Speaker
Description
It is increasingly understood that the impacts of climate change transcend traditional administrative boundaries, necessitating innovative, cross-boundary policy actions (Leck and Simon, 2013). Emerged in the 1990s as a way to reinterpret the evolving interplay between cities and their surrounding regions, the concept of 'functional areas' may be useful in this concern, indicating a shift in spatial governance and planning dynamics towards models pivoted around rigid, matryoshka-style administrative units towards more flexible, place-based approaches aimed at meeting actual territorial needs (Barca, 2009; Cotella, 2023). More in detail, the functional area aims at tailoring policy actions on the ongoing political, social, economic, cultural, and geographical interdependencies, on the one hand favouring more place-based and context-dependent actions (i.e. the "third level of intervention" outlined in the New Leipzig Charter (European Commission, 2020)), on the other hand, however, raising issues in relation to the legitimacy and accountability of this 'new territorialism' (Swyngedow, 2005; Faludi, 2018).
Developing from the theoretical roots of city-regionalism, this study revisits the foundational concepts of 'functional area', to explore its pertinence and added value to climate adaptation governance. Although the main objective of city-regionalism has emerged as a response to the increasing complexity of urban systems (Davoudi, 2008), early proponents anticipated key elements of the functional area concept. Geddes (1915) recognised the limitations of traditional municipal boundaries in addressing the interconnected social, economic, and environmental dynamics of city regions. He advocated for regional cooperation, integrated planning, and unified governance to effectively manage shared resources and overlapping challenges. Similarly, McKenzie (1933) emphasised that a city is not merely an aggregation of people or buildings but an organised system of activities and functions operating as an economic and social organism. He argued for viewing cities and their surrounding regions through a functional lens, highlighting the evolving relationships between institutions and services.
While these frameworks have proven effective for urban and regional planning, their focus on economic metrics has limited their capacity to address broader sustainability goals, particularly in climate adaptation. This study bridges this gap by examining the intersections between the functional area approach and climate adaptation governance. It introduces the "Functional Adaptation Areas" (FAAs), a territorial framework designed to tackle climate adaptation challenges. Unlike traditional functional areas, FAAs prioritise the spatial realities of climate risks and the adaptive capacities of territories requiring tailored governance models. In order to support this conceptual opening, the contribution presents the preliminary findings of a comparative analysis of 'functional areas' definitions based on an extensive literature review. The analysis aims to analyse the 'functional area' conceptual framework and the relationships that characterise them to determine a set of potential criteria and approaches for mapping FAAs.
References
Barca, Fabrizio (2009) An Agenda for a Reformed Cohesion Policy: A place-based approach to meeting European Union challenges and expectations. Independent report prepared at the request of Danuta Hübner, Commissioner for Regional Policy. [Online] available at: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2009_2014/documents/regi/dv/barca_report_/barca_report_en.pdf
Cotella, Giancarlo (2023) Breaking out of the box – towards functional spatial planning, disP - The Planning Review, 59(3), 4–5.
Davoudi, Simin (2008) Conceptions of the city-region: a critical review, Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers-Urban Design and Planning, 161(2), 51-60.
European Commission (2020) New Leipzig Charter: The transformative power of cities for the common good. [Online] available at: https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/information/publications/brochures/2020/new-leipzig-charter-the-transformative-power-of-cities-for-the-common-good.
Faludi, Andreas (2018) The poverty of territorialism: A neo-medieval view of Europe and European planning. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Geddes, Patrick (1915) Cities in evolution: An introduction to the town planning movement and to the study of civics. London: Williams.
Leck, Hayley Jane and Simon, David (2013) Fostering multiscalar collaboration and co-operation for effective governance of climate change adaptation. Urban Studies, 50(6), 1221–1238.
McKenzie, Roderick Duncan (1933) The metropolitan community. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Swyngedouw, Erik (2005) Governance innovation and the citizen: The Janus face of governance-beyond-the-state, Urban Studies, 42(11), pp. 1991–2006.
| Keywords | Functional area; Functional Adaptation Areas; Climate adaptation; Territorial governance |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | No |
