Key messages for territorial policy from ESPON 2013

From ESDP to First Synthesis Report

The “New Economic Geography”  Agglomeration economies and spillover effects, especially urbanisation economies;  Scale is not fixed, it is produced by the interplay of economic / social systems and territories;  Networks and connectivity;  Regional resilience. European networks of regional scientists experienced in trans-national working. A new scientific confidence

Scientific confidence Neo-institutionalism – market failure, poor information, path dependency. Better territorial databases and new ways of working with existing data. Development of typologies to enable generalisation while recognising uniqueness of places. Development of TIA methodologies.

Policy environment Economic crisis – jobs and growth agenda; failure to hit Lisbon targets. Climate change - Growing concern but limited national level commitment. Enlarged EU – more right of centre politically. EU competence for territorial cohesion. Public spending on welfare and services of general interest targeted.

Parameters for the Synthesis Report Europe 2020  Smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. 5 level focus  New emphasis on global and on local. Cool on “regulation” and “spatial planning”. New emphasis on urban areas.

Barca Report Place-based development is not just about “poor” regions. Place-based development policies are not hostile to agglomeration or to out-migration. Multi-level governance with key role for local scale action.

Messages from the Synthesis Report “In a place-based policy, public interventions rely on local knowledge and are verifiable and submitted to scrutiny, while linkages among places are taken into account. […] this strategy is superior to alternative strategies that do not make explicit and accountable their territorial focus, or even hide it behind a screen of self-proclaimed space-blindness, fail to integrate services, and either assume that the State knows best or rely on the choices and guidance of a few private actors. The lessons of the recent crisis reinforce this argument.” Barca Report

Messages from the Synthesis Report Europe’s competitiveness depends greatly on its global cities and metropolitan regions, but these are also places with sharp social divides and large ecological footprints. Issue of “inner peripheries”.

Smart, connected places Linkages, urbanisation advantages, attractive environments and co- operation in the processes of territorial governance, have become vital economic resources. Lower value activity is displaced to the edge of the city – e.g. Manchester.

The new rural development paradigm New rural economy. Connectivity to nearest urban hubs for services, but also to global networks. Co-operate with neighbours to aim for economies of scale. Rural business clusters.

Polycentricity lives! Polycentric development at EU scale – e.g. integration into NBIC networks. Hierarchy but also specialisation of cities. However, issues about secondary cities (c.f. LJMU-led project).

Cross-border regional development Border areas as areas of diversity – in lifestyles, housing and labour costs, quality of life. “The close proximity of diverse actors within a region is a development potential even within a country.” Cross-border planning of SGI, e.g. health services. Even commuting is OK – as long as it is across borders.

Accessibility

Building blocks for a territorial approach Territorial cohesion – where and at what scale are the divides sharpest? Diversity is strength – a stepping back from the aspirations for universal service provision through the public sector. Integration of policy – horizontally and across scales. Key tools for territorial analysis – TIA, spatial scenarios, accessibility analysis, delphi techniques, multi-variate statistical analysis, use of indices and construction of typologies. Key concepts – localisation and urbanisation economies, clusters, multi-agency partnerships, connectivity, development corridors, territorial capital and potential, endogenous development.

Putting it into practice Look beyond boundaries – functional regions and multi-scale networks. Aim for an integrated, territorial development approach, not a land use plan. Local knowledge is critical – how to get it? What are the territorial assets? Use typologies for European benchmarking. Spatial effects of EU / national / regional policies should be made explicit: a transparent spatial audit.