Territorial Impact Assessment Research Articles

Computational social science in regional analysis and the European real estate market

ABSTRACT The recent so-called ‘data revolution’ offers unprecedented opportunities to innovate regional policies. New data sources are being widely used by the scientific community, however their uptake is far from being systematic in the policy cycle, where data innovation can improve territorial impact assessment. This paper presents a survey on the use of non-traditional data in the context of regional policy, together with a case study on real estate markets of three European countries, highlighting the perspectives and limitations of computational social science in regional analysis in terms of data quality and availability.

Territorial Impact Assessment for Coal Sites in Transition

This article describes a part of the POTENTIALS project promoted by the Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS) of the EU, which, in general, has aimed to develop business models for the reuse of former industrial and mining sites in different European regions. The goal of this project focused on the creation of so-called eco-industrial parks to enable sustainable energy production and reduce waste and pollution on coal sites in transition. A key aspect was the development of a suitable territorial impact assessment (TIA), a new and complex policy tool for the assessment of the territorial impacts of EU policies and projects on territorial cohesion. Therefore, the special TEQUILA (Territorial Efficiency, Quality and Identity Layer Assessment) approach is used to describe the TIA for this case and emphasizes its application in assessing ex ante the impacts of the transition from a coal site to an eco-industrial park. It underlines the need for a differentiated understanding of the regional characteristics and potential impacts of transition policies or projects. Furthermore, the process and results of applying the TEQUILA methodology, a multicriteria analysis, in the context of regionalized impact models has shown how important it is to select well-defined, expert-based criteria, but at the same time, to establish a system that is flexible and adaptable to the needs of political decision makers and stakeholders considering the normative weights of the criteria. This has been illustrated by some examples.

Spa(tia) – a diffusion-oriented method of territorial impact assessment

ABSTRACT In this paper we consider the options for policymakers in performing territorial impact assessment (TIA) of various policies. Hybrid methods combining stakeholder involvement with systematic statistical analysis are a good compromise between the analytical capabilities of the tool and the required time and resources needed to use it. However, the existing hybrid methods focus on the direct effects of the intervention, while neglecting the territorial diffusion of the policy outcomes. To address this gap, we propose a new method, which uses a spatial proximity matrix to incorporate diffusion effects into TIA. We discuss an example application of the new method for the ex-ante evaluation of the ‘European Funds for Western Pomerania’ programme.

Using the Impact-WEB_GIS Platform to Assess the Impacts of Environmental Sustainability Public Policies in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area

Urban environmental sustainability is a growing concern within the United Nations and the European Union’s ongoing policy agendas to fight climate change. This paper contributes to this debate by presenting the main impacts of the Operational Programme for Sustainability and Use of Resources (POSEUR 2014–2020) in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (NUTS II). The analysis was completed using the Impact-WEB_GIS platform, specially developed for this study, supported by a territorial impact assessment methodology. In addition to the production of general impact scores, five analytic dimensions were further analysed, supported by state-of-the-art (i) low-emissions economy, (ii) adaptation to climate change, (iii) risk prevention and management, (iv) environmental protection and (v) resource efficiency. At a strategic level, the research created awareness of the need to adjust regional policy to the region’s characteristics on environmental sustainability matters.

THE INTEGRATED TERRITORIAL DEVELOPMENT TOOLS - A KEY COMPONENT OF THE EUROPEAN COHESION POLICY

The publication aims to study the implementation of the instruments for integrated territorial development in the EU in the context of the Cohesion policy. The research framework covers a literature review and a critical comment on the concept of the idea of introducing an integrated territorial approach to achieve convergence, emphasizing the applicable three territorial development approaches in the Member States: Community-Led Local Development, Sustainable Urban Development and Integrated territorial investments. Key conclusions are drawn, which are the result of an analysis of secondary data on the financial performance of the territorial development approaches for the 2014-2020 planning period. The authors focus on the specific challenges that the EU faces in measuring the effectiveness of the integrated territorial instruments in the new programming period. This study also puts an emphasis on the need for the development of a new generation of territorial impact assessment methods, instruments and indicators for measuring combined actions capable of evaluating the integration of EU. Based on an expert assessment of interrelationships, specific recommendations are made to over-come the challenges of implementing and monitoring of the instruments for integrated territorial development during the new programming period.

Assessing impacts of public policies towards environmental sustainability in an EU region: North of Portugal

ABSTRACT Environmental sustainability has been a key policy goal of the European Union (EU), particularly under recent EU Cohesion Policy strategic frameworks. This paper contributes to the analysis of the relevance of EU Cohesion Policy-related environmental sustainability investments, by assessing the impacts of the Operational Programme for Sustainability and Use of Resources (POSEUR 2014–2020), in the Portuguese North NUTS II. In detail, the impact scores of the following five analytical dimensions related to this programme were obtained: (i) low-emissions economy, (ii) adaptation to climate change, (iii) risk prevention and management, (iv) environmental protection and (v) resource efficiency. The analysis was supported by a territorial impact assessment methodology (TARGET_TIA) which was complemented by an online analytic geographic information system (GIS) policy evaluation platform (Impact-WEB_GIS). The results showed that the POSEUR’s regional implementation efficiency fell short of the stakeholders’ expectations. This can be explained by factors such as the obstacles posed by the prior underdeveloped infrastructural conditions, coupled with the panorama created by the Covid-19 outbreak. Nonetheless, the risk prevention and management dimension had a solid positive impact score that reflected the efficacy of POSEUR in tackling environmental threats, mostly in rural ecosystems.

Uncontrolled Urban Growth in Western Balkans Territories after the Communist Collapse—a Review from the Spatial Planning Perspective

With the fall of the Communist Regimen in the Western Balkans Region, governance politics regarding urban and spatial planning processes led to significant changes in several territorial aspects. In this regard, several scientific studies and researches have put forward significant regional differences in urban development between cities of the Balkans that have followed very similar trajectories after the collapse of the “communist empire,” considering their willingness and desire to meet European standards - Tirana, Podgorica, Sarajevo are just some examples. Between the several disparities, these territories represent compared to Central and North European regions, massive and uncontrolled urban growth has been verified – catalyzed by liberal governance politics and private companies, without planning experts, and jeopardizing the need to include public participation in the development processes. This situation has led to significant uncontrolled planning and, consequently, to several negative social-economic impacts driven by it. For this reason, the development of a detailed review study considering spatial planning perspectives in the Western Balkans Region is seen as pivotal to understanding the existing planning disparities that affect the sustainable development of this area. Through an exploratory methodology – using both case study approach methods and territorial impact assessment (TIA) - it will be possible to understand how these events occurred and evolved, enabling the development of specific tools and approaches which might help to minimize the cumulative impacts of these processes. Therefore, the outcomes will define guidelines regarding urban planning processes for the main actors responsible for developing new governance measures toward achieving European standards.

How Impactful Are Public Policies on Environmental Sustainability? Debating the Portuguese Case of PO SEUR 2014–2020

Sustainable development is a key feature of national, European Union and global development strategies. The main research goal is to provide evidence on how impactful public policies on environmental sustainability in Portugal are at the regional level, in various policy areas. In this context, this paper analyses the main impacts of the Portuguese Operational Programme for Sustainability and Efficient Use of Resources (PO SEUR 2014–20). The research uses a territorial impact assessment (TIA) methodology (TARGET_TIA) to assess these impacts in five analytic dimensions (economy with low emissions, adaptation to climate change, risk prevention and management, environmental protection and resource efficiency) in the five mainland Portuguese NUTS 2. It concludes that, in overall terms, PO SEUR produced low to moderate positive impacts in all NUTS II and analysed dimensions, but it was particularly positive in measures fostering adaptation to climate change, and less impactful in measures supporting an economy with low emissions and resource efficiency in Portugal. Despite data limitations, the research provided adequate evidence that key public policies supporting environmental sustainability in Portugal are largely ineffective and inefficient in view of their policy goals and allocated funding. To turn this scenario around, the process of project selection needs to undergo significant improvements to better adjust the regional needs on environmental sustainability-related issues to the available funding. Moreover, on a policy strategic level, there needs to be support for a prosperous, modern, competitive and climate-neutral economy in Portugal via concrete actions exploring environmental capital and a green economy in urban areas.

Territorial impact assessment of national and regional territorial cohesion in Italy di Maria Prezioso

Territorial impact assessment of national and regional territorial cohesion in Italy di Maria Prezioso

Territorial Impact Assessment for evaluation of Territorial Cohesion Policies: the STeMA-TIA 3.0 and social housing in Italy

Download ArticleBy Maria Prezioso, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Francesco Dini, University of Florence, Silvia Grandi, University of Bologna, Michele Pigliucci, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Federico Martellozzo, University of Florence, Italy Researching Territorial Impact Assessment for Cohesion Policies The impact analysis and the identification of the most effective policy recommendations in order to set […]

The Sustainability Dimensions: A Territorialized Approach to Sustainable Development

The paper proposes the territory as the fourth dimension of sustainable development. Research starting from three dimensions of sustainable development - economic, social, environmental - highlights the difference between the spatial approach and the territorial approach in sustainable development practices. The paper shows that to include in the development approach the morphological (hilly, mountain, plain), functional (metropolitan or non-metropolitan city, cross border region), traditional (port city, financial city, industrial city), government (National strategy, special laws, etc.), governance (formal and not formal network, institutional/ noninstitutional body) aspects, leads to different development results than not including them. This evidence shows to distinguish development practices from sustainable development practices as emerged from recent Territorial Impact Assessment studies in which policies, through the territorialization of the results, guide planning actions: (local) planning actions selected on (general) policy objectives create the conditions for adaptation (about planning) and mitigation (about policies) of human actions on the environment, thus being able to speak of sustainable development.

Territorial Impact Assessment – European context and the case of Czechia

Territorial Impact Assessment – European context and the case of Czechia

Spatial Planning, Territorial Development, and Territorial Impact Assessment

This article debates the possibilities and advantages of using territorial impact assessment (TIA) policy evaluation methodologies to assess the implementation of spatial planning instruments. It builds on existing literature to define key analytical goals, dimensions, and respective components to monitor and evaluate the implementation of spatial plans, at all territorial levels, to be used as a TIA evaluation matrix. It concludes that, despite the inherent complexity associated with the process of evaluating spatial planning processes, there are manifest advantages to using TIA tools to evaluate them, mostly at the ex post phase.

Territorial Impact Assessment: Cohesion policy and balanced territorial development (Czechia)

International online peer-reviewed open-access journal offers a possibility for the international community of professionals working in the fields of regional and rural development or tourism to exchange their ideas and research results or practical achievements as it publishes results of both theoretical and applied research in these fields.

L’évaluation d’impact territorial en pratique

L’évaluation d’impact territorial des programmes participe de l’évaluation de l’effectivité des politiques et des programmes publics sur un périmètre territorial à la fois géographique et institutionnel. Elle est donc une activité ambitieuse de connaissance au service de l’action publique à finalité territoriale, avant, pendant et après l’action. L’activité évaluative peut faire appel à des démarches de production de contrefactuel. Elle peut se contenter de faire appel à des représentations conventionnelles des logiques d’action publique. Seules ces dernières font l’objet ici d’une analyse approfondie en termes de faisabilité et de fiabilité. Les conventions de logiques d’action, lorsqu’elles sont partagées entre les acteurs de l’évaluation d’impact, sont au cœur des cahiers des charges et servent d’ossature aux termes de références des évaluations : elles sont le langage partagé par les acteurs publics et les évaluateurs. L'article se réfère à la seule pratique de ces représentations dans les usages des évaluateurs : l’accent est porté sur les conventions simples de représentations « de chaînes d’impact » mais aussi, dans le cas de politiques complexes, sur les représentations de « réseaux de valeur et d’impact ». Puisqu’il s’agit de conventions, les questions de faisabilité et de fiabilité des résultats des évaluations se posent immédiatement : elles sont traitées ici avec un esprit de praticien. Il est montré qu’un indicateur de confiance dans les résultats donne souvent du flou aux résultats évaluatifs mais ceci peut augmenter l’acceptabilité des résultats évaluatifs d’impact territorial, ce qui, au surplus, peut favoriser l’utilisation des résultats des évaluations. Classification JEL : H11, H7, O18, R58.

The Territorial Impact Assessment of transport: the case of the Egnatia motorway system in the cohesion potential of Southeast Europe

Territorial Impact Assessment (TIA) is proposed as a critical tool in order to investigate the way policies affect spatial development and hence territorial cohesion. The paper introduces a TIA methodological model in relation to transport sector. The design of the methodological model is based on a quantitative evaluation framework that comprises a set of selected indicators applied in a cross-border area of southeast Europe, influenced by the operation of the Greek motorway system of Egnatia and its vertical axes. The indicators are grouped into three main fields of TIA, i.e. transport intermodality, polycentric spatial organization and cross-border territorial cooperation. The TIA’s indicators are approximated by quantitative analysis. The procedure concludes to an overall composite indicator measuring the ‘level of territorial cohesion’ along with some core results and the expected added value. It also highlights some key technical aspects about the routines used and proceeds to suggestions for further refinement.

Is there a rise of the territorial dimension in the EU Cohesion Policy ?

This paper examines the role and importance of the territorial dimension of EU Cohesion Policy, during its five programming phases (1989‑2020), by relating this implementation process with several territorial elements, and by assessing their constant changes, namely in three main components and related elements: (i) the ‘policy strategy’ designed to include an integrated territorial perspective; (ii) the ‘policy impacts’ in territorial development and territorial cohesion, together with the use of territorial impact assessment procedures; and (iii) the focus on one or several ‘territorial scales’, specifically through the support to multilevel‑governance, territorial cooperation, and place‑based strategies. Paradoxically, despite the continuous attempts to detach EU Cohesion Policy from its initial goals of promoting a more cohesive Europe into a more neoliberalist paradigm type of ‘investment Policy’, our analysis showed that the territorial dimension is still very much anchored with this Policy, and even gaining importance in several territorial related elements, such as the support to territorial cooperation and governance processes, and the use of territorial impact assessment procedures.

Cross-border cooperation in inner Scandinavia: A territorial impact assessment

The use of territorial impact assessment procedures is gaining increasing relevance in the European Union policy evaluation processes. However, no concrete territorial impact assessment tools have been applied to evaluating EU cross-border programmes. In this light, this article provides a pioneering analysis on how to make use of territorial impact assessment procedures on cross-border programmes. More specifically, it assesses the main territorial impacts of the Inner Scandinavian INTERREG-A sub-programme, in the last 20years (1996–2016). It focuses on its impacts on reducing the barrier effect, in all its main dimensions, posed by the presence of the administrative border. The results indicate a quite positive impact of the analysed cross-border cooperation programme, in reducing the barrier effect in all its main dimensions. The obtained potential impact values for each analysed dimension indicate, however, that the ‘economy-technology’ dimension was particularly favoured, following its strategic intervention focus in stimulating the economic activity and the attractiveness of the border area.

SPATIALIZING OPEN DATA FOR THE ASSESSMENT AND THE IMPROVEMENT OF TERRITORIAL AND SOCIAL COHESION

Abstract. An integrated place-based approach for the improvement of territorial and social cohesion is the new instance for planning disciplines, coming from EU New Cohesion Policies. This paper considers the territorial impact assessment of regional development policies as a precondition in order to develop balanced and effective operative programs at national and regional levels. The contribution of ‘open data’ appears to be mature in order to support this application and in this paper we present a spatial analysis technique for the evaluation of EU funds effects at territorial level, starting from open data by Open Cohesion. The application is focused on internal areas of Basilicata Region: Agri river Valley. A complex contest, where environmental and agricultural traditional vocations conflict with a recent development of oil extraction industries. Conclusions concern further applications and perspectives to improve and support regional development planning considering the exploitation of open data sources and spatial analysis.

SPATIALIZING OPEN DATA FOR THE ASSESSMENT AND THE IMPROVEMENT OF TERRITORIAL AND SOCIAL COHESION

An integrated place-based approach for the improvement of territorial and social cohesion is the new instance for planning disciplines, coming from EU New Cohesion Policies. This paper considers the territorial impact assessment of regional development policies as a precondition in order to develop balanced and effective operative programs at national and regional levels. The contribution of ‘open data’ appears to be mature in order to support this application and in this paper we present a spatial analysis technique for the evaluation of EU funds effects at territorial level, starting from open data by Open Cohesion. The application is focused on internal areas of Basilicata Region: Agri river Valley. A complex contest, where environmental and agricultural traditional vocations conflict with a recent development of oil extraction industries. Conclusions concern further applications and perspectives to improve and support regional development planning considering the exploitation of open data sources and spatial analysis.