2012
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Interview Prof Cheshire: need for more rigorous research on Europe’s urban policies
10 Oct 2012Professor Paul Cheshire of the London School of Economics published the article Resurgent Cities, Urban Myths and Policy Hubris: What We Need to Know that discusses the lack of evidence based research on urban issues. EUKN interviewed him about his view on the economic vitality of cities.
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Avrig to become one of Romania's leading centres for renewable energy
12 Jan 2012Being interviewed is Mayor Arnold Klingeis about his ambitious plan within the Romanian municipality of Avrig. “I am 33 years old and Mayor of Avrig for 3,5 years. When I started my mandate I was asking myself what will be an issue which a small community as Avrig can address and at the same time, be relevant for many others, and how this issue can reposition a local economy in a sustainable way. A report published by the US National Intelligence Council ‘Global Trends 2025’ caught my attention to the energy sector and, very shortly afterwards, I got myself committed to work and act as a politician for a cleaner and healthier environment. That was the beginning, 3 years ago, and now I am convinced that communities must have an integrated approach for waste, energy and resource management for a better future.”
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Wanted: partners for a bid around offender rehabilitation
26 Jan 2012Knowsley Borough Council, a local authority on Merseyside (Liverpool city region) is looking for partners for a project under the Crime Prevention Programme (ISEC). It is a project committed to the rehabilitation of offenders and reducing repetition. Being interviewed about this programme is James Sharples from the Merseyside Brussels Office, which is a liaison point between public and voluntary organisations in Merseyside on the one hand and the EU institutions and other European regions on the other. “One of our main roles is to help Merseyside organisations to engage with EU funding opportunities. One of the EU funds we have targeted over the years has been the Crime Prevention Programme, which is administered by DG HOME in the European Commission (EC). A couple of years ago we helped Merseyside Police to bid successfully for a grant under this programme and we're now trying to do the same for Knowsley, which is planning a bid around offender rehabilitation.”
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"In 2040, those over the age 65 will represent more than 45% of the working population aged 15-64 in the EU27"
14 Feb 2012Demographic issues continue to constitute a serious challenge to strong economic growth and the European social model. The current recession has aggravated these problems, pushing people out of the labour market and further increasing the dependency ratio. Eurofound’s research on ‘Restructuring in recession and labour force participation’ explored the age management practices of companies in light of restructuring undergone during recession. The study looked at policy in relation to the retention of older workers (aged 50+) in employment at national and establishment levels in 9 European Union (EU) Member States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia. The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Being interviewed is Chris van Stolk, researcher of the ‘Impact of the recession on age management polices’. “In 2040, those over the age of 65 will represent more than 45% of the working age population aged 15-64 in the EU27. The reality is that people will have to work longer in the future, regardless of whether they want to or not. It’s inescapable.”
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The Politics of Urban Governance - "One of the shortcomings in much of governance research is that it has been too much concerned with the cast of actors and the configuration of collaboration."
23 Feb 2012“One of the shortcomings in much of governance research, not just urban governance, is that it has been too much concerned with the cast of actors and the configuration of collaboration.” Being interviewed is Jon Pierre, author of The Politics of Urban Governance. “I have always worked on several projects at once and have also tried to be active in more than one research field. In some ways, the book is reflective of that work strategy as it incorporates not just urban politics and urban social theory but also institutional theory, public management, and globalization analysis.”
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"It is not the strongest of species that survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one that is most adaptable to change."
14 Mar 2012“Without anyone wanting to, humanity got itself a planet sized problem. We are using up stocks of metals and fossil carbon that took millions of years to form. Perhaps even worse, we are corroding the ecosystems that make this planet habitable and unique. Once lost, they will take a long time to evolve again.” Being interviewed is Johan van Zoest who works for the City of The Hague, the city of Amsterdam and the University of Eindhoven. Currently van Zoest makes part of URBAN-NEXUS, a program that can help European cities be part of the solution for the world’s ecological and economic problems.
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Improving disadvantaged neighbourhoods in 11 European cities - "The potentials of integrated approaches are still far from being fully exploited."
22 Mar 2012“Social cohesion is not primarily achieved by policies and projects on the neighbourhood level, however an inclusive neighbourhood contributes very much to this goal, especially for the disadvantaged people themselves.” Being interviewed is URBACT’s CoNet lead expert Prof. Dr. Rotraut Weeber, who compiled and edited academic approaches, good practise examples and interviews with practitioners and politicians along seven core tasks improving disadvantaged neighbourhoods. The Cohesion Network CoNet brings together experiences in neighbourhood based and integrated approaches to local development. Central to this are: strengthening communities and neighbourhoods, education, and economy and employment. “I am convinced: investing in strengthening their local networks, developing community life and their active participation in all fields of community life has a tangible return on investment. It is not only the individuals who benefit, but also the neighbourhood as a whole.”
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"People with little income or no future perspectives flow to areas where the cheapest homes can be found. These areas become havens for criminals, degradation and sometimes even turn into no-go areas."
05 Apr 2012Marianne van den Anker is a former councillor of Rotterdam city. “This city has 7 major problem areas, unfortunately Rotterdam is the city with the most “problem areas” of all Dutch municipalities. Therefore the city has been working a long time to solve the problems within these areas. For me the basis for thinking is an integrated, coherent approach that is people oriented and touches everyone.” In addition, van den Anker worked for Nicis Institute where sharing knowledge is central. Through her work in Rotterdam and for Nicis Institute she noticed that there was a need for knowledge on how to tackle problem areas in a practical way, as well as the need for a combination between research and practice in community development. This was the basis for the idea of the “wijkengids” (neighbourhood guide) which was launched nationwide in the Netherlands on the 4th of April 2012.
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"The multifunctional use of inland waterways is an important precondition to enhance the quality of life and to promote economic development of local municipalities."
23 Apr 2012“Learning experience is always very important and it is mutually beneficial, especially in dealing with the use of waterways. It is well-known that the multifunctional use of inland waterways is an important precondition to enhance the quality of life of the citizens and to promote economic development of local municipalities. Nevertheless the potential of waterways and waterfronts in Latvia is used in limited quantities.” Being interviewed is Elīna Muižniece, project manager at the Vidzeme Planning Region (VPR), which was established in 2006. “The main goal of VPR is to ensure regional planning and coordination, as well as cooperation between municipalities and different governmental institutions in Latvia on waterways.”
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Lively Cities, reclaiming public space for public use
10 May 2012“The Lively Cities project [LICI] was started because we noticed that a lot of cities are putting a lot of money into revival and renovation of space, which does create beautiful places but in many cases this space isn’t being used.” Being interviewed is Claire Albaret from AMCV, which is the lead organisation in the LICI project. Also being interviewed is Alan Buck, who leads the project in Brighton & Hove City Council which is one of the project partners of LICI. “I tend to get involved in the politics of making things happen which is where LICI comes in as we need to make the public space in Brighton much more happening.”
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Good practices in crime prevention projects - "The cookbook approach almost inevitably leads to implementation failure in government programmes intended to reproduce local success stories'"
24 May 2012“Research has shown that what works in crime prevention is highly context-specific, so transfer of knowledge and replication of good practice has to be done by intelligently and subtly following the process, not simply copying the end product from one place to another in an unthinking, ‘cookbook’ fashion.” Being interviewed is Paul Ekblom, co-author of ‘Richness, Retrievability and Reliability – Issues in a Working Knowledge Base for Good Practice in Crime Prevention’ with Dr. Karen Bullock. “Rather too much experience around the world has shown that the cookbook approach almost inevitably leads to implementation failure in government programmes intended to reproduce local ‘success stories’ of prevention rolled-out on a wider, perhaps national, scale.”
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"The fear of party patronage with the accession of the new democracies to the EU was largely unnecessary."
14 Jun 2012“One of the things which the European Union (EU) feared with the accession of the new democracies of Central and Eastern Europe in the 90s, was party political interference in the appointment of officials, and privilege of loyal party members. In short, party patronage. But the interference in or lobbying for official positions does not take place on a larger scale in Eastern European countries as opposed to Southern- or Western European countries.” Being interviewed is Prof. Dr. Petr Kopecký, an expert on Eastern-European politics. He came from the Czech Republic (CZ) to study political science at Leiden University and wrote his PhD in 1992 on the transformation of political systems in Eastern- and Central Europe. “The fear of party patronage with the accession of the new democracies was largely unnecessary.”
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"Involve energetic community-based organizations to successfully implement urban landscape programs"
12 Jul 2012In this interview American designer and artist, Damon Rich, who is currently working for the city of Newark New Jersey as the city's first Chief Urban Designer, tells about challenges in his daily work, how to connect architecture with politics and differences between European and American cities.
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"We need a new understanding of shrinking cities"
23 Jul 2012“Politicians and economists have tried to counteract the phenomena of shrinking cities for a long time now but up to date this has rarely resulted in a turnaround. I think that we should respect people’s wishes to move elsewhere. To create policy in order to “combat” this problem will not work as there is no proper policy that will stop people from moving from one place to another.” Being interviewed is German architect, Philipp Oswalt. He was involved in the project ‘Shrinking Cities’ which was initiated by the German government as an exhibition project which started in 2002 and ran through 2008. It was funded with over € 4,5 million Euros and it focused on understanding the phenomena of shrinking cities in the US, Great Britain, Russia, Japan and Germany. Oswalt argues that we need a new understanding of shrinking cities.
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"The current discussion on ‘smart cities’ is based on a too limited idea of what a city is"
06 Sep 2012“We claim that the current discussion on ‘smart cities’ is based on a too limited idea of what a city is. A lot of this ‘smart city’ research conceptualizes the city mainly as a bunch of infrastructure to be managed as efficiently as possible. Urban life of course is much more that getting as quickly as possible from A to B. Rather we want to connect the debate about technology in our cities with a theme that designers, planners and policy makers are traditionally involved in: the social city.” Being interviewed is Martijn de Waal, Director of the Public Matters, an office for strategy and research on the role of new media in society. “We focus on questions like: What does the advent of digital media mean for the urban public sphere? How can we use these same technologies to engage urban publics around collective issues in new ways? How can we give citizens a sense of ownership, the feeling that they belong to the city, and that the city belongs to them?”
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"Regenerating neighbourhoods is a complex process"
19 Sep 2012Alan Murie is Emeritus Professor of Urban and Regional Studies at the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies, University of Birmingham. In this interview he talks about the regeneration of neighbourhoods in European cities. Specifically about how cities could go about formulating an effective policy to regenerate deprived neighbourhoods. "There is a rich experience within European cities about regeneration and increasing competitiveness. But the transfer of experience is not straight forward. Cities differ too much from one another to just ‘copy’ successful policies from one to another. For example, Amsterdam differs too much from Birmingham to simply copy any effective policy. Cities can learn from each other but first they have to be clear about their own resources, organisational arrangements and problems and about what they want to achieve."
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Urban policies in the European Union from the perspective of collaborative planning
14 Nov 2012In June 2012, Sonia De Gregorio Hurtado finalized her PhD Thesis, entitled “Urban Policies of the European Union from the perspective of Collaborative Planning. The URBAN and URBAN II Community Initiatives in Spain” supervised by Professor Inés Sánchez de Madariaga at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Her thesis analyses the contribution of the urban policy of the European Union, in particular the two rounds of the URBAN Community Initiative, to the urban regeneration practice in Spain.