Polycentric Structures Research Articles

Planeación de Escenarios Participativos en procesos de gobernanza para la compensación ambiental: el caso de la central hidroeléctrica El Quimbo

Este artículo explora posibles escenarios de manejo del área de compensación ambiental de la central hidroeléctrica el Quimbo y los desafíos que enfrenta su implementación desde la gobernanza ambiental para el logro de acciones de restauración ecológica y conservación de 11.079 hectáreas de bosque seco, localizado en la cuenca alta del río Magdalena, jurisdicción de los municipios del Agrado, Gigante, Tesalia y Paicol en el departamento del Huila (Colombia). Para la investigación se utilizó la metodología de Planeación de Escenarios Participativos (PSP) considerando las variables de uso, acceso, manejo y las estructuras de relacionamiento para la toma de decisiones. Los resultados obtenidos evidencian el consenso de intereses entre los participantes frente a la conservación y uso sostenible del bosque seco, mediante el establecimiento de un área protegida donde el ecoturismo juega un rol importante. Adicionalmente y como aporte a la gobernanza ambiental del área, se resalta las concepciones de las estructuras policéntricas, como medio para la construcción de pactos territoriales que permitan la gestión y sostenibilidad del área de compensación en beneficio de las comunidades locales.

The Role of an Integrated Transport System in the Comprehensive, Polycentric Development of Gdańsk Bay Metropolitan Area

Abstract In this paper the role of an Integrated transport system and mobility in the development of Gdańsk Bay Metropolitan Area is discussed, with special emphasis on how it influences the development of comprehensive, polycentric urban structures. The paper consists of an analysis of how the changes, which occurred after the socio-economic transformation shaped the transport system, and as a consequence the spatial structure, of Gdańsk Bay Metropolitan Area. At the beginning of the paper historic, present and future development of integrated transport systems and the urban structure of the metropolis are described and then strategies and proposed solutions are introduced. The last chapter includes conclusions and recommendations for the future role of the integrated transport system in shaping the development of the Gdańsk Bay Metropolitan Area.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT BETWEEN MYTH AND REALITY: EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVES

In reaction to the consequences of the global capitalism development in the years after 1990s, the challenges of sustainable development became one of the top subjects among scientists. In the UN resolution: “Transformation of our World: 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda” the responsibility of the global community and the necessity of each nation state to participate and contribute to resolving the key cumulated problems of the economic, social and environmental development is emphasized. The analysis will elaborate related controversies, dilemmas and identified crisis of the sustainable development concept, demonstrated through demystification of the neoclassical paradigms and extreme neoliberal monism, being unsustainable as such. The global scene is witnessing processes that are leading towards changes in the development paradigm. They are reflected in the shift from the domination of the unipolar neoliberal model to polycentric structures of the capitalist order, giving room to competitiveness of different models of capitalism. The need for the European Union to act proactively and affirm the EU model of social-market capitalism will be underlined. It incorporates a vast spectrum of different sustainable development concept dimensions, but nevertheless, needs redefining for better positioning within the new global order. Keywords: Sustainable development, neoliberalism, global economy, European Union, social- market capitalism

Rewitalizacja a kształtowanie miejsc węzłowych struktury przestrzennej śródmieścia – przykłady krakowskie

W swoich badaniach autor koncentruje się na procesach policentrycznego rozwoju struktur metropolitalnych, w szczególności na obszarach śródmiejskich. Propozycją metody interpretacji tych zmian jest spojrzenie na przestrzenną strukturę centrum przez pryzmat miejsc węzłowych. Miejsca te mają duży potencjał koncentrowania aktywności i inwestycji oraz generowania przestrzennych i wirtualnych relacji z innymi ogniskami rozwoju. Ich specyfika jest określona przez szereg atrybutów, takich jak: dostępność transportowa, funkcjonalne powiązania, wartości przestrzenne. Miejsca węzłowe krystalizują strukturę przestrzenną śródmieścia i odgrywają strategiczną rolę w rewitalizacji tej przestrzeni. Szczególny potencjał dla katalizy tych procesów wykazują projekty tworzące węzły mobilności, które są miejskimi konfiguracjami wspomagającymi integrację „przestrzeni podróży” z tkanką miejską. Autor bada wpływ ich planowania i rozwoju na wzmocnienie i krystalizację struktury przestrzennej miasta, ze szczególnym naciskiem na kreowanie atrybutów miejskości. Zagadnienia zostały zilustrowane przeglądem krakowskich przykładów i syntezą zaobserwowanych zjawisk i trendów. W podsumowaniu przedstawiono konkretne wytyczne i założenia planistyczne, a także ogólne tezy o roli rewitalizacji w tworzeniu policentrycznej struktury śródmieścia.

The Privatization of Metropolitan Jakarta’s (Jabodetabek) Urban Fringes: The Early Stages of “Post-Suburbanization” in Indonesia

Problem, research strategy, and findings: Recent metropolitan development in developed countries is associated with “post-suburbia,” or a decline in population in the former central city and the growth of polycentric structures outside the traditional core. Current urban development in Asian cities, particularly in the Jakarta metropolitan region (Jabodetabek), also reflects an early stage of post-suburbia. We examine physical development patterns and the changing role of public and private sectors, although our approach is descriptive in nature. The rapid growth in fringe areas that have developed from dormitory communities into independent towns, triggered by privatization of industrial estates and multifunction new towns, shows typical post-suburban patterns. The national government's pro-growth economic policies and the local autonomy granted to local governments have given the private sector the power to largely control the acquisition, development, and management of land in fringe areas, accelerating post-suburban development patterns.Takeaway for practice: Planners in developing nations must be alert to the rapidly increasing role of the private sector, recognizing how the private sector can help the government to respond to regional needs for housing, jobs, shopping and educational opportunities, and infrastructure while understanding the key role that planning can and should play in ensuring private sector actions do not exacerbate regional problems and lead to uncoordinated public responses.

Scattered or polycentric? Untangling urban growth in three southern European metropolitan regions through exploratory spatial data analysis

The present study illustrates an exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) aimed at investigating changes in the distribution of built-up areas in three southern European metropolitan regions (Barcelona, Rome and Athens). An approach based on global Moran’s indexes of spatial autocorrelations was proposed to assess similarities in the spatial organization of the three regions, based on land-use data for 1960 and 2010. Compact monocentric, scattered low-density and mixed polycentric structures were compared in the three regions using local Moran’s indexes computed at two different scales, “urban” (5 km radius) and “regional” (20 km radius). The proposed approach identifies emerging trends in scattered monocentric or polycentric development. Our results outline the trend toward scattered urban expansion for the three cities, with signs of a modest shift toward polycentrism in Barcelona. ESDA provides basic information needed for policies promoting spatially balanced, sustainable development in originally compact and economically segmented regions.

Transcontinental Links, Enlarged Maps, and Polycentric Structures in the History of World Christianity

ABSTRACT The new global situation of Christianity requires new historiographical approaches. This article presents and reflects upon the approach developed by the “Munich School of World Christianity,” which is guided by three leading principles: (1) the urgent need for new and enlarged maps of the global history of Christianity—which will enable us to describe the different denominational, regional, and cultural expressions of Christianity as part of a greater whole; (2) an awareness of “polycentric structures” throughout the history of world Christianity—not only in its most recent period but from its very beginnings; and (3) paying proper attention to transregional links and the resulting concept of a global history of Christianity as a history of multidirectional transcontinental interactions, which include early instances of South–South connections. A future history of world Christianity should pay close attention to these principles and rely on intensified interdisciplinary and cross-cultural cooperation.

A Response to Klaus Koschorke’s “Transcontinental Links, Enlarged Maps, and Polycentric Structures in the History of World Christianity”

ABSTRACT This response to Klaus Koschorke’s contribution to this issue profiles the new historiographical approach of the Munich School of World Christianity as a fresh perspective of study. Embracing a comparative studies approach to map the polycenters in Christianity’s global history, the Munich School in its comparative studies accents the similarities and dissimilarities between different ancient and new local Christian communities that might be connected by expanding and retracting networks. Focusing on multidirectional transcontinental interactions and exchanges, Koschorke and the Munich School ask: What are the South–South linkages created by “indigenous” or non-Western Christians? What are the nonwhite North-South linkages? With these new questions and the interrogations of new primary sources, they call us to widen our lenses, broaden the discussion, and deepen the analysis of the study of world Christianity.

Framing Human Rights and the Production of Translation Legal Consciousness

This paper presents a case study on a complaint document filed by the British NGO “Survival International” against the multinational mining conglomerate Vedanta Resources for alleged human rights violations. By examining the internal and external dynamics of the text of the complaint document, this paper seeks to delineate the strategic framing of rights violations by Survival International within the context of international legal discourse. The document operates beyond the contours of international legal formalism. The complaint document functions as a polycentric legal document, as it seeks to bridge the gap between “hard” and “soft” international legal structures through the invocation of multiple discrete norm systems in a unified fashion. Most importantly, by bringing together civil-political and socioeconomic rights into a singular, indivisible human rights narrative frame, the documents serves as an example of the ways which non-state actors utilize the discursive dynamics of the polycentric global norm structures for disciplining corporate social responsibility.

Contemporary Landscapes and New Horizons: The Changing Maps of World Christianity

Last year I spent the July 4th weekend in an unlikely spot—the small town of Freising near Munich, Germany. I had been invited as a North American participant at an international conference on the ‘‘Polycentric Structures in the History of World Christianity.’’ As a systematic theologian and a newcomer to the field of world Christianity, I did not know quite what to expect. Over the next 72 hours, I listened intently to more than 20 papers by scholars trained and teaching in different corners of the world—in Hong Kong, South Africa, Liverpool, Sierra Leone, Basel, and Chicago. Each presented in-depth case studies that illuminated the complex and diverse indigenization processes of Christianity, which have taken place over the past two centuries in the Global South. The subjects of these papers ranged from seventeenth-century religious martyrs in Japan shaping Catholic piety in the Philippines to nineteenth-century Indian indentured workers in British Guiana forging a distinctive ethnic and religious identity. Some of the scholars described how Christian communities were beset by unexpected political events. For example, one scholar recounted how the only Chinese parish in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) got caught in the crossfire of a brutal regime change when the ousted President and his brother took refuge within its walls only to be arrested and summarily assassinated. Others unearthed previously unsuspected transnational networks that connected distant mission contexts, such as those between China and Korea through the educational efforts of the YMCA movement, or between African Americans in Harlem, New York and South Africans through the founding of the African Orthodox Church in the 1920s and 1930s. Needless to say, there was much excitement in the air as the traditional Western version of the history of Christianity gave way to a more complex and indeed, ‘‘polycentric,’’ understanding of Christianity’s origins and developments. Theology Today 2014, Vol. 71(2) 159–163 ! The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0040573614529049 ttj.sagepub.com

The influence of urban form on GHG emissions in the U.S. household sector

To better understand the role of sustainable urban development in greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation, this study examines the paths by which urban form influences an individual household׳s carbon dioxide emissions in the 125 largest urbanized areas in the U.S. Our multilevel SEM analyses show that doubling population-weighted density is associated with a reduction in CO2 emissions from household travel and residential energy consumption by 48% and 35%, respectively. Centralized population and polycentric structures have only a moderate impact in our analyses. Given that household travel and residential energy use account for 42% of total U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, these findings highlight the importance of smart growth policies to build more compact and transit friendly cities as a crucial part of any strategic efforts to mitigate GHG emissions and to stabilize climate.

Alberta Cities at the Crossroads: Urban Development Challenges and Opportunities in Historical and Comparative Perspective

Fueled by the province’s booming energy sector, Alberta’s two largest cities have experienced unprecedented levels of growth. As a result, they face a choice about how to best accommodate their expanding populations — whether to grow out or grow up. For decades, Calgary and Edmonton accommodated almost all growth through the former, suburban expansion. Indeed, the postwar period was marked by a focus on contiguous outward growth to ensure housing affordability and the efficient use of infrastructure, a policy that was widely supported by both the public and the development industry.In Calgary, at least, this has started to change. Beginning in the late 1990s, the city shifted its focus to livability and sustainability, a move that saw policies introduced to promote urban intensification and greater transit use. While this shift has proven popular in many quarters, it also has its fair share of detractors, including many in the development industry. In Edmonton, a city where growth has been relatively slower and authority over urban development dispersed among several local governments, this policy shift has not occurred.Although it is too early to see clear results from this policy shift, a spatial analysis shows that the density of Calgary’s built-up urban area increased in the first decade of the 21st century. Relatively high-density suburban growth led Calgary to consume less land compared with the previous decade (2 ha per 100 new residents in 2001-2011 versus 6.5 ha in 1991-2001). This growth was accompanied by modest intensification in core areas, although the dwelling unit density of the urban area increased by more than the population density (18 per cent versus 14 per cent). Edmonton’s development is roughly similar: denser suburban growth has led to the more efficient consumption of rural land (3 ha per 100 new residents in the 2001-11 period versus 7 ha in 1991-2001). The built-up area has also intensified slightly, especially in areas near transit stations. By way of comparison, Vancouver with its long-standing urban containment policies, including the expansion limits represented by the Agricultural Land Reserve, grew mostly through intensification between 1991 and 2011. In Toronto, the second comparator city examined and one in which local growth management policies have existed since the 1980s, growth is now almost equally divided between intensification and suburban expansion.The analysis suggests that it is difficult to alter a deep-seated policy regime that promotes outward growth. What is more, high levels of intensification may not be enough to offset the effects of a new demographic reality: smaller average household size because of such factors as longer lifespans, delayed family formation, family planning and divorce. So even with a greater number of housing units, the population of the built-up area may still fall. Finally, if the emerging polycentric structures of Calgary and Edmonton are to be successfully supported, major investments in infrastructure are going to be required.

Polycentric Patterns and Housing Affordability: Does a Relationship Exist?

Polycentric structures are one of the possible kinds of territorial organization for human settlements. They have recently become important because they have been recommended by a number of UE documents as the most suitable structure for attaining equilibrium in economic, social, and territorial development. This paper seeks to verify the possible advantages of the polycentric model empirically for the case of a typical urban problem such as housing affordability. The empirical analysis is carried out on Italian administrative regions, through the construction of a regional index of polycentrism and an analysis of the level and territorial variability of house prices. Il policentrismo e la modalita insediativa piu studiata degli ultimi anni, vuoi perche esso corrisponde a molte strutture urbane del contesto europeo, vuoi perche e stato assunto dall’Unione Europea come obiettivo di politica territoriale. I vantaggi del policentrismo, spesso indicati in sede teorica piu che empiricamente rilevati, sembrano essere numerosi ed esso e indicato come un modello di sviluppo territoriale piu equilibrato rispetto sia al tradizionale assetto monocentrico, sia al piu recente fenomeno dello sprawl. L’obiettivo del presente saggio e di verificare empiricamente la superiorita del modello policentrico in relazione ad un problema tipicamente urbano quale quello dell’accessibilita della casa.

Polycentric Structures in Latin American Metropolitan Areas: Identifying Employment Sub-centres

Fernández-Maldonado A. M., Romein A., Verkoren O. and Parente Paula Pessoa R. Polycentric structures in Latin American metropolitan areas: identifying employment sub-centres, Regional Studies. The significant spatial transformations that have occurred within Latin American metropolitan areas since the 1990s have triggered many local studies claiming the formation of polycentric structures. This study explores the extent of that process, identifying sub-centres of employment using the double threshold methodology of job concentration and employment density in Mexico City (Mexico), Lima (Peru) and Fortaleza (Brazil). The results, although partial due to an absence of data on informal employment, indicate that Latin American metropolises are moving towards polycentric structures. But the identified employment sub-centres are mostly located in or near the metropolitan core, which practically excludes the formation of polycentric nodes in the metropolitan periphery.

Wie kann man Geschichte der Germanistik nach 1945 schreiben?

Abstract:This article outlines four ways of writing the history of German Studies after 1945: 1. the history of theory and methods, 2. the history of projects and objects, 3. the history of institutions, 4. the biographical approach. The discipline is learning how to appreciate polycentric structures and philological traditions which transcend the boundaries of the 19th century and the nation state.

What Happens When Government Workers Move to the Suburbs?

A resurgence of state-led decentralization activity is occurring in Australia, with governments promising to move 20% of all public servants in the city center to middle and outer suburban locations in two of the country's largest cities, Perth and Brisbane, within a decade. The effects of these policies on transport, however, have not been assessed or meaningfully considered by the government. Therefore, this study asked the following: What will be the effects on transport of government office decentralization policies in cities with strong monocentric structures? “Decentralization” may be defined as the process by which city regions increase the proportion of jobs located outside the central business district and its immediate frame. In this paper two key research activities are reported on to address this research gap. An extensive review of previous modeling and travel behavior studies on monocentric versus polycentric urban structures and workplace relocation programs is summarized. This review highlighted mixed results for the transport sector and suggested possible research paths to identify the impacts for cities where decentralization was proposed. The review led to a large modeling effort with the multimodal Brisbane Strategic Transport model to examine the likely impacts for greater Brisbane under specific decentralization scenarios. Results are provided for modal shares, vehicle kilometers traveled, travel times, levels of service on key links, and transit patronage. The type of decentralization policy selected was found to affect reverse commuting and transit use. The results suggested that only those policies directing employment to key rail and busway nodes would mitigate potentially adverse impacts.

Reurbanisierung oder Metropolisierung?

Abstract This paper aims at theorizing and conceptualizing the current debate of re-urbanization in Germany. By taking the stage-model of urbanization by van den Berg et al. (1982) as a starting point, the paper seeks for identifying the rationale, justification and driving forces of re-urbanization discourses, in order to test the underlying arguments. It critically discusses the use of re-urbanization as an apparently generic pattern of interpretation for most recent urban developments in Germany. In contrast to such assumptions, the paper considers core urban areas being subject to processes of “metropolization”, that is, the spatially selective, highly fragmented localization of metropolitan functions in specific locales. As a result, large urban regions are increasingly characterized both by their inclusion in transnational networks and relationships and also by the emergence of polycentric spatial structures. Thus the paper may contribute to a more appropriate understanding of the meanings of “reurb...

Sustainable territorial development and concepts of polycentricity in Slovak territorial development

This paper presents the situation and potentials for the development of polycentric structures within the Slovak settlement system in the context of spatial development in Central Europe. The trajectories in the development of the morphological and relational features of settlement structures are compared with official conceptual documents at the national and regional levels. The limits and potentials concerning the development of spatial structures at different hierarchical levels, resulting from the specific situation in Slovakia, are examined with a particular focus on trans-border development perspectives, including the appearance of new spatial–temporal patterns. The concepts brought forward in the ESPON analyses are critically discussed with an attempt to provide a more contextualized view of the nature of polycentric organization in the current phase of development of integration and transformation processes in Slovakia.

Special Interests versus the Public Interest in Policy Determination

This paper focuses on recent theoretical developments in political economy and what role they might play in explaining and reforming individual country and global distortions in food and agricultural markets. Four groups of forces are isolated: political governance structures emphasizing the role of democratic mechanisms; the design of polycentric structures for assigned governmental authority for setting policy instruments; market structure and other socioeconomic characteristics; and the role of sector mobility and asset diversification. Each of these forces are distilled and data sources are reviewed that will allow econometric specifications that have both explanatory and policy reform implications.

Governing city-regions in China: Theoretical issues and perspectives for regional strategic planning

The transformation of the regional system in China has resulted in polycentric spatial forms in major city-regions. With urban entrepreneurialism prevailing across the country, these polycentric structures lead to an intensive intercity competition for mobile capital. Building on a debate about the problematic nature and fragmented consequences of the entrepreneurial strategy, this article argues that regional strategic planning constitutes a new way for mega-city regions to overcome the negative effects of political fragmentation. To this end, it addresses two specific issues: the location of regional planning in local politics, which it addresses by underscoring the qualitative features of such politics in transitional economies; and a state-theoretical interpretation of what is behind the increasing interest in this level of planning, using the case of the Pearl River Delta strategic plan. It is argued that current regional planning practice can be understood as an important structural and strategic ex...