Flanders

The higher education system in Flanders comprises 8 universities and 29 nonuniversity higher education institutions (colleges of higher education: hogescholen). Furthermore, there is a Royal Military Academy and a Protestant Theological Faculty in Brussels. Although higher education in Flanders is divided into university education and non-university education, it is questionable whether the Flemish system is a genuine example of the binary model

The countryside in urbanized Flanders: towards a flexible definition for a dynamic policy

The countryside, the rural area, the open space, … many definitions are used for rural Flanders. Everyone makes its own interpretation of the countryside, considering it as a place for living, working or recreating. The countryside is more than just a geographical area: it is an aggregate of physical, social, economic and cultural functions, strongly interrelated with each other. According to international and European definitions of rural areas there would be almost no rural area in Flanders. These international definitions are all developed to be used for analysis and policy within their specific context. They are not really applicable to Flanders because of the historical specificity of its spatial structure. Flanders is characterized by a giant urbanization pressure on its countryside while internationally rural depopulation is a point of interest. To date, for every single rural policy initiative – like the implementation of the European Rural Development Policy – Flanders used a specifically adapted definition, based on existing data or previously made delineations. To overcome this oversupply of definitions and delineations, the Flemish government funded a research project to obtain a clear and flexible definition of the Flemish countryside and a dynamic method to support Flemish rural policy aims. First, an analysis of the currently used definitions of the countryside in Flanders was made. It is clear that, depending on the perspective or the policy context, another definition of the countryside comes into view. The comparative study showed that, according to the used criteria, the area percentage of Flanders that is rural, varies between 9 and 93 per cent. Second, dynamic sets of criteria were developed, facilitating a flexible definition of the countryside, according to the policy aims concerned. This research part was focused on 6 policy themes, like ‘construction, maintenance and management of local (transport) infrastructures’ and ‘provision of (minimum) services (education, culture, health care, …)’. For each theme a dynamic set of criteria or indicators was constructed. These indicators make it possible to show where a policy theme manifests itself and/or where policy interventions are possible or needed. In this way every set of criteria makes up a new definition of rural Flanders. This method is dynamic; new data or insights can easily be incorporated and new criteria sets can be developed if other policy aims come into view. The developed method can contribute to a more region-oriented and theme-specific rural policy and funding mechanism

“Actual” and “Constructive” Possession in Alaska: Clarifying the Doctrine

In two cases, one recent and one now nearly a decade old, Judge David Mannheimer has raised important questions about Alaska’s jury instruction on “possession.” In particular, Judge Mannheimer has expressed a worry that Alaska’s definition of “constructive possession” invites juries to find possession where the defendant is only near an object and has knowledge of its presence. As Judge Mannheimer correctly points out, such a definition is too expansive. But how can we avoid this problem? My short article takes Judge Mannheimer’s opinions in Alex v. State and Dirks v. State as the starting point for an investigation of Alaska’s possession doctrine. After summarizing the two opinions in Part II, Part III attempts to clarify the seemingly straightforward idea of “actual possession,” and finds that many courts wrongly treat many cases of actual possession as cases of constructive possession. Part IV tries to provide a solution to the problem—as presented by Judge Mannheimer—with Alaska’s instruction on constructive possession. It offers that the key to constructive possession is not the idea that one intends to have control over an object, but that one has a legal right (or the functional equivalent of a legal right) over the object, or the space where the object is. If we understand this idea of “authority” as essential to constructive possession, it turns out that pure cases of constructive possession are actually quite rare, and that many supposed cases of constructive possession are really cases of past actual possession. Part V proposes a new jury instruction on actual and constructive possession

How to stay a smart city? Inspiration from a place-based spatial policy in Ghent: working together with local, smart citizens

Spatial planning in Europe and in Flanders is changing fundamentally. In the Europe 2020 strategy (2010-2020) Europe introduced the idea of a ‘place-based approach’ as an alternative or addition to traditional spatial planning. It refers to the context-dependent nature of efficiency and equity problems that the policy deals with, and to the fact that design of integrated interventions must be tailored to places, as it largely depends on the knowledge and preferences of the people living in it. Nevertheless, little research has examined the use of the place-based approach in Flanders. In this paper the place-based approach, also called area development, is referred to as a proactive planning approach, characterized by an intensive coordination of initiators, plans and projects in one specific area, in order to implement the plans and projects in the field. Participating with citizens in planning processes is not new. In general, we can distinguish three generations in citizen participation: from consultation by the authorities, to co-creation initiated by the authorities, and recently to citizen initiatives which are only supported and stimulated by the authorities. This paper reports results from a case-study in Ghent, Flanders. Within the neighbourhood around the main railway-station inhabitants and the local government are working together to create a new concept for the area, and are co-realising these new ideas in the field. We found earlier that authorities have been experimenting with place-based planning in Flanders for several years, but that results, actors and instruments differ. The new insight from the local, urban case in Ghent can be used to develop future place-based planning, programs and projects in Flanders and in cities within Flanders

Rescaling the state in Flanders: new problem or old solution?

The rescaling of state emphasizes the rise of the regional and the city-regional scale in particular, as a new unit for policy making. The new governing strategy is referred to as regional governance, were both governmental and / or nongovernmental entities work together for the purpose of joint policy making or service delivery. This paper focuses on the operationalization of regional governance and links those findings to the actual debates surrounding the institutional organization of Flanders. A quantitative analysis of regional arrangements in Flanders and in the area of Mid-West Flanders, helps to clarify the nature of the rescaling of the state: the rescaling is the result of bottom – up and top – down initiatives and covers as well joined government arrangements as collaborative governance arrangements integrating public and private organizations. Further, we notice different roles of the Flemish government, as she is present at the regional level both as a meta-governor, actor and financier. By showing the nature and the content of regional governance, this paper helps to clarify the political debate that is going on now in Flanders. A debate dominated by classical institutional discussions and related to the issue of institutional fuzziness, efficiency and accountability. It is argued however that the political discussion and the organization of the public sector in Flanders should be renewed and should be inspired by this relatively new phenomenon. The rescaling of the regional state should be understood by using concepts, theories and instruments inspired by the literature on networks and collaborative governance