AESOP Eprints

Institutional Repository of the Association of European Schools of Planning

 

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PublicationOpen Access
Ambiguous risks, fixed responsibilities : urban planning in Jerusalem
(AESOP, 2015) Bar, Roni
Urban resilience has been widely adopted by planning scholars and practitioners as a framework for managing complexity and contingency. However, the term is not only over-ambiguous, but is also frequently adopted a-critically into planning policies. Therefore, the paper uses the concept of risk (rather than resilience) in order to investigate the way planners, define, prioritize and respond to risks. This is explored as a normative decision (and action) with ethical implications, rather than a purely professional one. Acknowledging the need to investigate both the planning process and the physical environment, the paper focuses on the prioritization of risks, planners’ response concretization of risk perceptions in the urban environment through urban planning and design. These issues are investigated in Jerusalem’s city center, an area that has witnessed attacks and has been going through a process of densification and renewal. Findings reveal that planners assume a fixed responsibility and distinguish between two types of risk: (a) economic-demographic risks, which are seen as central, and (b) security risks, which are disregarded as irrelevant and were not considered in the plan. Despite this distinction, the analysis reveals correlations between economic and security interests, demonstrating the connection between security practices and neo-liberal urban regeneration. The last section of the paper acknowledges the importance to resist the fortification of urban spaces, yet warn that ignoring certain risks in a conflictual arena may reflect a dismissal of the conflict itself, as well as urban planning’s role in perpetuating unjust circumstances
PublicationOpen Access
Collaborative innovation and institutional capacity in Norwegian public sector
(AESOP, 2015) Amdam, Roar
Norway experiences that the administrative public sector structure with municipalities, counties and regions are not suited to handle the problems in the more functional territorial structure rising from urbanization and zooning of industry, services and housing areas etc. Problems with infrastructure, housing, industry, public health, commuting etc. are related to each other and interact in a functional process and structure across the administrative boarders. These problems are often complex and sometimes as even wicked, and there is a growing understanding on national level that the existing administrative structure must be changed and adapted to the functional territorial structure. The preferred political solution at national level is to amalgamate municipalities, counties and regions and make them bigger unites and more territorial similar to the functional activities and structures. This national policy implicates great changes, and is met with reluctance and opposition at the local level. However, there seem to be an agreement across the governing levels that collaborative innovation is needed in order to handle the complex problems, but the existing mismatch between the administrative and the functional spatial structure, and the influences of New Public Management seem to create a blurred responsibility, an institutional egoism and make collaborative planning and innovation very demanding. To have a local and regional institutional capacity becomes a decisive demand. In this paper, I will present several cases trying to cope with the complex problems and fuzzy responsibilities, and I will discuss their planning activity and their institutional capacity and legitimacy as political actors.
PublicationOpen Access
Exploring alternative methodologies of spatial planning in Western Balkans : The case of Albania 2030 National Strategic Visioning
(AESOP, 2015) Aliaj, Besnik; Dhamo, Sotir; Janku, Eranda
One of the biggest challenges of our country still remains the consideration of urban planning as a management tool for controlling the development, in order to achieve territorial, social and economic cohesions. The transition from a centrally planned economy, where everything was controlled by the government, towards decentralization and market economy caused many consequences, among which uncontrolled and fragmented urban development, loss of agricultural land due to urbanization, concentration of population and dense urbanization in the major cities, abandonment of western lowland and eastern parts of the country etc. This research work tries to build against the vacuum that is created in Albania by the lack of tradition of national spatial development policies and plans, on the conditions of market economy and freedom. Previous elements of national visioning have not been sustainable in the long run, due to the fact that they have been imposed by authoritarian means and not understood as a real need of the country and society, facing growing competition among nations at global scale, and the need for creative solution, facing economic recession and waste of national resources. Therefore this work is a modest practical and theoretical contribution for Albania with a hope that could be useful also for the Albanian authorities, while undertaking action at such level. In return the Albanian case of national spatial visioning might serve as an interesting learning laboratory for the new science of spatial planning in Europe and beyond.
PublicationOpen Access
Re-scaling of the state in Turkey : The case of villages
(AESOP, 2015) Akyüz, Zeynep Ceren
This paper uncovers the main economic, political and social drivers of state rescaling in Turkey through historical and comparative comprehension. It touches upon the transformation of the state and its development trajectories to examine in what ways the triad of local, national, global scopes, along with their main actors, roles and policies evolve. The discussions will provide hints of the evolution of local government structure of Turkey while particularly depicting the position of village administration during the heyday period of metropolitan municipalities and regional formations. For the Turkish case, it is possible to classify the drivers and motivations of rescaling under certain themes which are promotion of democracy, tackling identity issues, fighting corruption, generating economies of scale. More importantly, rescaling notably takes place for its professed close local units to confront uneven development. (Smith, 1986) which could be defined as contradiction.
PublicationOpen Access
High-speed rail impacts on Shanghai’s urban fringe communities: an integrated appraisal from social sustainability and environmental justice perspectives
(AESOP, 2015) Zhang, Shuping; Qian, Zhu
High-speed rail (HSR), the advanced rail system normally operates at a speed of o new tracks or 200km/hour on conventional tracks, is advocated as an effective traffic with dwindling energy supplies, severe air pollution, and increasing traffic of this transit system includes: increasing traffic efficiency; improving spatial logistics connections; promoting regional equity and economic coordination; and p alternative to air transportation in regions where geography allows competitive a railway (GutiØrrez, J. 2001 Givoni, 2006; Albalate and Bel, 2012). For China, HS essential considering the country’s massive population that needs efficient trave regions demanding for equal connection, and the state goal of city-region integra by rail upgrade (Takagi, 2011).