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Regional Studies Association
Mobilising Regions: Territorial Strategies for Growth
Conference Proceedings of the Regional Studies Association Winter Conference November 2013 Compiled by: Lesa Reynolds & Daniela Carl
November 2013 ISBN No: 978-1-897721-45-2
Regional Studies Association 25 Clinton Place Seaford BN25 1NP United Kingdom
TABLE OF CONTENTS PLENARY PRESENTATIONS
Mobilising Regions: Leadership and Strategies for Growth Andrew Beer
1
What do Yes and No Mean? The Scottish Referendum and the UK Territorial Distribution of Power Jim Gallagher
7
WORKSHOP SUMMARIES The Central German Metropolitan Region – Multiple Spatial Dimensions of Politico-Economic Discourses Roger Baars and Antje Schlottmann
12
Mobilising Regions: LEPs as Entrepreneurial Governance and Innovative Practice? Gill Bentley, Lee Pugalis, Ania Ankowska and John Shutt
15
The Future of City-Regions (FCR) <> Comparative Territorial Benchmarking (CTB) Igor Calzada
18
Income, Income Trends and their Implications for Recovery Strategies on the Island of Ireland Micheál Collins and Paul MacFlynn
24
Education, Education, Education: Inequality of Choice and Policy Conflict Sue Easton
28
Will Strategic Housing Market Assessments in England be Given and Appropriate Role? Martin Field, Bob Colenutt and Allan Cochrane
30
An Integrative Spatial Capital-Based Model for Strategic Local Planning Amnon Frenkel and Idan Porat
32
Regional Cooperation and Multilevel Governance: A Matrix for Evaluating a Smart Development Chiara Garau and Pasquale Mistretta
34
Astronaut’s Dilemma – Origin, Present and Future of Local Partnerships in Regional Development at Post-Transition Countries: Case study of Poland Wojciech Goszczynski and Wojciech Kniec
41
Immigration as a Means of Development: Considering The Japanese Case David Green and Yoshihiko Kadoya
42
Network Structure and Collaborative Governance in Lombardy’s Cultural District Program: A Conceptual Framework Silvia Gugu, Andrea Tartaglia and Roberto Bolici
46
Governing Beyond the Metropolis: Placing the Rural in City-Region Development John Harrison and Jesse Heley
50
The Emerging Role of Community Leadership in Shrinking Cities Maxwell Hartt
53
Divergent and Convergent Paths to Technology Cluster Formation and Evolution: A Study of Both and Exogenous and Endogenous Success Route Jari Hautamäki, Johanna Clancy and Paul Ryan
55
Territorial Strategies for Growth in the Rural Areas of Transylvania. Best Practice Examples of Participatory Rural development Approaches Kinga Xenia Havadi-Nagy
57
Overcoming Complexities on the Interface of Infrastructure and Land Use: Design Preconditions for Integrated Regional Development Niels Heeres and Jos Arts
59
Special Economic Zones – 20 Years After – A Panel Data Evaluation of Poland’s Regional Policy Camilla Jensen and Marcin Winiarczyk
62
New Form of Regional Cooperation, New Spatial Structure; Electronic Cooperation and the Rise of Maga City-Regions Omid Khazaeian and Reza Kheyroddin
65
Innovation as Script. How Images of Innovative Regions are Shaping the Geography of Innovation Arnoud Lagendijk
71
Are Regional Systems Greening the Economy? The Role of Environmental Innovations Massimiliano Mazzanti, Davide Antonioli and Simone Borghesi
73
Mobilising all of the Workforce: The Legacy of Gender Mainstreaming Within the Scottish Structural Funds Progamme 2007-13 Leaza McSorley, Jim Campbell and Susanna Ross
75
The Functioning Economic Geography of the West Midlands Regional Economy: Structure, Process, Policy and Path Dependency Rachel Mulhall, John R Bryson, Jacob Salder and Stephen Williams
79
A Review of Fire and Rescue Services in the British Isles Peter Murphy and Kirsten Greenhalgh
81
Knowledge Spillovers as Mobilising Strategy? Sverre Konrad Nilsen
84
Cities, Regulation and Boundaries: What Role for the English State? Kathy Pain
85
Urban Regeneration Tools and Community Involvement: Community Benefit District Pasquale Pizzimenti, Carmelina Bevilacqua and Jusy Calabrò
88
Changing Innovation Processes Models: A Chance to Break Out of Path Dependency for Less Developed Regions Kornelius Pylak and Ninetta Chaniotou
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Pain, K. (2011) ‘New Worlds’ for ‘Old’? Twenty-First-Century Century Gateways and Corridors: Reflections on a European spatial perspective, International Journal of Urban & Regional Research, 35(6), 1154-74. Pain, K. (2012) Locational Investment – Where to target investment for maximum economic returns, RICS Research, London, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, May 2012. Pain, K. and Van Hamme, G. (eds.) (2014) Changing Urban and Regional Relations in a Globalizing World: Europe as a Global Macro-Region, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar, forthcoming.
URBAN REGENERATION TOOLS AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: COMMUNITY BENEFIT DISTRICT Pasquale Pizzimenti, Carmelina Bevilacqua and Jusy Calabrò, Università degli Studi Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria, ITALY Urban Regeneration and Community Involvement The increasing importance of community involvement within planning processes is widely recognized and it is increasingly gaining the attention of all actors involved in the planning process. For both public and private ones, the community-based approach seems to be worth it for urban regeneration initiatives to be effective. Since the early 1990s, the Urban Regeneration wave imposed itself as a possible way to answer these issues in urban declined areas. According with Couch and Fraser (2003:2), “Regeneration is concerned with the regrowth of economic activity where it has been lost; the restoration of social function where there has been dysfunction, or social inclusion where there has been exclusion; and the restoration of environmental quality or ecological balance where it has been lost”. Moreover, it might be seen a shifting of meaning through decades, so that “If the mantras of regeneration policy in the 1980s were “enterprise and business”, the themes which have dominated the succeeding decade have surely been `partnership' and, above all, “community” (Lawless, 2001). The role played by communities recently became very central in the political agenda of countries and regional and local authorities. The EU has recognized the centrality of community in economic development processes by stressing the role of the cities in delivering smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. The European Commission has recently published a study on how cities make use of ERDF support to make their cities a better place to live and work (DgRegio, 2013). “One of the most engaging results of the study is the variable geometry of strategies in place to achieve urban and territorial cohesion through the implementation of integrated approaches. The area-based type of intervention dominates many of the practices, especially those in deprived areas, because of social, economic and environmental factors. Physical regeneration is still a major driver in creating multi-stakeholder cooperation in the integration of policies. There are relatively few cases in which the place-based approach was combined with a people-based approach – and even fewer where ERDF and European Social Fund (ESF) cross-funding was developed.” (Dg Regio, 2013). According to the Commission’s proposals, there are several ways to support sustainable urban development with the Structural Funds: Operational programmes, Integrated Territorial Investment (ITI), Community-Led Local Development, 31 financial instruments . Even the urban dimension in the EU cohesion policy is not a new issue, the way in which the Europe2020 intends to ensure integrated approach in the sustainable urban development is quite new because it entails both thematic concentration and community involvement. In this perspective, we proposed an interesting case study concerning community involvement in urban regeneration initiatives explored in San Diego. The Little Italy Community Benefit District is a case study belonging to a set of 12 case studies in San Diego appraised in the CLUDs research project under the 7FP – Marie Curie IRSES. The focus of the research is to investigate how urbanrural linkages could be addressed by Public Private Partnership within urban regeneration initiatives. Community involvement in Urban Regeneration Initiatives: the Community Benefit District (CBD) of Little Italy, San Diego, CA, USA A wide range of methods and tools to make people involved within the planning and policy-making processes are used. So that the importance of local community awareness about urban regeneration objectives is expected to play a central role (Healey, 1997; Portney, 2005). The paper focuses on the “Community Benefit District” (CBD), an urban management tool under the Business Improvement District (BID) rationale, which allows to use property tax assessments to implement services and quality of the built environment at neighborhood level. A CBD “is a local 32 enabling ordinance that allows for the establishment of a special benefit district” in order to create a stable source revenue to fund special services. Such services do not correspond to the general ones issued by the city, since they 31 32
like JESSICA and JEREMIE Property and Business Improvement Districts Law, 1994, California, Streets and Highways Code; Community Benefit District Act, 2005
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respond to the needs of a specific neighborhood. In USA, BIDs are tools frequently used in order to revitalize declining urban centers. They are often “seen as a minimally invasive renewal strategy that mimics Jane Jacobs’ pedestrian-oriented, mixed-use vision”(Lewis, 2010) to pursue a sort of liveable- walkable urban environment. BIDs are also “lauded as a flexible, efficient marriage of public needs and interests with private-sector energy” (Lewis, 2010:181), to cope with the “out of the center” commercial attitude of the big sprawled American cities and the consequent declining of inner urban areas. The case of San Diego is peculiar, since the city’s program “uses a mix of property assessments, merchant fees, public sources of support (city grants), and the entrepreneurial activities of the BIDs themselves to produce revenues and services” (Stokes, 2007:280). Here such tool has been used as a “citywide program for economic development” (Stokes, 2007:279). From evidences indeed, in the overall economy 33 of San Diego County, BIDs (Vasquez, 2012) are playing an important and widely recognized role to improve economic growth through public benefits implementation while enhancing urban regeneration initiatives, performing planning and advocacy activities. In some particular cases in California BIDs can be associated with the so called Community Benefit District (CBD), a practice that seems to be successful since it involves residents to invest into their neighborhood, allowing them to have property value increased, while living into a safer and livable urban environment. In the specific case analyzed, the Little Italy BID works also as CBD, that is much like a BID except property owners, not the businesses, vote to pay an additional property tax assessment. The BID/CBD is managed by 34 a non-profit 501(c) 3 corporation, the Little Italy Association (LIA), that advocates on behalf of its members' best interests in the fields of public safety, beautification, promotion and economic development, preserving the cultural resources existing in the Little Italy neighborhood. The LIA Board of Directors encourages public input and participation in issues that affect the community. The objective is to make attractive a place with a strong sense of community, rooted since the early 1990s starting with the fishing industry, symbol of the Italian past but also of the local culture, mixed up with Latino and Chinese minorities. The strong marketing activity then contributed to create a brand synonymous of quality and reliance for business or art galleries that move there aware to make safe investments. Little Italy today is considered a San Diego’s Model Community: 2010 honored of two distinguished awards in the world of redevelopment and planning. The Financial analysis shows as most of the income comes from the Community Benefit District assessments. The LIA’s annual revenues on fiscal year FY10 were more than $1.2 million. Funds are generated from two types of assessments collected from the Little Italy’s property owners and businesses, respectively coming from the CBD and BID. Tab. 1 Little Italy Association Income and Expenditure Fiscal Year 2012
Source: Little Italy Association – FY 2012 The CBD generated approximately $725,000 in revenues on the fiscal year FY11: funds provide for the services of maintenance workers and management staff who oversee regular sidewalk sweeping, installation and maintenance of trees and landscaping in the public right-of-way, evening maintenance workers, maintenance of public areas and piazzas, hanging of banners and decorations, and all beautification efforts. The BID generated approximately $100,000 on the same year: funds provide for promotion, business district marketing and coordination of community events.
34
A 501(c) organization, also known colloquially as either a 501(c) or a "nonprofit", is an American tax-exempt nonprofit organization. Section 501(c) of the United States Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 501(c)) provides that 28 types of nonprofit organizations are exempt from some federal income taxes.
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New housing units in Little Italy, San Diego (CA, USA) th Source: from the Authors – Pictures taken during the WP2 of the CLUDS Project – Marie Curie IRSES action – 7 European Research Framework Conclusion The role of Community is not clear to define, especially in those contexts where governance is fragmented. The case study experience held in San Diego,(CA, USA) shows how the strong institutionalization of community involvement could be a key factor in both urban regeneration initiatives and public benefits gathering. In this case the particular institutional form provided by the City of San Diego placed the community at the core of the planning system. The General plan indeed is a bottom-up process, coherent with aims and objectives of the general one, in which communities are really proactive through formal or informal way of participation. 35 Lately, even at regional level, the Regional Comprehensive Plan, drawn up by SANDAG is the framework 36 under which Community Plans of each municipality addressed following the smart growth principles . The Little Italy overall strategy, although very targeted on business retention and marketing activities, turned into a successful urban regeneration initiative that, through the strong community involvement, supports a sense of belonging and a strong peculiar character of neighborhood within Downtown: it is increasingly becoming a point of strength thanks to its identifiable character, adding value to the entire urban environment, a place where to live and work. Particularly, CBD, under the BID rationale, provided concrete public benefits. The community role, composed by property and business owners, supported and addressed by the LIA no profit organization, plays a crucial role in maintaining high the level of cultural preservation, increasing local economic development opportunities. We suggest as the proactive involvement of community through the implementation of community-based approaches could promote the horizontal integration, strengthened by citizens and businesses getting together as a community, and a vertical integration, through agreements running at all levels of government (i.e. local, regional and national) in order to face with the distress suffered in urban areas which is not merely physical, but social, economic and environmental; relating to job opportunities, employment and work, public services, housing, transport and mobility, education and health, open space and clean air. It could also promotes an integrated strategy of cross-cutting decision making processes which is inclusive, competitive and environmentally sustainable. Acknowledgements This presentation draws from the activities of the CLUDs Research Program, funded within the framework of the EU IRSES MARIE CURIE 7FP. the research is led by Pau-University Mediterranea of Reggio Calabria (Italy) and the participants are: FOCUS-university of Rome La Sapienza (Italy); SOBE-University of Salford (UK); Aalto University (Finland); Northeastern University of Boston (Usa); and San Diego State University (USA). References Barca F., (2012). Metodi e Obiettivi per un uso efficace dei fondi Comunitari 2014-2020. Documento di aperture al confronto pubblico. Presentato dal Ministro per la Coesione Territoriale, d’intesa con i Ministri del Lavoro e delle Politiche sociali e delle Politiche Agricole, Alimentari e Forestali. Rome, 27 December 2012 Healey, P. (1997). Collaborative planning: shaping places in fragmented societies (p. 338). London: Macmillan
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San Diego Associations of Governments http://www.sandag.org/
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Jacobs B., (1999). Strategy and Partnership in Cities and Regions. Economic Development and Urban Regeneration in Pittsburgh, Birmingham and Rotterdam. MacMillan Press, London Kaur G. (2007). Participatory Approach/ Community Involvement in Planning, 43rd ISOCARP Congress 2007 Lawless P., (2001). Community economic development in urban and regional regeneration: unfolding potential or justifiable sceptiscism. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy 2001, Vol. 19, p. 135-155 Lewis, N. M. (2010). Grappling with governance: the emergence of business improvement districts in a national capital” in Urban Affairs Review, 46(2), 180-217 Mccarthy J. (2007). Parternship, Collaborative Planning and Urban Regeneration. Ashgate Publishing Group, Abingdon UK Roberts P., Sykes H. (2000), Urban Regeneration. A Handbook. Sage Publication. London Stokes, R. J. (2007). Business improvement districts and small business advocacy: the case of San Diego's Citywide BID program. Economic Development Quarterly, 21(3), 278-291. Vasquez V. (2012), “The economic impact of business improvement districts (BIDs) in San Diego”, Report, National University System Institute for Policy Research, 2012
CHANGING INNOVATION PROCESSES MODELS: A CHANCE TO BREAK OUT OF PATH DEPENDENCY FOR LESS DEVELOPED REGIONS Korneliusz Pylak, Lublin University of Technology, POLAND Ninetta Chaniotou, Kainuun Etu Oy, FINLAND The aim of this paper is to find if and how regions can change innovation processes models and whether there is a chance to break out of path dependency for less developed regions. An innovation process model is defined as a series of sequential changes, linked causatively, constituting stages of development of innovation. In other words, an innovation process is a sequence of events necessary for introducing an innovation to a market. In this paper, innovation process models are considered through a system of specific values of variables (developed by OECD) describing the availability and creation of knowledge (such as GDP, GERD and business R&D expenditure), its absorption (educated tertiary labour force, share of employment in manufacturing, primary and public sector) and its diffusion (PCT, high-tech manufacturing, knowledgeintensive services) in the region. Thus the model represents huge potential for knowledge-driven growth of regions (innovation potential, innovative activities or technologies, human resources, employment and economic outcomes), which are high-tech manufacturing or knowledge intensive services focused. Many researchers claim that locked-in regions can be unlocked mainly by exogenous factors induced by shocks or coincidences, but according to the evolutionary approach, the development of a region is possible by a process of co-evolution in motion, in which knowledge, business models, governmental and research institutions can improve the competitive position of a region in comparison with other regions. Nevertheless path dependence describes a situation, in which initial conditions establish a trajectory, making changes or reversal increasingly difficult, but not impossible. This paper is one of the few to investigate path dependency covering all the innovative performance of regions, unlike many studies focusing on one or a group of industries. Thus it has direct impact on the regional economic performance. By addressing patterns of path dependency break-throughs, it is possible to implement the evolutionary development paths, leading to higher GDP per capita. If the possibility is confirmed, it would allow then, to elaborate policy recommendations and good practices. To facilitate mapping of path-dependency breakthroughs, the research conducted for this article utilises regional categorisations as per the OECD/EC methodology. These two institutions’ research indicate different innovation processes models/patterns taking place in regions. It implies that it was possible in the past and will be possible in the future to adopt different development paths for less developed regions. Analysis of such regions, which evolved their development paths successfully in the past, will make it possible to understand how the transition model of changing development paths between the groups can look like. This will allow the answer to the fundamental question of whether path dependency is imminent, or whether it is possible to implement the development paths in accordance with the evolutionary approach, in particular: 1) Is it possible to change the model of innovation processes taking place in a region (is it possible for a region to switch between models)? Is it possible for a region to break out of path dependency? 2) If so, what
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