Regional Policy through Co-operation: From Urban Forum to Urban Network

Abstract

A 'model of decentralised concentration' has evolved in the region of BerlinBrandenburg in response to the European principle of polycentric development for urban regions. The paper describes strategies which seek to implement this new regional planning guideline. The formation of an urban forum as a co-ordinating body has initiated a course of development which attempts to link aspects of both horizontal and vertical policy co-ordination within a framework of territorial integration (networking). The paper analyses this innovative instrument of urban and regional development. The authors focus on the process of co-operation, beginning with the looser form practised in the urban forum by the towns which participated and evolving towards de ned contractual and institutional relations in the form of a networked urban workgroup. Finally, they evaluate the objectives achieved and the nancial and legal instruments applied.

Urban networks and governance in city‐region planning: state‐led region building in nanjing city‐region, china

“…They argue that strategic planning is an initiator for region building, because it provides a strategic discourse/ vision for regional development and associated urban networks are created to facilitate regional integration. City-region planning in Germany's Berlin-Brandenburg city-region and strategic planning in north-eastern regions of Slovakia provide evidence for the above argument (Arndt et al 2000;Smith 2007).…”

“…They are complementarities to the existing governance scalars. Strategic planning, as well as other spatial planning and regional programmes, has played an important role in region building, because it provides a strategic discourse for regional development (Arndt et al 2000;Herrschel and Newman 2005;Smith 2007). By reviewing the existing relevant literatures, there are two distinct arguments on the role of strategic planning in the making of institutional regions.…”

A study on inter-city cooperation in the Yangtze river delta region, China

“…Then an urban network may be formed further. ''Plan formulation-urban forum-urban network'' was a good working mechanism and an essential process for inter-city cooperation and city-region plan implementation as shown by the case of Berlin-Brandenburg metropolitan region, Germany (Arndt, Gawron, & Jahnke, 2000).…”

The making of new regionalism in the cross-boundary metropolis of Hong Kong–Shenzhen, China

“…The boundaries of regions have become open, fuzzy or elastic, leading to the emergence of cross-border regions across state borders. The dramatic spatial restructuring spurs the emergence of new forms of regional governance, such as urban networks and cross-border partnership, in response to challenges posed by globalization (Arndt, Gawron, & Jahnke, 2000;Heeg, Klagge, & Ossenbrügge, 2003;Katz, 2000). The politicaleconomic geography of world cities extends well beyond the jurisdictional reach of the local state to reconfigure politicale territorial alliances on multiple scales of their host states (Brenner, 1999;Church & Reid, 1996;Vogel et al, 2010).…”