Speakers
Description
Strategic regional planning is driven and implemented by a network of institutional actors with diverse interests embedded in a specific institutional setting (Purkarthofer et al., 2021). This contribution examines the relationship between such planning actors and their respective institutional context, particularly regarding the impact of regulatory instruments on decision-making processes and the orientation of regional spatial planning.
The TEMPUS case study project focuses on the Emscher transformation, a long-term infrastructural and ecological process to convert a river formerly used as an open sewer in Europe’s largest industrial region into a near-natural watercourse. This serves as an example to investigate the relationship between regulatory instruments such as the European Water Framework Directive and the strategic decision-making of institutional actors that shaped the outcome of the river conversion.
The primary focus lies on the water management association Emschergenossenschaft, whose structure and actions are significantly affected by legal frameworks. Acting as a governance instrument, the association operates within an institutional context, enabling the realization of complex regional strategy formation (Wiechmann, 2008). One objective is the further development of the process model (ibid.) to explain such strategizing processes. In these processes of strategic planning, conflicting spatial interests across various levels, scales, and territorial boundaries are mediated and reconciled (Mäntysalo et al. 2019). On the one hand, the Emschergenossenschaft is a product of the institutional context that created it; on the other hand, it functions as an autonomous entity and a driver of transformative action (Zimmermann, 2023). How regulatory instruments influence regional development depends on the extent to which organizations comply with and implement these regulations.
This contribution examines the impact of specific regulatory instruments, particularly the legal framework governing water and wastewater management, on actors’ behavior within the strategic regional planning process of the Emscher transformation. As a key outcome, it aims to formulate hypotheses on the interplay between the institutional setting—especially regulatory instruments—and actors’ strategic decision-making in the context of the Emscher transformation.
References
Mäntysalo, Raine; Tuomisaari, Johanna; Granqvist, Kaisa; Kanninen, Vesa (2019) The Strategic Incrementalism of Lahti Master Planning: Three Lessons. Planning Theory & Practice 20 (4), pp. 555–572.
Purkarthofer, Eva; Humer, Alois; Mäntysalo, Raine (2021) Regional planning: an arena of interests, institutions and relations. Regional Studies, 55 (5), pp. 773–777. DOI: 10.1080/00343404.2021.1875128.
Wiechmann, Thorsten (2008) Planung und Adaption. Strategieentwicklung in Regionen, Organisationen und Netzwerken. Dortmund: Rohn.
Zimmermann, K. (2023) Water infrastructure as a driver of regionalization in the Ruhr, Germany. Territory, Politics, Governance, 12(6), pp. 765–782. doi: 10.1080/21622671.2023.2180426.
| Keywords | Strategic Regional Planning; River Conversion; Institutional Setting; Institutional Actors |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | No |
