Urban Green and Open Spaces under Pressure: The Potential of Ecosystem Services Supply and Demand Analysis for Mediating Planning Processes in the Context of Climate Change

Climate change is a phenomenon which is discussed to be affecting cities and urbanising societies to a great extent. Thus, land use management of green and open spaces in the direction of climate protection and climate mitigation is an important aspect of sustainable urban and regional planning. However, land use planning holds the potential of causing conflicts between different stakeholders from administration, politics and civil society. The analysis of the demand of ecosystem services may therefore be a useful indicator to identify the interests of different stakeholders. Besides the demand, the analysis of the supply of ecosystem services might help to derive potential offers of climate relevant system functions and to support the planning processes of the areas of interest. Until now, the results of the analysis of ecosystem service supply and demand have been applied predominantly in regional or national contexts. For sustainable urban planning, the local level of observation thus seems to be more relevant. This study presents results of the interdisciplinary research project GREIF (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and University of Heidelberg, Germany). It aims at identifying ecological and socio-cultural potentials of local urban green and open areas in the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region, Germany, using an ecosystem service supply and demand approach. Thereby, six ecosystem services of the categories provisioning, regulating and cultural services are analysed for three predefined urban areas. Furthermore, the demand of ecosystem services of local residents as direct users of these areas is determined by conducting comprehensive surveys. The study focuses on the comparison of quantitative supply and qualitative demand data in order to identify discrepancies between supply and demand of ecosystem services. The results will be communicated to administrative bodies and political authorities of the region to enable the integration of additional knowledge into planning decisions. Preliminary results indicate that there are particular differences between the supply and demand of ecosystem services that affect the local residents in a direct way. Where the demand of the ecosystem services food provision and biodiversity is always higher-rated than the supply implies, the ecosystem service demand of climate regulation or renewable energy sources is always lower-rated than the supply indicates. These findings suggest that by incorporating the perceived demands of further stakeholders like planners or politicians, potential conflicting interests between ecosystem service demand and supply might become even more evident. Using this additional knowledge in the early stages of planning processes in the context of climate change might thus help to mitigate conflicts between different stakeholders

A “Motor” for the Neighbourhood? Urban Planning and the Challenges of Relocating Cultural Infrastructures

In the past 40 years, alternative cultural institutions have been established in many Western welfare states to respond locally to the social and urban crises that have arisen in the post-war era. Community centres and workshops for local history and youth offer new opportunities for cultural and social participation and complement the offerings at more traditional cultural infrastructures such as art museums, theatres, and opera houses. Initially borne of grassroots movements that struggled for political recognition and necessary resources in protracted disputes with municipal authorities, these facilities now play important roles in the cultural landscape of many cities. In response to calls for a “democratisation of culture” and social development programmes targeting urban geographical inequalities, these institutions provide accessible and persistent spaces for socialisation, cultural empowerment, and negotiating community concerns. These facilities are often located on brownfields and are material manifestations of socioeconomic change and urban regeneration. Using the relocation of an established socio-cultural centre to a new neighbourhood in the city of Heidelberg, Germany, as an example, we seek to understand the evolving ways political and social relations are formed, negotiated, and challenged through cultural infrastructures. By analysing newspaper coverage, policy documents, and interviews with stakeholders from urban planning, city administration, community work, and resident populations, we map and evaluate shifting planning discourses and forms of embeddedness in the processes of de- and re-localisation. We end by reflecting on more open and nuanced understandings of cultural infrastructures that could generate multiple and diverse outcomes interacting and possibly outbalancing each other

Connecting Rhine-Main: The Production of Multi-Scalar Polycentricities through Knowledge-Intensive Business Services

Most of the literature on polycentric urban regions has focused on the analysis of intra-regional structures rather than external linkages, while research on the emergence of a 'world city network' has analysed external city-relations without explicitly addressing city-regional contexts. This paper aims to bring both perspectives together. Drawing on Taylor’s interlocking network model, it presents a first analysis of multi-scalar inter-city connectivities within a specific city-regional context. Central to the analysis is the question how knowledge-intensive business service firms in Rhine-Main connect this multi-nodal metropolitan region to other cities within Germany and beyond. The result is a detailed mapping of the external business service connectivities of a major European city-region

HipHop ist im Haus: Cultural policy, community centres, and the making of hip-hop music in Germany

During the past 30 years, community centres and youth clubs have emerged all over Germany, providing spaces that challenge traditional forms of high culture. This paper explores the role of these spaces in the making of hip-hop music in East and West Germany. From the mid-1980s, community centres served as local testing grounds for DJs, rappers, graffiti writers and breakdancers. ‘Jams’ encouraged an exchange of ideas and styles, the refinement of skills in competitions, and the establishment of lasting social networks. Centres and clubs provided important ‘homebases’ and nodes, linking local scenes with a highly mobile national and trans-European hip-hop community. The paper argues that the production and consumption of hip-hop as a hybrid cultural form was shaped in part by the way these local spaces were created and organized. In the context of changing cultural policies, the sites’ historicities and their use as musical spaces are crucial for an understanding of the geographical constitution of hip-hop music in Germany

Connecting Rhine-Main: the production of multi-scalar polycentricities through knowledge-intensive business services

Most of the literature on polycentric urban regions has focused on the analysis of intra-regional rather than external linkages, while research on the emergence of a 'world city network' has analysed external city relations without explicitly addressing city-regional contexts. This paper aims to bring both perspectives together. Drawing on Taylor's interlocking network model, it presents a first analysis of multi-scalar inter-city connectivities within a specific city-regional context. Central to the analysis is the question how knowledge-intensive business service firms in Rhine-Main connect this multi-nodal metropolitan region to other cities within Germany and beyond. The result is a detailed mapping of the business service connectivities of a major European city-region

Kulturelle Infrastrukturen in deutschen Klein- und Mittelstädten : Eine Typisierung der Standortgemeinschaften von Einrichtungen der kulturellen Daseinsvorsorge

Daten zu kulturellen Einrichtungen in Deutschland sind durch ein hohes Maß an Heterogenität hinsichtlich Verfügbarkeit und analytischer Vergleichbarkeit geprägt. Dies wird in Bemühungen um eine raumplanerisch motivierte Typisierung von Städten deutlich, die sich bislang insbesondere auf Großstädte beschränken und nur eine geringe Zahl kultureller Indikatoren berücksichtigen. Darüber hinaus mangelt es den anhaltenden Diskussionen um die sozialräumliche Daseinsvorsorge an quantifizierbaren und qualifizierbaren Grundlagen, welche über die Bereitstellung technischer Einrichtungen hinaus jene Angebote in den Mittelpunkt rücken, die das alltägliche soziale Leben ermöglichen, darunter Einrichtungen der Bildung und Kultur. Ziel dieser Studie ist es, mit Hilfe einer Datenbasis, die kulturelle Einrichtungen von neun Sparten umfasst, Standortstrukturen in den wissenschaftlich vernachlässigten Raumtypen der Klein- und Mittelstädte zu analysieren. Mit Hilfe einer Hauptkomponentenanalyse wurden Raummuster gemeindespezifischer Standortgemeinschaften identifiziert, die als eine Funktionsdifferenzierung von „Breitenkultur und Hochkultur“, „Lesen und Kunst“ und „Musizieren und Sichbilden“ angesprochen werden können. Die Ergebnisse unterstreichen die Bedeutung von Klein- und Mittelstädten für die kulturelle Daseinsvorsorge und stellen systematische Ansatzpunkte für eine regionale Kulturgovernance zur Verfügung

Standorte der deutschen Musikindustrie in globalen Netzwerken der Musikproduktion

Populäre Musik entsteht in komplexen Produktionsnetzwerken, in denen verschiedene Institutionen und hochspezialisierte Akteur:innen zusammenwirken. Als Orte, an denen diese Akteur:innen zusammenkommen, dienen Tonstudios als Zentren der musikalischen Kreativität. Virtuelle und physische Bewegungen zwischen Tonstudios verbinden Städte auf der ganzen Welt und bilden so urbane Netzwerke der Musikproduktion. Ziel dieses Beitrags ist die Identifizierung von Schlüsselstädten in Deutschland sowie eine Kartierung ihrer Position innerhalb der globalisierten Produktionsnetzwerke des deutschen Musikmarktes. Dazu verwenden wir einen Ansatz der sozialen Netzwerkanalyse, um relationale Muster zwischen Städten der Musikproduktion zu untersuchen. Datengrundlage sind Standorte von Tonstudios, die an der Produktion von Alben der deutschen Top 20 Charts beteiligt waren. Die resultierenden globalen Netzwerke werden identifiziert, visualisiert und analysiert. Das Ergebnis sind standortspezifische Produktionsnetzwerke der deutschen Musikindustrie mit unterschiedlichen geographischen Reichweiten und Vernetzungsgraden. Der Beitrag bietet damit systematische Anknüpfungspunkte für strategische Fragestellungen im Hinblick auf die Einbettung und Einzigartigkeit deutscher Städte in den globalisierten Netzwerken der Musikindustrie

HipHop als Hausmusik: Globale Sounds und (sub)urbane Kontexte

This paper explores the role of two constitutive spaces in the production and consumption of hip-hop music in Germany during the formative ›Old School‹ years from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s. Located in urban, suburban and rural contexts, public community centres and private bedrooms became important sites for the adoption and adaption of urban sounds rooted in US inner-city neighbourhoods. Whereas the former served as local homebases and trans-local nodes of wider hip-hop networks that brought young hip-hop artists together, the latter provided spaces of retreat and experimentation that gave room to the creation of alternative urban sounds

Bilanzierende Ökosystemdienstleistungsanalyse als Werkzeug in Kommunikationsprozessen der partizipativen Planung?

In Planungsprozessen werden Fragestellungen hoher Komplexität und Konfliktträchtigkeit verhandelt. Eine Vielzahl von Akteuren entwickelt unterschiedliche Bedarfe hinsichtlich räumlicher Entwicklungen, die in Planungsprozessen in Einklang gebracht werden müssen. Ziel des Beitrags ist es aufzuzeigen, inwiefern bilanzierende Ökosystemdienstleistungsanalysen im Rahmen von Partizipationsprozessen und informellen Planungsinstrumenten eingesetzt werden können. Bei der Bilanzierung werden sowohl die Leistungen von Ökosystemen (Angebot) als auch ihre Bewertung durch verschiedene Interessengruppen (Nachfrage) berücksichtigt. Anhand eines Forschungsprojekts zur Bewertung und Wahrnehmung von Grün- und Freiflächen in der Region Rhein-Neckar werden in diesem Beitrag Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der bilanzierenden Ökosystemdienstleistungsanalysen für partizipative Planungsprozesse aufgezeigt. Anhand der Projekterkenntnisse reflektieren wir die bei der Durchführung, Umsetzung und Kommunikation aufgetretenen Herausforderungen. Wir erörtern, inwiefern und im Rahmen welcher Planungsschritte die Methode als informelles Werkzeug in Beteiligungsprozessen genutzt werden kann. Wir argumentieren, dass bilanzierende Ökosystemdienstleistungsanalysen eine fundierte und multidimensionale Kommunikationsbasis darstellen können, um zur Versachlichung von Wahrnehmungs- und Bewertungsunterschieden in planerischen Diskussions- und Aushandlungsprozessen beizutragen.In planning processes, issues of high complexity and conflicts are negotiated. Perceptions and requirements of different actors need to be reconciled in planning processes. To negotiate these different perceptions and requirements, public participation is obligatory in planning processes. However, as participation still faces many challenges with regard to acceptance and understanding of determining factors, there is a need for further participation procedures. This paper aims to show to what extent ecosystem service analysis can be used in the context of participation processes and informal planning instruments for transdisciplinary communication. By budgeting, both ecosystem services supply and the demands of different stakeholder groups from for example spatial planning and civil society are taken into account. Based on a completed research project on the valuation of green and open spaces in the Rhine-Neckar region - in which ecosystem service analysis has been applied - this paper highlights opportunities and limitations of a relational budgeting ecosystem service analysis. We reflect on the obstacles and challenges encountered during application and implementation. Based on this, we argue that relational budgeting ecosystem service analysis can provide a sound and multidimensional basis for communication that can contribute to the objectification of differences in perception and valuation in discussion and negotiation processes in planning