BRUSSELS, SEPTEMBER 3, 2015
BORROWED SIZE NUVit
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REPORT SEMINAR DELTAMETROPOLIS ASSOCIATION
Report NUVit Seminar Borrowed Size | Brussels, September 3, 2015
On the third of September, 2015, the NUVit seminar on Borrowed Size was held at the House of the Dutch Provinces in Brussels. The seminar explored the theme of Borrowed Size through several presentations and a reflection on the NUVit case studies. The initiative ‘Networking for Urban Vitality’ (NUVit) brings together European case studies and practical experience from integrated infrastructure and spatial development. The NUVit goal is to deliver a proven toolbox for authorities to use in order to optimize economic, social and environmental vitality of urban regions from the perspective of multimodal transport infrastructures. In order to achieve this goal NUVit has developed a basic framework. In this framework six dimensions have been distinguished; spatial, network, time, value, institutional and implementation. Vitality is at the heart of the NUVit model. The seminar consisted of two sessions. In the morning session, representatives of the three NUVit cases presented the current state of their projects and discussed among each other how the NUVit framework could help in further developing their projects. In the afternoon session, the focus was on the theme of borrowed size. Following two presentations (on theory and European case studies) the group discussed the subject more in-depth and reflected on how borrowed size could be implemented in the three NUVit cases. 2
Report NUVit Seminar Borrowed Size | Brussels, September 3, 2015
MORNING SESSION Case study: Linköping High Speed Rail By Susanne Ingo, Trafikverket
Sweden has the ambition for a High Speed Train network between Stockholm Gothenburg and Malmö, with stops at the cities in between. As there is a growing amount of travellers and cargo between the cities, new infrastructure is needed to complement the old, existing lines and by doing so free up capacity. The current lines have a top speed of 200 km/h, for the new lines a speed of 320 km/h will be possible. This new network will be the first new main railway line since 1860 and planning for the first section of this network, The Eastern Link, started 22 years ago. The first ambition was to connect the cities surrounding Stockholm to the capital by a HST, this in order to shorten commuting times (compete with air travel) and increase borrowed size. Only afterwards the ambition to create a larger HST network came. Another ongoing section in the network is the connection between Gothenburg and Borås. For the sections between Linköping and Borås and between Jönköping and Malmö studies still need to be done. The current national administration renewed the ambition for the entire HST network. Together with other ambitions, such as housing (100,000 new homes), public transport in metropolitan areas, jobs (13 000 new jobs a year until 2035), etc., these ambitions are discussed with the regions and municipalities after which binding agreements are made. For this discussion the State has appointed two negotiators and gave them the task to negotiate co-financing with private and public partners for the following projects: (1) new high-speed line to connect Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö, (2) improved public transport in the three metropolitan areas, (3) up to 100,000 new homes, with a focus on sustainability and compact living, (4) improved accessibility, traffic flow and safety for cyclists, (5) the connection between Helsingborg (Sweden) and Helsingor (Denmark) by existing ferries or a new tunnel or bridge, (6) the extension of railways in Northern Sweden and (7) the support to future national or regionals plans. The results of these negotiations will be announced, at the same time the national infrastructure plan is announced.
Report NUVit Seminar Borrowed Size | Brussels, September 3, 2015
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The Swedish administration wants to strengthen long-term conditions for growth, business and the environment by means of these investments. The State and private investments in the project will be SEK 400 billion (EUR 45 billion) by 2035. This includes SEK 150 billion for the two high-speed lines and SEK 70 billion for infrastructure and public transport projects in the main cities. Major challenges will lie in the linkage between the different scales and the time horizons. Some of the most crucial appear to be: The national perspective on the economic structure and the role of the High Speed Network, opportunities to stimulate contacts and exchanges within and between cities and regions. How can the new HST enhance development in the various regions and cities, and how can station structures be designed in order to facilitate interplay between cities and regions? To answer this question, the example of Linköping was explored during the seminar. Linköping is the fifth largest city in Sweden, located at 200 km from Stockholm and it is an university city. The surrounding region will grow to 1 million inhabitants in the coming years. The potential HST stop in the city has resulted in a lot of energy from the municipality as they want to use the stop to revitalise their urban core. In the new plans, the station’s location is changed closer to the current shopping and pedestrian area. However, other important clusters in the city, such as the hospital or the university are still located at a distance and more local public transport is needed. The winning entry in the design competition for the station however created a negative atmosphere in the city, as the proposed railways create a barrier in the city. This resulted in the municipality demanding to build a tunnel. This tunnel is however not financially covered and alternative models are being developed. As this examples shows the perspective of the State in this process is still very open. No hard decisions have been made on where to build the station, how to connect stations to the regional public transport and integrate them in the local context. Furthermore, where to construct new houses is linked to the choices made concerning infrastructure. Looking at the whole corridor, the question could be raised if there should even be a train stop at Linköping. Is a good regional service not enough? There are already a lot of stops on the line, and can enough speed be guaranteed?
Questions and remarks from the audience Q: Could you eleborate on the role the negotiaters have? A: They talk with the municipalities and regions on subjects such as co-funding for the projects, but also on potential changes in legislation. For example how the redevelopments areas can generate more money for the municipalities, so they can invest more upfront.
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Q: What about the tracks, how many will be placed? How will you organise the freight and passenger transport? A: The High Speed Network will have two tracks and there will no freight on the high speed line, for that the existing lines will be used. The new tracks will not be parallel to the existing tracks. Q: What are the main goals for the High Speed Network, concerning speed and time? A. The goals are to travel from Stockholm to Gothenburg in two hours and to MalmĂś in two and a half hours. This goal will help to decide on the amount of stations on the lines.
Case study: T.OP Limburg, the making of a multiproductive landscape metropolis By Liesl Vanautgaerden, Spatial Development Department Flanders
The Limburg Territorial Development Programme (T.OP Limburg) is a project that aims to redevelop the area around Genk, an area located between Brussels, Eindhoven, Liege and the Ruhrarea. This area will experience a big economic change in short term. The scheduled closure of Ford Genk (BE), one of Limburg’s main economic engines and Flanders’ fourth largest industrial site, will drastically alter the economic and societal setting of the region. Just as happened in the 1970s after the closures of the mines. To meet this challenge and to preserve employment levels in Limburg, a regional investment plan was drawn up. With the start of the execution phase in 2014, a territorial perspective was added: the Limburg Territorial Development Programme (T.OP Limburg). In doing so, the authorities recognized that economic redevelopment and spatial reorganization could serve to reinforce each other, and thus create new opportunities. T.OP Limburg aims to develop the region into a multi-productive landscape metropolis. The partners envision realizing this ambition at a grand scale and in its broadest sense. Action programmes are being implemented for three core strategies (innovative business environment, leisure-time economy and healthy urbanisation) that foster constructive relationships between spatial design and the (future development of the) economy in the Limburg region: The first action programme is to support the transition towards a circular economy by gradually developing the region into a multi-productive network (REMINE Limburg Port). The second action programme is to support the leisure economy by transforming and connecting the existing landscape structures into a scenic open space network at the regional scale (RE-MINE Limburg Park). The third action programme is to improve liveability and regional qualities by smart densification, better connectivity, and defragmentation of the residential fabric (RE-MINE Limburg City).
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To make the three strategies more concrete, they are looked at from several perspectives (energy landscape coal mine track, intermodal mobility, multifunctional water and action oriented policy instruments). For now we will zoom in on one perspective, namely intermodal mobility. For this perspective we first explored what the knowledge innovations in mobility and logistics are, what the tools are we can use for intermodal scenarios development. Secondly we build consortiums, both at the international scale (NUVit), and the regional scale (cooperation between the departments of Transport and Spatial Planning, which ensures projects being looked at from both a spatial and infrastructural level) and with the different partners working in the area (infrastructure authorities, knowledge institutes and local public partners). As infrastructure authorities work at multiple levels (trains are at the national level but have regional offices, roads and other public transport are at the regional level) cooperation can be hard. The role of the Spatial Development Department Flanders is action oriented and focuses on implementation, which is new for this level of governance. Finally, by organising workshops with the different partners, we mapped the projects (studies, ongoing) in the area. From these workshops we learned: that there are a lot of projects on mobility in the area, such as fast tramlines, bikepaths and driverless car experiments. However a lot of these projects have trouble being implemented. Futhermore, a lot of the actors did not know each other and as a result their projects are viewed as isolated projects and not in relation to one another. The planned workshop will go more indepth on the different projects and will look at them from several perspectives. At the local level: What is the added value for production areas if an integrated model would be in place? Can area become a test ground for new mobility (innovative business environment)? How can we connect the different recreational areas? Can innovative mobility be an experience (leisure-time economy)? How does an integrated model influence the urban system? To improve healthy urbanisation, should we densify by focusing the new housing developments at intermodal gateways (transport oriented development)? At the international level: If crossborder connections would be improved, what is the added value for Limburg as a logistic centre? Could a borrowed size model be developed with the surrounding economic better performing areas? The region currently has it doubts concerning better connections to the stronger surrounding areas. Better connection also make it easier to leave the region. As a conclusion the following questions were formulated for this NUVit seminar: - How ambitious can we be about mobility / transport infrastructure in a remote area? - What is the added value of using a multi-faceted, multi-scalar and integrated approach to create more opportunities? What is the added value of creativity and design?
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- How can we process the interplay between scale levels, time dimensions and actors? How do we jointly select priorities and develop pilot projects? - Which tools are needed to develop intermodal scenarios? Which images will tell the story? - Which technology allows shared use of transport infrastructure? - Does the concept of borrowed size apply in remote (shrinking) areas?
Questions and remarks from the audience R. The great thing of being in an international group is that it helps to gain perspective. I can tell you, the Limburg area is not remote, it is central. Sweden or the Baltic States are remote. Q. By looking at all the investments in the area, how do you deal with those who are nog profiting of the investments? A. Mapping the different projects makes it easier to negotiate. For example, maybe not all municipalities need a tram stop (as this will slow down the speed of the fast tram), but some can get an E-bikes stop instead. Furthermore, the mapping makes clear that everybody is doing the same thing, with the result that nobody actually is profiting. Showing this can give the actors involved the courage to take the decision to be different and try new things. Q. Could you elaborate on the value of positioning the area better within the ABC (Amsterdam, Brussels and Cologne) region? A. Currently there are lots of projects going on, but a lot of them are not being implemented. These projects work in different tempos. To get from study to implementation, broadening the perspective of local partners can help. One way to do so is by positioning projects as part of the whole regional development. For example, one project will be part of the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam, this to give it and thus the whole region more international allure. Q. What is the timeline for this project? A. The time line of the Flemish level is short, 4 years. Therefore we need projects to prove the approach is working. Q. The focus seems to be on new ‘hard’ infrastructure. Are there also digital projects that aim at improving the existing infrastructure? A. At the provincial level, there are projects that develop an interface for intermodal networks. They also look at several ways of sharing transport for very remote areas.
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Q. Concerning businesses, logistics seems to be car oriented, what about better use of the railways or canals? A. The capacity to do so is there, however if an entrepreneur would want to make use of the railways, he or she needs to discuss this with three partners. This is not something we can solve in the short time the Flemish level is active partner in the project. But we hope by addressing it to the national government (which is responsible for rail) that this will be solved in the long run. Concerning the Albert Canal, in some areas it is oversized (100 meters wide, where you need only 60 meters for logistics). This opens up possibilities for leisure options. However, currently the Canal is only being looked at as infrastructure and not from a spatial perspective. To open up the debate, examples of other uses need to be made to show leisure possibilities. Q. Looking at your approach, it is not the top-down approach which is mostly being used at this scale level, but more a bottom-up approach. How will this more poetic approach work between the daily reality of politics and regional economy? A. What actually helps us a lot is that earlier top-down approaches did not work either for this region. This has created a moment to try something new. The main idea is to see how we can make it work, make it concrete. This from what is now already locally happening and together with local mayors. 8
Case study: Rail Baltic Estonia
By Heikki Kalle, Hendrikson & Ko Indrek Orav, Rail Baltic joint venture company (state representative) In the Baltic States, the existing connections are mainly east-west oriented, a relic from the Sovjet times. Thus, next to changing the orientation of the tracks also the mindset needs to be changed, in the Baltic States as well as the surrounding countries. Currently Poland and Finland are increasingly interested in the project. The project will build 700 km (200 km in Estonia) of new high speed railway (top speed will be 240km/h, current speed is 120km/h). In Estonia, the railway starts at the border with Latvia and will stop at P채rnu, Rapla and end in Tallinn. It started as a free-standig project and is now becoming a corridor development. Local stations and commuter trains are also using the new tracks. The feasibility study was done in 2010 and the new state level plan was approved in 2011. The Regional planning and SEA process is currently underway to determine railway corridors. The corridor planning is very complex (several countries, multiple levels of governance) and the deadlines have been very strickt to get everybody on board. Only now there is time to look beyond just building the needed tracks. There has been hardly any public debate on the project.
Report NUVit Seminar Borrowed Size | Brussels, September 3, 2015
What could emerge due to these new rail ways? (1) Synergy in the cooperation of seaports, airports, roads and two railway networks, (2) increase of Estonian and Finnish export potential, (3) investments to processing industry, subcontracting, adding value to products, (4) economic development of Raplamaa and P채rnumaa: emerge of new industries and population growth, (5) increase of competitiveness of Muuga port in the region, (7)development of Tallinn area and Harjumaa region, (8) investments to logistics centres, industrial parks and storage centres, (9) new jobs and revenues, (10) effective management of international companies in the region and better movement of people. In short Rail Baltic creates new a reality in transport and logistics and heats up the whole economy. Rail Baltic joint venture company, RB RAIL AS is a co-operation of the governments of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, by means of representatives. These representatives are the companies that will be implementing the project. There are also talks with Poland and EU representatives. Whether Tallinn will be the end or the start of the line, depends on future trade with Russia. Currently Finland still has good trading connections with Russia. Tallinn looks at planning a new station, but also how to connect the Rail Baltic line with the new intermodal passenger terminal and with the airport. Furthermore, there are plans to build a tunnel to Helsinki, the line needs to able to connect to the potential tunnel. As mentioned before this projects has many strict deadlines (EU funding) and the planning of the actual line is trying to catch up. The detailed spatial plan needs to be finished by 2019 as many construction works will take place between 2020 and 2025. In conclusion, an overview of what we would like to discuss with our NUVit partners regarding the potential for an integrated approach in planning: At the regional scale: - What are means to see beyond cost benefit analysis? Not everything is feasible, especially at the international corridor level. What are the benefits at this level? - What are opportunities on the corridor and the daily urban system? This project can lead to greater integrated cooperation between the Baltic States. But also between metropolitan areas, you could live for example in Estonia and work in Riga. How will the cities benefit? At the local scale: - What are opportunities for combining the spatial development, for optimising the multi modal mobility network and for value capturing? How to get other parties to think along with the project? - Are there issues for improving the living quality, environment?
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Questions and remarks from the audience Q. In such a project the institional level is very important. How strongly are the institional levels of the Baltic States involved? A. The ministers are interested, however at the level of civil servants the support is less. Q. How did the project get started? A. It started from a business case study and therefore the focus on the business case is big. Paying for infrastructure feels weird for some countries, as a lot was built in the past by coal companies that needed the infrastructure. Q. How are the different scales incorporated in the project? A. It is an international corridor but also needs to fit in the local environment. Next to infrastructure, it is actually also a project that touches cultural aspects. In Estonia, for example we like to be on our own and tend to forget that there is an EU. Q. What will the traffic on the new railway be? A. The main traffic will be cargo, as that is business wise more interesting than passengers. This makes it actually very difficult to ‘sell’ it to the people, as the line mainly serves Finnish and EU needs, but what of the Estonian needs? Q. How will it be financed? A. The project is part of the EU integration network and will need co-funding, of which 80% is EU funding. It is not yet known if the national financing will consist of loans. Q. How strong is the connection between Helsinki en Tallinn? A. Every year nine million people use the boat between the two cities.
Synthesis on the NUVit case studies By Ton Venhoeven, Venhoeven CS
Looking at the different European projects it is good to put them in an even broader context and to look at what is happening elsewhere around the globe, that could be of importance for these European cases. Firstly, the European high speed rail network could, just as Japan’s Shinkansen network, be the main driver for European integration. Next to economic benefits, the network also reduces CO2 production and improves the quality of life, especially in the Blue Banana where air pollution is high. In Europe, China and India new major rail investment are being built. China’s strategy is to develop its network to the west, as land prices in the east coastal cities have risen so high that manufacturers are moving inland. China has built 3000 km of railway over the last 20 years, most of these rail investments are Report NUVit Seminar Borrowed Size | Brussels, September 3, 2015
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cargo oriented. Furthermore, China has claimed all patents of Japans High Speed Train and is making an industry out of it. Japan, on the other hand, is currently consulting India on its new network. This raises the question, as China is slowly taking over the world with its high speed rail production, what the role of Europe can be in this market. Many European cities have great examples of railway stations which combine the urban area and mobility. By connecting city and station, the first and last miles are mainly pedestrian or bike transport. If we leave station building to the Chinese, we might end up with airportlike stations, which are disconnected from the existing urban areas. As building high quality cities is a European strength, we should export this knowledge more. And at the same time we need to demand that every new station development in Europe comes with good connections to the exisiting urban area, attractive public spaces for pedestrians and provides safety for pedestrian and bikers to and from the station. Just to name a few. Reflection on the NUVit cases Let’s reflect on the NUVit cases with the broader view in mind. The Rail Baltic process thus far illustrates that it is easy to draw a line on a map, but not nearly as easy to implement tracks or railway stations. In the Baltic case it is very important to focus on the business case, and more precisely on the forces behind the development. By doing so it is easier to become a partner in the playing field. Next to knowing what the forces are in the countries where the new developments are taking place, it is also important to know more on the greater economic issues in the world. What if we would view the tunnel from Tallinn to Helsinki as the missing link for bringing the new resources of the Northpole to Europe? What would then be the price of a passenger ticket? This brings us to an important question: who profits from the investments? If the costs are addressed at the correct level, implementation should not be that difficult. The Swedish High Speed Rail network, can bring people closer together and thus improve borrowed size in Scandinavia. The current capacity on the Swedish network is limited or severely constrained on several sections of the system. The current freight traffic and regional passenger trains have high frequencies on most sections (all parts on the West and South Main Line have at least 100 trains per day). New high speed lines will free up capacity on the rest of the network. It is expected that the increased speed will indeed strengthen the Swedisch metropolitan areas. Which brings me to the next question: Why am I so fond of High Speed Rail? For passengers it offers a high quality of service. You board the train and can immediately start working, no time is lost with boarding as would be the case at an airport. The train also doesn’t shake as much as plane. The HST it is a mobile office and you are always faster at your destination then you expected, so the work you wanted to do is often not finished.
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A last point is that this new Swedish network focuses on passenger transport, whereas most business plans for new rail infrastructure are based on (funding from) cargo and are optimised with passenger transport. The T.OP Limburg case raises, again, the question who profits from the developments. Do the benefits outweigh the costs of infrastructural investments? Does the actual solution lie in the creation of ‘hard’ infrastructure or are, for example, carsharing and electric cars better solutions? For example, in Helsinki you can can enter your destination in an app and it will tell you where to go and wait for a bus, which has been redirected to pick you up. In low density areas public transport can be very demand driven. Furthermore, in these areas cars are ok as they are increasingly becoming more sustainable. In metropolitan centres, however, cars cause traffic jams at huge economic costs. Cargowise, Limburg has the potential to build a borrowed size market with its surrounding regions via hubs with good modal splits. Research of the Benelux network revealed that the harbors of Antwerp and Rotterdam are full and new hubs need to be found. Hub locations do not actually need to be near, more important is that cargo can get there fast! Logistics is changing, it is expected there will be an increase (by five times) of cargo to customer or office. As mentioned in Liesl’s presentation: creating a good modal split is not so much a spatial challenge as it is an organisational one. There are large infrastructures throughout the region (e.g. Albert Canal, old coal mine tracks), and there is a lot of free capacity on the existing network. This network is however not used optimally. Three different parties need to be consulted in order to organise a train, while a lorry is a single phone call away. Thinking beyond infrastructure, could adding other networks such as waste, energy or 3D printing be added to these hubs? And what would their demands on logistics be? Final remarks by Ton Venhoeven Looking at all the projects, some final remarks are: when thinking about the different scales, don’t forget geopolitics. Regions may be competitors on a EU scale, but possibly not on a global scale. Also, don’t look at just the metropolitan areas, but also at what is happening in between. What are we doing for the cities in between? What is the story for them and what can the people expect?
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AFTERNOON SESSION In tandem for Competitiveness: Synergies between Metropolitan, Agglomeration, Infrastructure and Network policies in the ABC-region (MAIN) By Henri de Groot, Frank van Oort, Martijn Smit
The ABC-region The ABC region is defined within the cities of Amsterdam (NL), Brussels (BE) and Cologne (GE). According to Richard Florida (2007), this is the scale of the megaregion that defines the future of metropolitan economic functioning. It is on this scale, it is argued, that agglomeration economies are most optimally present; infrastructure, housing and real estate have high returns on investment; and firms and employees profit from economic density via higher productivity and wages. Larger is better. Capitalisation on agglomeration economies are subject to debate for long already, with paradoxically ever larger scales of economic interaction in competitive city-regions (Glaeser 2012) co-evolving with smaller scales of governance, from municipalities to self-organizing citizens (Barber2013). This fuels our research question: which instruments and investments should be applied on which spatial scales to accommodate economic growth and competitiveness in the ABC-region, with evolving economic growth (up-scaling) and governance (down-scaling) paradigms and without large metropolitan cities? Agglomeration Economies in Cities and Urban Networks Agglomeration economies are persistently related to city size and density: a rule of thumb nowadays is that doubling the city size raises productivity with approximately 5%. This is mainly due to better opportunities of firms for matching (on the labour market), sharing (on subcontracting markets) and learning (from competitors and knowledge institutes). Two intervention views of this agglomeration premium in regions like the ABC-region recently emerged: (a) create larger metropolitan economies in a Europe where such cities are scarce (OECD 2015a,b, Hemel 2015), or (b) connect existing medium-sized cities better with each other in order for them to function as a larger agglomeration: a socalled borrowed size scenario (Van Oort et al. 2015a). It has been shown that proximate cities, like the Randstad cities in The Netherlands, The Flemish cities in Belgium and the Ruhr-region cities in Germany, can use each’ others economic complementary specializations in order to profit from sharing, learning and matching opportunities – equally as larger cities do.
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Physical Connectivity and More Originally coined by William Alonso (1973) for exactly the ABC-region (“in certain European urban patterns, such as those of Germany and the Low Countries, whose cities, quite small by our standards, apparently achieve sufficient scale for the functioning of a modern economy by borrowing size from one another”, p.200), the main precondition according to Alonso is physical accessibility and connectivity by road and rail, for public and private transport. Also in present day policy thinking about borrowed size in the Netherlands (REOS), physical transport linkages between the largest urban regions (Northwing Randstad, Southwing Randstad and Eindhoven) are usually envisioned. Also on the scale of the ABC region, intercity connections come first to mind when thinking about individual cities borrowing size from each other. But in Van Oort et al. (2015a,b) it is argued that there should also be something substantial to be borrowed, like complementary economic knowledge, tradeable products or skilled labour not available in one’s own region, and that institutional and cultural circumstances mould the degree of integration and cooperation capitalizing on borrowed size. Borrowed performance and borrowed functions thus, facilitated by cognitive proximity. Complex terminology – but the fact that the ABC-region is not an optimal functional unit (yet) shows that barriers for development may be multiple and severe, and not just infrastructural. Multilevel Governance The increased-density versus borrowed-size discussion is partly artificial. Density in fact is not easy to increase in the polycentric structure of mediumsized cities in the ABC-region – and in fact in most of Europe’s urban landscape (Dijkstra et al.2013). Doubling city sizes means that the already full cities cannot deal anymore with agglomeration disadvantages, like congestion, pollution, crime and inequality. The polycentric reality actually calls for borrowed size solutions. The larger cities do have an attraction function for higher educated sorting themselves in cities though (OECD 2015b). This means that multiple stakeholders should be involved simultaneously in fostering urban sorting processes and borrowed size. Network facilitators like Rijkswaterstaat care for infrastructural connections within and between nodes of the network, cities care for labour, housing and amenities markets, provinces care for natural amenities and regional accessibility, and nations care for institutional embedding. Policy often has to “go with the flow” as many determinants are exogenous – but basic spatial and economic conditions have to be met, like accessibility, clusters, diversification, working- and living environments, and amenities. In the ABC-region, borrowing size may also be cross-border in nature, but there is a large difference between potential and actual borrowing functions and performance, indicating that large cultural and institutional differences hamper integration (Van Oort et al. 2015b). Multilevel governance is needed for both urban sorting and borrowed size policies, as not one scale of policy has a monopoly on development and investment issues over other scales.
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Towards a Research and Investment Agenda Networking for Urban Vitality There are future development opportunities in the ABC-regions, as learningsharing-matching opportunities seem present in both localized urban scales and in borrowed-size scales. Connectivity between cities is a crucial precondition – but not sufficient on its own for capitalizing on growth opportunities without the other conditions of complementarities, cultural and institutional embedding. This leads to suggestions for the research and investment agenda Networking for Urban Vitality that integrates different scales and stakeholders: 1. Identify borrowed functions and urban-density functions (“form follows function�), 2. Identify borrowed and density based performances (knowledge, value-chains, subcontracting, markets), 3. Identify and build on local (governance) buzz for global (economic) pipelines positions, 4. Make strategic planning for international nodes and their connectedness, 5. Facilitate value-capturing in nodes and ports (as this is currently not always the case), 6. Optimize physical connections and integration across borders, 7. Manage land-use and transit bottlenecks in all modalities on all spatial scales, 8. Adapt economic hubs to labour- and housing market dynamics, 9. Manage economic and technical transitions in ports and hubs (like commodity trade, bio-fuels, circular production, etc.) and assess its consequences for mainport and metropolitan economies, 10. Create physical space for hub-development in cities, 11. Make integral and interregional assessments of corridor development, 12. Enable interregional governance and cooperation, and cultural exchange (and do it), 13. Balance private and public investments These issues can and should be taken up simultaneously (e.g. solving bottlenecks as short-term no-regret investments in larger borrowed-size strategies), on various spatial scales simultaneously (Witte et al. 2013). References: Alonso, W. (1073), Urban zero population growth. Daedalus 102: 191-206. Barber, B. (2013), If mayors ruled the world. Dysfunctional nations, rising cities. London: Yale University Press. Dijkstra, L., E. Garcilazo & P. McCann (2013), The economic performance of European cities and city regions: myths and realities. European Planning Studies 21: 334-354. Florida, R., T. Gulden & C. Mellander (2007), The rise of the mega-region. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society 1: 459-476. Hemel, Z. (2015), Maak Amsterdam twee maal zo groot. Trouw (17-6-2015), p.2-3. OECD (2015a), The metropolitan century. Understanding urbanisation and its consequences. Paris: OECD. OECD (2015b), Governing the city. Paris: OECD.
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Van Oort, F., E. Meijers, M. Thissen, M. Hoogerbrugge & M. Burger (2015a), De concurrentiepositie van Nederlandse steden. Van agglomeratiekracht naar netwerkkracht. Den Haag: Platform31. Van Oort, F., A. Weterings, L. Nedelkoska & F. Neffke (2015b), Ruimte geven aan economiche vernieuwing. Een onderzoek naar arbeidsmobiliteit en skillgerelateerdheid in Nederland. Den Haag: Ministerie van I&M. Witte, P., F. van Oort, B. Wiegmans & T. Spit (2013), “Capitalising on spatiality in European transport corridors”. Journal of Economic and Social Geography (TESG) 104: 510-517.
Questions and remarks from the audience Q. Given your knowledge on borrowed size, how would you reflect on the NUVit cases? A. It is difficult to go into the different cases in-depth, as I miss the data needed to do so. But, on a more general level, the main message to remember is that borrowed size will work best when cities are complementary. For example, connecting the provinces of Belgian Limburg and Dutch Limburg is a question about what they can borrow from each other. Connect Limburg to big metropolitan areas and the bigger area will win because of the market. However, we are now only looking at production effects and not consumption effects. People may still decide to live in a smaller region and work in a larger one. For example, if you connect Den Bosch better to Amsterdam this will improve living in Den Bosch, as you feel closer to Amsterdam. Q. How much bigger is bigger? A. That is hard to say, as it is differs per sector. Q. At what scale does borrowed size work? Is this, for example, the distance between Stockholm and Malmö? A. More than distance it is an issue of time. Higher educated people tend to be ok with a commuter distance of one hour. So anything less than one hour and the labour market will be the main driver. If it becomes more than one hour, other markets will start to play a (bigger) role. Q. The concept of borrowed size is interesting, but how can cities or politics in general be convinced to cooperate? A. This, of course, is a very important question. At the level of ABC (Amsterdam, Brussels and Cologne), which is a theoretical region instead of an actual region, it is currently impossible. On the German side, the Bundesländer (federal states) might be the best partners to accommodate this. But perhaps, instead of just focusing on cooperation, cities can also increase their differences, so they are able to complement each other better. For example, in Flanders there has been a big competition between the cities for centuries. The fact that the harbour of Ghent is now developing a niche market in sustainability also improves the borrowed size within the other Flemish harbours.
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China was already discussed today, they have the advantage of a central government which can decide on a course and also organise it. In Europe change is difficult as there are many stakeholders, which have already invested in a certain kind of infrastructure or way of working. This makes big, sudden changes impossible. Q. Going back to the concept of bigger and smaller cities. Is there a way to level this? A. This also, partly, refers to Ton’s earlier presentation. Who profits? But, perhaps a better question is: Who is the broker and what can you negotiate about? It is important to show advantages, and possibly looking at the larger scale will reveal more advantages. Q. Next to politics, there are ofcourse also cultural factors, such as language. How do we deal with those? A. In the Ruhr area itself (with a common language) cities have a similar size and structure. So if you want to borrow size here, the differences between the cities need to be bigger and hard decisions need to be made. The question is who will be the first to make this kind of decision. This does not always need to be a higher level of government, but can also be a leading firm (university, city, ‌). Q. What are the local buzz versus the global pipes lines? A. Global pipelines are very import for the local buzz. You need a central place in the global pipeline to export your local products around the world.
Borrowed Size for European Size for European Metropolitan Areas By Paul Gerretsen, Deltametropolis Association
The Netherlands has a long history of smaller cities, with the river system and canals as their large scale infrastructure. Where planning of infrastructure and urban development seems to be in the Dutch genes, the Deltametropolis Association has noticed that lately Dutch planning is being surpassed by other developments happening around Europe. What follows is an overview of several examples we have come across over the last few years and which we are looking into more carefully with the NUVit concepts in mind. For the Stuttgart region, accessibility is one of the most important elements for regional cohesion. In the regional plan, transport-oriented development is used as a guiding principal to increase development along railways and to make efficient use of the transport infrastructure. The regional railway sytem is the backbone of the region’s spatial development plan, which connects all major cities, residential areas and strategic infrastructures. But next to the hard infrastructure also services may be a determining factor for development. One of Report NUVit Seminar Borrowed Size | Brussels, September 3, 2015
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the areas, which has a different ticketing service than the rest of the region also endures a population decrease. Another lesson to be learned from Stuttgart has to do with the tension between the corridor and local level. Important developments for the corridor level had to be relocated due to strong protest from the local community. Manchester-Liverpool is an interesting example as the future development of the High Speed Train from London to the region has increased regional cooperation between several cities. These cities are now looking together at how infrastructural improvements can be made. Furthermore, the region has a very interesting, strong public-private cooperation. For example, The Atlantic Gateway (an organisation that brings together several private partners) looks at regional infrastructure projects and estimates their cost and economic benefits. If they can come up with a better proposal this proposal will be looked by the government as an alternative. The Scandinavian 8 Million City is more of an iconic narrative than an actual infrastructure project. By means of placing a spot on the horizon, the existing network is slowly improved, step by step. Many of the needed improvements are already included in current plans. By doing so, the aim is to increase the competitiveness of the region, a region of 8 million, mainly highly educated, people. International and regional transport improvements are developed together. A Contrat de DÊveloppement Territorial (CDT) of Paris Metropolis is a contract between the state (represented by the regional prefect) and the municipalities (the list of municipalities differs per contract). The CDT combines the goals of urban planning, transport, the fight against exclusion, economics and cultural development, and protection of the environment. The CDTs were developed for the creation of new stations on the Grand Paris Express Transport Network. But beyond just the creation of new stations, Paris Metropolis aims to distribute the dynamic and high economic potential territories across the Grand Paris area by using CDTs, and by doing so rebalance developments through the whole of the metropolis. Courtine Confluence. The development of the TGV station in Avignon increased the city’s connectivity. And this is currently even being improved further for the area surrounding the TGV station (Courtine Confluence), by better connections to highways and a direct rail link to the central station of Avignon. Courtine Confluence will be developed as a new regional gateway to the urban core of Avignon, but at the same time it will be also a new centre for the Grand Avignon region. Some time ago a private- public initiative (atelier territorial du Grand Avignon) was set up to further develop the area. The city, region, entrepreneurs, institutions and experts were part of this, which resulted in a new master plan.
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Questions and remarks from the audience Q. Could you elaborate on the English public-private initiatives? A. Liverpool-Manchester has a long tradition of public-private cooperation. The private sector is strongly dependent on large scale infrastructures, so they are more eager to participate. Furthermore, in 2011 the Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) were set up next to the local governance. LEPs are voluntary partnerships between local authorities and businesses, which help to determine economic priorities and lead economic growth and job creation within the local area. They look at infrastructure development from an economic angle: how many jobs or regional GDP will it deliver? Q. You describe the French CDTs as an interesting tool, how is it different from the Dutch Gebiedsagenda and MIRT? A. The CDTs are very concrete and almost at the project level. They describe goals, partners and financing. The Gebiedsagenda is more of a wish list and is still even searching for its actual agenda. Q. Concerning the Scandinavian 8 million city, who is borrowing from whom? A. We don’t know the answer to that, since the project is not described in such detail. What we found interesting in this example is that it uses a narrative as a long term goal, instead of rational numbers. The narrative makes it easy to understand what the goal is and slowly, by improving it step by step, the network comes into existence. R. Nicolas Hauw added to the example of Avignon some more background information as he knew the region very well. Avignon is on the railway connection from Paris to Marseille and Nice. The fact that the station is not located in the city centre shows how cities viewed the TGV developments. They did not see the advantage of having a better connection and, furthermore, thought that the new development would destruct the natural environment. The result of the development of the TGV line from Paris to Marseille was that cities without a station suffered, whereas the ones with a station grew. For example, a lot of people and companies from Aix-en-Provence, a succesfull university city between Avignon and Marseille, moved to Marseille. Nimes, a city between Avignon and Montpellier, did not get a TGV station and went down, whereas Avignon and Montpellier also grew. Q. As the example of Stuttgart shows, there can be resistance to new infrastructure and especially corridor development. What is the gain at the local level? A. Fighting local bottlenecks is always good, at both the local and the corridor level. Infrastructure as such is not the solution, but not being connected is not good either. Infrastructure can help.
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Discussion and reflections on borrowed size Cultural difference were already discussed, but how do they manifests themselves in the different projects? For the Baltic Corridor the answer is clear, if the project fails this will be because of cultural differences. Therefore, the sooner the business model is set, the greater the chance for a successful project. The challenge for Rail Baltic is, just as in Liverpool-Manchester, to engage more local partners. As at this level the interest is low and we need more ‘troop power’. For the T.OP Limburg project, the main role of the department is to look for relations that give an added value and to find a language that everybody understands. The department does not have a real agenda, other than better cohesion and an improved spatial quality. We use the method of research by design and focus on opportunities, starting from what is happening already. Concerning the subject of borrowed size, we are doing it in a selective way. We look at specific areas, we research the challenge and the economic sectors, etc. that are in the areas. Concening potential solutions for the areas, we always looking for opportunities that are bigger than the area even the region. 20
Report NUVit Seminar Borrowed Size | Brussels, September 3, 2015