How a local growth coalition collapsed: A case study of an anti-confiscation movement of private oil investors in a northwestern Chinese county

2018 ◽  
pp. 149-169
Author(s):  
Peng Lu
2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (8) ◽  
pp. 857-872 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Sissons ◽  
Katy Jones

This paper examines changes in local economic development policy which occurred between 2010 and 2015, with a focus on the relationship between industrial strategy and skills policy. Under the Coalition Government, Local Enterprise Partnerships were established and tasked with facilitating local growth, and to do so many identified a set of (potential) growth sectors for industrial strategy to support. These sectors tended to be drawn from a relatively narrow range of industries which therefore often excluded a large proportion of the local economy. An important focus of the support for growth sectors for many has been through an ambition to influence the local skills system. Skills policy more broadly has been an important dimension of devolution, and a number of City Deals have included elements of skills policy. Echoing previous national policy however, the focus of local concerns with skills under devolution has been framed largely with reference to skills gaps and shortages. While specific skills gaps and shortages can be identified, this paper questions whether this default position is reflected widely, and as such, if a narrow focus on skills supply is a sufficient approach. It is argued that to support local growth across a broad base, greater attention needs to be paid to stimulating employer demand for skills through better integrating industrial and innovation policy with skills policymaking across a wider section of the local economy. To support these arguments we present a case study of the Sheffield City Deal.


2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-49
Author(s):  
Owen Temby ◽  
Joshua MacFadyen

During the late 1920s and early 1930s, Montreal’s air was blackened by smoke from coal-burning homes, factories, and the locomotives and lake freighters connecting its growing economy to the rest of Canada. Lacking regulatory tools suited to the task of abating this nuisance, the municipal government passed the country’s first modern smoke bylaw, consisting of an objective emissions standard, a smoke control bureau, and requirements for the installation and utilization of technology to lessen emissions. In providing an account of the process through which Montreal’s smoke nuisance was addressed, this article describes the role of the city’s most influential local growth coalition, the Montreal Board of Trade, in introducing the issue on the city’s policy agenda, participating in the formulation of a policy response, and monitoring the implementation of the resulting bylaw. The Board of Trade sought a resolution to the problem because it damaged the city’s reputation and business climate. Consistent with other documented examples of smoke abatement in large urban areas, the response promoted by this elite growth coalition consisted largely of technology-based measures that managed the problem while eschewing recourse to measures that would dampen economic activity.


Author(s):  
D. Oxoli ◽  
M. A. Brovelli

Abstract. Green areas such as natural parks provide citizens with a number of health and leisure benefits, often accessible with a few minutes of travel from urban centres. Moreover, the natural heritage enclosed in most green areas plays a pivotal role also in the economic integrity of these territories by driving local growth thanks to the establishment of tourism activities. In this context, the monitoring of both visitors and dwellers fluxes, as well as destination preferences, is key to provide land managers with critical information to shape local management and promotion strategies. This paper presents a preliminary investigation on the use of citizen-generated geodata -provided by Facebook- to empower the generation of space- and time-resolved insights into people fluxes in natural parks through a comparison with neighbouring urbanized areas. The Insubria region, a historical-geographical area between Northern Italy and Southern Switzerland, is considered a case study. Facebook users’ population and movements data are analysed to identify trends and metrics on fluxes and support the estimation of the recreational and tourism value of natural parks. Results are presented as graphs and summary statistics and discussed according to their possible integration into territorial management and promotional practices.


2021 ◽  
pp. 0308518X2110333
Author(s):  
Nora Müller ◽  
Ivan Murray ◽  
Macià Blázquez-Salom

Since the beginning of the 2008 economic crisis, Majorca has experienced an increase in tourism, which has been made possible partly by the expansion of short-term renting. Research on short-term rentals is a growing field in critical urban and tourism geographies. This paper contributes to these fields by examining the structure of actors involved in the development of short-term rentals and their power relations. Our case study focuses on the municipality of Pollença (Majorca, Spain). Pollença was chosen due to its status as one of the most noteworthy airbnbificated places in Europe and because of the number of holiday rentals in the municipality's rural areas. While a great deal of research has focused on rent gaps and gentrification caused by short-term rentals in cities, the rentier coalition associated with short-term rentals has been comparatively overlooked. We address who the rentiers of short-term rentals are, the power relations that lie behind short-term rentals, and how these rentiers form part of a locally based coalition that has the ability to adapt planning regulations to suit their own interests. We used mixed methods, including quantitative spatial analysis and qualitative analysis in the form of interviews with those who benefit locally from short-term rentals. Our qualitative approach further included in-depth fieldwork and activist research. We conclude that a powerful rentier growth coalition has corrupted democracy because the regulatory framework has been adjusted to satisfy their interests and the conversion of properties into holiday rentals has been done either illegally or on the verge of legality without strong legal consequences.


Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 875
Author(s):  
Luis Alfonso Escudero Gómez

Neoliberal urbanism land planning has led to the development of public–private coalitions associating common interest with lucrative private enterprise projects. In Castilla–La Mancha (Spain), this regional growth coalition was backed by a spatial planning instrument, known as Projects of Special Interest (PSI). The aim of this article is to analyse the PSI as a paradigmatic example, to study its key points and examine its current dimensions. This case study employs a review of the literature, desk research, content analysis, interviews and observation. The PSI scheme has permitted private initiatives and developments, and privately used public constructions of many different types, reducing timeframes through possible recourse to expropriation, using basic measures of land reclassification, undervaluing the ecosystems involved and even facilitating construction in areas that had previously been declared protected, or where resources such as water are not guaranteed. Despite the failure of many of these projects and the expected economic growth not being realised, the instrument has been revived, as it is directly linked to multinational enterprises investing in the region.


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