This dissertation offers insights into the use of ideas in policies designed to address uneven territorial development in regions outside metropolitan areas in the European Union (EU). The focus is on integrated territorial development policies which draw on the notion of territorial cohesion in two different national contexts within the EU: Germany and Romania.
The theoretical background of the thesis traces how territorial disparities are addressed in key theoretical paradigms which have influenced regional development thinking. Integrated territorial development is singled out as a key policy approach designed to overcome development disparities by tapping into underutilised endogenous assets and knowledge as part of a cross-sectoral vision within a defined space (be it an urban, rural, or regional context). Forward-thinking as this approach strives to be, it faces fundamental challenges in places which have been grappling with a rise of economic, social, and political disparities for many years. Understanding these processes through the relational concept of peripheralisation steers research towards engaging with people’s perceptions of spatial disparities and policies designed to address them.
The conceptual framework of the thesis is designed around principles which enable an interpretive analysis of public policy. This mode of inquiry is based on an anti-foudnationalist ontology and a constructivist epistemology. The cornerstone of this approach is understanding policy actions as indeterminate, prone to unintended consequences, and fundamentally shaped by the backtalk of the complex social system it seeks to influence. Policy-making and implementing is hence viewed as a setting in which disparate and contingent beliefs and actions of individuals come together to shape a temporarily concerted course of actions. Different types of policy ideas (in many cases belonging to different schools of thought) hence come together in a process of policy framing where policy substance, actors’ identities and relationships, and the policy process are shaped.
To operationalise this framework, the methodological design of this research follows an abductive mode of scientific inquiry which pursues an iterative engagement with the field and the theory. The empirical research is designed around two case study regions – the Chemnitz Region in The Free State of Saxony (one of Germany’s 16 federal states) and the North-West Region in Romania. The rationale behind the selection of the case studies was to choose regions in starkly different policy contexts, yet which are as similar as possible in terms of their socio-economic development trajectories. The study analyses three policy instruments: integrated urban development funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), integrated rural development funded through the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and regional development planning initiatives. The primary data stems from 43 semi-structured expert interviews conducted with 46 policy practitioners and experts. Policy documents, local and regional strategies, and statistics have served as a source of secondary data. The analytical approach draws on principles of grounded theory for inductively developing theoretical categories and establishing causal explanations in the form of mid-level, provisional theories.
The first block of the analysis engages with the substance of integrated territorial development policies and strategies, showcasing different interpretations of territorial cohesion in national contexts. Governments in both contexts view territorial cohesion as a means of strengthening the governance and coordination of policies, with a focus on local development conditions. Nonetheless, little emphasis is put on the competitive polycentric development approach, balanced development, and the environmental dimensions. In both studied contexts, polarised development is grasped as an inevitable approach for overcoming broad regional structural weaknesses.
The second analytical block engages with policy processes which underpin the implementation of integrated territorial development strategies. This serves to highlight the settings in which policy-relevant actors apply the integrated instruments available to them. The analysis centres on the separation of urban from rural development, the ownership of the goals pursued through integrated development and the ensuing impact on actors’ motivation to engage with complex policy procedures, and the role of experts in guiding policy beneficiaries
The final block of the analysis touches on the problematisation of peripheralisation in relation to integrated development instruments in four domains: demographic change, structural economic shifts, infrastructures and services of general interest, and place identity and marketing. These domains are not tied to any specific policies, but have rather emerged as salient in the inductive analysis.
The research concludes with a number of open questions and suggestions for policy makers. A key observation is that the notion of territorial cohesion itself tends to bring little value added to policy programmes, as many topics are already addressed in bespoke national normative concepts and policy programmes. Far from being an end-state, territorial cohesion comes across as a process which is shaped by contrasting perceptions on competitive and balanced development; by centralised and devolved modes of governance; by functional territorial planning or network-based development windows of opportunity. The added value of policies which draw on territorial cohesion to address territorial disparities may lay in bringing the perspective of peripheralised policy communities to the forefront of the debate and enabling innovative forms of cooperation.:Preface and acknowledgments – iii
Table of contents – vii
List of figures and tables – xi
Abbreviations – xv
Introduction – 1
PART I: THEORETICAL, CONCEPTUAL, AND METHODOLOGICAL GROUNDS
1. Theoretical insights into territorial cohesion and disparities in the EU – 15
1.1. Key shifts in regional development policy thinking – 15
1.1.1. The neoliberalisation of regional and local development – 16
1.1.2. The neoliberalising logic of strategic spatial planning – 23
1.1.3. New approaches towards development policies – 24
1.2. Normative and policy dimensions of territorial cohesion – 26
1.2.1. Establishing European planning concepts – 27
1.2.2. Dimensions of territorial cohesion and its integrative role – 30
1.3. Towards a relational understanding of territorial disparities – 36
1.3.1. Understanding territorial disparities through peripheralisation – 36
1.3.2. Ideational dependency in development policies – 39
1.4. Territorial cohesion and peripheralisation: research perspectives – 40
2. Conceptual framework – 43
2.1. Policy analysis: a constructivist perspective – 44
2.1.1. The case for an anti-foundationalist ontology of public policy – 45
2.1.2. Policy analysis in an interpretive epistemology – 49
2.2. Understanding the role of prominent policy ideas – 52
2.2.1. Decentering political science – 53
2.2.2. Prominent policy ideas: an interpretive perspective – 54
2.3. Reflexive agency in public policy – 56
2.3.1. Putting travelling ideas to use in policy design processes – 56
2.3.2. Policy frames and policy framing – 61
2.4. Guiding principles – 64
3. Methodology – 67
3.1. Interpretive analysis in spatial policy research – 68
3.2. Research design – 72
3.2.1. Key principles – 72
3.2.2. Comparing two case studies – 75
3.2.3. Generating theory: principles and quality criteria – 79
3.3. Methods – 85
3.3.1. Qualitative interviewing – 85
3.3.2. Policy and document analysis – 90
3.4. Case and respondent selection – 91
3.4.1. Selecting regions in Germany and Romania – 91
3.4.2. Selecting respondents – 95
PART II: CONTEXT
4. The administrative context of integrated territorial development policies – 105
4.1. The ESI funds and the Cohesion Policy: a brief overview – 106
4.1.1. The key aims of the ESI funds – 107
4.1.2. EU priorities for the Cohesion Policy – 108
4.1.3. Integrated territorial development – 110
4.2. Planning and regional development in Saxony and Romania – 112
4.2.1. Saxony – 113
4.2.2. Romania – 114
4.3. Policy instruments for integrated territorial development – 115
4.3.1. Saxony – 115
4.3.2. Romania – 120
4.4. Policy directions – 125
5. Territorial structures of, and development trends in the studied regions – 127
5.1. Territorial structures – 127
5.1.1. The Chemnitz region in Saxony – 127
5.1.2. The North-West region in Romania – 130
5.2. Population and demography – 133
5.3. Transport infrastructure – 135
5.4. Economic profiles – 139
5.4.1. Employment concentration – 139
5.4.2. Commuting – 142
5.4.3. Economic sectors - 142
PART III: EMPIRICAL FINDINGS
6. The substance of integrated territorial development policies and strategies – 149
6.1. Normative positions on territorial cohesion – 149
6.1.1. Normative Positions – 150
6.1.2. Linking the storylines – 152
6.1.3. Key remarks – 153
6.2. The substance of governmental policies – 155
6.2.1. Categorising space: the inevitability of polarised development – 157
6.2.2. The role of integrated territorial development policies – 163
6.3. The substance of local and regional strategies – 169
6.3.1. Integrated Rural Development Plans – 169
6.3.2. Integrated Urban Development Plans – 174
7. Ideas in action: making sense of integrated territorial development – 189
7.1.Practical constraints and affordances of using integrated instruments – 189
7.1.1. The urban-rural split in ESI-funded instruments – 189
7.1.2. Centralising the ownership of European goals – 196
7.2. The role of experts in framing integrated responses – 203
7.2.1. Experts’ roles beyond bureaucracies – 204
7.2.2. Attuning expertise to local conditions – 204
7.2.3. Conveying expertise at a regional level and beyond – 208
7.3. From ideas to action – 210
7.3.1. Fostering motivation – 210
7.3.2. Eroding trust through complex bureaucracies – 215
8. Problematising integrated development: a local-regional perspective – 219
8.1. Demographic change – 219
8.2. Structural economic shifts – 225
8.2.1. Regional economies in transition – 226
8.2.2. Towards competitive territories – 231
8.3. Infrastructures and public services – 235
8.3.1. In-between adaptation and expansion – 236
8.3.2. Key remarks – 240
8.4. Place identity and marketing – 240
8.5. From problems to perceptions of cumulative disadvantages – 247
PART IV: CONCLUSIONS
9. Conclusions and implications – 255
9.1. Summary of the research approach. Key findings – 255
9.1.1. Research approach and theoretical anchors – 255
9.1.2 Policy ideas and their role in policy framing 258
9.2. Reflections and implications – 264
9.2.1. Methodological reflections – 265
9.2.2. Policy implications – 266
9.2.3. Perspectives for further research – 269
References – 271
APPENDICES
Appendix 1: Analysed policy documents – 301
Appendix 2: Analysed strategies – 303
Appendix 3: Details about the interviews – 305
Appendix 4: List of original quotes – 311
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:86894 |
| Date | 23 August 2023 |
| Creators | Brad, Alexandru |
| Contributors | Universität Leipzig |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion, doc-type:doctoralThesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis, doc-type:Text |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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