Cities as Engines of Sustainable Competitiveness

European Urban Policy in Practice

Leo van den Berg, Jan van der Meer

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781317166054
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: City Planning & Urban Development
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Reflecting on two decades of 'competitiveness-oriented' urban policies in Europe, this book investigates the current challenges cities face to sustain their economic position and how this can be balanced with social progress and environmental improvements. Complementing previous surveys on local and urban development and competitiveness-based strategies, this volume provides longer term views on the evolution of such policies at the city level, from the personal perspective of city officials in eight European cities. More concretely, it looks at how the urban dimension in EU policies have evolved over time, the kinds of urban policy supported by the EU over the last two decades and how cities have been involved with this process. The book investigates the portfolios of competitiveness-oriented policies which have been developed by European cities and how they see the link between urban/spatial development policies and sustainable competitiveness. Finally the book fleshes out a number of challenges and initiatives taken by the eight European cities and their governments in the face of current challenges in order to pave the way towards more competitive and sustainable urban economies.

Chapter 1

Cities as Engines of Sustainable Competitiveness

Cities as “Engines”: An Increasingly Acknowledged Evidence

There is nowadays plenty of evidence that cities are engines of growth and development for regions and nations. Cities are widely recognised as major sources of human, knowledge and organisational resources that support competitiveness and innovation policies. Of course, this potential is heterogeneous among cities and strongly dependent upon their dimension, economic structure and the ways they are connected nationally and internationally (e.g. OECD, 2011). Yet, whatever the group of cities considered, competitiveness and innovation-oriented policies can hardly be conceived without a strong involvement of cities as “engines” within regions and nations. Contrarily to the popular discourse, it seems that “the world is not flat”. On the contrary, it is becoming more “convex” and the economic-innovation role of cities is increasing (Rodriguez-Pose and Crescenzi, 2008; McCann, 2008). Competitive countries have competitive cities, i.e. cities with the dynamic capacity to grow and develop over time, nurturing and attracting jobs, people and skills (e.g. Kitson et al., 2004; van Winden and Carvalho, 2008).

However, on the flip side, cities are also recognised as the main locus of acute problems in modern societies, such as ageing, unemployment, exclusion and the need for successful integration of different ethnicities (DG Regio, 2011). The same goes for environmental tensions, climate change and the need to decouple congestion, CO₂ emissions and economic growth (e.g. Mingardo et al., 2009). Therefore, a close link seems to exist between cities and the need for social innovations (Moulaert et al., 2007). Cities are places where promising and innovative governance models emerge. In the present times of global economic downturn and generalised uncertainty, it has been also advocated that European cities, metropolises and urban regions are key players in the fight against unemployment and climate change, towards a more resource efficient and inclusive society. It is also widely acknowledged that in order to sustain its competitiveness over time, a city must balance growth with social cohesion and environmental quality (e.g. van den Berg et al., 2005; Pike et al., 2010). In this sense, society and environment are not anymore a restriction to growth – they are integral components of the development “equation”.

In Europe, and besides its most affluent regions and nations, the wide scope of the link between cities and innovation has also strong implications for urban policies in so-called “Convergence” regions. Cities play a key role in striking a balance between cohesion and competitiveness in these places. Moreover, they also play an active role in European spatial planning issues. When cities are seen from the perspective of their networks within wider territories (e.g. the configuration of urban systems), urban policies become a powerful instrument of spatial planning. The role of cities is crucial in order to generate spill over effects in wider territories, namely in low density areas with limited entrepreneurial capabilities.

Cities in the EU Regional Policy Agendas

Over the last decade, cities and urban development issues gained increased relevance and advocates within the European Union (EU) Cohesion Policy framework. Overall, this recognition has evolved hand-in-hand with:

• The knowledge and experience derived from successful integrative urban approaches, notably the so-called URBAN intervention (“mainstreamed” through the ERDF – European Regional Development Fund – during 2007-2013);

• New scientific evidence on the role of cities and regions for national and European development, supported by recent literatures in urban and regional studies and policy;

• The increasing relevance of knowledge, innovation and competitiveness objectives within the broader guidelines of Cohesion Policy;

• The expansion of EU city networks and forums for best practice exchange and policy circulation (e.g. supported by the URBACT programme);

• A number of ministerial and inter-governmental “urban agendas” (e.g. Leipzig charter on sustainable European cities, Toledo declaration), claiming for integrative urban approaches and for the enhanced role of cities tackling broader EU challenges.

DG Regio – the EU Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy – is clearly a supporter of the role played by cities in EU policy (as shown by recently adding the word “Urban” to its official designation). Recently, DG Regio launched a reflection process called “Cities of Tomorrow” (DG Regio, 2011) with a large number of urban experts and representatives of EU cities to discuss European urban futures and the role of cities tackling broader European competitiveness and development challenges. In this study, it has been clearly stated by the Regional Policy commissar Johannes Hahn that “the development of our cities will determine the future of Europe” (DG Regio, 2011, p. i).

Recently, DG Regio commissioned the study of a large number of urban development best-practices of integrated approaches supported during 2007-2013, in order to understand how cities can be “engines” in the implementation of the new EU2020 strategy across its “smart”, “sustainable” and “inclusive” dimensions (EU, 2013). The relations between DG Regio and the scholarly practice that advocates the role of cities increased during the last years, as illustrated by the closer links with learned societies such as the Regional Studies Association, or the hiring of renowned urban economics scholars as permanent special advisors. The recent place-based and “smart specialization” approaches to Regional Policy also recognise that the differentiated roles and capacities of EU cities and regions should be taken seriously in policy design and support (McCann and Ortega-Argilés, 2011).

However, the recognition of cities as engines of growth, cohesion and environmental sustainability does not necessarily mean that the role of Local Authorities and Municipalities in the design and implementation of EU policy has increased in the same proportion (See Chapter 2). In EU policy spheres, many advocate that the role of Local Authorities should increase, as they are closer to the problems and in a privileged position to tackle opportunities (subsidiary principle). However, simultaneously, it is also recognised that the administrative boundaries of cities are not the right scale to tackle most of the economic, social and environmental challenges of urban and regional development (van den Berg et al., 1997; DG Regio, 2011). All in all, despite the heightened expectations attributed to cities in EU Regional policy as “engines”, the most effective governance models for EU policy design and implementation are still debatable (e.g. Barca, 2009).

Looking Back

Despite the “momentum” of cities in EU policy, their role was not always recognised. Over the last decades, many EU City representatives,¹ academics and other players struggled to demonstrate the “urban added value” and the role of cities in national and regional development. For example, back in 1986 the City of Rotterdam initiated – in close cooperation with the urban economics department of Erasmus University Rotterdam – a meeting of city mayors representing large cities from the EU member states (12 at that time). The prime topic was how to re-stimulate prosperity and wellbeing in cities. At that moment the European economy was still recovering from the energy crisis of the late 1970s, sharp inflation and the beginning of a large de-industrialization process. It was the first significant slowdown after three decades of rising prosperity in Europe. Large cities were early confronted with severe problems such as depopulation, industrial decline and emerging social and environmental problems.

An important acknowledgement from that meeting (and others) was that cities should start to be paid more attention. They were not only places where problems become visible, but also cradles for solutions of regional and national problems. In 1986, a foundation was set up to position the role and defend the interests of cities on a European level. Two years later, the Municipalities of Rotterdam and Barcelona and Erasmus University Rotterdam created the European Institute for Comparative Urban Research (EURICUR). Simultaneously, a number of lobbying organizations – such as EUROCITIES – were founded and gained considerable influence during the 1990s (e.g. EUROCITIES, 2011), contributing to position the role of cities in EU policy agendas. Since then, the EU has developed several specific initiatives and policy programmes supporting the integrated development of cities (such as the URBAN initiative). Also at the national level, and beyond sectoral approaches, many governments started to pay more attention to cities and urban development issues (van den Berg et al., 2007).

Over the last two decades, supported by local, national and EU budgets, a considerable number of investments and policy-supported initiatives have had cities as main destinations. Those investments focused in many hard and soft domains, like economic development and promotion, skills, infrastructure, quality of life, social inclusion, the environment, and many others. Those have become increasingly important as Cities increasing looked to become “competitive”, differentiate themselves and, overall, attract jobs and skills (van den Berg and Braun, 1999; Pike et al., 2006; Turok, 2009).

The Aims of this Book

With the support of case studies from eight European cities, this book looks back at two decades of “competitiveness-oriented” urban policies in Europe. Moreover it looks at current challenges cities face to sustain their economic position, balancing it with social progress and environmental improvements. We thus speak about sustainable competitiveness, defined as “the ability of cities to keep growing and developing over time while fostering social cohesion and environmental quality”. This book complements previous surveys on local and urban development and competitiveness-based strategies (e.g. Pike et al., 2006; Turok, 2009) in the sense that it provides longer term views on the evolution of such policies at the city level, from the personal perspective of City officials.

More concretely, it looks at:

• How has the urban dimension in EU policies evolved over time? What kinds of urban policy have been supported by the EU over the last two decades and how have Cities been involved?

• Which portfolios of competitiveness-oriented policies have been developed by European Cities over the last two decades? How do the Cities see the link between urban/spatial development policies and sustainable competitiveness?

Besides taking stock of former experiences and developments, the book also has a prospective character. Like in the mid-1980s, Europe seems to be facing a new “discontinuity” period, in which cities are called once again to become “engines” of growth and development. However, the playing field has changed dramatically. The links between economic growth, employment and social progress are weakening (DG Regio, 2011). Social and environmental problems in cities are heightened and imposing new ways to strike balanced growth. Therefore, this book concludes by fleshing out a number of challenges and initiatives taken by the eight European cities and their governments on the face of current challenges, namely in order to pave the way towards more competitive and sustainable urban economies. In other words, it sketches a number of policies and initiatives of cities to maintain or regain “sustainable competitiveness”. Thus:

• Which new types of policies and initiatives can be currently found in European cities to steer sustainable competitiveness? What lessons and insights can be derived?

The Process behind this Book

The contents of this book are the result of a joint discussion and reflection process launched in 2011 by EURICUR, in close cooperation with the City of Rotterdam and with the participation of eight European Cities – Antwerp, Barcelona, Budapest, Dortmund, Dublin, Helsinki, Manchester and Rotterdam itself. A number of workshops were developed between EURICUR and City representatives in order to discuss, formalize and exchange knowledge on the abovementioned issues. Those meetings and workshops took place in Rotterdam during 2011-2013 and during the EUROCITIES annual meeting 2011 (AGM) in Genoa.

Each City representative – mostly City’s senior staff and Heads of Department, with long experience in EU policy – was asked to prepare and present an overview of their city’s socio-economic development over the last 20 years. Moreover, they were also asked to describe and explore major policy changes, developments and initiatives with impact on the competitiveness of the city. Finally, each representative was asked to describe the current situation and recently implemented (or newly intended) policies to improve the competitive position of the city in the longer term. Additionally, a report was also prepared analysing the evolution of the “urban dimension” in the EU Regional Policy over the last decade.

Each report was based on a self-assessment by the City representatives, often with the internal support of other staff members of the City; it was presented and discussed with the participants during the workshops and meetings. Its content was primarily informative, based as much as possible on facts and figures, but also on the long experience, expertise and privileged “inside knowledge” of the involved officials, bringing the resulting report’s narrative more valuable and unique.

The edited reports are now published as chapters in this book. Their focus and depth of analysis vary – some focus on a specific dimension of a city’s competitiveness, others are broader; some are more analytic, others more descriptive. All in all, they convey a number of valuable viewpoints that help us understanding the dynamics of urban development, the rationale of the policies and challenges involved in making sustainable competitiveness really happen. Out of these reports, a general synthesis/overview was developed and progressively discussed during the meetings, with insights directly borrowed from the narratives of local city experts themselves.

Structure and Contents of this Book

The chapters of this book – developed out of the abovementioned reflection process – can be read independently. However, they are here presented under a sequential logic.

Following this introduction, Chapter 2 presents an analysis of how the EU changed its policies and views towards cities over the last decade. It presents a well-grounded narrative based on extensive documentation since the 1960s, together with inside-knowledge from experienced City officials in Brussels. It demonstrates that the attention to urban questions has been on the European agenda for already over 50 years. Yet, there have been considerable swings and changes of position, through a process in which politics and power tended to dominate over rationality. The participation of Cities in policy making and implementation of European programmes has been still too often dependent on the willingness of Member States and regional authorities. The recent EU2020 agenda tends to imply a much stronger involvement of Cities, but whether this will happen or not remains to be seen.

Chapters 3-10 present the reports on competitiveness-related policies in each of the cities over the last two decades. Each chapter is structured along three broad sections: 1) City profile; 2) Developments and key policy changes since the early 1990s and 3) Current state of the city. The reports provide an interesting picture of the context and urban policy dynamics of the eight participating cities. This information, combined with the overviews of the recent history of urban development, is vital to understand the urban strategies that are set in motion to support future “sustainable competitiveness”.

The report on Antwerp stresses the role attached by the City to improvements in the built environment as a way to increase liveability and boost the city’s attractiveness, i.e. to attract and retain businesses, talent and visitors. The report shows how the City considers liveability and attractiveness as “umbrella” objectives, making other urban provisions (e.g. social housing, green areas, leisure, child and elderly care) closely linked to it. To this effect, the report describes flagship urban redevelopment projects that took place over the last decade in order to improve the City’s public space and living environment (benefiting, among others, from EU funding, namely through the URBAN initiative). Yet, many urban challenges remain, of which mobility, safety and demographic shifts (“greening”, “ageing” and “colouring”) are among the most pressing. There are still considerable social divides in the city. Integrated spatial planning and improved community participation are seen as pivotal to tackle these challenges.

The analysis of the urban development of Barcelona skips the well-known “Olympic narrative” and focuses on the benefits and tensions provoked by the phenomena of “Metropolitanisation” since the 1990s. Metropolitanization largely increased the competitiveness and economic strengths of Barcelona, namely by creating scale and diversity, by facilitating the integration of regional markets and access to services while decreasing sub-regional development imbalances. However, on the flip side, it came together with urban sprawl and thus with mobility tensions, social segregation and many mono-functional area developments. The present and future competitive position of Barcelona is thus jeopardized: the urban agglomeration risks becoming environmentally unsustainable, functionally inefficient and lacking social solidarity. It is suggested that a deep re-thinking of urban policies is needed (housing, renewal, transport, environment). However, despite the uncertainty caused by the financial turmoil and generalized austerity policies in Southern Europe, the city is nowadays better equipped than in the past to tackle those challenges in an integrated way – namely due to the approval of a long-awaited Metropolitan Territorial Plan and a new regional governance system.

The chapter on Budapest brings to the fore the urban development challenges faced by a post-communist capital in the transition to a market economy. It describes how the values/orthodoxies of competitiveness, sustainability, liveability and quality of life permeated the local policy discourse, but also how their effective implementation was hampered by lack of integrated planning and complex administrative and governance features. Tax cuts and foreign investment inflows came associated with economic growt...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Tables
• List of Contributors
• Preface
• 1 Cities as Engines of Sustainable Competitiveness
• 2 Urban Policies in Europe
• 3 Antwerp
• 4 Barcelona
• 5 Budapest
• 6 Dortmund
• 7 Dublin
• 8 Helsinki
• 9 Manchester
• 10 Rotterdam
• 11 Looking Back and Forward
• Index