Creativity-enhancing work environments: Eventisation through an inspiring work atmosphere in temporary proximity

The objective of this paper is to understand how work processes and the quality of physical places support creative knowledge generation. The creation of knowledge is linked to both social space and physical place, and is influenced by steady socio-spatial dynamics. In workplaces, the space-time dynamics of knowledge creation coincide with the physical characteristics of place. On the basis of qualitative interviews with Design thinking workshop facilitators, as well as participants, the influence of three types of creative support (psychosocial, inspirational and functional) is linked to the elements of place, people and process in this specific innovation method. This paper discusses in which ways place, people and process contribute to creating a creativity-enhancing workspace and inspiring atmosphere in temporary spatial proximity. Eventisation of the innovation process, and interaction in temporary spatial proximity, are important prerequisites for keeping knowledge creation exciting.Ziel dieses Beitrags ist es, den Zusammenhang zwischen Arbeitsprozessen, der Qualität der physischen Arbeitsumgebungen und der Unterstützung von Kreativität bei der Schaffung neuen Wissens zu analysieren. Die Generierung neuen Wissens wird stets sowohl durch soziale Prozesse als auch spezifische, physische Orte beeinflusst. Arbeitsplätze vereinen die sozialen Dynamiken von Wissensgenerierung mit den räumlichen Charakteristiken des Ortes. Mithilfe von qualitativen Interviews mit Design thinking-Workshopteilnehmern und -anbietern wird aufgezeigt, inwiefern sich unterschiedliche Formen der Unterstützung von kreativen Prozessen (psychosoziale, inspirierende und funktionale Unterstützung) mit den unterschiedlichen Elementen dieser Innovationsmethode - Ort, Mensch und Prozess - verbunden sind. Der Beitrag diskutiert, inwiefern das Zusammenspiel von place, people und process dazu beiträgt, eine kreativitätsfördernde Arbeitsumgebung sowie eine stimulierende Atmosphäre in temporärer Nähe zu schaffen. Die "Eventisierung" des Innovationsprozesses sowie die Interaktion in temporärer räumlicher Nähe sind hierbei wichtige Voraussetzungen, um den Prozess der Wissensgenerierung spannend zu halten

Image and implementation of sustainable urban development: Showcase projects and other projects in Freiburg, Heidelberg and Tübingen, Germany

The principles of sustainability are currently applied in Germany and many other countries as important guidelines for urban development. However, different forms of understanding regarding sustainable development and different approaches concerning its implementation can be found in various spatial contexts. This paper focuses on Freiburg, Heidelberg and Tübingen, three cities in southwestern Germany. These cities produce different images due to ambitious urban development plans which are based on the three pillars of ecological, economic and social sustainability in different ways. Numerous similarities between these three cities notwithstanding, they highlight different aspects of sustainable urban development and emphasise them via particularly widespread awareness of 'showcase projects'. For Freiburg, this includes Vauban and Rieselfeld, for Heidelberg Bahnstadt, and for Tübingen Französisches Viertel and Loretto. The central questions in this paper are therefore: How do images and the implementation of sustainability differ with regard to the three pillars of sustainability? How can differences and similarities with regard to the three pillars of sustainability be explained and what consequences can be drawn for future studies in sustainable urban development? Following a classification of research perspectives on sustainable urban development, distinguishing between more practically oriented aspects, on the one hand, and theory-based critical considerations, on the other, this article examines showcase projects from the three selected cities on the basis of planning documents, websites, local newspapers and academic literature. Moreover, further projects are taken into consideration. The paper concludes with general observations and discussions concerning the image and implementation of sustainable urban development.Die Prinzipien der Nachhaltigkeit gelten gegenwärtig in Deutschland wie auch in zahlreichen anderen Staaten als wichtige Leitlinien für die Stadtentwicklung. Dabei lassen sich jedoch in verschiedenen räumlichen Kontexten unterschiedliche Formen des Verständnisses von nachhaltiger Entwicklung und unterschiedliche Ansätze für deren Verwirklichung finden. Im Fokus dieses Beitrags stehen mit Freiburg, Heidelberg und Tübingen drei südwestdeutsche Städte, die mit ambitionierten Planungsvorhaben der Stadtentwicklung unterschiedliche Images konstruieren, welche in den drei Bereichen der (ökologischen, ökonomischen und sozialen) Nachhaltigkeit unterschiedlich verankert sind. Ungeachtet zahlreicher Ähnlichkeiten zwischen diesen drei Städten werden von ihnen unterschiedliche Aspekte einer nachhaltigen Stadtentwicklung besonders hervorgehoben und durch vielfach besonders wahrgenommene 'Vorzeigeprojekte' betont. Dazu zählen in Freiburg Vauban und Rieselfeld, in Heidelberg die Bahnstadt und in Tübingen das Französische Viertel und das Loretto Quartier. Die zentrale Fragestellung dieses Beitrags lautet daher: Wie unterscheiden sich das Image und die Verwirklichung von nachhaltiger Entwicklung im Hinblick auf die drei verschiedenen Bereiche der Nachhaltigkeit? Wie lassen sich Unterschiede und Ähnlichkeiten unter Berücksichtigung der drei Bereiche der Nachhaltigkeit erklären und welche Rückschlüsse können daraus für künftige Untersuchungen von nachhaltiger Stadtentwicklung gezogen werden? Nach einer Einordnung von Forschungsperspektiven auf nachhaltige Stadtentwicklung, bei der unterschieden wird zwischen einerseits eher praxisbezogenen Aspekten und andererseits theoriegeleitet kritisch-hinterfragenden Betrachtungen wurden für diesen Beitrag auf der Grundlage von Planungsdokumenten, Webseiten, Lokalzeitungen und wissenschaftlicher Literatur einige Vorzeigeprojekte aus den drei ausgewählten Städten untersucht. Zusätzlich werden auch andere Projekte in die Untersuchung einbezogen. Der Beitrag endet mit allgemeiner gefassten Beobachtungen und Diskussionen bezüglich Image und Umsetzung nachhaltiger Stadtentwicklung

Human capital in the German urban system – Patterns of concentration and specialisation

In the knowledge economy human capital plays a crucial role in various economic processes and thus also in spatial development. But human capital is an economic resource that is distributed unequally in space. Some regions show a higher density of human capital than others. This paper discusses questions relating to the spatial concentration and specialisation of human capital in the German urban system. Due to an increasing interest in human capital the questions are asked, where is human capital located in the German urban system and how does the distribution change over time. The paper relates to geographical theories of concentration and specialisation. It will be shown that human capital is a heterogeneous category containing different occupational groups showing different spatial patterns. Some display increasing spatial disparities; others are fairly balanced over space

Metropolregion

Metropolregionen nehmen seit Mitte der 1990er Jahre eine prominente Position in raumordnerischen Strategien ein. Das Konzept der Metropolregionen wird genutzt, um Agglomerationen hochwertiger Funktionen abzugrenzen und regionale Kooperationen zur Stärkung von Entwicklungsmotoren anzustoßen

Human capital in the German urban system – Patterns of concentration and specialisation

In the knowledge economy human capital plays a crucial role in various economic processes and thus also in spatial development. But human capital is an economic resource that is distributed unequally in space. Some regions show a higher density of human capital than others. This paper discusses questions relating to the spatial concentration and specialisation of human capital in the German urban system. Due to an increasing interest in human capital the questions are asked, where is human capital located in the German urban system and how does the distribution change over time. The paper relates to geographical theories of concentration and specialisation. It will be shown that human capital is a heterogeneous category containing different occupational groups showing different spatial patterns. Some display increasing spatial disparities; others are fairly balanced over space

From places to flows? Planning for the new 'regional world' in Germany

The last two decades have been dominated by discourses describing a resurgence of regions. Part and parcel of this discourse has been how leading proponents of what is labelled the ‘new regionalism’ documenting how the collapse of Atlantic Fordism and onset of globalization is seeing the region challenge the nation-state as the ‘natural economic zone’ (Ohmae, 1995), alongside its primacy as the site/scale at which economic management is conducted, social welfare delivered, and political subjects are identified by their national citizenship. Captivating academics (interested in interpreting capitalism’s new economic and spatial form) and policymakers (casting increasingly ‘envious eyes’ toward the regional zones of the Atlantic and European growth economies) alike, the new regionalist orthodoxy of the mid-to-late-1990s saw the region canonized in academic and political discourse as a functional space for economic planning and governance. Nevertheless, despite largely unprecedented levels of intellectual and political energy being invested in the conviction that regions are central to modern life, critics of the new regionalism generally, and normative claims relating to the formation of the ‘regional world’ in particular, responded to the blind faith in which regions were being championed to expose a series of deep-rooted problems, contradictions, and challenges. Of paramount concern among critics has been the exposition of widespread conceptual amnesia when it comes to defining the region. Often assumed, rarely defined, it is hard to dispute how the region remains an ‘object of mystery’ (Harrison, 2006), an ‘enigmatic concept’ (MacLeod and Jones, 2007), and a ‘complicated category’ (Paasi, 2010) for those trying to engage with this most durable of constructs. Even in the work of the political scientist, Michael Keating, one of the most consistently insightful scholars on this aspect of the new regionalism, while it is acknowledged that regions take various forms (e.g. administrative, cultural, economic, governmental, historical) his focus, and that of those advancing claims we were now living in a ‘regional world’, became narrowly focused and remained principally with regions as actual or potential subnational political units – be they administrative or governmental

From places to flows? Planning for the new 'regional world' in Germany

Recent decades have been dominated by discourses describing a resurgence of regions. Yet despite its prominence the region remains a largely Delphian concept. In the period of new regionalist orthodoxy, for example, while it was recognised regions take various forms, the normative claim that we were living in a ‘regional world’ became narrowly focused on regions as subnational political units. Nevertheless, the emergence of city‐regions, cross‐border regions, and European Metropolitan Regions is leading some scholars to suggest the formation in this century of a brave new ‘regional world’. With economic, social and political activity increasingly orchestrated through regional spaces that cross‐cut the territorial map which prevailed through much of the twentieth century, the literature is adorned with accounts advancing the theoretical and policy rationale for relational approaches to regions and regionalism. Yet far less has been written on the struggle to construct these spaces politically, thereby neglecting questions of territory and territorial politics. With this in mind, our paper draws on the experience of Germany to consider the political struggle to overcome the contradictions, overlaps, and competing tendencies which result from new regional spaces appearing alongside, rather than replacing, existing forms of state scalar organisation. In particular, we observe how the Federal State is using the ambiguity of the regional concept to present territorial and relational approaches as complementary alternatives. The paper concludes by relating these findings to ongoing debates on how we as ‘regional’ researchers should approach the analysis of regions and regionalism, speculates on the degree to which they form progressive and effective spatial policies, and asks what lessons can be learnt about contemporary state spatiality more generally