Suchergebnisse

European cities and regions are facing the crucial challenge of greening their economy towards more sustainable patterns. Politicians and policy-makers should promote new policies for sustainable growth including renewables, greenhouse gas emissions, energy efficiency and biodiversity. All of these aspects can be considered as a boost for local and regional economy. In this regard, European countries and regions can benefit from the Europe 2020 Strategy which is defined as Europe's blueprint for a smart, sustainable and inclusive future, providing a ten year roadmap for growth and jobs. EU2020S was designed as a European exit strategy from the global economic and financial crisis in view of new European economic governance. This study discusses the above issues regarding Italy and intends to provide some answers on the perspectives of the new EU2020S. It draws from a research project supported by ESPON, the S.I.E.S.T.A. Project, focused on the territorial dimension of the EU2020S. Therefore, this paper aims at analyzing Italian regional patterns on climate change, green economy and energy within the context of EU2020S and at providing policy recommendations for better achieving the goals of the Strategy.

A strategic infrastructure project in Rome, Italy, and namely the Metro C line, is presented here for scrutinising how institutional frameworks and governance arrangements shape megaproject implementation. On the one side, we look at legal endowments and institutional reforms related to a still incomplete territorial rescaling; on the other side, at routines and practices among actors in project management. More precisely, we develop these two fundamental acceptations of the institutional, reconstructing the management of the project and the path of Italian downscaling reform still underway (that has implications for the governance of projects too). Both these realms have been affected by the advent of the Legge Obiettivo, the special law that for fifteen years has been governing strategic projects in Italy – Metro C included. Via a review of regulatory measures, relevant theoretical constructs in the fields of governance and project studies, and with the help of a number of interviews conducted in 2016 and 2017, we delve into the main reasons that explain the Metro C implementation failure as to cost overrun and delivery delays, and found the primary causes of these latter in the fragmented public client role that cannot guarantee the project's governability.

Web-based participatory mapping technologies are being increasingly harnessed by local governments to crowdsource local knowledge and engage the public in urban planning policies as a means of increasing the transparency and legitimacy of planning processes and decisions. We refer to these technologies as "geoparticipation". Current innovations are outpacing research into the use of geoparticipation in participatory planning practices. To address this knowledge gap, this paper investigates the objectives of web-based geoparticipation and uses empirical evidence from online survey responses related to 25 urban planning projects in nine countries across three continents (Europe, North America, and Australia). The survey adopts the objectives of the Spectrum for Public Participation that range from information empowerment, with each category specifying promises about how public input is expected to influence decision-making (IAP2, 2018). Our findings show that geoparticipation can leverage a 'middle-ground' of citizen participation by facilitating involvement alongside consultation and/or collaboration. This paper constitutes a pilot study as a step toward more robust and replicable empirical studies for cross-country comparisons. Empowerment (or citizen control) is not yet a normative goal or outcome for web-based geoparticipation. Our evidence also suggests that information is pursued alongside other objectives for citizen participation, and therefore functions not as a "low-hanging fruit" as portrayed in the literature, but rather as a core component of higher intensities of participation.

The 'Europe 2020 Strategy' was issued in 2010 by the European Commission. This document constitutes a growth scheme for the decade 2010-2020 that aims to help the European Union to emerge from the current crisis through the so-called smart, sustainable and inclusive dimensions of growth. In this context, the basic aim of the SIESTA ("Spatial Indicators for a 'Europe 2020 Strategy' Territorial Analysis") Project has been to illustrate the territorial dimension of the 'Europe 2020 Strategy'. In other words, to show how this document acts territorially, particularly at the regional scale, but, when possible, also at the urban level. The SIESTA Project has been funded by ESPON ("European Observation Network for Territorial Development and Cohesion"), a European Commission Programme whose mission is to support policy development in relation to the aim of territorial cohesion and a harmonious development of the European territory. This book includes most of the main findings and conclusions obtained through research of the SIESTA Project. The contents were presented and discussed as keynote addresses or communications at the SIESTA Final Conference held in Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, on 4-5 April 2013.

Forests are increasingly recognized for their role, importance and multifunctionality in terms of provisioning, regulating and cultural ecosystem services they provide. Even if timber production remains the most economically valuable provisioning service in Primiero, the importance of and need for multifunctionality of forests is acknowledged. This article analyses the development of Forest Ecosystem Services (FES) governance innovation strategies by the Provincial Forest Agency as a policy entrepreneur in the area of Primiero, in Trentino, northeast of Italy. Based on detailed case study material, we create the heuristic of Kingdon's three streams model in order to reconstruct the development of and negotiations around the introduction of innovative approaches to the problem, policy and politics levels and to identify the chosen or missed windows of opportunity to deliver innovation in FES management. Findings show that the main issues perceived by the local stakeholders concern loss of biodiversity, of cultural identity and historical landscape values. The policy-entrepreneurial initiatives undertaken by the Forest Agency represent a governance mix of direct project execution, financial incentives, organisational incentives and information-based activities. The results highlight its efforts to move beyond the traditional top-down approach based on widely available public funds and towards coordination and collaborations among stakeholders, contribution of private investments, bureaucracy simplification and interconnection between participatory and institutional processes.

This paper analyses the occurrence of governance innovations for forest ecosystem service (FES) provision in the forestry sector in Europe and the factors that influence innovation development. Based on a European-wide online survey, public and private forest owners and managers representing different property sizes indicate what type of governance innovation activities they engage in, and why. To investigate forestry innovations as systems, the analysis focuses on biophysical, social and technical factors influencing innovation development. The results of our exploratory quantitative analysis show that most innovation activities identified are largely oriented towards biomass production. Accordingly, most forest owners implement efficiency-driven optimisation strategies for forest management and technological improvement for provisioning service supply, to generate income. In contrast, the provision of regulating and cultural services is not yet a prominent part of forestry innovation activities.Reasons are rooted in a market-oriented economic rationale focusing on timber production, a lack of financial resources to compensate for other FES provisions or institutions to provide backup and security to forest owners and managers for engaging in innovation development. Given that the provision of a wide range of FES is a politically well-established objective for forest management in Europe, a strategy is needed that helps to align actors and sectors for supporting and co-financing related forest management approaches and business models. The current revision of the forest related policy framework on EU level under the EU Green deal poses a window of opportunity for better fostering novel governance approaches for more sustainable FES provision.

Highlights • Sustainable provision of FES require a system- and innovation-based perspective. • Most innovation activities are characterised by optimisation strategies for biomass provision. • Lacking resources and institutions prevent foresters to engage in innovation activities. • New forms of communication, cooperation and financing are needed for providing non-wood FES. • Current revisions of EU policy frameworks pose possibilities for novel forms of FES governance. ; This paper analyses the occurrence of governance innovations for forest ecosystem service (FES) provision in the forestry sector in Europe and the factors that influence innovation development. Based on a European-wide online survey, public and private forest owners and managers representing different property sizes indicate what type of governance innovation activities they engage in, and why. To investigate forestry innovations as systems, the analysis focuses on biophysical, social and technical factors influencing innovation development. The results of our exploratory quantitative analysis show that most innovation activities identified are largely oriented towards biomass production. Accordingly, most forest owners implement efficiency-driven optimisation strategies for forest management and technological improvement for provisioning service supply, to generate income. In contrast, the provision of regulating and cultural services is not yet a prominent part of forestry innovation activities. Reasons are rooted in a market-oriented economic rationale focusing on timber production, a lack of financial resources to compensate for other FES provisions or institutions to provide backup and security to forest owners and managers for engaging in innovation development. Given that the provision of a wide range of FES is a politically well-established objective for forest management in Europe, a strategy is needed that helps to align actors and sectors for supporting and co-financing related forest management approaches and business models. The current revision of the forest related policy framework on EU level under the EU Green deal poses a window of opportunity for better fostering novel governance approaches for more sustainable FES provision.