Small and medium-sized town in Europe: Conceptual, methodological and policy issues (original) (raw)

SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED TOWNS IN EUROPE: CONCEPTUAL, METHODOLOGICAL AND POLICY ISSUES

Despite that small and medium-sized towns (SMSTs) have been, and continue to be, a central part of the history of Europe, these places have largely been neglected by urban research. The ESPON TOWN project, on which this Special Issue builds, sought to redress this neglect performing a comparative analysis of their position and role across Europe. In this introductory paper we discuss some of the theoretical and methodological challenges when it came to identifying, studying and analysing SMSTs and the theoretical framework developed to inform our understanding of SMSTs. In particular, three themes are discussed. The first one is about the ontological problem of defining a town. Administrative, morphological and functional perspectives are considered. The second one reflects on a wide array of interpretative approaches about the relationship between towns and their regional context. The third one is about the thematic and multi-scalar perspectives that can characterise the policy approach to towns.

IDENTIFYING AND CLASSIFYING SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED TOWNS IN EUROPE

Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie, 2016

This paper provides a first attempt at the construction of a unified, homogeneous inventory of different classes of urban settlements in the European space, building on the approach of international institutions such as OECD and the EU in relation to larger urban areas and extending it to the specific challenge presented by smaller settlements. Its objective is twofold. The first is to address the fundamental empirical problem that was central to the development of the ESPON 2013 project 'Small and Medium sized Towns in their Functional Territorial Context' (TOWN), that is the proper geographic identification of different classes of urban settlements. The second is to introduce one basic classification of urban settlements, and two more refined typologies of small and medium sized towns (SMST). These typologies are used to provide a first impression of territorial structures of urbanisation throughout Europe, further elaborated in functional terms in the TOWN project.

Spatial trends of towns in Europe: the performance of regions with low degree of urbanisation

The paper contributes to the understanding of socio-spatial trends and urban systems in Europe, with a specific focus on smaller settlements. Firstly, a morphological delimitation of urban settlements as geographical base is used to identify the different settlement structures that characterise regions across Europe. Secondly, an analysis of population and GDP performances of NUTS3 regions for the 29 countries of the European space (growth rates in 2001-2011) provides evidence of the variety of territorial phenomena that characterise smaller-settlement regions across Europe. Finally, the paper highlights the diversity and complexity of urbanisation structures in Europe and how general trends observed at larger scale are articulated locally according to prevailing structures of urbanisation. It shows the character of 'embeddedness' of smaller settlements within urban systems and territorial structures and how the socioeconomic performances of smaller-settlement regions are defined by a combination of macro trends, national contextualisation, local dynamics and regional path dependency.

Medium. The Mid Size City as a European Urban Condition and Strategy (OASE #89)

OASE 89 is dedicated to the image of the mid-size city, to the way this is interpreted, and how it is produced by urban designers and architects. The urbanism discourse has long focused on phenomena such as the generic city. OASE 89, on the other hand, also devotes attention to the typically European condition characterized by its vast number of small and mid-size cities. In contrast with the (Asian) generic city, typified by its massive scale and loss of (historical) identity and public domain, there is the European mid-size city: a city with historical and geographical identity. This makes the model of this European generic city a resilient model, one with staying power in light of today’s urban challenges.

If Urban Regions are the Answer, What is the Question? Thoughts on the European Experience

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN AND REGIONAL RESEARCH 39(2) · MARCH 2015

This essay contributes to the current debate in the field of critical urban and regional studies on the meanings of the ‘regional’ and the ‘urban’. From a political science perspective, we focus on the European case. Firstly, we argue that the conception of the regional scale is not the same in various languages and traditions. Regions in Europe carry meanings and connotations that are not always easy to translate without losing their specific histories. Secondly, our analysis of contemporary debates on the ‘regional’ in the field of urban studies reveals that both practitioners and academics consider the regional scale mainly as a functional space, as the space for economic competitiveness. However, urban regions are also to be regarded as spaces for social and political mobilization. I argue that the political dimension of the ‘regional’ deserves more attention and that further research needs to be undertaken in this respect.

Fears and Hopes for European Urbanization

1972

12. V. KOKOLE, Contemporary Thinking about the Future of Urban Europe 13. M. VAN HULTEN, Similarities and Dissimilarities in Urban Prospective Thinking ample on the basis of joint-ventures at places where government or private bodies are already planning to build, and only the extra costs of implementing new solutions would need to be covered. In the study phases of the plan the prospect of implementation will also play an important role 1. government, citizen and citizen-participation in government; 2. centralization, concentration and their opposites. There would seem to be a strong correlation, between the two, as centralization or decentralization also has direct connections with the decision structure and its effects may increase or diminish physical concentration (density and dispersal) as well as the concentration of decisions in one or more institutions. Government, citizen, participation The expected growth of population (in particular of the urban popu