Smart is Attractive: Measuring Territorial Capital in the Danube Region and its Rural Areas Dr. Pietro ELISEI PhDc. Sabina LEOPA URBASOFIA – Bucharest, Romania
Source: ddsg-blue-danube.at
• Outward migration of young workers • Falling fertility rates • Ageing population (larger dependency ratios) • Severe impacts on economic competitiveness (not yet fully visible since the East is still „catching up”) • Rural areas: de-agriculturalization x landflucht = ?
TREATING THE CAUSE: AN OVERHAUL OF TERRITORIAL POLICIES ▪ Policies focusing on countering depopulation (where the strategy is not “acceptance”) have a high variability across the Danube Region – different social, economic, cultural and political backgrounds; they are often not concerted and highly politicized. ▪ A concerted approac treats the cause, not the effect: why is somewhere else better – or here not good enough? ▪ In other words, how do we define, quantify and enhance territorial attractiveness?
▪ Focus: Territorial Attractiveness as a main contributor for individual and collective happiness. SMART IS ATTRACTIVE: MEASURING TERRITORIAL CAPITAL IN THE DANUBE REGION CORP 2017 CONFERENCE, VIENNA, 13 SEPTEMBER 2017
MAXIMIZING THE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE: INTRINSIC POTENTIALS 1. If we can appraise territorial capital and its potential value for the inhabitants, 1. Then we can understand Territorial Attractiveness and develop the instruments for valorizing local potential through smart(er) investments. Source: shapemycity.blogspot.ro SMART IS ATTRACTIVE: MEASURING TERRITORIAL CAPITAL IN THE DANUBE REGION CORP 2017 CONFERENCE, VIENNA, 13 SEPTEMBER 2017
TERRITORIAL CAPITAL AND TERRITORIAL ATTRACTIVENESS ▪ Territorial Capital: the system of territorial assets of economic, cultural, social and environmental nature that ensures the development potential of places [G. Perucca, 2012] as starting point for specialization and positioning. ▪ TC goes beyond competitiveness: a combination of functional endowment factors AND the ability to make best use of endogenous assets [R. Giffinger, 2007].
▪ Territorial Attractiveness: Interaction of a complex of features based on the presence / absence of certain forms of territorial capital, which attract diverse "Segments" of stakeholders / target groups [G. Esposito, 2011] ▪ Bi-dimensional: internal (retainer characteristics of settlements and ecosystems) and external (polarizing characteristic of qualities that “win over” external stakeholders) SMART IS ATTRACTIVE: MEASURING TERRITORIAL CAPITAL IN THE DANUBE REGION CORP 2017 CONFERENCE, VIENNA, 13 SEPTEMBER 2017
WHERE WE STAND ON THAT ▪ No specific datasets focusing on Territorial Capital of nations, regions and municipalities / communes (evidence-based territorial policies); ▪ No instruments to analyze indicators related to territorial attractiveness across space and time, coherently, reliably and consistently, at larger scale; ▪ Low institutional and administrative capacity and territorial knowledge, politicized groundings for territorial policies; ▪ No comparability across a wider, transnational territory and low-to-none territorial coordination of public policies for capitalizing on territorial attractiveness assets.
SMART IS ATTRACTIVE: MEASURING TERRITORIAL CAPITAL IN THE DANUBE REGION CORP 2017 CONFERENCE, VIENNA, 13 SEPTEMBER 2017
SMART IS ATTRACTIVE: MEASURING TERRITORIAL CAPITAL IN THE DANUBE REGION CORP 2017 CONFERENCE, VIENNA, 13 SEPTEMBER 2017
Source: Departamentul Alpha Carpatica
IMPROVING CAPACITIES FOR ENHANCING TERRITORIAL ATTRACTIVENESS OF THE DANUBE REGION ▪ Strengthening multilevel and transnational governance and institutional capacities of policy planners involved in territorial development of the Danube Region, ▪ by establishing a permanent common transnational platform for monitoring territorial attractiveness, ▪ which will result in more harmonized governance systems in the Danube Region. ▪ Analyze, quantify, relay and use in better and more grounded planning the „Key Selling Points” of territories, while enhancing the knowledge and capacity of decision makers through training and open tools. SMART IS ATTRACTIVE: MEASURING TERRITORIAL CAPITAL IN THE DANUBE REGION CORP 2017 CONFERENCE, VIENNA, 13 SEPTEMBER 2017
ATTRACTIVE DANUBE (2017-2019) http://attractive-danube.eu
SMART IS ATTRACTIVE: MEASURING TERRITORIAL CAPITAL IN THE DANUBE REGION CORP 2017 CONFERENCE, VIENNA, 13 SEPTEMBER 2017
IMPROVING CAPACITIES FOR ENHANCING TERRITORIAL ATTRACTIVENESS OF THE DANUBE REGION
Starting point: 22 transnational indicators (AttractSEE)
Identification of stakeholders and Participatory planning processes
Identifying Territorial Attractiveness Indicators
SMART IS ATTRACTIVE: MEASURING TERRITORIAL CAPITAL IN THE DANUBE REGION CORP 2017 CONFERENCE, VIENNA, 13 SEPTEMBER 2017
1 common and 11 National Territorial Attrativeness Monitoring Platforms
IMPROVING CAPACITIES FOR ENHANCING TERRITORIAL ATTRACTIVENESS OF THE DANUBE REGION
Capacity Building Seminars
Transnational Policy Coordination Workshops
National and transnational memorandums of understanding
SMART IS ATTRACTIVE: MEASURING TERRITORIAL CAPITAL IN THE DANUBE REGION CORP 2017 CONFERENCE, VIENNA, 13 SEPTEMBER 2017
Better policies for better quality of life in rural and urban areas
TERRITORIAL ATTRACTIVENESS INDICATORS AND PLATFORM ▪ Open mobile friendly platform collecting 2008-2021 datasets; ▪ Automated import of extensive datasets, export in standard formats (csv, dbf, jpg); ▪ Comparability of spatial and temporal units, including auto-defined selections;
▪ Personalized distributions, schemes, classifications;
color
▪ Open for administrations: national data can be added.
relevant
SMART IS ATTRACTIVE: MEASURING TERRITORIAL CAPITAL IN THE DANUBE REGION CORP 2017 CONFERENCE, VIENNA, 13 SEPTEMBER 2017
EVIDENCE-BASED POLICY SUPPORT FOR RURAL AREAS ▪ Multi-level analysis of capitals (social, economic / productive - agricultural, touristic, cultural, environmental, administrative, land reserves… etc); ▪ Borderless planning and assessment of accessibility (infrastructure and services); ▪ Prioritization of intervention policies, from reagriculturalization incentives to administrative restructuring; ▪ Possibility of KPI definition or overhaul; ▪ Better monitoring and visual dissemination of results. LHDI (Local Human Development Index) – World Bank SMART IS ATTRACTIVE: MEASURING TERRITORIAL CAPITAL IN THE DANUBE REGION CORP 2017 CONFERENCE, VIENNA, 13 SEPTEMBER 2017
ASKING THE QUESTIONS – what is relevant for attractiveness? ▪ Natural environment and capital: protected areas and biodiversity, pollution, human impact mitigation (recycling, water treatment); ▪ Built environment and heritage: dwelling quality, heritage sites and degree of valorization, accessibility; ▪ Socio-demography and culture: cost of living, public services (health, education), cultural offer, security and infractionality; ▪ Economy and workforce: state and administration facilities, firm sustainability, clusters, start-ups and spin-offs, dynamics of yearly income per capita, workplace and workforce availability; ▪ Governance: administrative capacity, financial capacity of local administrations, perception on corruption, ease of doing business, EU fund absorbtion rate SMART IS ATTRACTIVE: MEASURING TERRITORIAL CAPITAL IN THE DANUBE REGION CORP 2017 CONFERENCE, VIENNA, 13 SEPTEMBER 2017
LIMITATIONS ▪ Clashes between definitions of „attractiveness” between different stakeholders and interest groups; ▪ Not all-encompassing recipe (some investments are crucial no matter their relevance to attractiveness); ▪ Availability and coherence of national data (transnational data doubly so); ▪ Future ownership of the TAMP and COTAMP platforms. SMART IS ATTRACTIVE: MEASURING TERRITORIAL CAPITAL IN THE DANUBE REGION CORP 2017 CONFERENCE, VIENNA, 13 SEPTEMBER 2017
TERRITORIAL ATTRACTIVENESS & ATTRACTIVE DANUBE ▪ Making the right correlations, consistently, in a participatory manner; ▪ Diversity of contexts and needs but common BIG challenges
▪ Coherent methodology of analysis in order to provide support for targeted territorial policies ▪ Scalability (local, regional, national and transnational)
SMART IS ATTRACTIVE: MEASURING TERRITORIAL CAPITAL IN THE DANUBE REGION CORP 2017 CONFERENCE, VIENNA, 13 SEPTEMBER 2017
THANK YOU FOR YOUR QUESTIONS Dr. Ing. Pietro ELISEI, General director PhDc. Sabina LEOPA, Manager of EU Projects pietro.elisei@urbasofia.eu / +40 731 159 785 sabina.leopa@urbasofia.eu / +40 773 702 216