Suchergebnisse

AbstractBy investing in the development of European territories, EU Cohesion Policy can be expected to have a positive impact on the citizens' views on the European Union. Whether and how the policy actually affects what people think about the EU remains unclear. This paper explores a range of regional determinants of EU image, from socio‐economic to territorial factors and the intensity of EU Cohesion Policy funding, based on the data available for 2008–2015 period. It finds a positive relation between the size of the regional European Structural and Investment Funds' allocation and less negative EU image, while highlighting how a declining regional economic situation fuels more negative views on the EU. It also reveals that lower level of education and higher migration have a strong influence on negative EU image, albeit only in some European regions.

"Learning from abroad" is a widely recognised and used means to innovate and improve strategies and policies implemented by regions and cities. However, literature on knowledge transfer and related concepts, such as policy transfer, policy mobility or lesson-drawing, highlights the limitations of this process, especially when it entails the simple transfer of (best) practices from "place A" to "place B". Such a transfer may lead to suboptimal solutions particularly when the imported practices concern complex phenomena, involving networks of multiple actors and relying on place-specific dynamics. Departing from this critique, the article sheds light on the process of knowledge transfer in the field of circular economy, taking place between the two metropolitan regions of Amsterdam and Naples. This process is guided by an innovative methodology based on a network of (peri-urban) living labs generating eco-innovative solutions for using material waste and wastescapes as a resource in peri-urban areas. Using participant observation in knowledge transfer workshops, stakeholder interviews and surveys, it investigates how the process of co-creation of knowledge in the relational space of the networked living labs takes place thanks to the participation of stakeholders from both regions. This in turn allows for drawing conclusions on what barriers are encountered in such knowledge transfer, what makes solutions transferable across different contexts, and, finally, how the solutions are adapted as they travel from one place to another.

This article examines the problematic implementation of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (UWWTD) in the Czech Republic and Poland from the perspective of the scholarly debate on European Union (EU) and post-accession compliance, focusing on the competing 'goodness of fit' and administrative-legal approaches to explaining variations in compliance with EU rules. It finds that administrative shortcomings of various kinds are a major reason for implementation problems in both countries, and that problems have also stemmed from the multilevel nature of the implementation process, which places a heavy administrative and financial burden on municipalities, and requires cooperation between national and local government authorities. In the Czech case, however, the 'misfit' between EU standards and contracting and regulatory practices in the Czech water sector has also undermined UWWTD compliance, through its negative impact on the country's ability to access EU funding.

This paper explores the linkages between the characteristics of regions and EU identification and proposes a regional typology of EU identification. Starting from a brief review of the literature on determinants of EU identification, the paper adds to it by asking questions about how these determinants operate on the regional level and how the features of regions, such territorial, governance and socio-economic characteristics, can affect the perceptions of the EU. It then reviews the existing regional typologies and data sets to identify those that can be used to describe and explain EU identification at the regional level. Following that, the paper presents a regional typology of EU identification and applies it to describe the patterns in the regional perceptions of the EU across COHESIFY case study countries. Finally, a framework for further exploration to explain the relations between the regional characteristics and EU identification is set out. ; COHESIFY Research paper 6. COHESIFY WP2 -- Task 2.4: Output 2.4

Planning practice in the Global South often defines a border between formal and informal developments ignoring the complex and nuanced reality of urban practices and, consequently, worsening segregation. This article proposes an alternative view of socio-spatial segregation that shifts the distinction between formal/informal towards one that emphasises access to opportunities and their relationship with the spatial structure of the city. Under this alternative framework, applied to the case of the Valle Amauta neighbourhood in Lima, Peru, we reflect on how socio-economic activities, shaped by spatial conditions and social practices, increase or reduce socio-spatial segregation. Our findings suggest that a shift towards strategies aimed at increasing accessibility to centrality, provided by the density of social and economic activities, could offer new opportunities for planning practice and theory in the Global South.

Although the cities in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) in China are amongst the world's cities most exposed to flooding due to climate change, surprisingly little is done to address this problem. This article explores the barriers to the emergence of policies adapting to the growing flood risk in two PRD cities, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, underlining the importance of the Chinese territorial governance system for adaptive capacity at the local level. Focusing on institutions, ideas and interests as a heuristic device, the article contributes to the literature on urban climate adaptation and the nexus of spatial planning and flood risk management by exploring why and how the development of the adaptive capacity of cities is hampered, despite an urgent need for it.

Abstract: The cities of the Pearl River Delta (PRD) have been experiencing an unprecedented urban expansion for the past four decades, leading to emergence of one of the most populous and dynamic urban regions. However, these rapidly expanding cities located in a low-lying delta area also face increasing flood risk due to a combination of anthropogenic and natural factors. We use the concept of boundary spanning in combination with an institutionalist perspective to shed light on the barriers and opportunities for development of adaptive capacity in the face of that risk in Hong Kong and Guangzhou. As recognised in the flood risk management literature, such boundary spanning is necessary to effectively address the challenge of spatial adaptation to the growing flood risk, as it entails, for instance collaborating between policy sectors (horizontal boundaries), across levels of government (vertical boundaries) and between short-term and long-term planning agendas (temporal boundaries). Through the prism of institutions (e.g. planning system), ideas (e.g. dominant values in planning) and interests (e.g. rational choice-driven strategic behaviour of the actors involved), we assess how contextual institutional and cultural factors matter for the ability of those cities to address the growing flood risk in the face of climate change. The study builds on analysis of spatial planning and flood risk management policy documents, interviews with practitioners and experts, and site visits. Our findings show that due to institutional lock-ins and conflicting policy goals, horizontal boundary spanning remains hindered in both cases, despite emerging policy innovations, such as the Sponge City Plan in Guangzhou or the rollout of multi-functional and Nature-Based Solutions in Hong Kong. The responsibilities of institutions in both cities remain blurred, 'planning for growth' ignores flood and climate risk issues, and urban expansion into vulnerable areas continues. Important differences, however, exist in terms of vertical boundary spanning, pointing to different policy implications for each of the two cities.