Green Cities in der Europäischen Union

Stadt, Ökologie und nachhaltige Entwicklung, als drei interdependente Begriffe bzw. Leitbilder, bilden den thematischen Rahmen und sind Gegenstand der Untersuchung der vorliegenden Diplomarbeit. Die Arbeit fragt nach quantifizierbaren Faktoren und Determinanten von Green Cities und deren Wirkungs-zusammenhänge sowie nach einem möglichen statistisch und theoretisch belegbaren Optimum von Green Cities in der Europäischen Union. Ausgehend von der Recherche nach und Analyse von profilier-tem Fachwissen werden Paradigmen, Leitbilder und Ansätze zur ökologisch nachhaltigen Stadt disku-tiert. Anhand von facheinschlägiger Literatur werden mögliche Faktoren für Green Cities identifiziert, zu denen das Leitbild der kompakten Stadt, Grünflächen, Luftqualität, Verkehr und Kurze Wege zählen. Herzstück der empirischen Forschung sind statistische Auswertungen, um das mannigfaltige Wirkungs-gefüge auf Basis eines theoriegeleiteten Städterankings zu Aspekten von Green Cities in rund 240 Städ-ten aus allen 27 EU-Mitgliedsstaaten zu extrahieren. Als Determinanten von Green Cities werden die Bevölkerungsgröße, räumliche Lage, klimatische Faktoren, wirtschaftliche Performance sowie Primat-stellung festgemacht. Best-Performer Städte (Stockholm, Kopenhagen) werden schließlich exemplarisch vorgestellt, wobei nachhaltige Stadtentwicklungsstrategien im Vordergrund stehen. Eine Exper-tenreflexion rundet den Forschungsprozess ab. Aufgrund der angewandten Faktoren und abgeleiteten Prämissen einer Green City in der Europäischen Union präsentieren sich im vorgenommenen Städ-teranking mittelgroße, nord- bzw. nordosteuropäische Städte mit einer hohen funktionalen Zentralität als besonders optimal.Cities, ecology and sustainable development constitute three interdependent concepts. These issues represent the thematic framework of this diploma thesis. The basic research questions deal with the identification and analysis of quantifiable factors and determinants of green cities as well as their in-terdependencies. Furthermore, the question of ideal green cities in the European Union and its charac-teritics is raised. Based on the analysis of the theoretical background, paradigms and general concepts of ecologically sustainable cities are discussed. In addition, factors of green cities are identified com-prising the compact city concept, green infrastructure, air quality, traffic and short distances. The very core of the research process deals with statistical analysis. Green city aspects are analyzed on basis of a wide sample of data from about 240 cities throughout the 27 member states of the European Union. Identified determinants of green city performances are population, geographical aspects, climatic pa-rameters, economical performance as well as primacy characteristics. Best performer cities (such as Stockholm, Copenhagen) are analyzed in more detail focusing on sustainable strategies of urban plan-ning institutions. A final reflection by interviewing an expert on urban planning and environmental issues completes the research process. Especially medium-sized cities and those of northern and northeast European cities show outstanding performances with respect to the mentioned factors and deduced premises of green cities in the European Union

Co-designing transformation research : lessons learned from research on deliberate practices for transformation

Co-production of new knowledge can enhance open and integrative research processes across the social and natural sciences and across research/science, practice and policy interrelationships. Thus, co-production is important in the conduct of research about and for transformations to sustainability. While co-design is an integral part of co-production, it often receives limited attention in the conduct of co-produced research. This paper reports on lessons learned from an early stage of the co-design process to develop research on deliberate practices for transformative change. Key lessons learned are the need to: (1) ensure co-design processes are themselves carefully designed; (2) encourage emergence of new ways of thinking about problem formulation through co-design; (3) carefully balance risks for the participants involved while also enhancing opportunities for intellectual risk taking; (4) facilitate personal transformations in co-design as a way to stimulate and encourage further creativity; and (5) for funders to carefully and constructively align criteria or incentives through which a project or future proposal will be judged to the goals of the co-design, including for instrumental outcomes and objectives for creativity and imagination. Given that co-design necessarily involves a reflective practice to iteratively guide emergence of new thinking about the practices of change, co-design can itself be considered an important deliberate practice for transforming the conduct of research and the contribution of that research to social transformations

Analysis of Public Private Partnership projects at local government level

Abweichender Titel laut Übersetzung der Verfasserin/des VerfassersPublic Private Partnership (PPP) ist ein Modell mit dessen Hilfe der öffentliche Haushalt entlastet und Effizienzgewinne erzielt werden können. Hinter diesem Begriff verbirgt sich die Idee, Stärken der öffentlichen Hand und privater Unternehmen in einer Kooperation zu vereinigen, von der beide Seiten profitieren sollen. Es stellt sich jedoch die Frage, ob dieses Modell hält, was es verspricht. Im großen Maßstab, wie etwa bei Autobahnbauten, wurde schon viel über Public Private Partnerships diskutiert. Doch wie sinnvoll ist diese Partnerschaft bei der Realisierung von Projekten auf kommunaler Ebene? Hier setzt die vorliegende Arbeit an und rückt österreichische Gemeinden in den Mittelpunkt der Überlegungen. Vor allem unter dem Gesichtspunkt der Erfüllung öffentlicher Aufgaben soll gezeigt werden, ob Public Private Partnerships für Gemeinden ein alternatives Modell darstellen. Anhand des Service- und Dienstleistungszentrums Lech, der Sporthalle Niederndorf sowie der Müllentsorgung in Bad Gleichenberg wird die Thematik eingehend beleuchtet, um anschließend Schlüsse daraus ziehen zu können, wie sehr sich Public Private Partnerships für die kommunalen Aufgabenerledigung eignen. In dieser Arbeit wird gezeigt, dass PPP in Österreich noch in einem geringen Ausmaß betrieben wird, es aber dennoch eine Möglichkeit darstellt, Aufgaben der Daseinsvorsorge damit umzusetzen. Letztlich müssen es aber gut durchdachte, individuell angepasste Modelle sein, um einen Mehrwert durch PPP zu erzeugen.Public private partnership (PPP) is a way to ease the pressure on public budget and with which efficiency gains can be achieved. This specific form of task fulfilment of administrations has become increasingly popular. Behind this keyword lies the idea of combining the strengths of both, the public and the private side. In the end each of them should benefit from the cooperation. However, does it live up to its promises? On a large scale, such as highways, the discussion about public private partnerships has often been raised, but what about projects at local government level? Can public administrations even then expect advantages of this form of public service provision? By showing three examples of Austrian municipalities, where public private partnerships have already been realized, this work wants to concentrate on the question how small municipalities can benefit from this cooperation. It shows that we are still at an early stage of learning how PPP work. Due to their difficulty and complexity, municipalities are rather hesitant concerning PPP. This is why it has to be necessary to find a suitable and appropriate form of PPP for each project, in order to generate public value.11

Thresholds in architecture - An analysis of Austrian monasteries

Abweichender Titel laut Übersetzung der Verfasserin/des VerfassersDie Schwelle ist die elementare Gestaltung menschlicher Raumordnung, sie scheidet innen von außen. Schwellen definieren immer einen Übergang, die Überwindung einer Grenze. Als Schnittstellen sind sie Trennung und Verbindung zugleich. In dieser Arbeit wird analysiert, wie die Grenze aussieht, die es zu überschreiten gilt bzw. definierte Personenkreise von einer Überschreitung abhalten soll. Wird diese Gestaltung des Schwellenbereiches bewusst oder unbewusst wahrgenommen und zu welchem Handeln verleitet sie? Dazu wurden unterschiedliche Ordensniederlassungen in Wien, Niederösterreich und dem Burgenland untersucht - mittelalterliche Gründungen genauso wie Neubauten des 20.Jahrhunderts. Das zeitgenössische Kloster baut im Prinzip auf den benediktinischen Grundlagen auf und weist - wenn auch modifiziert - die entscheidenden Funktionen daraus auf. Wenige, klar abgesteckte Wege, meist über differenzierte Abstufungen der Öffentlichkeitsgrade, die jeweils nur für bestimmte Personen(gruppen) zugänglich sind, führen in ein Kloster und die Klausur hinein. Einen großen Einschnitt in das monastische Leben bedeutet oft der Tourismus, eine Aufgabe des Klosters, für die es ursprünglich nicht vorgesehen war. Daraus folgend gibt es heute mehr und/oder andere Benutzergruppen als zur Zeit ihrer Entstehung. In den meisten Klöstern haben sich die Klausurbereiche stark verkleinert. Auch Bereiche rund um den Kreuzgang werden oft zur Besichtigung freigegeben, was zu einer Überschneidung der Wege zwischen Besuchern und Bewohnern führen kann. Es wird in dieser Arbeit gezeigt, mit welchen baulichen, oft subtilen Methoden die Grenzen zwischen Privatem und Öffentlichem gezogen werden.19

L'organisation des services d'entretien de la voirie rurale en Autriche et France : l'intérêt du cadre de l'économie néo-institutionnelle

International audienceThis paper presents an analytical framework for the analysis of the maintenance of minor roads in Austrian and French rural areas. Minor rural roads are essential components of landscapes, as constitutive elements and supports of access. Moreover, their management reflects the current evolution of uses in the countryside as well as the potential conflicts between new uses (recreation, sports, nature conservation) and traditional uses (circulation, production). The aim of the study is to shed light on the governance of rural landscapes. In the context of economic and demographic changes in the French and Austrian countryside, what are the implications of the organisation of the supply of landscape maintenance in terms of economic development and employment? From a theoretical point of view, the research is based on the fields of service economics and New Institutional Economics (NIE). We focus on the organisation of the environmental services at stake in the maintenance of minor rural roads. In our definition, the provision of environmental services is intentional from the point of view of the service provider and corresponds to a collective demand (Aznar, Perrier-Cornet, 2003). The framework of NIE and more particularly of Transaction Cost Theory (TCT) allows for an analysis of the organisational forms governing the provision of rural roads maintenance services (such as, mowing of road verges, marking of roads, planting and maintenance of hedges, trees or herbaceous borders). The paper describes the organisation of the maintenance of minor rural roads in the Austrian and French contexts and identifies several research issues in the light of the NIE framework

Understanding landscape stewardship. Lessons to be learned from public service economics

International audienceWe argue that public service economics provides a new perspective on landscape stewardship by explaining it as human-to-human transfer of partial property rights. These mutually linked exchanges involve rights to use, to access, or to control and allocate land, labour, skills or information. From the perspective of public service economics, we identify the actors involved in landscape stewardship and distinguish entrepreneurial strategies for service provision based on resource orientation, user orientation or competiveness orientation. The difficulties in evaluating the quality of services in general and landscape stewardship in particular result in substantial uncertainty. Three types of contracts that cope differently with this uncertainty can be distinguished: contracts focusing on the technical process, on the intended outcome or on the choice of suppliers based on trust and features of their performance potential. We conclude that a service economics perspective can add to the understanding of landscape stewardship. Due to the fact that ‘public service’ is already a well-known and broadly acknowledged concept in society, public service economics could possibly provide more rapid progress towards a better co-ordination of supply and demand for landscape qualities than other more novel concepts

Description et compréhension de services environnementaux dans le secteur rural : un cadre conceptuel et analytique

International audienceIn this paper, we focus on remunerated services that are intended to maintain or enhance recreational and aesthetic landscape quality, which have not been analysed in a sufficient way so far. After the theoretical framing and definition of remunerated landscape services', we sketch the supply chain for their provision. Relevant organisational and institutional contexts are discussed that differentiate the involved actors, the conventions and rules governing their interaction. Finally, the paper evaluates the relevance and usefulness of concepts and tools originating from service economics for the description, classification and understanding of remunerated landscape services. Based on the discussion of concepts and theories, the paper concludes with the cornerstones of a comparative research designs for trans-national analyses which will be used in France and Austria

Can landscape stewardship be analysed and enhanced through the concept of service economics?

International audienceIn this paper, a service economic analysis framework is developed and applied in order to define, understand, explain and improve landscape services. Together with the ecosystem functions and externalities approach, landscape services are understood as intentionally provided targeted outcomes of agricultural production, with the objective to improve landscape quality. Based on this conceptualisation, a five-step analysis framework is developed and applied to analyse the supply chain of three different landscape services. Empirical evidence was collected from two case studies located in France and Austria, whereas the French case study is the national grassland premium and the Austrian case study is on a local landscape scheme. It could be shown that a key strength of the utilised service economic perspective lies in its formalised structure which allowed the identification of involved actors, the organisation of their relation and the way they are acting within their institutional systems (i.e. how landscape services are organised). Moreover, the standardised analysis structure allows for comparisons of supply chains of landscape services and helps to identify scope for further improvements, independently from its geographic and administrative context. We conclude with potential risks and benefits of the service economics perspective for landscape services