Global

Urban Sprawl: Challenges for European Cities and Countryside

David Ludlow

University of the West England - Bristol

Milan

March 2nd 2012

sources

• European environment agency reports - urban sprawl in Europe and quality-of-life

in Europe (European Environment Agency 2011 - 2014)

• European Topic Centre -- Spatial Information Analysis (ETC- SIA) -- Scientific

support for European Environment Agency urban programme - integrated urban

monitoring in Europe and European landscape planning (European Environment Agency

2011 - 2014)

• urbanApi - urban planning tools and intelligence for integrated urban governance (FP7

DG INFSO, European Commission, 2011 - 2014)

• urban-NEXUS - Furthering Strategic Urban Research Coordination Action (FP7 DG

Research, European Commission, 2011 - 2014)

• SeGi – Services of general Interest - Indicators and Perspectives for Services of

General Interest in Territorial Cohesion and Development (ESPON Applied Research

Project 2010-2013)

• FOCI - Future Orientations for Cities: cities and urban agglomerations -

functionality and opportunities for European competitiveness and cohesion (ESPON

Applied Research Project 2008-2011)

• LUMASEC - Land Use Management for Sustainable European Cities (URBACT II

Operational Programme 2008 – 2010)

overview

• urban development by far the most rapidly expanding land use

change in Europe

• positive effects as a locomotive for economic development

• serious negative social and environmental consequences - urban

sprawl

• better balanced and sustainable development requires more policy

attention at the regional level and on the urban-rural interface

• EU can promote an integrated rural-urban development by targeting

its policies and funding towards peri-urban areas.

definitions

• peri-urban – the space around urban areas which merges into the

rural landscape - larger peri-urban areas can include towns and

villages within an urban agglomeration

• urban area + peri-urban area = Functional Urban Area

• direct impacts of uncontrolled expansion of built development are

focused on urban sprawl – defined by the European

Environment Agency as ‘unplanned incremental urban

development, characterised by a low density mix of land uses on the

urban fringe’

dynamics of change

• Current and projected development trends are likely to bring rapid changes to peri-

urban areas:

• Globalisation and innovation: economic development often takes peri-urban land as

the location for large scale industry, science and business parks, roads and other urban

infrastructure;

• Demographic change: shrinking of some regions, the ageing of others, and one-

sided migration tendencies - challenges to the population stability of peri-urban areas,

lead to Europe-wide restructurings of population, and widen gap between over

and under-populated areas;

• Climate change: impacts combined with urbanisation and fragmentation of peri-urban

areas resulting in flooding, soil erosion and habitat loss. Energy shortages will change

the viability of peri-urban transport – search for renewable sources will claim peri-

urban land use.

• urban expansion: driven by economic growth and restructuring, new

employment opportunities, growth of transport infrastructure, population growth and

household change, as well as a decline of traditional rural economies

Impacts on Natural

& Protected Areas

One, two, three

Drivers of urban land development (1990-2000)

for cities greater than 50.000 inhabitants

pressures

• European areas classified as ‘peri-urban’ have the same amount of

built-up land as urban areas, but are only half as densely populated

• growing rapidly across Europe - built development in peri-urban areas

is growing at four times this rate - risk of increasing urban sprawl

• often fast changing, with complex patterns of land use and

landscape, fragmented between local or regional boundaries - place

of innovation and increasing employment in the service and IT

sectors: 25% of peri-urban regions are classified as ‘highly innovative

• ‘hot spots’ – regions with the largest share of peri-urban land use and

generally the highest rates of peri-urban growth - mainly

concentrated in the central Pentagon area (i.e. between London,

Paris, Milan, Munich and Hamburg), but also in parts of central and

eastern Europe.

impacts and opportunities

• many impacts of rapid expansion - sprawl, with increasing problems of social

segregation, urban decline, wasted land, and dependency on oil for transport

• urbanisation and land fragmentation, loss of habitats and amenity values in

the peri-urban

• even without the expansion of built development, there are urban pressures

on peri-urban areas: housing shortages, transport congestion, decline of

landscape quality, economic restructuring and social change.

• So peri-urban areas suffer from urban pressures

• but - also gain from proximity to urban areas, markets and cultures, work

places, quality of life, and innovation

• opportunities in peri-urban for improved quality of life, green

infrastructure, better linkages between city and countryside, and more

sustainable urban and rural development

Flooding or building in the

floodplain …

… natural

… and developed

The river Rhine has already lost four-fifth of its natural floodplains. Similarly, at the river Elbe only 15% of the natural floodplains remain.

…location of housing development

CO2…..climate is changing….impacts!

policy issues

• Food and farming

• Food security EU priorities – but critical interface between

agriculture and peri-urban land use change.

• regions with strong agriculture sectors - conflicts often arise where

urban expansion destabilises rural economies, and land markets.

• great potential, where peri-urban farming provides local or high value

products, in a more sustainable multifunctional landscape.

• Future trends will depend on biotechnology, on climate change,

water and soil, on fertilizers and the possibility of ‘Peak oil’.

• policy agenda aims to turn the conflicts between agriculture and

peri-urban into opportunities – employment and quality of life in

diverse, productive, multifunctional landscapes.

Agricultural activity is displaced…

… to less productive land

policy issues

• Landscape, ecology, recreation, and tourism

• Large parts of the European environment are under pressure from

peri-urban development. This affects many types of ‘ecosystem

services’, including biodiversity, water supply, flood control, soil

quality, landscape aesthetics and the capacity for climate

change adaptation.

• The concept of ‘ecosystem services’ is a key theme for peri-urban

policy. Moreover, many of Europe’s wide variety of landscapes –

places for recreation and regional identity – are endangered

by further urban growth

• policy agenda - multifunctional landscapes, sustainable resource

management, conservation of habitats and cultural landscapes.

• challenges – how to manage and fund ‘ecosystem services’ in a

fast changing peri-urban context?

policy issues

• Economy and employment

• Economic growth and restructuring - ‘pull’ of the global economy -

‘push’ of urban overcrowding and congestion

• strong pressures for the relocation of economic activity to peri-urban

zones

• capital accumulation dynamic - higher profits at lower risk than in

urban areas by landowners and developers, entrepreneurs and

investors, and by house builders and house owners

• rural economic change - decreasing labour intensity of agriculture

combines with the influx of more affluent workers and

retired households to rural areas

• Policy agenda - aim at capacity building for restructuring,

diversification, and better urban-rural linkages, especially for

entrepreneurialism, finance and markets.

policy issues

• Population and migration

• Population changes in peri-urban areas contrasts

• central and eastern EU, many rural areas depopulate, while urban

areas experience modernisation, some with population decline

and others with growth - western EU, many rural areas are re-

populated by urban-based residents

• In both cases, peri-urban change is about social and economic

restructuring, as much as direct urban expansion

• policy agenda - rural development should sustain the rural

social structure and balance - communities balanced in age, class,

ethnicity and occupations

policy issues

• Housing and communities

• Social and cultural preferences for housing location - powerful driver

for spatial segregation and social fragmentation

• Most peri-urban development is due to families and older groups, and

most housing in-migration is due to high income and education groups

- encourages urban sprawl, gated communities and the removal of

local community services from the peri-urban areas.

• Future - key drivers of change: rapid changes in lifestyles and housing

location choices, teleworking, dual career households, as well as

flexible household and retirement arrangements.

• policy agenda - social inclusion, integration and cohesion - Housing

locations should be accessible, environmentally sustainable and

available for all social groups, as well as being integrated into the

surrounding landscape.

policy issues

• Mobility and transport

• low density urban sprawl causes longer commuting distances,

increased infrastructure costs and less viable public transport systems

• Improvements to infrastructure can reduce congestion and

emissions, but often exclude the poor and those without cars, while

encouraging longer distance commuting.

• policy agenda - polycentric settlement pattern - multimodal

and trans-modal systems require larger public investments.

Managing change

• problem of uncontrolled urban sprawl can

be seen as a market failure

• society benefit - coordinating development, but

often lacks the means to do so

• problem not only of urban expansion, but urban

shrinkage (particularly in older industrial areas)

What kind of quality of life ?

What kind impact of land use on ecosystems ?

Who decides?

Who decides?

• Market forces?

• Developers?

• Residents/stakeholders?

• Local authorities?

• Regional authorites?

• National bodies?

• EU impact?

Problems - governance - rural-urban region level

• Problem - fragmentation between government units, and a

‘governance gap’ for decision making and investment - issues

• problems with the capacity of the formal government system

and planning policy regime to control land use changes in most EU

member states - level of organisation, the level of democratic

control, and the level of fragmentation of governance structures

• spatial planning - lack of legal strength and capacity for cross-border

coordination, and lack of influence on infrastructure provision.

• financial and taxation mechanisms often create incentives for urban

sprawl, either directly (e.g. linking public support to

population number) or indirectly (through local tax competition).

Solution - multilevel agenda - local to national and European

• EU policies rarely take the peri-urban sphere into account, and the

peri-urban (often cross-cutting administrative boundaries)

rarely makes the best use of policies and funding.

• Many peri-urban areas qualify for either urban or rural

development funding from various sectoral budgets. But this is rarely

focused on place-specific requirements, and there is a hidden risk of

uncoordinated development and urban sprawl.

• So need to refocus policy to address this:

• At the EU level, this applies particularly to the Structural and

Cohesion Funds, as well as the CAP and various

transport/ environment policies.

• Around 20% of the total Structural Funds in the Programming period

2007 – 2013 will be spent in rural areas, and around 32% in urban

areas. The Structural Funds and associated programmes have an

indirect but powerful effect on peri-urban development

Integrated approach to challenges

• Challenges cannot be addressed individually;

interrelations and contradictions need to be properly understood

• Challenges do not respect administrative borders

need to be formulated to concur with overall objective of sustainable territorial development with liveable cities across Europe

Source: Alessandro Balducci

=> Governance is the key challenge

government and governance for integrated development

• A strong and democratic government is the precondition for the management of

market forces for public benefit.

• In peri-urban areas - government at the local and rural-urban region level needs to

focus on its effectiveness and outcomes:

• local government financing system and source of revenue - should avoid fiscal

incentives that lead to wasteful competition for houses or investments;

• local taxation system - should encourage balanced development for business

and households, and avoid tax incentives for urban sprawl;

• Sectoral policies and subsidies for infrastructure, transport, housing or agriculture -

should aim at diverse and resilient patterns of development, for instance, with multi-

modal transport planning;

• Spatial planning and regulatory coordination of development, land use change - aiming

for restrictions and positive enabling of polycentric diversified activities;

• agenda for more responsive ‘bottom-up’ forms of governance – to work alongside, not

replace formal policies - ‘new institutional’ partnership models for collaboration

between public, private and community sectors - ‘ecosystem services’ and social

reinvestment.

government and governance for integrated development

• The agenda for managing the peri-urban is multilevel: from the local

to the rural-urban region, to the national and European levels.

• Policies and programmes at the European level – move from being

part of the problem to being part of the solution.

• new agenda for EU policies and funds with any kind of linkage to

spatial development and territorial cohesion - refocus and retarget

EU policy and investment to include for its effects on peri-

urban change.

• core objectives of EU policies and funding programmes should include

support for territorial ‘integrated development models for peri-

urban regions’

New flexible action space (software policies: governance)

Metropolitan areas

Administrative cities

Central states

Provinces

European Union

Neighbourhoods

Transborder & macro-regions

Old fixed action space (hardware policies:

government)

Adapted from Jacquier, 2010

From government to

flexible multi-scalar governance

Example - Defining the case

• the cities of Dresden and Prague

• Problems and processes: • Metropolitan and regional development

• New development axis – motorway Dresden-Prague

• Elbe River basin – flood risk and growing exposure

• the Transport Corridor

Example - Development scenarios

“Business as

usual”

scenario

Built-up

expansion

scenario

Motorway

impact

scenario

Residential

land demands

Same trend as

for the end of

90’s

Demand

Increases by

50%

Demand

increases over

50%

Industrial,

commerce and

services

Industrial area

remain the

same,

commercial &

service area

trend is the

same as for the

end of 90’s

Industrial area

grows slightly

Demand for

commercial and

services’ land

use doubles

Industrial area

grows slightly

Demand for

commercial and

services’ land

use doubles

Importance of

motorways

Low Medium High

DRESDEN-PRAGUE SIMULATION RESULTS

Legend

arable land

pasture

agricultural mosaic

forest

shrub and grass

sparce vegetation

wetland

abandoned

residential I

residential II

residential III

residential IV

residential blocks

industrial

commerce

services

construction

restricted area

road, rails

port

airport

mine

urban green

water

managing peri-urban - integrated development models

• Spatial strategy – policy framework at the level of the rural-urban

region to coordinate peri-urban development and low-impact

infrastructure, and to set up controls and incentives to avoid sprawl.

Focus on the potential for zoning, such as green belts, to be positive

catalysts more than restrictions;

• Economic strategy – peri-urban diversification and resilience of local

economies and employment involving rural diversification and

multifunctional land-based activity, as well as urban regeneration

with improved urban-rural links. Focus on the social economy in the

peri-urban, and on mobilising hidden resources;

• Social strategy – housing and service provision to encourage

balanced, inclusive and resilient communities. Focus on the needs

and opportunities in different settlement types, and on social

functions and values provided by peri-urban areas;

managing peri - urban integrated development models

• Environmental strategy – ecosystem services policy and

investment system involving climate change mitigation

and adaptation, landscape and habitat conservation, and

multilevel greenblue- infrastructure. Focus on diversified,

resilient, multifunctional agriculture and forestry;

• Governance strategy – strong and democratic municipal

government focusing on healthy finances and fiscal

policy, a capacity for investment in infrastructure,

playing an active role in the local economy, and

transparency with public and stakeholder participation.

Focus on the capacity for strategic and cross-border

coordination at the level of the rural-urban region.

•

•

For any further information:

david.ludlow@uwe.ac.uk

THANK YOU!