, this paper proposes to explore one of these sectors, namely that of employers, and determine how this group’s contribution can be moulded to encourage sustainable transport and travel patterns. With commuting to work by car making up a large proportion of all car traffic, particularly during the morning and evening peak periods, workplace sustainable travel plans can be a major catalyst for engendering a societal change in the way we view mobility. With this in mind this paper will:

1. Explore the role of employers and organisations in promoting sustainable transport and travel;

2. Assess employers attitudes to environmental issues and transport problems;

Assess employers’ willingness to encourage a shift in modal choice for their employees’ journey to work. TRADABLE PLANNING PERMITS: AN INSTRUMENT FOR EFFICIENT ALLOCATION OF OPEN SPACE FOR SETTLEMENT PURPOSES Verena Mertins, University of Goettingen, Germany The Federal German Government proposed a national strategy of sustainability including the objective to reduce the turnover rate of open landscapes into settlement areas consisting of traffic and housing as well as commerce and industry from 130 ha/day at the end of the 1990s to 30 ha/day in 2020. In order to consider the ecological, social and other needs of future generations, the Federal Government wants to protect the restricted resource land. This objective could be met by planning processes, but it is widely accepted that new instruments should be introduced. Various possible instruments exist to improve the regional planning process: command-and control and planning law, informative and persuasive instruments as well as economic instruments. Economic instruments use the market mechanism via price incentives to influence the behaviour of the actors involved. They therefore leave the actors free to decide and take into account the diverse motivation and incentives of the different actors. In addition, economic instruments can enhance

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efficiency by providing uniform price incentives to all participants and are therefore particularly well suited to be used in the regional planning process. Tradable planning permits are comparable to the concept of emission certificates. They provide an efficient achievement of the Federal Government’s objective for the reason that the problem of allocating new settlement areas is solved directly by the market. Current property rights belong to the municipalities and their fiscal incentives point towards expansion of settlement areas. To avoid this development, a regionalized cap on turnover could be introduced which meets the federal objective of 30 ha a day. The system of tradable planning permits can provide every municipality with an initial free quota of permits to ensure its proprietary development for a given planning period of, say, 5 years. If a municipality wants to turn over an area that is exceeding its free quota, it has to buy permits from other municipalities who are staying below the allowed ceiling. The concept of grandfathering, already used for emission certificates, could also be applied here so that municipalities get the amount of permits for free that they needed in the past. Over the long run, grandfathering can be reduced, and market transactions can be increased. The market mechanism will in any case generate an efficient allocation of tradable planning permits and thus an efficient allocation of new settlement areas. If tradable planning permits are tailored to fit into the existing body of planning instruments after a transition period of several years, not only will the turnover rate be unerringly restricted to the desired amount in an efficient allocative way but the permits will also assure the different actors involved of a particularly high degree of freedom of decision-making. These two important virtues show the valuable contribution tradable planning permits can make to the regional planning process. WHAT HAPPENS TO SPATIAL AND PHYSICAL PLANNING IN DENMARK AFTER THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT REFORM? Lars Overgaard Jorgenen and Bo Vagnby, Aalborg University, Denmark Early in 2004, the Danish government issued two white papers heralding sweeping reforms of the local government authority structure in Denmark. One dealt with the question of size, i.e. a new geographical structure for the public sector. The other addressed the issue of distribution, i.e. how

can the local government equalisation scheme ensure a more uniform distribution of taxes and services between rich and poor municipalities (Betænkning 1434 and 1437, 2004). As the contours of the reform have become clearer, it is evident that it will impact significantly on strategic spatial planning and the regulation of the physical environment. When governmental arrangements are reorganised, conceptual difficulties are usually compounded by vested interests as stakeholders stand to gain or loose influence and power. As far as physical and spatial planning is concerned, this is definitely going to be the case as it is suggested to shift the roles and responsibilities between the present three tiers of government significantly, and, largely, eliminate the regional level in spatial planning. As the Danish structural reform is planned to be effective from 2007, the arguments and observations in the paper should be viewed as an ex-ante appraisal-cum-policy-review undertaken by physical planning specialists, rather than a social scientist theoretical ex-post evaluation and contribution to the many theories concerned with regional and urban politics. The purpose of the paper is to explore how Danish policies and regulatory frameworks for urban, rural and regional planning have evolved and changed since the implementation of the last administrative reform of the local government structure in 1970. From a situation where physical planning focused on balanced development and the ‘product’ plan, to a situation characterised by competition between cities and regions under the influence of networks and partnership arrangements. The rationales underlying the reform will be discussed in the light of four issues that have animated the general debate on consolidation of local governments, and the appropriate size of municipalities (Keating, 1995; Jorgensen 2003). (1) The question of efficiency, i.e. scale of structure and cost of service delivery. (2) The issue of democracy, that is, structure vs. citizen control and accountability. (3) The question of distribution, namely which structure can achieve the most equitable distribution of services and tax burdens). (4) The crucial issue of development, i.e. which structures are best equipped to promote economic growth. The reform can, however, also be understood as a result of the change in relationship between state and market initiated by the former social democratic government, and vigorously

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pursued by the present neoliberal government, as a Danish ‘Third Way’ variant as discussed by Veggeland (2000) and elaborated by Giddens (1998). The empirical part will be a combination of inductive and deductive empirical theory starting from empirical findings and observations via presentation of premises to deduction of conclusions about causal relationships and expected behaviour based on these premises. More specifically, we present the specific context and underlying assumptions for the Danish reform through sections that will deal with the national rationales; a discussion of the reform process itself; and a description of the functional division of duties between the three tiers of government and the associated spatial planning and regulatory framework. After this, we provide an analysis of the structural changes that have taken place in Denmark since the 1970-reform. The analysis is based on quantitative socio-economic and physical key indicators, supplemented by a presentation of the dynamic changes in commuting-, population- and human settlement patterns that have emerged as result of increased mobility and shifts in employment opportunities. Having presented the empirical part of the analysis, and after outlining the “new” setting for physical and spatial planning, we embark on the discursive part of the paper. Here, we discuss the most controversial and crucial issues that may emanate as consequences of the reform: Dynamic framework control to be replaced by national control; regional planning to be reduced to ‘strategic development thoughts’; and spatial planning to take place only at the municipal level. In the conclusion, we will debate the logic of the reform based on an identification of the main driving forces in the new spatial strategy-making (Healey et.al., 1997) It will be argued that the reform represents a classic case of de-concentration as it, inter alia, re-introduces a top-down physical and spatial central government control mechanism dating back to the very early days of Danish physical planning. Overall, it will be concluded that the reform appears rather problematic. The preparatory, analytic work has only partly evaluated the geographic preconditions and impacts. Centralisation will occur. Efficiency and democracy issues have been the main

drivers of the reform; the important issue of distribution has been shelved until further notice; and it can be feared that regional economic development issues and environmental concerns are likely to suffer. References Betænkning nr. 1434 (2004): Strukturkommissionens Betænkning. Ministry of the Interior and Health, Copenhagen Betænkning nr. 1437 (2004): Finansieringsudvalgets Betænkning. Et nyt udligningssystem. Ministry of the Interior and Health, Copenhagen Jørgensen, John (2004): “Reform of Denmark’s Local Authority Structure” Journal of Nordregio, Vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 7-12. Keating, Michael (1995): “Size, Efficiency and democracy: Consolidation, Fragmentation and Public Choice”, in D. Judge, G. Stoker & H. Wolman (eds.), Theories of Urban Politics. London: Sage Publications Veggeland, Noralv (2000): Den nye regionalismen: Europeisk integrasjon og flernivåstyring. Bergen: Fagbokforlaget Giddens, Anthony (1998): The Third Way. The Renewal of the Social Democracy. Oxford: Blackwell Publisher Healey, Patsy, Khakee, A, Motte, A & Needham, B (1997): “Strategic plan-making and building institutional capacity”, in Healey, P., Khakee, A., Motte, A. & Needham, B. (eds.) 1997, Making Strategic Spatial Plans. London: UCL Press A PARTICIPATORY APPROACH IN THE SOUTHEASTERN ANATOLIA REGION DEVELOPMENT PLAN (2002–2010): THE ROLE OF PARTNERSHIP IN PREPARING REGIONAL PLANNING AND SHARED TURKISH EXPERIENCES M. Vedat Özbilen, City and Regional Planner, Ankara, Turkey Turkish government in 1998 mandated GAP Administration to prepare Southeastern Anatolia Region Development Plan in the completion of 2010. GAP Administration identified the process to develop the Plan as building on past efforts of GAP Administration, global community’s vision and approaches and relying on the collective wisdom of local people. The process leading to the Vision document of Plan included research, consultation, information, work together, delegation, workshops and many other means of absorbing, synthesising and disseminating knowledge.

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Southeastern Anatolia Region, which is a part of Upper Mesopotamia, faces many of the problems that are typical of underdeveloped regions in the world. Compared with the rest of Turkey, the region has had higher fertility rates and lower literacy rates, as well as lower school enrolment rates – especially among girls – and lower access to education, health care and sanitation. The region also experienced net out migration – both seasonal agricultural migration and permanent rural-to-urban migration, as a response to high unemployment in the region, threatening valuable agricultural land. The region’s economy is based largely on agriculture, but productivity historically has been low. In spite of these bottlenecks, the region have potentials. These are water, land and human resources. The majority of the Region lies in the Euphrates and Tigris basin. The two rivers represent over 28 % of the nation’s water supply by rivers and economically irrigable areas in the region make up 20 % of those for the whole country. The population of the region in 2000 census was 6.6 million. The first 1989 GAP Master Plan is a study for the formulation of specific measures to complement the implementation of the original GAP schemes and put them into a coherent and integrated long-term regional development plan. It was partially a conventional regional investment plan with a multi-sectoral approach. Concepts, such as environmental, economic and social sustainability, gender issues, participatory planning and implementation, and the inclusion of the private sector as an active participant were either missing or not given much importance. During the last ten years or so, there have been some changes occurred in the region, and planning approaches. The implementation of first 1989 GAP Master Plan, significant social and economic changes have occurred both in Turkey and in the region and therefore some of the assumptions underlying the Plan need to be re-assessed and their validity tested. In addition, it is necessary to evaluate the progress and impact of the implementations, as well as the constraints and potentials that have risen since the project's inception. Of equal importance in this review are the phasing of the various existing components and the formulation of additional programmes, sub-projects and activities resulting from new concepts and priorities.

The changing needs, conditions, and paradigm are the reasons for preparing a new development plan for the Region. The New Plan become not only the basis for dialogue and development strategies but also set up national, regional and inter-regional stakeholders networks concerned with the region’s problems, solutions, guiding and propelling local based initiatives from conception to reality. It develops and strengthens national, regional, inter-regional and community dialogues to reflect on advocate local participatory mechanism in achieving sustainable human development. The New plan is designed to incorporate action at national and regional levels, but the core focus is at the regional/local level. In the national level, interactive workshops and broad-based consultations formulated draft national perspectives and development strategies for the region. In the regional/local level, provincial workshops, local consultations, local information, local participation, local and national delegation and governance procedures formulated local perspectives, priorities for the development. A down-up policy dialogue occurs in the final phase as a collaborative way lead to a collective impact on the means and methods of regional policy-making. National-local and local-national networks and partnerships that emerged during this consultative process helped build a strong foundation for preparation of the new plan. The paper will open new perspectives on how to develop the structure and process of dialogue at the regional level within regional planning and how to set up a regional and local network in the light of the participatory regime in the region. The outcome of the paper is to give participatory method (information, consultation, work together, delegation and governance), that is found in the Turkish condition and give innovative approach the role of partnership in preparing regional plan. THE LIMITS OF SPATIAL PLANNING John B Parr, University of Glasgow, Scotland As in many other aspects of public decision making, a tendency exists for spatial planning to assume a periodic prominence in the areas of regional planning and development planning. This seems to be the case for both developing and developed nations. What typically occurs is that spatial concerns emerge (often for good reasons), and a sustained effort is then made to re-cast planning in

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spatial terms, i.e. to render it explicitly spatial. After an interval, the length of which may vary, the enchantment with spatial planning fades (sometimes because of serious mistakes or sometimes because vital concerns are being disregarded), and there is a reversion to more traditional sectoral or functional approaches. Spatial concerns then become de-emphasised, until it is decided once again that these should be accorded an importance. In a number of nations, where elements of this rather inefficient cycle of intervention are to be found, spatial planning is at present very much à la mode. Spatial planning has existed for a long, time of course, although it is often spoken of as if it were a new emphasis. It is also argued that the term is a new one, being an example of “Euro-English” and referring variously to l’aménagement du territoire, Raumordnung, planificazione territoriale, as well as urban and regional planning, etc. It is not difficult to find instances of the term “spatial planning” that pre-date the 1990s. An attempt is made in the paper to shed light on the nature of spatial planning. Attention is not confined to physical planning, even though it is in this field that spatial planning appears to have sparked the most interest. Initially, we explore some of the reasons why spatial planning may become an important (even indispensable) part of public decision making. The thrust of the argument here is that spatial planning is able to provide valuable insights into the decision-making process. Consideration is then given to those situations in which spatial planning is dangerous, e.g. where it has failed or has been the cause of unforeseen and undesirable outcomes. These, it will be argued, have usually been due to spatial concerns assuming a position of unwarranted importance in the overall planning process. Attention finally turns to some of the difficulties that can obstruct the undertaking of successful spatial planning. Unfortunately, it is the case that the term “spatial planning” is used to describe significantly different types and degrees of intervention. One author has argued, perfectly reasonably, that “Spatial planning is about setting frameworks and principles to guide the location of development and physical infrastructure”. An alternative, but complementary, view might be as follows: spatial planning represents the strategic co-ordination of various public and private decisions (typically investment decisions) across a given space over a particular time interval. Unfortunately, these types of definition tend to beg the question, inasmuch as certain key elements need to be elaborated. For

example, what is meant by “spatial” in the term “spatial planning”, or to be more precise, how are we dealing with space? Space can be considered not only in terms of different perspectives but also from a variety of scales, and because of this wide-ranging characteristic the task of making reasonable generalisations about spatial planning becomes difficult. In the working definition of spatial planning outlined above, emphasis was placed on the co-ordination aspect of planning. In this connection, it is sometimes useful to distinguish between “horizontal co-ordination” (referring to the structure of decision making with a given level or scale) and “vertical co-ordination” (referring to the structure of decision making between levels or scales, involving top-down or bottom-up processes). In regarding co-ordination as a central feature of spatial planning, it will be assumed that this involves such facets of planning as ex ante analysis, projection and experimental design, as well as the practical aspects of appraisal, implementation, monitoring and modification. In the discussion to follow, spatial planning will be limited to levels or scales above the urban or metropolitan. REGIONAL GOVERNANCE AND THE ROLE OF POWER IN STRATEGIC SPATIAL POLICY MAKING Marco Puetz, Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Switzerland The paper discusses the impact of power on strategic spatial policy making. Based on recent theories about a ‘new regionalism’ and a ‘policy turn’ in regional studies, the paper develops a regional governance framework for analyzing strategic spatial planning towards sustainable regional development. Both market and government failures have led to ongoing processes of state restructuring, in order to meet the challenges of sustainability and competitiveness at the regional scale. While goals, strategies and instruments of spatial planning have been intensively discussed, surprisingly little attention has been paid to governance modes and the distinct role of power in shaping the practice of strategic spatial policy making. Against this theoretical background, the paper firstly presents the results from a Delphi study with German-speaking experts to elucidate the understanding of regional governance in Germany. Secondly a new conceptualisation to empirically analyze regional governance is introduced. This approach suggests ‘actors’ and ‘modes of

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interactions’ as two essential categories of analysis based on the actor-centered institutionalism of MAYNTZ/SCHARPF and KOOIMAN’S governance theory. In order to conceptualise regional governance as multi-scale-governance, ‘region’ is suggested as a third category of analysis. Putting ‘region’ in the focus of analysis, shows the missing coherence between administrative regions (planning region) on the one side and the functional regions of spatial planning issues (problem region) on the other side. The interplay of these three categories can be analyzed with power concepts. Power relationships help to explain how regional governance works in detail. Thirdly, regional governance structures are analysed in a specific context, using the case of land use policy in the Munich metropolitan region in Germany as an example. In this region, strategic spatial planning and land use policy changed during the 1990s in order to meet the challenges of urban sprawl and suburbanisation; this having been triggered by a new international airport, strong economic growth and an increasing population. A growing number of city-regional cooperation initiatives involving state and non-state actors supplemented the traditional system of regional planning. Land use conflicts as a result of the intra-regional competition in attracting flows of people and capital are appropriate to study power geographies in detail. The example of a land use conflict arising around the building of a new Ikea center just outside the City of Munich shows that the regional governance capacity suffers from power asymetries, unevenly distributed power resources and the structural powerlessness of regional planning. Moreover, the case study indicates the relevance of the ‘shadow of hierarchy’ (SCHARPF) in strategic spatial planning and the need for further research on the role of governance capacity in achieving the goal of sustainable regional development. PLANNING STRATEGIES FOR DEINDUSTRIALISED AREAS: THE QUIMIPARQUE CASE STUDY Margarida Queiros, University of Lisbon, Portugal In the present social, political and economic context, the process of de-industrialisation in old urban-industrial areas, along with the search for adequate responses to this process of decline, compel to reconsider the very nature, principles and practices of urban policies. In the Portuguese case, the crises

experienced by these old industrial areas has been met with various initiatives which have had a considerable impact upon both the essence and the design and implementation process of urban development policy. Located as the southern bank of the river Tagus in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, the industrial complex of Barreiro experienced it’s major growth in the early 20th centre. The dominant and driving presence of the chemical industry turned this organised and delimited space into an exceptional location, which once became the most advanced industrial pole in the country. However, in more recent times, it underwent a process of severe decline that would last until very recently. This old industrial compex experienced countless difficulties, which ranged from financial plight to social, environmental and territorial problems. In response to these difficulties, a public entity (Quimiparque) was created with the specific aim of managing the (public) assets in the area, which became the driving force behind the emergence of a renewed economic space in Barreiro. Indeed, over the last decase, there has been a remarkable effort to requalify a series of buildings and physical structures that had been rendered vulnerable to degradation, due to dereliction. In the 1990’s the Barreiro industrial park thus presented an interesting alternative in terms of location for small-size light industries and for services both to the local businesses and to the population of Barreiro. Its main attracting factors for new economic activities were it’s historical past, geographic location, infra-structures and the diversity of the services available. The process of renewal that took place allowed for the promotion and environmental requalification of the area, boosted employment and brought forth an increase in the value of the land. Indeed, large heavy industries, small-size light industrial unions, service and commerce establishments, old buildings, and derelict warehouses, vacant and polluted grounds, occasional examples of industrial pollution and a waterfront of considerable scenic worth now coexist side by side in this industrial area. Indeed, despite the recent processes of transformation led by the Quimiparque, the 300 hectares administered by this company still act as a barrier between the river and the ever-growing urban fabric of the city (Barreiro). Unfortunately, the abovementioned success factors hide a series of weaknesses that characterize the social and economic fabric associated with this kind

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of solution, and which are largely due to there having been no planned strategy of restructuration, nor any structured attempt to attract high tech firms – rather, the choice was for a “spontaneous” model based on SMEs and local services. ON the other hand, this case-study also shows that the industrial crisis in Barreiro is in many ways related to the larger problem of how to plan for, and manage, former industrial area that have been absorbed by the expansion of the urban fabric. Alongside the issue of the strengths and weaknesses behind the strategic aimed at the requalification of this industrial park, the case of Quimiparque brings up several other important issues:

• The fact that this is a case of public land of considerable strategic value, managed by a state-owned enterprise characterized by a private, market-orientated type of intervention;

• The local authorities, which would have been expected to play a key role in designing and implementing the urban rehabilitation process (particularly in what regards the planning and development of this area), in fact proved unable to respond to the decisions of the Quimiparque;

• The lack of capacity, or ability of Quimiparque to design and implement integrated, coherent, long-term solutions aimed at requalifying an area that serves as a repository of he collective memory of a grand industrial past (and which can thus be considered as being of national interest), instead leaving it at the mercy of the forces of the market;

• The qualification policy implemented in this industrial area is representative of a “local type of regulation”, based on new forms of intervention and new institutional relationships, but it does not create any opportunities for the citizens of Barreiro to take an active part in the process.

INTERROGATING COHESION: PERSUASIVE AND INCOHERENT STORIES IN THE MAKING OF EUROPEAN SPACE Tim Richardson, University of Sheffield, England Europeanisation is often conceptualised through institutional theories which focus primarily on changing policy and governance structures. This paper seeks to support a broadening of the

conceptualisation of Europeanisation, by moving from this type of institutional analysis into analysis of the content of policy, and from there into a discussion of the ways that Europe is changing (or may change) as a consequence of such policies. This is operationalised here by exploring the spatial dimensions of Europeanisation – asking questions such as ‘is there an EU spatial project, and if so what sorts of spaces and places does it seek to create?’ Perspectives from new-institutionalist work in the field of planning and political geography are useful, which seek to engage with the spatiality of policies and political projects. The further step is to introduce a consideration of value, which appears to be a missing component of Europeanisation debates, despite the politically cogent nature of this field of research. In this way it becomes at least possible to ask who stands likely to gain or lose from particular, planned, European futures. These perspectives are used to critique the policy idea of territorial cohesion, which is central to current debates about EU spatial futures. How could it work? What is a cohesive European territory? These questions are addressed by examining the attempt to create a frictionless, seamless, and harmonious European space, where new mobility infrastructures are called for to support the processes of political and economic integration and enlargement. In particular, attention is paid to the role of spatial policy in mediating apparently contradictory policy ideas, as threats of dysfunctional Europe – images of congested arteries, network failure, and destabilised economies - are resolved by the smoothing discourse of territorial cohesion. This leads to discussion about the purpose and impact of EU spatial intervention, and the implications for multi-scalar and bordered European spaces. It is argued that despite smooth policy discourse, territorial cohesion is being pursued incoherently across levels of governance and across different territories, and that (according to the available research) current strategies are likely to create and reinforce multi-scalar patterns of exclusion across the EU. It may be that EU space is establishing new internal borders, defined not by the edges of governance, but by rhetorical or actual cohesive territories.

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METROPOLIS AND ITS REGION – NEW RELATION IN THE INFORMATION ECONOMY Maciej Smetkowski and Grzegorz Gorzelak, Warsaw University, Poland New development paradigms have led to new specialisations of particular territorial entities and thus has influenced relations between them. In particular, these changes influenced the relations between the metropolis and its hinterland. In industrial (resource-driven) development paradigms the metropolitan core was dependent on the supplies from its regional background: labour (un-skilled), basic food products, raw materials. It also needed land for housing and recreational uses. Nowadays the metropolis no longer is a “productive” entity in the old meaning of the term. It became a concentration of innovative industries and specialised services. It has also gained in wealth, since the highly skilled employees of the high-tech sector, financial services and high management benefit form high incomes and demonstrate particular patterns of consumer demand. The metropolis more and more enters into the global metropolitan space of flows, cutting off its traditional ties with its region. This region still may offer only “simple” supplies – but these are no longer crucial for the metropolis, since the exchange of high-quality commodities and information becomes much more important for it – and this exchange takes place within the global metropolitan network. The metropolis still does need land, but it accepts only the most able and active labour force (“sucking-in” young people to its universities and not giving them back to the countryside), and does not need so much food products (it consumes food from all over the world) and almost no raw materials. These new processes have been clearly demonstrated by the empirical research of three Polish big cities: Warsaw, Poznan and Gdynia-Gdansk-Sopot “Triple-City”. The metropolitan enterprises located in these three cities were questioned to display the patterns of their links backward and forward links. Their responses clearly indicate that the metropolis and other big cities of the country and the world are much more important for them than the regional hinterlands.

Similar results were obtained by a survey of municipalities from the metropolitan regions. The closer the municipality to the city, the bigger the labour flow to the metropolitan labour market – but these flows are composed mostly of “simple” labour. The empirical results confirm the theoretical hypotheses. However, these processes create an obvious difficulty for policy-makers who would want to pursue the “cohesion” principles, since the processes of polarization do prevail over the so desired processed of equalisation. It seems that one should accept the polarization patterns (i.e. faster growth of the metropolitan cores than of their hinterlands) and at the same way try to influence the “dissemination” effects which would spread some of this growth to the more peripheral and structurally backward areas. At least this is the current doctrine of Polish regional and spatial policy. LOCATIONAL STRATEGIES OF ADVANCED PRODUCER SERVICES IN DUBLIN: TOWARDS A POLYCENTRIC MEGA-CITY REGION? Martin Sokol, University College Dublin, Ireland and Chris van Egeraat, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Ireland One of the key messages of the European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP; EC, 1999) is that balanced and sustainable development across the European territory can be achieved through the implementation of polycentric spatial development models. At the European level, polycentric development can be seen as a process of creating alternative “zones of global economic integration” outside the densely populated and economically strong “core area” of the EU (i.e. the “pentagon” defined by metropolises of London, Paris, Milan, Munich and Hamburg). At the city-regional level, however, polycentric development implies building a balanced settlement structure by supporting synergetic networks (or clusters) of cities and towns (cf. EC, 1999, p.20-21). While the concepts of “polycentricity” and “polycentric urban regions” are debated (e.g. Richardson and Jensen, 2000; Jensen and Richardson, 2001; Bailey and Turok, 2001; Davoudi, 2003; Turok and Bailey, 2004; Parr, 2004), it is widely believed that polycentric settlement structures offer the prospect of successfully combining environmental sustainability with economic competitiveness.

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In Ireland, the concept of polycentric city-regions has recently been enthusiastically embraced by some of the key strategic spatial planning documents. Indeed, one of the goals of the new Regional Planning Guidelines for the Greater Dublin Area (DRA and MERA, 2004) is the creation of a polycentric city-region around the Irish capital city. Among other objectives, the creation of such a city-region is seen as a fundamental tool for reversing the continued over-concentration of economic activity in Dublin and for boosting employment opportunities in the smaller urban centres that surround it. This paper aims to examine some of the challenges that such a strategy may face. It focuses on the advanced producer service (APS) firms that are often claimed to belong to the key employment and value-generating sectors in the “new knowledge economy”. The locational strategies of firms within eight APS sectors (banking, insurance, management consultancy, accountancy, law, advertising, logistics and design consultancies) are examined. Based on more than 100 interviews with institutional players (local government, trade associations, etc.) and business representatives (senior managers of APS firms), the paper assesses the potential for the decentralisation of APS operations out of Dublin to the surrounding urban centres. In doing so, the paper engages with the concepts of the “polycentric mega-city region” (cf. Hall, 1999, 2001, 2004; Pain, 2005) and the “informational city” (Castells, 1989, 1996) and discusses the difficulties of achieving balanced territorial development within the current policy frameworks. References Bailey, N. and Turok, I. (2001) Central Scotland as a Polycentric Urban Region: Useful Planning Concept or Chimera, Urban Studies, Vol. 38, Issue 4, pp. 697-715. Castells, M. (1989). The informational city: information technology, economic restructuring and the urban-regional process. Oxford: Blackwell. Castells, M. (1996). The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, Vol. I: The Rise of the Network Society. Oxford: Blackwell. Davoudi, S. (2003) Polycentricity in European Spatial Planning: From an Analytical Tool to a Normative Agenda, European Planning Studies, Vol. 11, No. 8, pp. 979-999. DRA and MERA (Ireland) (2004) Regional Planning Guidelines: Greater Dublin Area. Dublin Regional Authority (DRA) and Mid-East Regional Authority (MERA), Dublin.

European Commission (EC). (1999). ESDP – European Spatial Development Perspective: Towards Balanced and Sustainable Development of the Territory of the European Union. Brussels: European Commission. Hall, P. (1999) Planning for the Mega-City: A New Eastern Asian Urban Form? In: Brotchie, J., Newton, P., Hall, P., Dickey, J. (eds.) East West Perspectives on 21st Century Urban Development: Sustainable Eastern and Western Cities in the New Millennium, 3-36. Aldershot: Ashgate. Hall, P. (2001) Global City-Regions in the Twenty-first Century. In: A.J. Scott (Ed.) Global City-Regions: Trends, Theory, Policy. 59-77.Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hall, P. (2004) “Polycentricity: Concept and Measurement”. Polynet Discussion Paper, 03-03-2004. Jensen, O. B. and Richardson, T. (2001) Nested visions: New rationalities of space in European spatial planning. Regional Studies, Vol. 35, No. 8., pp. 703-717. Pain, K. (2005) Qualitative Analysis of Service Business Connections: Summary Report, POLYNET / ICS London. Parr, J. B. (2004), The Polycentric Urban Region: A Closer Inspection, Regional Studies, Vol. 38, No. 3, pp. 231–240. Richardson, T. and Jensen, O. B. (2000) Discourses of mobility and polycentric development: a contested view of European spatial planning, European Planning Studies, Vol. 8, No. 4, 503–520. Turok, I. and Bailey, N. (2004) The Theory of Polynuclear Urban Regions and its Application to Central Scotland, European Planning Studies, Vol. 12, No. 3, pp. 371-389. THE ROLE OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION AND SPATIAL PLANNING IN REGIONAL GROWTH MANAGEMENT Michael Tophøj Sørensen, Aalborg University Denmark, Tetsunobu Yoshitake, and Chikashi Deguchi Miyazaki University, Japan. This paper aims to explore the praxis of strategic spatial policy making and planning to promote regional growth. Regional growth policies are, at least to some extent, supposed to be an integrated part of spatial planning and, thus, supposed to be provided under the influence of public participation - not only in Europe but in most ‘modern’ countries. In other words, public participation and spatial planning are in many countries considered to be very important tools in regional growth management. But how do spatial policy and

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planning response to economic goals? And at the same time, how can spatial planners and policy makers secure legitimacy? Specifically, this paper will try to explore the role of public participation as a tool to secure legitimacy as well as response to economic goals. The definition on ‘public participation’ as well as the ways to practice public participation can vary a lot from country to country, depending on the political culture in each country. Denmark and Japan are two countries with very different political cultures. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that both spatial planning and public participation play a very different role in the two countries. As far as we know, Denmark and Japan can be considered as counter-examples. In both Japan and Denmark trade policy aims to increase and strengthen the general conditions for commercial enterprises as a basis for increased growth and employment. However, in Denmark (as in many European countries) there is a strong tradition for public participation, and legitimacy in strategic spatial policy making is 'a big issue'. But it is often believed that the public participation curb economic growth. Therefore, the role of spatial planning can be considered as 'land bookkeeping' rather than planning to promote development. Opposite, in Japan, although various public participation methods are now tried in spatial planning issues, advisory boards (‘shingi-kai’ and/or ‘iin-kai’) still play a key role in spatial policy making. The members of a Japanese 'shingi-kai' and/or ‘iin-kai’ at regional (prefecture) and municipal level are nominated by the mayor. Each of the members (from chamber of commerce, agriculture associations, residents’ associations, officials from upper-level government related to spatial planning, etc.) are considered to understand important local institutional interests. A few ‘shingi-kais’ and/or ‘iin-kais’ also have academic members. The advisory boards strongly tend to contribute to promote economic development through advising. And to some extent they legitimize spatial planning and development proposals, too. But in a strict sense there is a lack of legitimacy in Japanese spatial planning and regional growth management. Defining public participation as an independent corrective to the formal decision making major findings in surveys in both countries show that in Japan public participation works quite well at

regional (prefecture) level and in major cities (municipalities), but not so good at municipal level. In Denmark the survey shows almost the opposite result. Why? Can Denmark and the rest of Europe learn from the Japanese experiences, and vice versa? Is it possible to transfer the Japanese advisory boards directly into e.g. the Danish planning system at regional level? And is it possible to transfer the Danish public participation experiences directly into the Japanese planning system at local level? These and other questions are what our paper will try to answer, hopefully to improve the quality and independency of public participation, and in a wider sense to improve the spatial planning as a useful integrated tool in regional growth management. THE VILLAGES IN THE CITY: THE CHARACTERISTICS AND THE RECENT CHANGES OF PAVILIONARY PERIPHERIC AREA IN BUCAREST Bogdan Suditu, Angers University, France The pavilionary peripheric areas Bucarest are mostly formed by ancient rural communities integrated, by spatial extension, in the space of the Bucarest city. With different ages, origins and characteristics of lodgings and different life styles, these urban spaces, all along the communist period, constituted a passing stage for the new citadins and a place for the conservation of a rural life style for the original inhabitants. Permanently threatened with demolition, these territories, in the last decades of the communist period, did not constitute spaces for urban planning, the lack of utilities making them insalubrious and difficult to live in for the potential citadins interested. In the last decade, the lack of interest in life in a block of flats, the lack of a rehabilitation program or “edilitary” equipment, or for others, the impossibility of acceding to a flat provided with all facilities, made numerous citadins accede to these residential spaces. The effect was an appreciation of their characteristics and the orientation of the interest to live in them. With different evolution rhythms and being interesting for different groups, nowadays they constitute the most dynamic spaces. Interesting for the mobile investors and citadins, technically assisted by the planning programs of the local administration, these zones are subjected to some socio-spatial transformations with a strong segregative character and social filtering.

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THE NEED FOR MORE REALISTIC AND EFFECTIVE MAINPORT POLICIES IN THE NETHERLANDS AND SOME INDICATIONS ON HOW TO GET THERE. Martijn Van Boxtel, Utrecht University, Menno Huys, Technical University Deflt and Marcel van Gils ERASMUS University Rotterdam, The Netherlands The Dutch mainports have gone through a functional evolution during the last decades. They have become multi-modal transport nodes and attractive pools for urban and economic development. Besides this, involved actors have developed more complex relationships. Both the functional evolution and the increasingly complex relations have caused more diversity and uncertainty within the mainport systems. This has made the search for widely accepted and realistic future developments within the mainport systems more difficult. In this paper we shall prove that the present-day mainport policies don’t acknowledge this real world diversity and complexity. Furthermore we shall give recommendations on how to improve the lacking policies in order to make them more effective. We would like to argue that a more demand driven and actor based way of planning can help to incorporate this complexity and diversity in the future Dutch mainport policies. Paper Contents

• Description of the evolution of the Dutch mainport policy and current policy

• Description of the changes in the mainport system during the last decades: the functional evolution of both mainports and relations between actors.

• Analysis: How does the current policy cope with this increased diversity and complexity?

• Recommendations on how to make Dutch mainport policies more effective and realistic.

SHRINKAGE: NEW CHALLENGES FOR GOVERNING PERIPHERAL REGIONS IN RURAL AREAS OF NORTH-EASTERN GERMANY Thomas Weith, University of Potsdam, Germany During the last years urbanized areas have been growing rapidly in size and number of inhabitants all over Europe. In contrast, peripheral rural areas – e.g. in north-eastern Germany – encounters decrease

in population, fragile economic framework and social decline. Especially the loss of young dynamic professionals (brain-drain), caused by unfavourable labour market conditions weakens the fragile economic situation in these regions. Moreover, significant ageing of the population (in average) destabilizes social networks. But being in danger of extreme economic, social, and environmental decline is not a must for peripheral regions in rural areas. What kind of future could be expected, what are opportunities and possibilities for change? Within a working group for the German Academy for Spatial Research and Planning a study for rural areas of north-eastern Germany was elaborated including the following results. Up to now simple projections of future living conditions for people in peripheral areas in Europe implied a decrease of living standards and quality of life. To change trends and to get new perspectives, discussions about possibilities for rearranging framework conditions and realistic options for development have to be started, first of all to enable local people to debate about their own future. Basic elements are reflections on trends and tendencies in spatial development and normative targets for the future, as well as knowledge about effective and efficient policy strategies and instruments. One scientific method for discussing possible futures and framework conditions, is elaborating qualitative scenarios on regional scale. Based on discussions in a working group three scenarios – trend-based, worst case, and normative – are worked out for peripheral regions in rural areas of north-eastern Germany. They include notions about population, labour market and economy, land use and infrastructure as well as social networks and public security in future. Answers are worked out e.g. for the following questions: Are rural and peripheral areas in future characterized by established networks of production and consumption or only by consumptive structures without their own economic perspectives? What are the functions of agro-business in future? What is the future demand for public services and infrastructure? What kind of settlement structures and accessible medical services will exist? As a result, different consequences as well as ways of dealing with “shrinkage” are discussed. Following only the negative trend scenario, the inhabitants remaining in rural peripheral areas will

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live an in unattractive, economical and socially insecure and unsafe environment. But with a radical change of current governing systems in addition to local civil society engagement new perspectives can be seen. Change of visions for public policy and planning are becoming a central starting point. This means first of all mental acceptance of a new paradigm “shrinkage”. In consequence interregional differences in living standards and infrastructure equipment are to be discussed. In conclusion, changes in rural policy should be discussed in a broad way. This includes a new strategic and integrative use of different instruments of spatial development. Regional planning, regional management and the establishment of regional agenda processes with new organisational structures will create a new mixture of regional governance, affording concrete measures like the consideration of needs of older people, support of SME’s for the local economy as well as the reinforcement of civil society and personal networks. New organisational models for medical care, infrastructure, and mobility as well as for services and public security are necessary. Considering these radical changes in strategic planning and management, including self-driven regional development, seem to be a necessity to take this window of opportunity towards sustainability. STRATEGIC SPATIAL PLANNING AND THE COLLECTIVE PROVISION PROBLEM OF GROWTH REGIONS Aidan While, University of Manchester, David C Gibbs and Andrew E G Jonas, University of Hull, England The contradictions of uneven spatial development are never far from the surface of prosperity and economic success in growth regions. History has shown that maintaining regional growth requires active planning to maintain the conditions for continued growth. This might take the form of infrastructure investment, subsidised housing and community facilities for labour, or various additional interventions to maintain the local quality of life. A contemporary variant on the question of managing localised growth is being played out across the world as successful new economy regions seek to address pressures on land, housing and infrastructure. The management of growth in such regions can pose significant organizational and legitimacy problems for governments keen to attract

further investment, even for those with a neo-liberal agenda. Tensions centre on maintaining circuits of investment within growth regions, and managing uneven development at various territorial scales. Drawing on examples of major international high-technology growth regions, this paper sets out a series of research questions about the role of spatial planning and geographies of collective provision in the politics of regional growth. We also explore what our case-studies reveal about the economic, social and political forces shaping strategic spatial management in different regional and national contexts.

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