Kristof Van Assche | University of Alberta (original) (raw)
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Papers by Kristof Van Assche
We use the case of Khorezm region and the southern districts of Karakalpakstan (Beruniy, Ellikkal... more We use the case of Khorezm region and the southern districts of Karakalpakstan (Beruniy, Ellikkala, and Turtkul) in Uzbekistan as an example representing the symbiotic bimodal agricultural system in irrigated areas of the post-Soviet Central Asia. The predominant crops in the study area are cotton and wheat, as well as other food crops such as rice and vegetables. Agriculture in Uzbekistan has a recent history of collective farming based on intensive input use, employment of trained farm managers, and engineers operating within a specially designed infrastructure of irrigation canals and roads. Agricultural reforms over the last years created two main actors – commercial farms and rural households, which are interdependent through agricultural contracts. The objective of our study is to investigate the present interrelationship via agricultural contracts between commercial farms and semi-subsistence smallholders and its effect on rural livelihoods.
In this article, we argue that Niklas Luhmann has a lot to offer present-day planning theory. Unt... more In this article, we argue that Niklas Luhmann has a lot to offer present-day planning theory. Until now, planning theory has been engaged with Luhmann's work only minimally. Convinced of its potential, we want to show how Luhmann's systems theory offers fresh insight into both limits and possibilities of planning in contemporary society. We argue that Luhmann's understanding of society as functionally differentiated into self-referentially closed subsystems (politics, economy, law, science, etc.) creates space for a complex and subtle analysis of planning practice. In particular, we look at the role of planning within an autopoietic account of society, and its ability to steer other social subsystems. Planning is seen as the form of steering aiming to coordinate processes of spatial organization, therefore an activity dealing with steering problems. We illustrate key concepts of the systems theory in brief analyses of planning situations and interpret these situations using the systems theoretical framework. The analyses center around the questions of planning's steering capacity and the role of the planner, thus creating linkages with mainstream discussions in planning theory.
>> In this contribution we explore the pathways of the Dutch planning system and its potential to... more >> In this contribution we explore the pathways of the Dutch planning system and its potential to adapt to a continuously changing society. It presents a possible answer to the question that frames this book: ‘How can researchers and practitioners incorporate new insights about complexity and non-linearity into their work and develop new strategies and tools that can be used to engage planning in the processes of coevolution’. We will argue that answering these questions demand a thorough understanding of the governance structures and the social processes of adaptation and coevolution in which planning is embedded. It requires insight in how planners and planning systems can perform roles within a world that is unpredictable, and in which interventions do not necessarily have the anticipated effects.
We present an analytical framework for analyzing the functions of failure and success ascriptions... more We present an analytical framework for analyzing the functions of failure and success ascriptions in public administration. The framework incorporates concepts and insights from Michel Foucault, Mieke Bal, and other discourse theorists, enriched with notions derived from Niklas Luhmann's theory of social systems. The Dutch system of spatial planning serves as a context to investigate the rhetorical functions, performance, discursive configurations, and consequences of success and failure. Two cases nested in the Dutch context are used to elaborate on the performance and performativity of success and failure. We discuss the performance of success and failure in terms of productive competition between discourses and organizations, and emphasize the self-reinforcing nature of success and failure ascriptions in the creation of developmental pathways of the governance system.
In this paper, we revisit the utility of the concepts of path dependence and interdependence for ... more In this paper, we revisit the utility of the concepts of path dependence and interdependence for the analysis of participatory environmental governance. We investigate the evolution of environmental governance in the Romanian Danube Delta, and, starting from an observation of problematic citizen participation, demonstrate how specific patterns of path and interdependence shaped both the present situation and the reform options. For the Delta, it is argued that direct citizen participation, without working with other institutions, would not solve the problems observed, but would rather reinforce unwanted informal institutions. Theoretically, we utilise a combination of path dependence theory and social systems theory, allowing a grasp of both rigidity and flexibility in the evolution of governance systems. Empirically, expert and lay interviews, long-term observation and analysis of policy documents underpin our analysis.
Internationales Asienforum, 2012
We investigate the transformation of the agricultural service organizations in the post-Soviet pe... more We investigate the transformation of the agricultural service organizations in the post-Soviet period of transition. By means of an in-depth study of three types of agricultural service organizations in Uzbekistan’s Khorezm province, and a careful mapping of their regional and national environments, we demonstrate how the complex succession of collective farms, in combination with a series of inconsistent policies, created a situation in which organizations are forced to transform themselves and their methods of mobilizing resources in order to adapt to the new environment. In this process, reliance on hierarchies, family, clan, and administrative boundaries can help the organization to sustain itself, but in the long run, leaves the organization vulnerable. In such an environment it is extremely difficult for organizations to introduce the economic transparency and western-style accounting that would enable them to practice western-style capitalism.
Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 2013
Planning Perspectives, 2012
Remaking Metropolis: Global Challenges of the Urban Landscape, Nov 12, 2012
Tbilisi is the capital of Georgia, a country in the Caucasus that gained independence in 1991. Be... more Tbilisi is the capital of Georgia, a country in the Caucasus that gained independence in 1991. Before that time, it was part of the Soviet Union, and as such was subjected to Soviet urbanization policies. In the USSR, urban development efforts, as well as urban design efforts, were focused on the capital cities of the republics (French and Hamilton, 1979; Hough and Fainsod, 1979). Also within the republics, the drive for urbanization was supported, in the frame of a general ideology of progress, and under the influence of ...
Planning Practice and Research, 2010
Abstract In this paper, we analyze the evolution of the spatial planning system in the Republic o... more Abstract In this paper, we analyze the evolution of the spatial planning system in the Republic of Georgia, from late Soviet times to the present day, with a focus on its capital, Tbilisi. Through a reconstruction of the changing roles of various professional groups and governmental actors, we try to delineate the possibilities for citizen participation at different points in time. By examining the paths of historical dependence in this evolution, we outline the transformation options that are most likely to succeed now. This is relevant, since the ...
European Planning Studies, 2012
In this paper, we investigate the influence of speedy reform in a transitional country on the rei... more In this paper, we investigate the influence of speedy reform in a transitional country on the reinvention of spatial planning. For the country of Georgia, we briefly outline the evolution of the planning system since communism, and then analyse through two case studies how the specific transitional pathway of Georgia manifests itself in the reorganization of spatial governance in city (Tbilisi) and natural areas (Borjomi). It is argued that role formation and transformation play a crucial role in such processes, roles being catalysts and modifiers of ...
Futures, 2014
ABSTRACT We develop an analytical framework that allows to grasp the evolving patterns of rules a... more ABSTRACT We develop an analytical framework that allows to grasp the evolving patterns of rules and roles in rural transitions, and the concomitant changes in the functions of expertise. Institutional change is understood as governed by a combination of path dependence, interdependence and goal dependence. We illustrate and develop the framework by means of an in-depth analysis of rural transition in the Khorezm province, Uzbekistan. In Khorezm, the Soviet actors were tightly coupled in order to contribute to shared goals - first of all cotton and grain production. After independence, dissolution of collective farms, a diminished interest in planning and policy coordination, and locally different styles of political steering, led to a much less coordinated rural governance, to a scattering of expertise and to opacity regarding its supply and demand. We reflect on the implications of our findings for the analysis of rural transitions more broadly, and especially the impact of policies and plans aiming at a rural transition in a specific direction.
We use the case of Khorezm region and the southern districts of Karakalpakstan (Beruniy, Ellikkal... more We use the case of Khorezm region and the southern districts of Karakalpakstan (Beruniy, Ellikkala, and Turtkul) in Uzbekistan as an example representing the symbiotic bimodal agricultural system in irrigated areas of the post-Soviet Central Asia. The predominant crops in the study area are cotton and wheat, as well as other food crops such as rice and vegetables. Agriculture in Uzbekistan has a recent history of collective farming based on intensive input use, employment of trained farm managers, and engineers operating within a specially designed infrastructure of irrigation canals and roads. Agricultural reforms over the last years created two main actors – commercial farms and rural households, which are interdependent through agricultural contracts. The objective of our study is to investigate the present interrelationship via agricultural contracts between commercial farms and semi-subsistence smallholders and its effect on rural livelihoods.
In this article, we argue that Niklas Luhmann has a lot to offer present-day planning theory. Unt... more In this article, we argue that Niklas Luhmann has a lot to offer present-day planning theory. Until now, planning theory has been engaged with Luhmann's work only minimally. Convinced of its potential, we want to show how Luhmann's systems theory offers fresh insight into both limits and possibilities of planning in contemporary society. We argue that Luhmann's understanding of society as functionally differentiated into self-referentially closed subsystems (politics, economy, law, science, etc.) creates space for a complex and subtle analysis of planning practice. In particular, we look at the role of planning within an autopoietic account of society, and its ability to steer other social subsystems. Planning is seen as the form of steering aiming to coordinate processes of spatial organization, therefore an activity dealing with steering problems. We illustrate key concepts of the systems theory in brief analyses of planning situations and interpret these situations using the systems theoretical framework. The analyses center around the questions of planning's steering capacity and the role of the planner, thus creating linkages with mainstream discussions in planning theory.
>> In this contribution we explore the pathways of the Dutch planning system and its potential to... more >> In this contribution we explore the pathways of the Dutch planning system and its potential to adapt to a continuously changing society. It presents a possible answer to the question that frames this book: ‘How can researchers and practitioners incorporate new insights about complexity and non-linearity into their work and develop new strategies and tools that can be used to engage planning in the processes of coevolution’. We will argue that answering these questions demand a thorough understanding of the governance structures and the social processes of adaptation and coevolution in which planning is embedded. It requires insight in how planners and planning systems can perform roles within a world that is unpredictable, and in which interventions do not necessarily have the anticipated effects.
We present an analytical framework for analyzing the functions of failure and success ascriptions... more We present an analytical framework for analyzing the functions of failure and success ascriptions in public administration. The framework incorporates concepts and insights from Michel Foucault, Mieke Bal, and other discourse theorists, enriched with notions derived from Niklas Luhmann's theory of social systems. The Dutch system of spatial planning serves as a context to investigate the rhetorical functions, performance, discursive configurations, and consequences of success and failure. Two cases nested in the Dutch context are used to elaborate on the performance and performativity of success and failure. We discuss the performance of success and failure in terms of productive competition between discourses and organizations, and emphasize the self-reinforcing nature of success and failure ascriptions in the creation of developmental pathways of the governance system.
In this paper, we revisit the utility of the concepts of path dependence and interdependence for ... more In this paper, we revisit the utility of the concepts of path dependence and interdependence for the analysis of participatory environmental governance. We investigate the evolution of environmental governance in the Romanian Danube Delta, and, starting from an observation of problematic citizen participation, demonstrate how specific patterns of path and interdependence shaped both the present situation and the reform options. For the Delta, it is argued that direct citizen participation, without working with other institutions, would not solve the problems observed, but would rather reinforce unwanted informal institutions. Theoretically, we utilise a combination of path dependence theory and social systems theory, allowing a grasp of both rigidity and flexibility in the evolution of governance systems. Empirically, expert and lay interviews, long-term observation and analysis of policy documents underpin our analysis.
Internationales Asienforum, 2012
We investigate the transformation of the agricultural service organizations in the post-Soviet pe... more We investigate the transformation of the agricultural service organizations in the post-Soviet period of transition. By means of an in-depth study of three types of agricultural service organizations in Uzbekistan’s Khorezm province, and a careful mapping of their regional and national environments, we demonstrate how the complex succession of collective farms, in combination with a series of inconsistent policies, created a situation in which organizations are forced to transform themselves and their methods of mobilizing resources in order to adapt to the new environment. In this process, reliance on hierarchies, family, clan, and administrative boundaries can help the organization to sustain itself, but in the long run, leaves the organization vulnerable. In such an environment it is extremely difficult for organizations to introduce the economic transparency and western-style accounting that would enable them to practice western-style capitalism.
Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 2013
Planning Perspectives, 2012
Remaking Metropolis: Global Challenges of the Urban Landscape, Nov 12, 2012
Tbilisi is the capital of Georgia, a country in the Caucasus that gained independence in 1991. Be... more Tbilisi is the capital of Georgia, a country in the Caucasus that gained independence in 1991. Before that time, it was part of the Soviet Union, and as such was subjected to Soviet urbanization policies. In the USSR, urban development efforts, as well as urban design efforts, were focused on the capital cities of the republics (French and Hamilton, 1979; Hough and Fainsod, 1979). Also within the republics, the drive for urbanization was supported, in the frame of a general ideology of progress, and under the influence of ...
Planning Practice and Research, 2010
Abstract In this paper, we analyze the evolution of the spatial planning system in the Republic o... more Abstract In this paper, we analyze the evolution of the spatial planning system in the Republic of Georgia, from late Soviet times to the present day, with a focus on its capital, Tbilisi. Through a reconstruction of the changing roles of various professional groups and governmental actors, we try to delineate the possibilities for citizen participation at different points in time. By examining the paths of historical dependence in this evolution, we outline the transformation options that are most likely to succeed now. This is relevant, since the ...
European Planning Studies, 2012
In this paper, we investigate the influence of speedy reform in a transitional country on the rei... more In this paper, we investigate the influence of speedy reform in a transitional country on the reinvention of spatial planning. For the country of Georgia, we briefly outline the evolution of the planning system since communism, and then analyse through two case studies how the specific transitional pathway of Georgia manifests itself in the reorganization of spatial governance in city (Tbilisi) and natural areas (Borjomi). It is argued that role formation and transformation play a crucial role in such processes, roles being catalysts and modifiers of ...
Futures, 2014
ABSTRACT We develop an analytical framework that allows to grasp the evolving patterns of rules a... more ABSTRACT We develop an analytical framework that allows to grasp the evolving patterns of rules and roles in rural transitions, and the concomitant changes in the functions of expertise. Institutional change is understood as governed by a combination of path dependence, interdependence and goal dependence. We illustrate and develop the framework by means of an in-depth analysis of rural transition in the Khorezm province, Uzbekistan. In Khorezm, the Soviet actors were tightly coupled in order to contribute to shared goals - first of all cotton and grain production. After independence, dissolution of collective farms, a diminished interest in planning and policy coordination, and locally different styles of political steering, led to a much less coordinated rural governance, to a scattering of expertise and to opacity regarding its supply and demand. We reflect on the implications of our findings for the analysis of rural transitions more broadly, and especially the impact of policies and plans aiming at a rural transition in a specific direction.
In this contribution we explore the pathways of the Dutch planning system and its potential to ad... more In this contribution we explore the pathways of the Dutch planning system and its potential to adapt to a continuously changing society. It presents a possible answer to the question that frames this book: ‘How can researchers and practitioners incorporate new insights about complexity and non-linearity into their work and develop new strategies and tools that can be used to engage planning in the processes of coevolution’. We will argue that answering these questions demand a thorough understanding of the governance structures and the social processes of adaptation and coevolution in which planning is embedded. It requires insight in how planners and planning systems can perform roles within a world that is unpredictable, and in which interventions do not necessarily have the anticipated effects
Smart growth is a comprehensive version of spatial planning that can guide sustainable developmen... more Smart growth is a comprehensive version of spatial planning that can guide sustainable development and tackle negative social and environmental consequences of urbanization. In this paper we explore how an integration of spatial planning and place branding strategies can further the concept of smart growth and improve its chance at implementation. A review of the parallel evolutions of place branding and smart growth shows their shared interest in comprehensive visions, sensitivity for narratives of place and self, and the proposed embedding in participatory governance. The concept of layered and segmentary commodification offers a novel perspective on value creation in smart growth and helps to develop new forms of smart growth, that combine and integrate elements of spatial planning and place branding.
In this book, we present a perspective on communities experiencing ups and downs which can help t... more In this book, we present a perspective on communities experiencing ups and downs which can help them to mitigate the cycles. We propose a two part approach: a self- analysis based on a deep understanding of governance paths, and secondly community strategizing, where the quality of strategy hinges on the quality of the self- analysis. Learning is crucial, and will have to be context- dependent; we discuss learning from the community's past, from other places, from theory.