Spatial planning, metropolitan governance and territorial politics in Europe: Dublin as a case of metro-phobia?

Abstract

The growing concentration of production and population in capital cities in Europe is accompanied by metropolitan governance reform with two policy objectives in mind. Firstly, capital cities are promoted as ‘national champions’ in the context of global territorial competition. Secondly, metropolitan regions are characterised by recurrent crises of ‘governability’ as economic, social, environmental and infrastructural interdependencies escape existing jurisdictional scales. However, this process is highly uneven, reflecting the ways in which cities are embedded in their national contexts. Drawing from the literature on varieties of capitalism, and in particular O’Riain’s perspective on the Irish case, we suggest that in an era when cities are claimed to be acting as ‘national champions’, territorial politics need to be more strongly foregrounded in these discussions. Through an in-depth qualitative case-study of Dublin (Ireland), we argue that while government power may be strongly centralised in the city of Dublin, the spatial entity of Dublin is relatively powerless. Despite a number of recommendations since the 1970s, there has been little will or action to meaningfully devolve power to the city-regional level in any way, contrary to comparative European experiences. The paper illustrates how a central state stranglehold over the Dublin metropolitan area is hampering the efficient governance and sustainable development of the city. These governance constraints at the sub-national level with significant planning implications indicate a reluctance to engage with the metropolitan as a particular territorial scale in Ireland – and a profound fixity in the architecture of the state. We term this metro-phobia.

Irish urban policy: from benign neglect to national strategic planning

“…From an urban perspective the local government reforms outlined in Putting People First: Action Programme for Effective Local Government (Government of Ireland 2012) and legislated for in the Local Government Reform Act 2014 have actually been somewhat regressive as town councils were abolished and merged into larger rural/urban municipal districts, which play a secondary role to the city and county councils. In two of Ireland's second-tier cities, Waterford and Limerick, their city and county councils were amalgamated, which, it is argued, diluted the urban focus of local government (Moore-Cherry and Tomaney 2019). The reforms of local government, while allocating certain new roles to local authorities in the area of community and economic development and providing some new direct funding streams to local authorities, have made little or no impact on strengthening the role for city or metropolitan governance.…”

“…Historically, Ireland has never had an explicit, overarching urban policy, a gap which has often been identified, but has never been filled (Bannon 2007;Moore-Cherry and Tomaney 2019). There have been many urban-related policies, including urban regeneration policies, housing policies and planning policies, that have helped to shape the complexion of Irish cities and towns over the past 35 years, but there has never been a Department or a Minister for urban development.…”

“…Historically, the Irish political class has adopted a rural mindset; contributory factors are argued to include a cultural antipathy to cities due to colonial associations, and the presence of only one large or metropolitan city (Moore-Cherry and Tomaney 2019). The modern Irish planning system was established by the Planning and Development Act in 1963 as part of a recognition of the need to develop a more modern urban society.…”

Spatializing immigrant integration outcomes

“…In discussions of spatial inequality in Ireland, Dublin is often described as the ‘core’ and the Border and West regions as the ‘periphery’ (Rigby et al, 2017). Dublin dominates the Irish space economy, particularly through ‘property development, service industries and the city's disproportionate attractiveness to foreign direct investment’ (Moore‐Cherry & Tomaney, 2018, p. 5). The growth and primacy of Dublin has led to

dramatic spatial and social divides across the country: economically as measured by unemployment for example; socially in terms of access to housing and emigration, particularly from western seaboard counties; and physically in terms of abandoned unfinished developments and quality of life.

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City Deals in the polycentric state: The spaces and politics of Metrophilia in the UK

“…In Scotland, where an urban dimension to social and economic life has always been present through the mixed fortunes of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow, a Scottish Cities Alliance – put in place by the Scottish National Party (SNP) administration – has been working over a number of years to promote urban interests (Maclennan et al, 2018). In Wales, the city-regional narrative represents a sharper break because an “anti-urban bias” can be discerned in its mainstream political culture, reflecting the national myth that the nation is a patchwork of communities, towns and villages (Morgan, 2014: 311; also see Moore-Cherry and Tomaney, 2018, for the Irish context). Nevertheless, following the recommendations of the Haywood report, two city-regions have been identified for Swansea Bay and the Cardiff Capital Region (Welsh Government, 2012).…”