Austerity urbanism: Rescaling and collaborative governance policies in Athens

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ioannis Chorianopoulos ◽  
Naya Tselepi
Keyword(s):  
Urban Politics ◽  
Social Deprivation ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Third Sector ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
Collaborative Governance ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Partnership Approach ◽  
The City ◽  
Opening Up

This paper explores the urban politics of austerity in Greece, paying particular attention to ‘local collaboration’. It revisits the key austerity periods noted in the country since accession to the European Union (1981), and marks their impact in redefining central–local relations, amidst a broader rescaling endeavour. A direct link is identified between austerity-oriented pre-occupations and the introduction of territorial regulatory experimentations that rest heavily on local-level collaboration and competitiveness. The overall record of partnerships, however, has been appraised, up until recently, as underdeveloped. From this spectrum, we look at the latest re-organization of state spatial contour (2010). The influence of this rescaling attempt on local relational attributes is explored in Athens, in light of the emergent re-shuffling in the scalar balance of power rendering austerity pre-occupations a firm trait of the emerging regulatory arrangement. Examination focuses on key social policy programmes launched recently by the City in an attempt to ameliorate extreme poverty and social despair. In Athens, it is argued, a financially and regulatorily deprivileged local authority is opening up to the influence of corporate and third sector organizations. It adopts a partnership approach that is best understood as a form of ‘elite pluralism’, undermining local political agency and falling short in addressing social deprivation.

scholarly journals From Collaborative to Hegemonic Water Resource Governance through Dualism and Jeong: Lessons Learned from the Daegu-Gumi Water Intake Source Conflict in Korea

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 4405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ki Woong Cho ◽  
Kyujin Jung
Keyword(s):  
Water Pollution ◽  
Social Capital ◽  
Water Intake ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Collaborative Governance ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
South Korean ◽  
Resource Governance ◽  
Governance Process ◽  
The City

Recently, water supplies have been insufficient in some areas. In South Korea, using dualism and Jeongish citizenship, we will demonstrate why collaborative governance of the Daegu–Gumi Water Commission has not worked and how it has been mismanaged by its stakeholders. We discuss the conflict between the Daegu Metropolitan City (hereafter referred to as City of Daegu) and the City of Gumi regarding the relocation of the water intake source. In response to many water pollution accidents, the City of Daegu decided to move the water intake source to near the City of Gumi. Due to a conflict between the cities on this issue, the city established a collaborative governance entity, the Daegu–Gumi Water Commission. However, this form of governance was not successful, and eventually, the Daegu–Gumi Water Commission moved from collaborative governance to hegemonic governance. This was due to dualism and Jeongish citizenship with weak membership, participation, experience, and social capital on the local level as South Korean civil societies tend to have insufficient power and experience to fulfill their intentions or negotiate successfully. The Daegu–Gumi Water Commission failed to reach a consensus and to realize a truly collaborative governance process.

scholarly journals Formation of Environmental Identity in Germany and Italy: Actors and Best Practices

2021 ◽  
Vol 106 (6) ◽  
pp. 201-210
Author(s):  
Tatyana Khaynatskaya ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Identity Formation ◽  
Regional Development ◽  
Local Level ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Environmental Identity ◽  
Ecological Identity ◽  
Level Of Economic Development ◽  
The City ◽  
Generation Gaps ◽  
Depth Interviews

One of the important components of environmental policy in recent years is the formation of environmental identity. This article analyzes the German and Italian practices of ecological identity formation, identifies the actors of such a policy, and evaluates the prospects of ecological identity formation in the European Union. Based on case studies and in-depth interviews, the author describes the experience of implementing the Zero Waste concept in the Italian municipality of Capannori and the coastal German city of Kiel. The conclusion that the success of measures to form an environmental identity is influenced by the nature of political culture, the level of economic development, regional development features, but also by targeted environmental education initiatives and the success of grassroots practices in the environmental sphere, is substantiated. As the research has shown, in promoting eco-practices at the local level in Italy the leadership factor plays a large role, including in the framework of protest eco-activism, in Germany ‒ the self-organization of local communities in cooperation with the city authorities. The politicization of environmental identity contributes to the consolidation of citizens around environmental priorities. However, factors such as generation gaps and uneven regional development, as well as the rise of populism, can contribute to deepening divisions and confrontations around the environmental agenda.

Contesting the City

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian D. Liddy
Keyword(s):  
Urban Politics ◽  
Low Countries ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Urban Citizenship ◽  
Town Government ◽  
Medieval Europe ◽  
Political Narrative ◽  
Classical Models ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The City

The political narrative of late medieval English towns is often reduced to the story of the gradual intensification of oligarchy, in which power was exercised and projected by an ever smaller ruling group over an increasingly subservient urban population. This book takes its inspiration not from English historiography, but from a more dynamic continental scholarship on towns in the southern Low Countries, Germany, and France. Its premise is that scholarly debate about urban oligarchy has obscured contemporary debate about urban citizenship. It identifies from the records of English towns a tradition of urban citizenship, which did not draw upon the intellectual legacy of classical models of the ‘citizen’. This was a vernacular citizenship, which was not peculiar to England, but which was present elsewhere in late medieval Europe. It was a citizenship that was defined and created through action. There were multiple, and divergent, ideas about citizenship, which encouraged townspeople to make demands, to assert rights, and to resist authority. This book exploits the rich archival sources of the five major towns in England—Bristol, Coventry, London, Norwich, and York—in order to present a new picture of town government and urban politics over three centuries. The power of urban governors was much more precarious than historians have imagined. Urban oligarchy could never prevail—whether ideologically or in practice—when there was never a single, fixed meaning of the citizen.

Narratives of Queer Migration

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Gray ◽  
Mike Baynham
Keyword(s):  
The European Union ◽  
Spatial Mobility ◽  
Class Politics ◽  
Depth Migration ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Global North ◽  
Economic Necessity ◽  
The Village ◽  
The City

This chapter considers the phenomenon of queer migration from a linguistic perspective, paying particular attention to the constitutive role of spatial mobility in narrative and its role in the construction of queer migrant identities. The chapter begins by looking at the way in which queer migration has been discussed in the literature and then moves on to address three different types of queer migration in greater depth: migration within national borders from the village/countryside to the city; migration between cities in member states within the context of the European Union; and finally, asylum-seeking within the context of migration from the Global South to the Global North. The chapter concludes by suggesting that queer migration is a complex phenomenon in which the intersection of sexuality, gender identity, desire, affect, abjection, economic necessity, class, politics, and fear for one’s life combine in ways that are unique in the lives of individual migrants.

scholarly journals Sharing Lisboa: A Digital Social Market to Promote Sustainable and Energy Efficient Behaviours

Climate ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 34
Author(s):  
Catarina C. Rolim ◽  
Patrícia Baptista
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
City Planning ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Urban Mobility ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
New City ◽  
Social Market ◽  
The City ◽  
Academic Year ◽  
Change Mitigation

Several solutions and city planning policies have emerged to promote climate change and sustainable cities. The Sharing Cities program has the ambition of contributing to climate change mitigation by improving urban mobility, energy efficiency in buildings and reducing carbon emissions by successfully engaging citizens and fostering local-level innovation. A Digital Social Market (DSM), named Sharing Lisboa, was developed in Lisbon, Portugal, supported by an application (APP), enabling the exchange of goods and services bringing citizens together to support a common cause: three schools competing during one academic year (2018/2019) to win a final prize with the engagement of school community and surrounding community. Sharing Lisboa aimed to promote behaviour change and the adoption of energy-saving behaviours such as cycling and walking with the support of local businesses. Participants earned points that reverted to the cause (school) they supported. A total of 1260 users was registered in the APP, collecting more than 850,000 points through approximately 17,000 transactions. This paper explores how the DSM has the potential to become a new city service promoting its sustainable development. Furthermore, it is crucial for this concept to reach economic viability through a business model that is both profitable and useful for the city, businesses and citizens, since investment will be required for infrastructure and management of such a market.

‘Seeing like a city’, or ‘seeing like a state’ in a city? Paris, capital of femonationalism

2021 ◽  
pp. 239965442110025
Author(s):  
Claire Hancock
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Urban Politics ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Common Factor ◽  
Local Democracy ◽  
Municipal Policy ◽  
City Life ◽  
Women In Decision Making ◽  
The City

This paper questions the ‘seeing like a city’ vs. ‘seeing like a state’ opposition through a detailed discussion of urban politics in the city of Paris, France, a prime example of the ways in which the national remains a driving dimension of city life. This claim is examined by a consideration of the shortcomings of Paris’s recent and timid commitment local democracy, lacking recognition of the diversity of its citizens, and the ways in which the inclusion of more women in decision-making arenas has failed to advance the ‘feminization of politics’. A common factor in these defining features of the Hidalgo administration seems to be the prevalence of ‘femonationalism’ and its influence over municipal policy-making.

scholarly journals A Multi-scale Approach to Interculturalism: From Globalised Politics to Localised Policy and Practice

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricard Zapata-Barrero ◽  
Fethi Mansouri
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Local Level ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
United Nations Educational ◽  
Multi Scale ◽  
Cultural Organization ◽  
Global Agenda

AbstractInterculturalism (IC) is presently discussed as a foundational basis for local public policy aimed at managing migration-related diversity within ethno-culturally plural societies, especially at the local level. Despite its increased saliency over the last decade, IC is neither theoretically new nor was it always intended for mere application in strictly city contexts of diversity. Rather, it has a global origin as a political basis for international relations and negotiations. In discussing these origins, this article has two main interrelated aims. Firstly, it provides an overview of the multi-scale approach of IC, with the purpose of disentangling analytically the different empirical bases where it can frame the diversity agenda. Secondly, it explores whether a lack of appreciation and awareness of this multi-scale orientation may affect IC’s capacity to address the challenges of diversity governance at the local level. Methodologically, the article will undertake a textual analysis of a select number of leading documents framing its practice within the broader policy literature produced by the four main institutions that have advocated the intercultural approach within a global agenda. These are the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and United Nations University, on one hand, and the European Union and the Council of Europe on the other. The main findings show us the importance of a multi-scale thinking in diversity and IC studies, to avoid contributing to greater confusion in its applications.

scholarly journals Coopetitive Nature of Energy Communities—The Energy Transition Context

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 931
Author(s):  
Karolina Mucha-Kuś ◽  
Maciej Sołtysik ◽  
Krzysztof Zamasz ◽  
Katarzyna Szczepańska-Woszczyna
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Building Energy ◽  
Energy Sector ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Energy Transformation ◽  
Pilot Projects ◽  
Economic Dimension ◽  
Self Sufficiency

The decentralization of the large-scale energy sector, its replacement with pro-ecological, dispersed production sources and building a citizen dimension of the energy sector are the directional objectives of the energy transformation in the European Union. Building energy self-sufficiency at a local level is possible, based on the so-called Energy Communities, which include energy clusters and energy cooperatives. Several dozen pilot projects for energy clusters have been implemented in Poland, while energy cooperatives, despite being legally sanctioned and potentially a simpler formula of operation, have not functioned in practice. This article presents the coopetitive nature of Energy Communities. The authors analysed the principles and benefits of creating Energy Communities from a regulatory and practical side. An important element of the analysis is to indicate the managerial, coopetitive nature of the strategies implemented within the Energy Communities. Their members, while operating in a competitive environment, simultaneously cooperate to achieve common benefits. On the basis of the actual data of recipients and producers, the results of simulations of benefits in the economic dimension will be presented, proving the thesis of the legitimacy of creating coopetitive structures of Energy Communities.

scholarly journals Multi-level Governance in Refugee Housing and Integration Policy: a Model of Best Practice in Leverkusen

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eli Auslender
Keyword(s):  
Best Practice ◽  
Collaborative Governance ◽  
Governance Structure ◽  
Integration Policy ◽  
German Government ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
Integration Management ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The City

AbstractThis paper will explore a model of best practice, the Leverkusen Model, as well as its impact on both the city and the refugees it serves by utilising key stakeholder interviews, civil servants, non-profits, and Syrian refugees living in Leverkusen. The core argument to be presented here is that the dynamic fluidity of the Leverkusen Model, where three bodies (government, Caritas, and the Refugee Council) collaborate to manage the governance responsibilities, allows for more expedited refugee integration into society. This paper utilises an analytical model of multi-level governance to demonstrate its functional processes and show why it can be considered a model of best practice. Started in 2002, the Leverkusen Model of refugee housing has not only saved the city thousands of euros per year in costs associated with refugee housing, but has aided in the cultivation of a very direct, fluid connection between government, civil society, and the refugees themselves. Leverkusen employs a different and novel governance structure of housing for refugees: with direct consultations with Caritas, the largest non-profit in Germany, as well as others, refugees who arrive in Leverkusen are allowed to search for private, decentralised housing from the moment they arrive, regardless of protection status granted by the German government. This paper fills a gap in the existing literature by addressing the adaptation of multi-level governance and collaborative governance in local refugee housing and integration management.

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