Ioannis, Chorianopoulos
(2000)
Urban governance and territorial competition in Europe: An analysis of the north-south diversity in the EU urban policy networks.
PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.
Abstract
The thesis explores the growing significance of cities and urban governance in two interrelated areas: first, regarding national and European socio-economic objectives; second, regarding the processes and spatial implications of inter-urban competition at the EU level. The European Union, in the attempt to tackle disparities and promote economic competitiveness, has developed initiatives for an urban level of policy-making. Central to such a response, it is argued, is the integration into the European policy framework of the fundamental heterogeneity of urban governance structures in Europe. One particular and prominent dimension of urban disparities in Europe is the North-South polarisation of the emerging European urban hierarchy. The thesis goes beyond the traditional economic focus of urban governance studies in its attempt to understand the relatively poor competitive position of cities in Portugal, Greece and Spain. The thesis stresses the analysis of the process of urbanisation from a socio-political perspective: focusing upon the mode of social, economic and political restructuring and competitive orientation of the local level in Southern Europe. The research presented here examines the competitive position of Spain, Greece and Portugal at the local level and the structural divergence of the Southern European urbanisation process from the 'ideal-typical' Fordist/post-Fordist mode of urban restructuring and resurgence. The thesis highlights the characteristic urban governance arrangements of Spain, Greece and Portugal which, it argues, are a causal factor of the lagging competitiveness of Southern European cities. This pattern of European urban heterogeneity is not addressed in the emerging EU policies on urban governance. Case-studies of two EU urban programmes from the 1994-99 policy framework, the RECITE networks and the URBAN Initiative, are used to further illustrate the argument. The conclusion highlights the problems, possibilities and consequences of the Community's current pattern of urban intervention.
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