1st Edition
Governance and City Regions Policy and Planning in Europe
City-regions are areas where the daily journeys for work, shopping and leisure frequently cross administrative boundaries. They are seen as engines of the national economy, but are also facing congestion and disparities. Thus, all over the world, governments attempt to increase problem-solving capacities in city-regions by institutional reform and a shift of functions.
This book analyses the recent reforms and changes in the governance of city-regions in France, Germany and Italy. It covers themes such as the impact of austerity measures, territorial development, planning and state modernisation. The authors provide a systematic cross-country perspective on two levels, between six city-regions and between the national policy frameworks in these three countries. They use a solid comparative framework, which refers to the four dimensions functions, institutions and governance, ideas and space. They describe the course of the reforms, the motivations and the results, and consequently, they question the widespread metropolitan fever or resurgence of city-regions and provide a better understanding of recent changes in city-regional governance in Europe.
The primary readership will be researchers and master students in planning, urban studies, urban geography, political science and governance studies, especially those interested in metropolitan regions and / or decentralisation. Due to the uniqueness of the work, the book will be of particular interest to scholars working on the comparative European dimension of territorial governance and planning.
The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.
List of figures
List of tables
Acknowledgements
List of abbreviations
About the authors
1. Introduction: City-regions in Europe K. Zimmermann and P. Feiertag
- The rise of territorial reforms in Europe 's city-regions
- Research question and research design
- Comparing city-regions and local government systems
- Short view on cases
- Methods
2. France P. Feiertag
2.1 City-regions and their governance in France
2.2 Multi-scaled governance of Nantes: metropole and bipolar metropolitan region
2.3 Lyon: powerful institution with a (too) small perimeter
2.4 Conclusion: recent changes of city-regional governance in France
3. Italy K. Zimmermann
3.1. Metropolitan policies and institutional reforms in Italy
3.2 The Città Metropolitana di Bologna: frontrunner for territorial cooperation in Italy?
3.3 The Città Metropolitana di Firenze: mismatch of socio-economic regionalism, territory and jurisdiction
3.4. Conclusion: recent changes of city-regional governance in Italy
4. Germany P. Feiertag and K. Zimmermann
4.1 Metropolitan governance in Germany
4.2 Frankfurt/Rhine-Main: still a fragmented territory?
4.3 Stuttgart: well established showcase example of metro governance?
4.4 Interpretation and conclusion: steady relevance of city-regions
5. Cross-country comparison P. Feiertag and K. Zimmermann
5.1 Institutions
5.2 Functions
5.3 Ideas
5.4 Spatial relationships
6. Conclusion K. Zimmermann and P. Feiertag
6.1 The three countries in a European context
6.2 City-regions and the consolidation state: what drives reforms and what are the results in terms of institutions, spatial relationships and functions?
Annex
Index
Biography
Karsten Zimmermann is Professor for European Planning Cultures at the Faculty of Spatial Planning, Dortmund Technical University, Germany.
Patricia Feiertag is a postdoctoral researcher at the Faculty of Spatial Planning, Dortmund Technical University, Germany.
