Competitive metropolises economic transformation, labour market and competition in european agglomerations

The main objective of work package 3 was the updating of the COMET case studies within the morphological agglomeration delimitation as defined by N.U.R.E.C. 1994 (Network on Urban Research in the European Community) and their implementation in a Geographical Information System (GIS). This means the delimitation and presentation of the agglomeration areas on satellite images as well as the preparation of black-and-white-maps showing all included smallest administrative units. Secondly the case-study area of Vienna had to be delimited as in the original data base made by N.U.R.E.C. Austria was not included due to the fact that it still was not part of the European Community in 1994. The method to delimit the case study areas of COMET in a unitary way was developed since 1989 by the Network on Urban Research in the European Community (N.U.R.E.C.). The criteria for this delimitation are based on morphological definitions of "building" and "contiguous built-up area" and are applied to the smallest administrative units. In 1994 330 European agglomerations with at least 100.000 inhabitants were delimited by the N.U.R.E.C. method (Atlas of Agglomerations in the European Union, Part of an Integrated Observation System, Vol. I-III, Duisburg 1994). The COMET-partners task within work package 3 consisted in updating their agglomeration areas on basis of the latest satellite image. In the case of Vienna, the N.U.R.E.C. delimitation was not carried out in 1994 as Austria did not belong to the European Union. Therefore, the Vienna scientific partner could not refer to the 1994-delimitation. In the case of Brussels the delimitation by N.U.R.E.C. meant an agglomeration area including Antwerp and Gent as well as Kortrijk due to Belgian settlement policy. The scientific partners of COMET therefore modified the morphological method and delimited their case study area following the criteria of population density, too. To avoid the exclusion of important areas with driving forces some partners considered the addition of an agglomeration delimitation fringe. The fringe is the area, which is situated inside a distance of 10km from the N.U.R.E.C. delimitation border. It also refers to the administrative basic unit. Administration units, which are touched by the 10-km-borderline are included if either more than 50% of their area are located inside the belt or if more than 50% of their inhabitants live inside the belt of 10km. The basis for all following work packages is the N.U.R.E.C. delimitation. The fringe gives additional opportunity to analyse the case study areas. With the updating of the N.U.R.E.C. delimitations and the integration of Vienna, a base for comparative research was set. The delimitation in a standardised manner offered the opportunity to refer to the same areas within each agglomeration. Based on the delimitation the terms "Inner City" (defined by each partner), "Core city" (administration boundaries of the cities) and "agglomeration area" (N.U.R.E.C.-delimitation) were set as a standard for every case study area. All future work packages refer to these basic units. As the result of the project contains a simulation model for agglomerations, which are not involved in the project, the clear delimitation of the agglomeration is needed in order to apply the model. At least, the facts that lead to the morphological methods may be described as follows. First of all, the concept to delimit agglomeration areas with the help of the "Densely built-up area" is officially accepted by the United Nations as well as by the European Commission. Dealing with satellite images, the method is an efficient one and allows simplifying the updating of agglomeration delimitation. Many European countries are dealing with the morphological method, and in a long-term view it will be handled in all large research projects on comparative urban research. Secondly, the traditional functional gravity concepts of urban development and urban structure are heavily criticized. New concepts (e.g. Edge Cities, Zwischenstadt) lead to a new perspective of flows within an agglomeration area, whereas morphological criteria reflect very well the densification process overwhelming former open spaces. Especially the GIS-based delimitation gives the opportunity to represent the results in various maps. The delimitation of the agglomeration area and their different parts like inner city, rest of the core city and suburban area are also the basis for comparative research regarding sub-urbanisation processes, the business enquiry etc.

The Handbook for Practitioners addresses the end and governmental users of the project itself. During the process of the project it became apparent that the language of scientists and the language of governmental and end users considerably differ. Also the interests of research differ, scientists put more emphasis on the scientific approach and methods, whereas the governmental and end-users are more interested in results and recommendations. They also frequently asked for "arguments" in order to use them in discussions or plans. The Handbook therefore is a survey of the results of COMET in an easily readable way. It contains an introduction into each case study area including the map showing the delimitation of the agglomeration according to N.U.R.E.C., an overview of the large-scale projects and the conclusion of their comparison, the main results of the business enquiry and the classification of centres within the agglomeration areas including the dynamics of the tertiary sector in all case study areas. Furthermore, the Handbook provides a CD-ROM including the final reports of the project and thematic maps.

1. Objectives The second database is the result of an enquiry of enterprises in the case study areas. The objectives were to find out location preferences and requirements and also motives either for a change of locations to the suburbs or for a remaining in the city centre. The locational pattern of different branches of the service sector was analysed. The main objective was a survey of the location expectations of different branches of the service sector. In connection with the knowledge about the decisive reasons for moving to another location the enquiry gave the basis for a conception of measures in order to secure a functional variety in the city centre as well as in the suburbs. On the other hand it was the basis to give details about determining factors of the agglomeration area regarding the competitiveness of city centres and suburban areas. 2. Methodology and scientific achievements For the realisation of the Working Package the following major steps were conducted: -The questionnaire was developed in various revisional steps in cooperation with all partners; it was then pre-tested by all partners. -For the calculation of the number of interviews per branch and per zone an investigation of the total number of enterprises according to branch and location was conducted by all partners. -The enquiry and the subsequent entry of data into an SPSS-based databank were done in January and February 2003 (1,232 interviews with enterprises in all cities). -The interviews with experts were done in February and March 2003 in all cities (64 interviews in all cities). -The databases from all partners were checked for inconsistencies, wrong or missing data entries and were revised by the responsible partners following guidelines from the team in Berlin. -The statistical analyses and creation of figures etc. was done by the COMET-team in Berlin. Because of their local knowledge the respective partner did the interpretation of their cities. The comparison and the comprising evaluation of all cities as well as the final "Compendium of location factors" was done by the Berlin-team. The enquiry of the enterprises presents one of the main work packages. To analyse the demands of key branches regarding their choices of location is the main precondition to elaborate planning tools resp. recommendations about the use of planning tools. Knowing and evaluating the moves of enterprises into and within a region is the basis for a sustainable planning process and an effective and purposeful control of the land use within an agglomeration. For City Councils and municipalities and their daily life the most decisive issue of choices of enterprises and their location choices are the finances. For this reason the City Council and the surrounding municipalities usually compete with each other. Not rarely this competition results in earmarking of land for development and therefore extensive land use which is in contrast to sustainable and ecological goals. Knowing the reasons which make enterprises move from one location to another gives the opportunity for better co-operation, mutual planning and thus on the one hand a better basis for negotiations with the enterprises and on the other hand an improved offer of public infrastructure for the enterprises (such as public transport, improved co-operation with the administration etc.). 3. Results The most striking result regarding the question about "changes of location" is that most of the enterprises that moved within the agglomerations in the last ten years did not change the zone. That means, that sub-urbanisation took place only to some extend. There is almost no dynamic from the inner city to the suburban belt. The dynamic that can be noticed stays within the same zone or aims at the adjacent zone. However, a slight migration from the inner city towards the rest of the core city and to the suburban area can be noticed in all of the case study areas, also a counter migration from the outer parts towards the city centres. The importance of the individual location factors as well as the different influencing factors is described in the actual compendium of location factors. The ranking of the respective locational factors by each case study shows the differences between the case studies with regard to the relative importance of these factors. The enterprises in the different case studies evaluated the importance of the location factors for the past locational choices in a nearly identical manner. The ten most important location factors in the average of all cities are in the following descending order: local traffic (roads), parking space, proximity to customers, local traffic (bus / train), road connection, real estate and land prices, prestige / image of the location, market entry / potential, qualified labour supply, availability of industrial & office areas.

The research focuses on multi-purpose projects that intend to create new urban space in the context of emergent urban networks. The selected projects not only have a major economic function in connecting the region with international networks of modern service economies, but they also are to interfere intensely with social and cultural purposes and the care for environmental sustainability in order to establish new urban space characterised by qualitative use value instead of the exchange value of purely commercial space. For this sake, the decision-making of the projects has to be framed as a strategy of democratic and innovative integration. The present investigation addresses a double institutional challenge to the framing of project decision-making: the need of multi-level connectedness and of integrative innovation. The aim of investigation is to analyse the following sets of innovative dimensions in the framing of large-scale urban projects and their context-dependent combination: Aims: -Connecting the regional service economy with international economic networks (the purpose of regional competitiveness); -Condensation of cultural, social and economic flows of activity in diverse and high standard, multi-nodal networks; -Balancing new urban patterns by multiple purposed development of mixed land use; -Shaping the physical conditions for balanced spatial patterns; -Resulting in new diverse use values of urban space instead of the exchange values of purely commercial space; Context conditions: -Multiplication of urban space; -Fragmentation of urban interests, inequality and conflicting coalitions of power; -Different sets of institutional conditions; Strategies/ actions: -Convergence of economic and political action (in concept-building and in strategic alliance); -Coordination of public interests over partisans; -Strategies of active democratic innovation; -Practicing interconnected multi-level strategies; -Cutting through sector boundaries. Methodology: The case studies of the large-scale urban projects are prepared in the context of the COMET consortium with full support of academic researchers and professional end users from the seven metropolitan regions involved. Within these urban regions the following indicators are used to select the case studies of large-scale projects. -The cases must contain an area-based concentration of sophisticated service sector development (tertiary or quaternary services), which connects the regional economy with global economic networks. The volume of economic activity should be large enough to ensure a substantive impact on the competitiveness of the region. The quantitative indicator of at least 20.000 aimed work places on location gives a more precise indication of the involved economic volume. A further indicator into the standard and the physical condensation of economic activity is the requirement of minimal 12 workplaces per hectare; -The area should represent a critical mass of location potential such as to bear a considerable impact on the spatial and environmental organisation of the region. For this reason the location conditions of the area should be capable of supporting high level infrastructure connections and of combining multiple urban activities of different sorts; -The selected projects may be in different stages of development, but the actual stage should be advanced enough to ensure a conscientious analysis of the evolution of framing concepts and coalitions of decision-making. A structured questionnaire has served as guide to the analysis of the case studies. Furthermore, some eighty interviews have been held with key figures in the seven city-regions in order to deepen the understanding of the analytical findings. The interviewees are selected from the private sector, the governmental sector, the non-governmental sector (i.e. functional organizations, or quango's: quasi- administrative non-governmental agencies) related to urban economic and spatial development, such as railway companies, infrastructure management agencies, port authorities, land management agencies, housing associations), and finally well informed persons of civil society (academic circles, press, community groups).

The teaching tool is elaborated in order to provide universities and high schools with appropriate material about topics of European metropolises. Their objective is to improve the information about and the impact of metropolitan problems and solutions. The teaching tool is constituted as an e-learning course, with cross-links, learning paths, and knowledge diagnostics and can in the future be implemented to the COMET homepage in order to serve universities, high-schools, teachers and scholars.

This basic comparison is meant to give an overview about the basic economic situation and development of the case study cities concerning tertiarisation and suburbanisation as well as trends. Most of the analysis is based in the interpretation of employment statistics for Brussels, Copenhagen and Vienna. Statistics were available for these three cities and, to a certain extent, for Strasbourg.

The COMET-homepage (http://www.comet.ac.at/) serves two aims. 1) a public web space: This main entrance part of the COMET homepage provides background information on the project, contact information and links to the COMET-partners as well as the cluster project which is going to start. A public chat room for discussions was intended, but finally not realised due to security concerns by the server provider. From the public part of the homepage, websites of partner institutions can be reached, as well as there is a direct e-mail link to the respective contact person. To increase the number of visitors to the COMET homepage, relevant institutions were asked to install links. Some institutions already met the request. 2) a restricted web space open to project partners only and protected by a password: This part of the homepage aims at a common understanding of the network partners, an exchange of ideas and data. It is used to provide project partners with all relevant information, running from e-mail addresses of all persons working on COMET, to links to important information of the EC, download possibilities for handouts, background information, minutes, etc.

The principle objective of WP2 was the discussion and definition of a scientific framework to handle the whole course of research. The central research terms had to be defined, as well as the different methods concerning the scientific approach within the work packages. The research questions were fixed and central research hypotheses were formulated. Another main objective was the elaboration of a report about the state-of-the-art in European urban research related to the contributing nations: Germany, Austria, Denmark, Spain, Belgium, France and The Netherlands. During the kick-off-meeting in Vienna the members of the Scientific Committee decided to include the scientific contributions of Scandinavia (done by the Danish scientific partner), of the United States and Great Britain as well as of South Tyrol (both done by the Austrian scientific partner). The definition of the central research terms took place in the closed room of the COMET-homepage and resulted in the formulation of the project glossary. Some terms were proposed by the scientific director/work package leader and some were proposed by partners. The partners contributed to the discussion either by writing commentaries in the homepage or during the symposia in Berlin (end of June 2002). The glossary can be found on the COMET-homepage within the Report on the Complete Conceptual Framework and will be amended if required. In order to update to the state-of-the-art the scientific partners answered the main questions referring to the main national research topics, the disciplines working on that theme, the interfaces to other areas of research, the trends in current research, the methods, the distinction between national and international research, the main institutions occupied with that theme. Another objective of the work package was the installation of the central bibliography on the web page. All partners got an input mask in order to enter the national contributions. The literature list was firstly compiled within the Conceptual Framework, but is going to be completed continuously until the end of the project. Additionally a Thesaurus was elaborated in order to facilitate the search for references. Both the literature list and the thesaurus is available to all partners in the internal part of the COMET-website.

1. Governmental capacity in the metropolitan areas The analysis of governmental capacity in the metropolitan areas is based on a typology of the formal/legal structure of government in the metropolitan study areas. The main objective is to identify the specific patterns of governmental relationships that define the context for planning norms and frameworks in the metropolitan study areas. Such patterns are the result of: a. the specific forms of central-local inter-governmental relationships defined by the constitutional system; b. the specific forms of government devised for addressing metropolitan issues. In line with recent literature on the subject, the following basic types have been distinguished: - unitary city-states (Berlin, Vienna), - hierarchical dualism (Brussels and Barcelona), - dualism with 'mediating position' of meso-level government (Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Strasbourg). According to such a typology, the governmental capacity in the metropolitan study-areas is further analysed in its specificities, with particular attention to the financial capacity and the features of the political environment. The differentiation of meso-level/local governmental relationships is useful in structuring the different sorts of challenges to spatial and economic strategies of metropolitan planning and coordination. The cases also demonstrate that the administrative boundaries nowhere match the dynamic spatial development in metropolitan areas. As a result polycentric and associative initiatives of metropolitan coordination are abundant everywhere often resulting in sub-optimal synergy. The challenge of spatial and economic planning strategies is to enable more concurrency by connecting the different spheres of action prudently. 2. Economic and spatial development strategies in the metropolitan study-areas. An important task of this review of 'norms and frameworks of planning' is an evaluation of the influence of metropolitan government structures and practices on the effective integration between economic and spatial development strategies. It is by no surprise, hence, although by no means granted, that some of the features previously highlighted are reflected in the nature of planning activity with regard to the spatial determinants of economic competitiveness. The most striking example is given by what we have defined 'fragmented' and 'dualistic' metropolitan areas (Brussels, Berlin, Vienna, Amsterdam, Barcelona), where still the basic constraint to effective economic and spatial development strategies is represented by difficulties in inter-jurisdictional co-operation. In at least two of our study-areas (Strasbourg, Copenhagen), the nature of economic and spatial development policies for the metropolitan area are affected by the presence of intermediary metropolitan institutions endowed with competencies and capabilities which extend inter-jurisdictional co-operation and public-private partnership to strategic issues of metropolitan relevance. 3. Strengths and weaknesses of government in the metropolitan study-areas. The third and final section addresses a summary evaluation of findings regarding the 'governmental capacity' of our metropolitan study-areas with regard to the steering of economic and spatial development processes. Bringing together the results of analyses from different areas that affect the 'governmental capacity' of metropolitan areas allows advancing an interpretive typification of local conditions for policy-making. This represents a background for understanding the actual role played by norms and frameworks of planning in policy-making, which - in addition to the analysis of current spatial-morphological trends - is deemed to be a necessary condition for understanding the context for effective strategies to handle the consequences of tertiarisation and sub-urbanisation of services in these areas and for assessing the transferability of good practices. The most problematic situations - and those which most directly resemble classical issue of metropolitan government - are those represented by metropolitan areas which, in several of the fields analysed, reproduce a pattern of 'fragmented' or 'dualistic' relationships in all of these three dimensions (Berlin, Brussels, Vienna). In the cases mentioned, a peculiar aspect of this core-periphery dualism in absence of intermediary metropolitan institutions is the self-confinement of inter-governmental partnership to an abstract level of joint strategy formation, which bears the features of formal 'inter-institutional diplomacy' rather than of a commitment to operational initiatives. This results in particular in the difficulty to address co-operation at the level of small-scale processes, most notably at the urban fringe, that incrementally contribute to defining development trends in the agglomeration as a whole.

The Leaflets for investors show some main economic results of each case study area in a short way. They include some results of the business enquiry about location factors, information about the project and information about the case study areas. They serve the governmental and end users to disseminate to investors in order to inform them about the different locations within the city, the existing mix of branches in the case study area.

Objectives This WP aims at elaborating typologies that synthesize information and knowledge brought together in the COMET project. Main research questions are: - What are the types of spaces existing in metropolitan areas and how do they relate to the types of space desired by enterprises. What is the relationship between the two types of space. - What are the trends and patterns of spatial economic development of the tertiary sector in urban areas. - How have cities reacted economically / geographically to the challenges of urban tertiarisation. - What are the issues (problems) addressed in current urban planning concerning tertiarisation. Methodology and scientific achievements related to Work packages including contribution from partners Firstly, the WP6 enquiry data was analysed with the help of principal component analyses (PCA), both for all cities taken together and for each city individually. These analyses were then submitted to the respective partners for validation and comment. The result is a report, which develops a potential typology of what has been baptised the "ideological spaces", i.e. the types of spaces service enterprises demand. The report comments on the relationships between "real" economic space and "ideological spaces" of service enterprises and their relevance for urban planning. Secondly, the focus has been set on the identification of processes of emergence and consolidation of new configuration of centralities in metropolitan areas which are setting up new relationships between the inner city and new centres of service activities in out-of-core or suburban locations. This wave of change intensely challenges the traditional historically asserted concentric shape of urbanisation in European metropolitan areas. Analysis results have been elaborated from a comparison of the dynamics at play in the seven case studies of the project. In order to fulfil recommendations expressed by end- and governmental users during several project's meetings, the analysis has first been built upon the elaboration of synthetic, qualitative-in-nature and easy-to-compare cartographic pictures of the spatial patterns and evolutions of service activities in the seven case studies. The analysis has subsequently built on the comparison of these schematic maps in order to bring out relevant findings on the spatial processes that are currently reshaping European metropolitan areas. Results have been consolidated in a typology of centres at the intra-metropolitan scale. Finally, these findings are synthesised in order to fuel a reflection on how frameworks and practices of urban planning could possibly be adapted. Socio-economic relevance and policy implication The analyses provide a background for the policy recommendations and elaboration of planning tools. On the basis of the types extracted from the information, paths and potential actions can be defined for different types of cities and different types of strategies. The results could also help a city's planners to situate both their city and their strategies within a theoretical and comparative context, allowing a broader view of the potential paths their city and its economy might follow.

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