Governance and Development Corporations - The Politics of Urban Regeneration in Britain and Finland
KURUNMÄKI, KIMMO (2001)
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KURUNMÄKI, KIMMO
2001
Valtio-oppi - Political Science
Yhteiskuntatieteellinen tiedekunta - Faculty of Social Sciences
Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2001-09-05Tiivistelmä
The common understanding of urban planning is that it is plan-making technical formulations of plans, designing the future use of land done and managed by the local planning authority. This study shows that urban planning is much more than a technical instrument for local government policy implementation. It is a broader system of urban policies, strategies and political culture at the local, national and international levels, incorporating public and private sector interests. Often, the decisive policy formulations and planning decisions are made in this ‘hard background’ of planning. The features of urban planning ‘outside’ the formal plan-making procedures are poorly understood. Therefore, it is very important to study the political aspects of urban planning and thus to make the planning ‘environment’ more understandable.
Urban regeneration physical, economic and social change of built areas is a ‘sub-field’ of planning that is often legitimised by such concepts and practices as ‘public-private partnership’, ‘development area’ or ‘urban development corporation’. They are specific policies and tools in regeneration that widens the conceptualisation of planning from plan-making to policy formulation. Their legitimacy is tried to create by establishing them in the national legislation and by formalising the processes in the ‘hard background’.
In this study, the Finnish system of ‘development area’ and the British system of ‘urban development corporation’ are analysed, together with a case study of a British development corporation. In order to clarify the political aspects of those systems, following problems, for instance, are tried to answer:
- How is the use of such tools as ‘development area’ and ‘urban development corporation’ in urban regeneration legitimised?
- What kind of urban politics is driven by the policies of ‘development area’ and ‘urban development corporation’?
The discourse analytical examination of the arguments for those systems uncovers the legitimising role of the politics of economic development. The rhetorical figures of factualisation and categorisation are used in obtaining the legitimacy.
The development and formalisation of new public-private development organisations and other development measures in urban planning and regeneration express the convergence of roles between the public and private sectors, as well as of politics and economy, in urban politics. In the situation of mixed roles, new processes of urban governance emerge.
Urban regeneration physical, economic and social change of built areas is a ‘sub-field’ of planning that is often legitimised by such concepts and practices as ‘public-private partnership’, ‘development area’ or ‘urban development corporation’. They are specific policies and tools in regeneration that widens the conceptualisation of planning from plan-making to policy formulation. Their legitimacy is tried to create by establishing them in the national legislation and by formalising the processes in the ‘hard background’.
In this study, the Finnish system of ‘development area’ and the British system of ‘urban development corporation’ are analysed, together with a case study of a British development corporation. In order to clarify the political aspects of those systems, following problems, for instance, are tried to answer:
- How is the use of such tools as ‘development area’ and ‘urban development corporation’ in urban regeneration legitimised?
- What kind of urban politics is driven by the policies of ‘development area’ and ‘urban development corporation’?
The discourse analytical examination of the arguments for those systems uncovers the legitimising role of the politics of economic development. The rhetorical figures of factualisation and categorisation are used in obtaining the legitimacy.
The development and formalisation of new public-private development organisations and other development measures in urban planning and regeneration express the convergence of roles between the public and private sectors, as well as of politics and economy, in urban politics. In the situation of mixed roles, new processes of urban governance emerge.