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Transactions of the Association of European Schools of Planning is an international peer-reviewed open-access journal, produced and owned by AESOP, Association of European Schools of Planning. The journal aims at promoting excellence in planning education and research, a key goal for AESOP. It supports and disseminates scholarly work of the highest quality, covering the whole spectrum of the planning discipline, including, but not limited to, that produced by AESOP members or participants in AESOP events and activities. By expanding the already rich opportunities for networking and scholarly dialogue that AESOP offers via annual congresses, thematic group activities, and specialist meetings, Transactions serves as a platform for the international planning community to share research, innovative practices, and provocative thoughts among peers.
Transactions publishes both contributions arising from different AESOP events and activities and open submissions from all scholars who would like to share their research in the planning discipline. We welcome unsolicited contributions which present the findings of original research in planning and related fields of academic enquiry. We also welcome ‘think pieces’ and policy focussed articles that address diverse contemporary themes in planning and sustainable urban and regional development. Invited papers by members of AESOP are featured in each issue to help stimulate discussions on education and research agenda as well as to contribute to the dissemination of planning research and the AESOP community’s ongoing debates and efforts in promoting excellence in planning. Articles developed from AESOP congress papers, from AESOP prizes, such as Best Congress Paper Prize winners and nominees, Excellence in Teaching Prize winners, and from AESOP Thematic Group conferences, seminars and workshops are also most welcome in the journal.
Transactions publishes both contributions arising from different AESOP events and activities and open submissions from all scholars who would like to share their research in the planning discipline. We welcome unsolicited contributions which present the findings of original research in planning and related fields of academic enquiry. We also welcome ‘think pieces’ and policy focussed articles that address diverse contemporary themes in planning and sustainable urban and regional development. Invited papers by members of AESOP are featured in each issue to help stimulate discussions on education and research agenda as well as to contribute to the dissemination of planning research and the AESOP community’s ongoing debates and efforts in promoting excellence in planning. Articles developed from AESOP congress papers, from AESOP prizes, such as Best Congress Paper Prize winners and nominees, Excellence in Teaching Prize winners, and from AESOP Thematic Group conferences, seminars and workshops are also most welcome in the journal.
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Item Open Access Editorial - Volume 1 / Issue 1 / (2017)(AESOP, 2017) Babalık-Sutcliffe, Ela; Frank, Andrea; Karadimitriou, Nikos; Sykes, OlivierIt is with great pleasure and excitement that we introduce this inaugural issue of Transactions of the Association of European Schools of Planning. The journal is a new venture of AESOP and aims to provide a platform for the planning community to share research, innovative practices, and provocative thoughts among peers. It expands the already rich opportunities for networking and scholarly dialogue that AESOP offers via annual congresses, Thematic Group activities, specialist meetings such as the Heads of Schools workshops, and summer schools. Transactions seeks to incorporate the spirit that guided AESOP from its beginning – to be inclusive, openminded, and to embrace the diversity of national cultures and milieus of planning and planners represented in Europe and beyond. The journal follows a genuine open access publishing model: it is free of charge to submit a paper for a doubleblind peer review, and accepted papers are accessible online, to everyone, for free. AESOP covers the relevant editorial and publishing costs. This inaugural issue contains an essay from Rachelle Alterman, as well as five contributions on a wide range of topics. All the papers published in this issue had initially been nominated for the Best Congress Paper award by the AESOP Congress track chairs in 2014 and 2015. We would like to offer our sincere thanks to Professor Alterman for her introductory essay, to Professor Anna Geppert, the President of AESOP, for her Introduction, and the authors who contributed a paper to this issue for their willingness to participate in this endeavour and for their patience as the initiative has taken shape.Item Open Access Global student mobilities and the making of planning cultures: A conceptualisation based on the case of Bangladesh(AESOP, 2017) Hackenbroch, KirstenGlobal student mobilities have led to different perspectives on urbanity and planning culture travelling at high speed around the globe. During experiences of mobility what is conceptualised as ‘urban’ changes, bringing with it alterations in discourses on planning practices and planning cultures. Such student mobilities and their shaping of local urban imaginations, as well as the effects of returnees entering local job markets, have not specifically been addressed in urban studies. This paper aims to analyse how the mobilities of students – and thus of knowledge – shape persistent or newly emerging urbanisms, planning practices and cultures. Conceptually, the paper elaborates how the production of urban spaces has to be understood in a context of the global mobilities of knowledge and ever-shifting local planning cultures. In the empirical analysis, the paper draws on qualitative interviews conducted with planning professionals in Dhaka on the (global) education and career trajectories of urban planners, and the dynamics of local planning cultures and practices.Item Open Access Challenges and obstacles in the production of cross-border territorial strategies: The example of the greater region(AESOP, 2017) Decoville, Antoine; Durand, FrédéricCross-border strategies have been flourishing over the last few decades in Europe, mostly in a favourable context where European funding is available and legal instruments are well-developed. However, one may wonder which objectives are really targeted within this very broad and imprecise notion of cross-border strategy. The purpose of this paper is, first, to provide a theoretical framework in order to better understand the different meanings of the notion of cross-border integration and to provide a more critical perspective on its effects. Secondly, it analyses the policy content of the cross-border territorial strategy developed within the Greater Region before, in the final section, pointing out the difficulties faced by policy-makers during its elaboration. This final section is based on the insights brought both by the regional stakeholders interviewed and by our expertise as moderators and scientific advisors within the working group in charge of the realisation of the cross-border territorial strategy. The main finding of our analysis is that the consensus that has been reached by all the stakeholders is the “smallest common denominator”; that is to say, the least constraining.Item Open Access Limits of Localism: Four dimensions of power(AESOP, 2017) Madanipoura, AliA trend in the planning discourse tends to portray the local in a positive light. This paper critically examines localism and regionalism, from a theoretical point of view, to find out whether this positive outlook may be maintained. First the ontology of the local is examined, with its substantive, relational and experiential aspects. As a complex, multi-dimensional process, localism is then analysed at the intersection of four dimensions of power: territorial, representational, institutional, and functional. Boundaries are drawn, representations created, relations within and beyond the locality arranged, and functions allocated. The analysis shows a tendency to essentialise the local as a finished, circumscribed, commodified product, at odds with its multiplicity, diversity, inequality, porous boundaries and relational reality. There is also a gap between the definitions and functions allocated to the local in a hierarchical division of labour, relations with intra- and extra-local political and economic forces, and the mythological narratives of autonomy.Item Open Access EU governance and EU cohesion policy: Reflexive adaptation or inconsistent coordination?(AESOP, 2017) Telle, StefanThe paper discusses the co-evolution of the EU mode of governance and the objectives of European Union cohesion policy. As EU integration proceeds, collective decision-making in an increasingly diverse political arena has become a central concern for research on EU governance. The literature on experimentalist governance suggests consensus-seeking deliberation and policy-experimentation as two key mechanisms to reduce the trade-off between overall policy responsiveness and democratic legitimacy. However, this paper argues that the inconsistencies which result from making cohesion policy deliver the Lisbon Agenda and EU 2020 objectives growth are a characteristic of meta-governance rather than of reflexive adaptation. These findings emerge from an analysis of the cohesion policy programming periods since 1988 and the parallel developments in European Union governance.Item Open Access Co-production of knowledge: A conceptual approach for integrative knowledge management in planning(AESOP, 2017) Kaiser, David Brian; Gaasch, Nadin; Weith, ThomasSustainable land use needs a manageable nexus of knowledge from planning practice, policy makers, the private economy, and civic society, as well as from scientific research. This is mutually dependent on the communicative and collaborative turn in spatial planning as well as by transdisciplinary research approaches. This paper offers an approach how to organise knowledge management and co-production of knowledge in the context of complex land use decisions. Therefore, a prototype of an internet-based knowledge platform is introduced based on a theoretical reflection of concepts for integrated information and knowledge management, as well as on practical experiences derived from a German case study. We conclude that sustainable land use requires Planning Support Systems (PSS) that combine transdisciplinary perspectives in order to co-produce robust knowledge. This also implies a transdisciplinary design of PSS. Challenges of implementation are discussed and further research is specified.Item Open Access Introduction to Volume 1 / Issue 1 / June 2017(AESOP, 2017) Geppert, AnnaI am very pleased to introduce a new journal, Transactions of the Association of European Schools of Planning. A first question may arise to the reader: is there a need for another planning journal? Indeed, although the planning discipline developed in the twentieth century, it remains rather young, and today there is a number of very good journals. However, after vivid discussions, AESOP has come to the conclusion that the project of Transactions, developed with a remarkable dedication by Ela Babalık-Sutcliffe, Andrea Frank, Nikos Karadimitriou and Olivier Sykes, is to provide our community with something complementary to existing journals: unique and precious.Item Open Access From a minor to a major profession: Can planning and planning theory meet the challenges of globalisation?(AESOP, 2017) Alterman, RachelleThe years 2016–2017 have opened up a dream-world set of opportunities for the planning profession. To what extent are planning education and the global planning profession intrinsically ready to take up these opportunities, and are there prices to be paid?Item Open Access Comparative planning and housing studies beyond taxonomy: A genealogy of the special programme for rehousing (Portugal)(AESOP, 2018) Tulumello, Simone; Ferreira, Ana Catarina; Colombo, Alessandro; Di Giovanni, Caterina Francesca; Allegra, MarcoRecent European comparative studies in the fields of housing policy and spatial planning have been dominated by taxonomical and linear approaches, and by normative calls for convergence toward systems considered more ‘mature’ or ‘advanced’. In this article, we adopt a genealogical perspective and consider those cultures that are central to the shaping of policy. We set out a long-term exploration of the intersection between spatial planning and housing policy in Portugal and focus on the Special Programme for Rehousing (Programa Especial de Realojamento, PER), a programme that has had changing roles (from a financial instrument to a core component of policies of urban regeneration) in connection with political and planning cultures changing in time and space. In this way, we provide evidence of the limited capacity of taxonomic and linear approaches to describe planning and housing systems undergoing processes of change and, conversely, show the potential of genealogical research.Item Open Access There is more to it than meets the eye: Strategic design in the context of rural decline(AESOP, 2018) Tietjen, Anne; Jørgensen, GertrudBased on a Danish case, this paper investigates how strategic urban and landscape design can contribute to positive developments in rural areas that are challenged by population decline. From 2007–2012, the municipality of Bornholm conducted a strategic planning process, which aimed to enhance quality of life by strengthening place-based qualities and potential through local physical projects. Guided by actor-network theory (ANT) we analyse the socio-material effects of the new assemblages of people and things around the design interventions that were made. We find that strategic spatial projects can contribute considerably to quality of life in declining rural areas. From a wider strategic perspective, they can also define new spatial development perspectives rooted in place-based resources and potential. Methodologically, ANT offers a pertinent framework for studying the long-term performance of strategic spatial projects and how design actions can continue to gather new actors, spark new initiatives and, thereby, fuel repercussive effects.Item Open Access Tourism identity in social media: The case of Suzhu, a Chinese historic city(AESOP, 2018) Kim, Joon Sik; Wang, Yi-WenIn the context of tourism planning and promotion, there is wide acknowledgement that conceptualisations of tourism identity cannot be grounded merely in physical place, but should also encompass a wide range of factors including, for instance, cultural relations, tourist activities, and social networking. There are opportunities in late modern society for relating the identity of a city’s tourism with digitally-presented tourists’ perceptions and activities through social media studies. This research explores multiple research approaches to delineate the digital identity of Suzhou’s tourist destinations, as presented in online user-generated contents. It is hoped that this social media study can provide supplementary information for tourism bureaus and agencies to make informed judgements on effecting pertinent improvements to optimise existing tourism resources and create more enticing environments for tourists. The research follows a case study approach and conducts an empirical study on Suzhou, a Chinese historic city. The analysis of the results show that the social media study is potentially useful in identifying the key characteristics of particular tourist destinations from visitors’ perspectives that may also be helpful for the evaluation of tourists’ experiences.Item Open Access Mind the gap: Spatial planning systems in the western Balkan region(AESOP, 2018) Berisha, Erbin; Čolić, Nataša; Cotella, Giancarlo; Nedović-Budić, ZoricaStarting in the 1990s, an increasing number of studies and reports have focused on examining the nature and characteristics of spatial planning in Europe. The geographical coverage of these comparative analyses broadened over time, paralleling the progression of EU integration. However, the Western Balkan countries were only vaguely mentioned within such studies, mostly due to their fragmentation and geopolitical instability. This paper analyses and compares spatial planning systems in the Western Balkan Region since the 1990s. More specifically, it presents an overview of the geographical and socio-economic situation, explores administrative and legal frameworks for spatial planning, analyses spatial planning instruments produced at each territorial level, and addresses future challenges. Through so doing this paper exposes the complexity of the subject and sets a base for further research.Item Open Access Sifting through transition: Revisiting ‘rites of passage"(AESOP, 2018) Salet, WillemPlanning research frequently deals with issues of transition. Transition is defined here broadly as the change of social and spatial state from the one position into another. In planning theory and urban studies, there are many attempts to conceptualise such processes of change (material theories, evolutionary approaches, pragmatic perspectives, and so on). This paper traces some classic sources of functional anthropology and cultural sociology, focusing particularly on the meaning of the ‘rite of passage’. This line of reasoning contemplates transition as a pattern of cultural change of social order, and deals both with the structural and the process oriented aspects of transition. The paper builds upon the pivotal work of the French anthropologist Arnold van Gennep and the further explorations of Victor Turner as well as present-day interpretations.Item Open Access Editorial - Volume 2 / Issue 1 / (2018)(AESOP, 2018) Babalık-Sutcliffe, Ela; Frank, Andrea; Karadimitriou, Nikos; Sykes, OlivierWe are pleased to present the second issue of Transactions of the Association of the European Schools of Planning, the open-access, double-blind peer-reviewed journal of AESOP. In keeping with the journal’s aim, this issue brings together a variety of reflective and research papers, associated with AESOP events and activities.Item Open Access From macro-level policies to microlevel practices: Changing global economic landscapes and the proliferation of middle-class gated communities in Mexico(AESOP, 2019) Morales, Emma ReginaIn recent decades, gated communities for affluent groups have gained academic attention worldwide. However, in nations with large inequalities such as Mexico, which are also affected by issues of insecurity, corruption, and violence, these enclaves have become more common for middle-income groups. Their existence is usually associated with the search for prestige and exclusivity, along with fear of crime and violence. However, this article focuses on other structural conditions that contribute to the proliferation of these fortified spaces, such as the connections between global economic forces and the changes in national planning, financial, and housing policies since the 1990s. Since then, Mexican peripheries have become more fragmented and disconnected and gated communities have proliferated. This discussion takes place in a context of global polarisation, both in the Global North and South, in which planners have been urged to respond to issues of growing fear, inequality, and violence. This article addresses the contradictions of polarisation, because some Mexicans are defending the right to build walls to protect from insecurity, while there is also social condemnation of the proposed wall by President Trump. The discussion about macro-economic policies in the development of middle-class gated communities in Mexico is helpful in identifying the future risks and challenges that may come from the normalisation of exclusionary places.Item Open Access An investigation into the influence of land-use, social networks and information and communication technologies on destination choice for social activities(AESOP, 2019) Baburajan, Vishnu; de Abreu e Silva, JoāoInformation and Communication Technologies (ICT) enable individuals to travel more flexibly. The choice of location for social activities has become very flexible. In addition to this, land-use characteristics also play a vital role in the location of social activities. This work aims to analyse the influence of land-use characteristics, ICT use, and social networks in the destination choices for face-to-face social activities of university students during both weekdays and weekends. Students from the two different campuses of the Instituto Superior Técnico were presented with an online questionnaire, which was intended to collect information about their use of ICT and social networks, in addition to their travel characteristics and socio-demographics. Emphasis was made upon capturing the characteristics of social networks and ICT usage. Information on land-use characteristics was obtained from secondary sources. Factor analysis was initially carried out to extract factors related to the use of ICT and social networks; these were later used to model the destination choice for social activities. The alternatives considered for destination choice included: home or the vicinity thereof, university or the vicinity thereof, other locations (further away from home and university), and evenly spread locations – having no specific priority for any of the other three locations considered. The analysis was performed separately for travel during weekdays and weekends so that an understanding of the differences and similarities in behaviour during these different time periods could be garnered. A multinomial logit model was estimated to model this choice. The results point to the relevance of land-use characteristics, the location of close friends, and modes of interaction. Individuals residing in more accessible central, and denser areas, were more likely to have activities distributed evenly across the city. These results stress the relevance of accessibility in allowing larger and more diverse spaces to be used for social activities.Item Open Access Systematic sharing of knowledge obtained in pilot projects in spatial planning(AESOP, 2019) Gilcher, Elena; Steinebach, GerhardPilot projects are implemented to obtain results and knowledge that can be reused subsequently. In this paper, we address the question of the efficient and effective distribution of insights between pilot projects. We present detailed considerations on the structures which are required to share the results and knowledge obtained through evaluations of the stages of pilot projects. By establishing such structures, the reuse of existing knowledge is significantly simplified. A common structure for pilot projects allows for information sharing between equal stages of simultaneously running pilot projects. If the obtained knowledge of these individual stages is easily accessible, the need to review a comprehensive final project report is eliminated. For future pilot projects and large-scale projects, the costs associated with reusing existing knowledge is reduced and the cost-benefit ratio improves. We exemplify this by investigating systematic information sharing between equally structured pilot projects.Item Open Access Editorial - Volume 3 / Issue 2 / (2019)(AESOP, 2019) Babalık-Sutcliffe, Ela; Frank, Andrea; Karadimitriou, Nikos; Sykes, OlivierIn summer 2017 during the Annual AESOP Congress in Lisbon we were delighted and proud to present the inaugural issue of Transactions of the Association of the European School. Starting this journal took the editorial team on an enjoyable (ad)venture where we discussed format innovations, approaches, and procedures that would be suited to encapsulating the very inclusive, open-minded and nurturing character of the AESOP community while also measuring up to academic standards and scrutiny. It was a venture that was co-created by a mixed gendered team of complementary strengths, experiences, and competencies – as one would expect from a functional team. The papers in this issue of the journal again embrace the diversity of planning cultures in Europe and beyond. They address themes ranging from transport to open space planning. Interdisciplinarity, qualitative and quantitative analytical approaches, design and strategy, and research and education are all covered in varying depth and breadth. (Post-)modern planning is diverse, and requires flexibility and openness to change; in our complex world the future is not predetermined but shaped and evolving. This fourth issue is a good example of this diversity; with a geographical focus spanning from Mexico, Portugal to Russia and Italy, it explores planning approaches (resilience-based planning) as well as knowledge management issues and social behaviours.Item Open Access Imaginaries of a ‘Europe of the regions’(AESOP, 2019) Davoudi, Simin“I have not come here this evening to talk to you about a utopia; no, I am here to talk to you about an adventure ...: the federating of Europe.” These are the words of Denis de Rougemont (1948, p.1), the Swiss philosopher and scholar, given at a talk on 22nd of April 1948 at the Sorbonne, Paris. He was advocating for the cultural, historical regions to become the sub-European political units instead of nation states. I start this essay with his statement not because I necessarily agree with his views, but because he is the person who coined the term ‘Europe of the regions’ in his book The idea of Europe, which appeared in English in 1966 (de Rougemont, 1966). Donald Tusk (2016), former President of the European Union (EU), called him “a philosopher of regionalism” and “a pioneer of the EU moto of ‘unity in diversity’”. I also started this essay with de Rougemont because of his take on what constitutes Europe. In his book, he traces the history of the idea from the Greek myth of the abduction of Europa by Zeus to the 18th and 19th century federalist ideas of Napoleon and the 1960s European Community, and concludes that the search for Europe is to build Europe; that, Europe is only to be found in the process of creating it (de Rougemont, 1966). This relational perspective somewhat resonates with what I am going to discuss about ‘the region’ and a ‘Europe of the regions’.Item Open Access A resilience-based approach to enhance the capacity of small villages to cope with intertwined threats: A Case-Study in the Basilicata Region(AESOP, 2019) Galderisi, Adriana; Limongi, GiadaAbout 70 percent of Italian municipalities that have fewer than 5,000 inhabitants are located in difficult to access mountain areas which are often prone to multiple hazards. As clearly demonstrated by the seismic events that hit Central Italy in 2016, the socio-economic decline of these municipalities is also increasing their vulnerability. Nowadays, small villages represent an important challenge for Italy, because they require significant resources and effective strategies to both break the cycle of decline and promote their economic and social development, while also reducing their vulnerability to natural and climate related hazards. This contribution provides an overview of the initiatives recently launched in Italy in favour of small villages and outlines a methodological path to assess and enhance the overall resilience of these areas, with a focus on a case study area located in the Basilicata Region of Southern Italy.