Louis Albrechts

Frank Moulaert

Stijn Oosterlynck

Jef Van den Broeck

Ann Verhetsel

Strategic Spatial Projects presents four years of case study research and theoretical discussions on strategic spatial projects in Europe and North America. It takes the position that planning is not well equipped to take on its current challenges if it is considered as only a regulatory and administrative activity. There is an urgent need to develop a mode of planning that aims to innovate in spatial as well as social terms. This timely, important book is for spatial planning, urban design and community development and policy studies courses. For academics, researchers and students in planning, urban design, urban studies, human and economic geography, public administration and policy studies.

Catalysts for Change

Strategic Spatial Projects

Erik Swyngedouw

Arantxa Rodriguez

This book explores the dynamics that have accompanied the implementation of large-scale Urban Development Projects (UDPs) in nine European cities within the European Union (EU). It contributes to the analysis of the relationship between urban restructuring and social exclusion/integration in the context of the emergence of the European-wide 'new' regimes of urban governance. These regimes reflect the reawakening of neo-liberal policy and the rise of a New Urban Policy favouring private investments and deregulation of property and labour markets. The selected UDPs further reflect global pressures and changing systems of local, regional, and/or national regulation and governance. These projects, while being decidedly local, capture global trends and new national and local policies as they are expressed in particular institutional forms and strategic practices. The large scale urban interventions were deliberately chosen as reflections of a particular hegemonic and dominant expression of urban policy, as pursued during the 1990s. The book provides a panoramic view of urban change in some of Europe's greatest cities. The nine case-studies include: The Europeanization of Brussels, The Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, the new financial district in Dublin, the science-university-technology complex 'Adlershof' in Berlin, the 1998 World Expo in Lisbon, Athens's bid to stage the Olympic Games, Vienna's Donau City, Copenhagen's Oresund project, and Naples' new business district. These case-studies testify to the unshakable belief the city elites hold in the healing effects that the production of new urban mega-projects and -events has on their city's vitality and development potential. The book also analyses the down side of this development in terms of social exclusion, the formation of new urban elites, and the consolidation of less democratic forms of urban governance. The principal aim is to show how the production of these new urban spaces is actually also part of the production of a new polity, a new economy, and new forms of living urban life that are not very promising for a socially harmonious and just future for metropolitan urban Europe.

Economic Restructuring and Social Polarization in European Cities

The Globalized City

In this book the author seeks to rebut the somewhat fatalistic argument that socio-economic prosperity in the cities can only be achieved by the application of global market-led policies. He argues that urban society and policy makers do have sufficient freedom of action to make local decisions on the economic and social development of deprived neighbourhoods. Drawing on evidence from six major European cities, he demonstrates that their 'Integrated Area Development' strategies, which rely on grassroots democracy and the empowerment of local communities, can deliver a social, economic, and cultural renaissance which meets the needs of the local population more effectively than the market-forces creed.

Globalization and Integrated Area Development in European Cities

Allen John Scott

This collection of essays provides a review and restatement of concepts and analytical insights about the relations between the dynamics of the production system and urban society. A number of questions underline the arrangement of the book, and constitute the central debates in the individual chapters. These questions include: how have large cities and city systems developed in the context of economic globalization and the restructuring processes of the international economy?; what are the restructuring strategies of firms within the urban economy?; how have social and political harmonization and polarization in urban society been affected by entrepreneurial strategies?; and what has been the response of other urban participants, and in particular local authorities to economic restructuring?

Cities Enterprise and Society

Hilde Heynen

Liesbeth Huybrechts

Annette Kuhk

Jan Schreurs

Kritische studie van participatieprocessen in architectuur, stedenbouw en ruimtelijke ordening ‘Participatie’ werd, in de nasleep van 1968, een sleutelwoord in architectuur, stedenbouw en ruimtelijke ordening in Vlaanderen en Brussel. Sindsdien zijn processen van medezeggenschap, inspraak en coproductie min of meer ingeburgerd in ontwerp- en planningspraktijken. Het enthousiasme voor deze processen is aan wisselende invloeden onderhevig en participatie staat dus lang niet altijd centraal in de feitelijke beslissingsstromen. Dit boek documenteert deze golfbewegingen aan de hand van historische overzichten, gevalstudies, interviews en kritische reflecties. Daarbij wordt nagedacht over de rol van actoren, de kracht van het ontwerp en het belang van (de) politiek. De wetenschappelijke inzichten en praktijkgebaseerde beschouwingen rond de drie grote participatiegolven van 1968 tot nu ronden af met een prospectieve kijk op participatieve benaderingen en een kritische reflectie op toekomstige sociaal-politieke uitdagingen. Deze veelheid aan complementaire invalshoeken maakt Participatiegolven tot een onmisbaar referentiewerk voor een breed lezerspubliek, van architecten, planologen en ontwerpers tot sociale geografen en stadssociologen, en van studenten tot academische en praktijkgerichte professionals. Bijdragende auteurs Wouter Bervoets (IDEA Consult / KU Leuven), Bie Bosmans (vroegere coordinator BOM, Antwerpen), Dag Boutsen (KU Leuven), Etienne Christiaens (betrokken geweest bij het Federaal Grootstedenbeleid), Veerle Cox (Intercommunale Leiedal), Seppe De Blust (Endeavour), Bruno De Meulder (KU Leuven), Tim Devos (Endeavour), Els Dietvorst (kunstenaar), Hilde Heynen (KU Leuven), Liesbeth Huybrechts (Universiteit Hasselt), Michael Kaethler (KU Leuven), Annette Kuhk (KU Leuven), André Loeckx (KU Leuven), Frank Moulaert (KU Leuven), Petra Pferdmenges (Alive Architecture), Jan Schreurs (KU Leuven), Ruth Segers (KU Leuven), Erik Vandaele (KU Leuven), Pieter Van den Broeck (KU Leuven), Barbara Van Dyck (University of Sussex), Hanne Vanreusel (KU Leuven), Ward Verbakel (plusofficearchitects)

Dialogen over ruimte, planning en ontwerp in Vlaanderen en Brussel

Participatiegolven

Flavia Martinelli

Andreas Novy

This book re-evaluates a rich scientific heritage of space- and history-sensitive development theories and produces an integrated methodology for the comparative analysis of urban and regional trajectories within a globalized world. The main argument put forward is that current mainstream analyses of urban and regional development have forgotten this rich heritage and fail to address the connections between different dimensions of development, the role of history and the importance of place and scale relations. The proposed methodology integrates elements from different theories – radical economic geography, regulation approach, cultural political economy, old and new institutionalism – that all share a strong concern with time and space dynamics. They are recombined into an interdisciplinary (meta)theoretical framework, capable of articulating the overall problem of socio-economic development and providing methodological anchors for comparative case-study analysis, while recognizing context specificities. The analytical methodology focuses on key dynamics and relations, such as strategic agency and collective action, institutions and structures, culture and discourse, as well as the tension between path-dependency and path-shaping. The methodology is then applied to eight urban and regional cases, mostly from Western Europe, but also from the United States and China. The case studies confirm the relevance of time- and space-sensitive analysis, not only for understanding development trajectories, but also for policy making. They ultimately highlight that, while post-war institutions were able to address systemic contradictions and foster a relatively inclusive development model, the neoliberal turn has led to reductionist policies that not only have resulted in an increase in social and spatial inequalities, but have also undermined growth and democracy.

Urban and Regional Development Trajectories in Contemporary Capitalism

Diana MacCallum

Social innovation (SI) has, in the last decade or so, become an important idea and concept in policy, practice and scholarship surrounding human development. It is often seen as an antidote to narrowly defined technological and market-oriented modes of innovation. Its historical significance and development, tied to centuries of struggles for social change, remain under-appreciated and unacknowledged. This Advanced Introduction explores the historical and contemporary meanings of social innovation and its relationship with political and social movements. It develops an understanding of SI as a form of ethical practice for meeting needs, transforming social relations, and collectively empowering communities to shape the future. Additionally, it proposes that ethical research should aim to be socially innovative in this sense and provides concrete suggestions of how this concern can be embodied in action-research and community development methodologies.

Advanced Introduction to Social Innovation

Pieter Van den Broeck

Ide Hiergens

Han Verschure

Monica Quintana Molina

Asiya Sadiq

This timely and thought-provoking book examines the contemporary struggle of communities over land ownership and use rights in rapidly urbanising areas, analysing 12 key case studies from across four continents. Contributions from an international team of researchers, policy analysts and experts explore both neoliberal urban development policies and socially innovative initiatives, providing a state-of-the-art reflection of the field and contributing to an agenda for future research, policy and practice.

Land Taking and Land Making in an Urbanising World

Communities, Land and Social Innovation

ÔThe challenges of poverty and social exclusion cannot be fully resolved through conventional public sector policies and market-led innovation. The case studies in this Handbook capture some of the key success factors of socially innovative action in different socio-economic contexts. This Handbook will inspire readers as it highlights the creativity and commitment of diverse enterprises and movements working for social innovation.Õ Ð Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, Minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlements, United Republic of Tanzania, and retired UN Under Secretary General, immediate former Executive Director of UN-HABITAT ÔSocial innovation may not be a new idea but it is clearly an idea whose time has come, not least because the traditional models of innovation Ð narrowly framed technical models Ð have run their course and no longer resonate in a world of societal challenges. This Handbook has two great merits Ð it brings conceptual rigour to the debate and it provides compelling narratives of social innovation in practice.Õ Ð Kevin Morgan, Cardiff University, UK ÔIn an era where social innovation is re-emerging as an important policy framework for bringing social transformation, this volume is a significant contribution to the theory and practice of social innovation. The incremental discussion from concepts to theory to practice and then to social innovation research is supported by cases literally from all over the globe. It moves the discourse from isolated models of neighbourhood engagements and social enterprises, to a comprehensive, multidimensional approach combining needs, social relations and empowerment. A must read for academicians, learners, practitioners and policy makers alike.Õ Ð S. Parasuraman, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India ÔSocial innovation is an important instrument for understanding how contemporary societies deal with social change and how social practices and policies intended to combat poverty and social exclusion are developed and implemented effectively. The Handbook offers a valuable contribution to the development of a clear, transdisciplinary and critical understanding of social innovation practices. The reader will find an in-depth discussion of the most important theoretical approaches to the concept and a thorough exposition of the epistemological and methodological framework for research in social innovation. The volume includes a number of interesting case studies in different areas of social change and issues of policy and governance.Õ Ð Enzo Mingione, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy This enriching Handbook covers many aspects of the scientific and socio-political debates on social innovation today. The contributors provide an overview of theoretical perspectives, methodologies and instructive experiences from all continents, as well as implications for collective action and policy. They argue strongly for social innovation as a key to human development. The Handbook defines social innovation as innovation in social relations within both micro and macro spheres, with the purpose of satisfying unmet or new human needs across different layers of society. It connects social innovation to empowerment dynamics, thus giving a political character to social movements and bottom-up governance initiatives. Together these should lay the foundations for a fairer, more democratic society for all. This interdisciplinary work, written by scholars collaborating to develop a joint methodological perspective toward social innovation agency and processes, will be invaluable for students and researchers in social science and humanities. It will also appeal to policy makers, policy analysts, lobbyists and activists seeking to give inspiration and leadership from a social innovation perspective.

Frank Moulaert

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