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Resilience Thinking in Urban Planning
Abstract and Figures
There is consensus in literature that urban areas have become increasingly vulnerable to the outcomes of economic restructuring under the neoliberal political economic ideology. The increased frequency and widening diversity of problems offer evidence that the socio-economic and spatial policies, planning and practices introduced under the neoliberal agenda can no longer be sustained. As this shortfall was becoming more evident among urban policymakers, planners, and researchers in different parts of the world, a group of discontent researchers began searching for new approaches to addressing the increasing vulnerabilities of urban systems in the wake of growing socio-economic and ecological problems. This book is the joint effort of those who have long felt that contemporary planning systems and policies are inadequate in preparing cities for the future in an increasingly neoliberalising world. It argues that “resilience thinking” can form the basis of an alternative approach to planning. Drawing upon case studies from five cities in Europe, namely Lisbon, Porto, Istanbul, Stockholm, and Rotterdam, the book makes an exploration of the resilience perspective, raising a number of theoretical debates, and suggesting a new methodological approach based on empirical evidence. This book provides insights for intellectuals exploring alternative perspectives and principles of a new planning approach.
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Chapters (14)
This book has two main objectives. First, the intention is to discuss how well equipped contemporary planning theory and practice is in preparing urban areas to face the new conditions that have resulted from the neoliberal spatial agenda in an increasingly borderless world and its ability to address the escalating numbers of hazards, most of which are triggered by rising levels of consumption. Second, it aims to discuss the characteristics of a new theoretical approach to planning that may assist in the creation of resilient cities that are able to adapt to both slow changes and major pressures.
Since the late 1970s, neoliberalisation and market-friendly policies have been affecting the way cities develop and function. Neoliberal principles based on market reliance seem to take over or manipulate the decision-making powers in urban development and create uncoordinated state interventions (Peck et al. 2009). Increasing neoliberalisation and entrepreneurialisation cause serious problems in the governance of cities, while the responsibilities, tasks and developments of the public sector are decentralised or privatised; economic activities are deregulated, and welfare services are replaced by workfarist social policies that favour innovative and competitive economic development (Purcell 2009; Leitner et al. 2007; Harvey 2005; Jessop 1993). In this new system of sensitive balances, entrepreneurialism, consumerism and property-led development have been accelerated, turning actors in the urban land and property market into key players in urban development.
This chapter aims to explore the historical roots of the concept of resilience in the context of urban planning. The simplest definition of resilience in this case is the capacity of a system to undergo change and still retain its basic function and structure after facing an external disturbance. In other words, it has the capacity to change into a different system regime without crossing a certain threshold. This basic definition has its roots in applied sciences. In engineering, for instance, resilience refers to the capacity of a structure to withstand an impact without being permanently deformed (Callister 2000) while, in ecology, resilience is defined as the amount of disturbance that an ecosystem can withstand without changing its self-organised processes and structures (Holling 1973). Resilience has been used in wide range of areas, such as ecology, environmental and social sustainability, environmental sciences, hazard planning, ecosystem management, and even in supply chain risk research.
Cities, as complex systems, present different urban patterns and spatial dynamics with diverse and multiple characteristics. Urban systems change and reorganise according to the diverse outcomes of economic globalisation, based primarily on population data, but with secondary reference to trends in economic growth and restructuring, and to the various roles played by governments in shaping the urbanisation process (Bourne 1995). Thus, economic growth and restructuring resulting from globalisation creates certain population dynamics and mobility patterns that influence the reorganisation of urban spaces (drivers of the economic globalisation are discussed in detail in Chap. 5 for the case study areas introduced in this book). The reorganisation of urban space, which is strongly influenced by the adaptation strategies of cities to global processes and endogenous capacities, takes various forms. This chapter intends to explore these spatial forms and dynamics and their implications on the resilience of cities. It is argued in Chap. 1 that certain spatial patterns may provide capacity to the system to absorb disturbances and reorganise itself. In this chapter, in order to understand the extent of the spatial dynamics to address social and spatial challenges, both the inner city and peri-urbanised areas, first of all, these spatial dynamics are identified, and secondly, their relation to the attributes of resilience is clarified. In this respect this chapter aims to provide an umbrella conceptual framework for the relationship between spatial change and resilience.
The spatial development of cities is influenced by a combination of economic, social, demographic and environmental factors, which cause certain vulnerabilities in cities. Vulnerability, in this respect, means “exposure to risk and an inability to avoid or absorb potential harm” (Pelling 2003). It is the degree to which a system is susceptible to, or unable to cope with, risks. Thus, socio-spatial vulnerability can be defined as the openness of regions, territories, cities, parts of cities, urban-built environments, urban areas, neighbourhoods or places to the risks caused by diverse dynamics, events and impacts. These disturbances can be unexpected or expected, sudden shocks or slowly developing changes and can have different drivers (economic, social, political or ecological). Vulnerability refers to the limited capacity of spaces to avoid or absorb potential harm from diverse risks and includes complex sociopolitical characteristics attached to the spaces that accommodate them. This means that physical capacities as well as social processes attached to these spatial processes need to be addressed here. Socio-spatial vulnerabilities are defined not only in terms of path-dependent characteristics of space but also their exposure to major pressure/damaging phenomena and economic pressure, particularly in periods of change in economic and political regimes, while also discussing modes of regulation.
Planning systems tend to adjust to the ever-changing urban conditions, though similar urban trends can be found in different spatial forms (e.g. sprawl, shrinkage and polycentricism). The questions raised by these phenomena and dynamics are often answered differently, based on the individual planning systems, cultures and styles, and in reference to the planning tools inherited from earlier periods.
This chapter focuses on the thematic scope and approaches to urban and regional policy in the five case study cities of Lisbon, Oporto, Istanbul, Stockholm and Rotterdam, while the spatial dynamics and vulnerabilities of each case are explored in Chap. 5. For each of these large urban agglomerations, a number of key documents are introduced and evaluated to provide an understanding of their approach to managing urban change, and an examination is made of their operating institutional framework as regards planning and policy in urban management. These documents constitute key elements of the formal planning systems (e.g. municipal urban development plans or regional comprehensive plans). In addition to spatial plans, a number of other strategic documents that have a clear impact on the management of urban change are identified that complement the spatial plans in various ways. As the intention in this chapter is only to provide an overview, the analysis is restricted to the most important among them.
The first part of this chapter introduces the theme of planning evaluation from three different perspectives: an assessment of different planning documents, such as policies, programmes, plans and projects (PPPP); an appraisal of planning processes and practices in the implementation of these documents; and finally, an analysis of the actual results of planning activity on territory and society. The second part discusses how resilient thinking in planning can be evaluated by assessing to what extent planning is able to adapt to new conditions in coping with and managing change. This is a rather pertinent issue, in that despite the increasing presence of resilience on the planning agenda, evaluations of resilient-based planning in literature are notably absent. The final part of this chapter proposes a method of evaluation, identifying its main influences and describing in considerable detail each step in the assessment procedure. The method is applied to case studies in Lisbon, Oporto, Istanbul, Stockholm and Rotterdam in Chaps. 9–13, presenting context-based extensions of variegated forms of this methodology.
This chapter evaluates the aspects of resilience in Alcântara, the selected case study area located on the western side of the city of Lisbon. Its urban fabrics, land uses and functional links to the city and the metropolitan area allow the area to be defined as a nodal zone amid an area of compact urban development.
This chapter presents a case study of the Baixa District, located in an urban heritage area in the centre of the city of Oporto in Northern Portugal. The city of Oporto is the centre of its metropolitan area (Metropolitan Area of Oporto – AMP) and the second-largest city in Portugal. It is closely connected to an extremely industrialised area (in the northwest) to which it provides the main services. Links with the eastern hinterland suffer from underdeveloped infrastructures and, for the moment, are mainly geared towards the wine industry. In recent decades, a number of important investments have been made in the metropolitan area with the intention of improving mobility and accessibility, including key infrastructure projects such as the enlargement of the light rail network, new bridges over the Douro River and improvements to the trunk road network. The economic structure of the metropolitan area has evolved over the last half century, changing from “de-ruralisation” in the 1960s to “tertiarisation” starting in early 1980s. Initially, the development models avoided the centre of the metropolitan area, the focus being on the strongly industrialised outskirts. The tertiary sector revealed an accelerated process of growth in the centre of the Metropolitan Area of Oporto (AMP), which has become the centre of a regional productive base, involved simultaneously in both exports and imports. At the same time, the outskirts have become specialised in the supply of consumer products for the international market, being involved in an internationalised system in which footwear and textile/clothing industrial sectors are dominant. Throughout the years, the productive structure of the metropolitan area has been reinforced by the tertiary sector, with the AMP being one of the subregions of the country in which the contributions of the tertiary sector to gross value added (GVA) and regional employment have been the most impressive.
There are increasing concerns related to the neoliberalisation of social, economic and political processes, which are pushing the recently introduced spatial policies and new policy instruments in more market-oriented directions, to the detriment of the built environment. In many cities of the world, owing to the complex dynamics associated with the increasing global and local pressures, urban change takes different forms, with important implications on the resilience of cities. Istanbul is one of the best examples of this, where the different types of urban dynamics that can be experienced simultaneously are being illustrated. This makes Istanbul a good study area for defining how the policies and plans adopted to meet the increasing needs and demands can affect a city’s resilience.
This chapter explores the practices of implementing a polycentric strategy in the Stockholm urban agglomeration. The Stockholm case has been chosen to illustrate the need for a broadening of the understanding of resilience in actual land-use planning to a state in which the governance system can be viewed as a resilient structure that is flexible and adaptable to rapid changes at the city-regional level.
The very features that make cities feasible and desirable – their architectural structures, population concentrations, places of assembly, and interconnected infrastructure systems – also put them at high risk to floods, earthquakes, hurricanes and terrorist attacks (Godschalk 2003).
The mission of the planner has never been as frustrating as it is today. While planning practice is littered with such terms as democratisation, participation and collaborative decision making, most planners have strong doubts as to whether they are fulfilling their primary mission, that is, to prepare cities for the future. Their role today has rather become one of solving daily problems to satisfy the interests of the dominant actors in the urban system.
... According to the United Nation Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), resilience is the ability of a system or society at risk of a disaster to endure, attract, adapt, and timely and effective retrieval from the impacts of the disaster through the protection and restoration of structures and fundamental and crucial functions (7). Eraydin and Tasan-Kok defined city resilience as "the degree of tolerance for change by cities before reorganization around a new set of structures and processes" (8). ...
INTRODUCTION: Because of the vulnerability of human settlements to natural disasters and damage caused by them, the study of the resilience of settlements has become critical in planning urban areas. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the earthquake resilience of Baghershahr, a town with a population of 67000 people , located at a distance of 4 km from Tehran, Iran. METHODS: The research data were collected using survey method (questionnaire) and also by using statistical documents and documented reports. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique was used to determine the coefficient of importance of indicators, and descriptive statistics methods were used in data analysis. FINDINGS: The study area has, on average, only 36.6% of the ideal conditions of resilience. This figure was 25.5% in the institutional dimension, indicating that this dimension has the lowest resilience compared with the other dimensions. The physical dimension has 31.7% of the ideal conditions of resilience, and the economic dimension has 40.5% of the ideal conditions of resilience. The highest level belonged to the social dimension, which was 45.4%. CONCLUSION: The studied area is an example of Iranian settlements with very low resilience. The low level of resilience of Baghershahr is due to the risks caused by its vicinity to the oil and gas refinery complex, thermal power plant, sulfur industry, and numerous plastic recycling workshops, huge stores of petroleum products, gas and crude oil, and crude oil pipelines. It is also due to sudden formation and uncontrolled rapid growth of the town, which has been accompanied by widespread migration of low-income classes over the past few decades.
This paper explores the informal land delivery system in Southwest Nigeria, emphasising its crucial role in mitigating the housing demand that urbanisation and population growth exacerbate. To get information about the informal land delivery system, questionnaires were sent to estate surveying and valuation firms, town planning firms, and land surveying firms in six state capitals (Ade, Akure, Abeokuta, Osogbo, Ibadan, and Ikeja). We analysed the data using factor analysis. Findings from the study show that easy access, low cost, and flexibility make informal land delivery more effective. It also looks at the problems with the formal land market, such as its slow processes and out-of-date rules. The study emphasises the necessity of integrating the informal land delivery system into the formal urban land delivery framework, particularly from a cultural-legal standpoint. The study suggests that a well-structured informal system can act as a transitional solution, effectively bridging the gap between conventional land management practices and the needs of the urban poor. Ultimately, the research advocates for policies that enhance the effectiveness of informal land delivery systems for providing shelter while acknowledging and mitigating their inherent challenges to fostering sustainable urbanisation.
El Caño Martín Peña (CMP), a cluster of eight historically informal neighborhoods in San Juan, Puerto Rico, faces long-standing challenges of inadequate infrastructure, persistent flooding, and displacement pressures. In response, the G8 collective—a coalition representing these communities—and the Martín Peña Canal Community Land Trust (CLT) establishment have developed a participatory planning model prioritizing resilience and housing security. This unique and exemplary model of a participatory planning case study, grounded in document analysis and participant observation, explores how the G8 and CLT have driven transformative improvements in CMP, addressing informality, mitigating flood risks, and preventing displacement. Findings highlight how community-driven governance fosters trust and enhances long-term sustainability, offering valuable insights for equitable urban development and spatial justice.
Nowadays, urban planning, urban resilience, and climate change issues are discussed differently within the frame of developing and changing technological conditions. Studies on climate change, disasters, environmental data, and effective use of resources indicate that cities are responsible for exceeding their ecological limits. Cities are both the source of these problems and the most affected in terms of threats to urban residents and urban infrastructures. As a result of the uncertain and ever-changing risks brought on by urbanization and population growth worldwide that put pressure on cities in a variety of interconnected and complex ways perceptions of the preparedness and safety of cities are evolving. To manage these issues, new paradigms are needed. There is no consensus on the concept of urban resilience and methods for applying this concept in urban areas. In this research, how to create a relationship between existing approaches, theories, and practices in the field of urban resilience is discussed. The necessity to include resilience in numerical measurement techniques and planning applications and how these application methods will be operated was explained. In the process of creating a planning decision support system to ensure urban resilience, indicators that would provide input to measurement and index studies were researched, and new indicators were proposed. In this study, a formula for the urban resilience index was determined, and analyses that would provide input to the planning in Ankara metropolitan districts according to these indicators and urban resilience characteristics were put forward through geographic information systems. According to these studies, Gölbaşı was determined to be the district with the highest urban resilience index and Keçiören as the district with the lowest.
This chapter refers to the treatment of urban planning as a mechanism in the context of the resilience of cities to floods, the most common natural disaster caused by climate change. The focus of the research is the Zorrotzaurre peninsula in Bilbao, a city undergoing constant urban transformation and a significant industrial and tourist city in Spain. It is a peninsula that has been identified as a degraded industrial area, with a significant degree of contamination and which is subject to flooding. Relying on the research done within the master's thesis, this chapter will present a proposal for concrete urban regeneration—metamorphosis—of the peninsula mentioned above, to create a more flood-resistant place. In addition, through the urban regeneration of the Zorrotzaurre peninsula, the goal is to point out the importance of urban planning and urban architectural design in mitigating climate change. Several goals were set in the research: to understand the necessity of having a clearly defined action policy, clearly defined measures, adaptation, and mitigation strategies; to reduce the impact of climate change on the environment, that is, to increase the degree of resilience in architecture, infrastructure, and urban space, and, in the end, to contribute to increasing the degree of development of awareness of the importance of everything previously mentioned, and then to the definition of practical solutions, applicable not only in the area of Bilbao but also wider, bearing in mind, all specific territorial, social and economic aspects. Several methods were used in the work: after a theoretical review of the place that is the subject of research, the identification of specifics followed, and then practical guidelines were given for the urban regeneration—metamorphosis—of the same, all to create a more resilient place to live.
The growing complexity of cities and the unprecedented pace of urbanisation create exposure and vulnerabilities to extreme events and crises that are difficult to manage and plan for as widely acknowledged by the existing literature. In this paper, three main challenges to be tackled are identified based on the selected literature according to the interpretation of the authors based on extended research in the field. Those challenges relate to the multi-risk environment characterising many contemporary cities, the need to overcome sectoral approaches towards increased alignment of emergency and spatial planning at different scales, and the opportunities that derive from integrated risk and resilience management. Such challenges are evidenced in the Pozzuoli case study, a densely inhabited municipality of the metropolitan city of Naples, placed into a volcanic caldera, that has been analysed in the light of the above challenges for an extended period of time of about fifty years. The in-depth assessment of the quality of urban development has been enabled by geospatial data management. Advanced geospatial information systems are not only instrumental in depicting the history of urban development in the period of consideration but also as an enabler to tackle the above-mentioned challenges. In fact, such systems permit a much more dynamic and updatable assessment of multirisk conditions and provide the basis for shared knowledge among the large number of stakeholders that are responsible for different sectoral and comprehensive urban and risk-related plans.
Large regeneration and transformation projects generally include
a longer timespan as an aspect that makes way for more uncertainty and unexpected changes. We introduce transformative resilience as a place-based approach that can help planners and practitioners adapt to changes and challenges in urban regeneration and can be used proactively to bring certain pliability into planning, implementing and decision-making processes. This allows for intermittent actions to regularly evaluate the outcomes and include the involvement of relevant parties. Based on findings from a comparative study carried out in Norway on two former industrial sites situated in historic cities undergoing transformation, we discuss how planners can prepare for unexpected and unforeseen challenges.
Konsep resilience merupakan kemampuan sistem untuk menyerap perubahan dan tahan terhadap gangguan juga untuk beradaptasi terhadap perubahan tanpa kehilangan fungsinya. Penelitian ini menggunakan konsep resilience yang fokus pada penanggulangan bencana alam dimana belum banyak diterapkan di Indonesia, khususnya Jakarta yang selalu mengalami kebanjiran. Hal ini disebabkan oleh wilayah sempadan sungai di Jakarta banyak dijadikan pemukiman liar. Pemukiman liar muncul akibat normalisasai sungai yang berfungsisebagai penanggulangan banjir. Padahal ruang terbuka pada sempadan sungai memiliki potensi menjadi ruang publik yang aktraktif dan menjadi faktor pendukung ekonomi yang baik. Selain itu ruang terbuka ini dapatdijadikan RTH agar Jakarta dapat memenuhi kebutuhan RTH. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk dapat menerapkan konsep resilience pada lanskap di sempadan sungai untuk menyelesaikan permasalahan kota Jakarta.Penelitian ini dimulai dengan melihat literatur yang membahas tentang resilience dan juga teori pendukung sepertiadaptabilitas pada lanskap dan preseden lanskap yang beradaptasi terhadap banjir. Penelitian dilakukan pada lanskap di sempadan sungai Ciliwung yang terletak pada Kelurahan Petamburan, Kecamatan Tanah Abang. Hasil penelitian menunjukan bahwa lanskap tersebut tidak memiliki desain yang berkonsep pada resilience, melainkan hanya membangun tembok pembatas antara lanskap dengan sungai sebagai solusi penanggulangan banjir. Konsep perancangan yang dilakukan adalah menerapkan teori resilience dan adaptability pada lanskapdengan mengatur ekologi dan fisik lanskap sebagai penanggulangan terhadap banjir. Ekologi pada lanskap merupakan tanaman yang mampu beradaptasi terhadap banjir dan mengurangi resiko erosi akibat aliran airsungai. Pengaturan fisik yang dilakukan pada lanskap adalah penggunaan kontur yang berfungsi seperti bendungan ketikda debit air sungai tinggi. Selain berfungsi sebagai penanggulangan terhadap banjir, lanskap menjadi pemenuhan kebutuhan masyarakat sekitar terhadap RTH. Hasil penelitian ini menebutkan lanskap sempadan sungai di Petamburan Tanah Abang, sudah mempunyai ukuran yang besar dan mampu dikembangkan kea rah kebertahanan, namun sangat disayangkan dengan adanya tembok besar mengakibatkan susahnyakoneksi tanah terhadap sungai, hal yang dapat ditingkatkan adalah permainan kontur dari sempadan sungai tersebut. Keywords: adaptability, lanskap, resilience, sempadan sungai
The incorporation of environmental variables into policies, programs, plans and projects has been achieved through the use of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). However, the recognition by scholars of several limitations of the EIA has prompted the consideration of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) as the appropriate instrument for achieving this objective. Studies on SEA have concentrated in phases prior to the decision-making, despite the fact that, after the strategic decision has been made, it is also necessary to follow up on the environmental impacts or effects produced by the plan, as well as the possibility of adopting measures to correct them when they cause adverse or unforeseen effects. The way in which this following-up takes place will vary from country to country, based on the respective legal system. Therefore, this study aims to understand these forms of follow-up in urban land planning instruments, at the local level which are legally binding, comparing regulations in France, Portugal and Chile, through three research questions focused on determining whether this phase exists, whether it is possible to modify the local planning instrument in the event of adverse effects and whether there are offset measures for those effects. This study employs a mixed methodology based on the law and content analysis, enabling the identification of pertinent aspects for investigation, the compilation of material for this study, and the answering of research questions through the comparative analysis of the laws of the selected countries. Results show differences and similarities between the regulations of the countries analyzed, regarding the ability to reverse undesired, negative or different effects from those originally considered in urban plans. It will shed light on the possibility for other countries to take follow-up action in the face of undesirable scenarios in the application of planning instruments. The gaps found in our research may also exist in the legislation of other countries.
Against the background of debates on the origins and implications of the global economic crisis of 2008-2009, this essay presents a theoretical framework for analyzing processes of regulatory restructuring under contemporary capitalism. The analysis is framed around the concept of neoliberalization, which we view as a keyword for understanding the regulatory transformations of our time. We begin with a series of definitional clarifications that underpin our conceptualization of neoliberalization as a variegated, geographically uneven and path-dependent process. On this basis, we distinguish three dimensions of neoliberalization processes-regulatory experimentation; inter-jurisdictional policy transfer; and the formation of transnational rule-regimes. Such distinctions form the basis for a schematic periodization of how neoliberalization processes have been entrenched at various spatial scales and extended across the world economy since the 1980s. They also generate an analytical perspective from which to explore several scenarios for counter-neoliberalizing forms of regulatory restructuring.
This paper explores pressures on planning systems and practices in Europe for change in response to the economic development and environmental policy concerns arising as a result of European integration processes. It explores the tendencies within contemporary systems and practices, both in relation to policy ideas and in the way the instruments of systems are used. One objective is to identify whether there are any dominant directions in the evolutionary processes underway which might lead to a convergence among European planning systems. The review focuses on EC countries, but includes reference to the wider Europe. -from Authors
Neoliberalism--the doctrine that market exchange is an ethic in itself, capable of acting as a guide for all human action--has become dominant in both thought and practice throughout much of the world since 1970 or so. Writing for a wide audience, David Harvey, author of The New Imperialism and The Condition of Postmodernity, here tells the political-economic story of where neoliberalization came from and how it proliferated on the world stage. Through critical engagement with this history, he constructs a framework, not only for analyzing the political and economic dangers that now surround us, but also for assessing the prospects for the more socially just alternatives being advocated by many oppositional movements.
First published in 2003, this account of the anti-terrorist measures of London's financial district and the changes in urban security after 9/11 has been revised to take into account developments in counter-terrorist security and management, particularly after the terrorist attack in London on July 7th 2005. It makes a valuable addition to the current debate on terrorism and the new security challenges facing Western nations. Drawing on the post-9/11 academic and policy literature on how terrorism is reshaping the contemporary city, this book explores the changing nature of the terrorist threat against global cities in terms of tactics and targeting, and the challenge of developing city-wide managerial measures and strategies. Also addressed is the way in which London is leading the way in developing best practice in counter-terrorist design and management, and how such practice is being internationalized.
The paper asks whether recent debates in Britain concerning the compact city have fully explored the relevant issues, including crucial questions of the environmental benefits accruing to compaction, and its acceptability to local communities. Major doubts are raised about the economic, political and technical dimensions of compaction and particularly the unacceptability of higher densities to many urban residents.
This article briefly reviews the history and concept of ideology, largely as articulated by exponents of the Frankfurt School, and considers the impact that this has had on historical planning theory and practice, culminating in Habermasian derived communicative planning theory. It then considers the role of ideology in a post-Marxist world and argues for the value of Žižekian critique for understanding planning’s contemporary role of ideologically defining the use of neoliberal space.
This article describes the institutional collective action (ICA) framework and its application to the study of governance arrangements in metropolitan areas by focusing on the tools of regional governance for solving ICA problems. Regional governance mechanisms are classified by their focus on either collective or network relationships. The role of these within these mechanisms is analyzed and the transaction costs barriers to the emergence of regional governance institutions are identified. The concluding discussion identifies the limitations of self-organizing mechanisms and develops a research agenda to investigate the emergence, evolution, and performance of regional governance institutions.
The historical association between planning and rationality is unquestioned, but postmodernist critiques have raised doubts about the future of rational planning. This review defines and arrays different types of rationality to reveal that rationality is broader and more diverse than the instrumental rationality which has been associated with planning. An integrative framework associates complementary (contingent) planning paradigms with various forms of rationality, to suggest that the association between planning and rationality continues unabated. Discussion should shift from questioning the link between rationality and planning to asking what kinds of planning and rationality particular cases, situations, or contexts demand.
Improved competitiveness, as we all know, is the path to economic nirvana. Plainly, it is a sought after property of any economy: the term trips frequently off the lips of politicians and commentators on economic and business matters. As cities increasingly engage in competition with one another at different levels, the determinants of competitive advantage are coming under intense scrutiny. Many