Planning for town centre revitalisation in a declining context : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Resource and Environmental Planning at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

"This research explored how the Ruapehu District views its declining population and economy, how town centre revitalisation has attempted to address decline in Ohakune, and the outcomes of this revitalisation, with the aim of developing guidelines for local authorities in declining contexts to consider when undertaking revitalisation to address decline. As the Ruapehu District Council is including town centre renewal as part of their aspirations for economic development and reversing decline, this research looks at the effects of revitalisation of town centres in a declining context by asking the question: What should local authorities in declining contexts consider when planning for town centres to enable people and communities to provide for their social, economic, cultural and environmental well-being?"--Research Aim & Question, p.

Social revitalisation of urban regions

This paper aims to analyse how social revitalisation can contribute to an (economically) attractive urban region and how such policies can be made more effective and efficient. To stimulate re-urbanisation and attract new economic activities and residents, much attention is paid to the concept of ''the attractive city''. Cities are observed to switch their focus from hardware (tangible services) to software (image, quality of life) and orgware (organising capacity). To enhance the effectiveness of social policy is in that context often considered a spearhead for cities. In practice, social policy does not always seem to be carried out effectively. Much money may be spent on solving a problem without effective progress being accomplished. Moreover, the results of social policy are often hard to measure, so that a lack of purpose may not be easy to detect. The paper is based on a comparative research of eight European urban regions.

How good is the European Commission’s Just Transition Fund proposal? Bruegel Policy Contribution Issue n˚4 | February 2020

On 14 January 2020, the European Commission published its proposal for a Just Transition Mechanism, intended to provide support to territories facing serious socioeconomic challenges related to the transition towards climate neutrality. This brief provides an overview and a critical assessment of the first pillar of this Mechanism, the Just Transition Fund (JTF)

Hos in the garden: staging and resisting neoliberal creativity

This article takes up the challenge of extending and enhancing the literature on arts interventions and creative city policies by considering the role of feminist and queer artistic praxis in contemporary urban politics. Here I reflect on the complicities and potentialities of two Toronto-based arts interventions: Dig In and the Dirty Plotz cabaret. I analyse an example of community based arts strategy that strived to ‘revitalise’ one disinvested Toronto neighbourhood. I also reflect on my experience performing drag king urban planner, Toby Sharp. Reflecting on these examples, I show how market-oriented arts policies entangle women artists in the cultivation of spaces of depoliticised feminism, homonormativity and white privilege. However, I also demonstrate how women artists are playfully and performatively pushing back at hegemonic regimes with the radical aesthetic praxis of cabaret. I maintain that bringing critical feminist arts spaces and cabaret practice into discussions about neoliberal urban policies uncovers sites of feminist resistance and solidarity, interventions that challenge violent processes of colonisation and privatisation on multiple fronts

Radical political unionism reassessed

Defections from European social-democratic parties and a resurgence of union militancy have prompted some to diagnose a new left-wing trade unionism across Europe. This comment on the article by Connolly and Darlington scrutinizes trends in France and Germany but primarily analyses recent developments in Britain. While there are some instances of disaffiliation from the Labour Party, support for electoral alternatives, growth in political militancy and emphasis on new forms of internationalism, these have been limited. There is insufficient evidence to suggest that we are witnessing the making of a new radical collectivism