Centre – Periphery Relations Through the Trans-European Motorway in Turkey

European Spatial Development Perspective aims to decentralise the congestion from the centre of Europe to peripheral countries, by supporting development through urban corridors. ESDP also aims to decrease regional disparities to increase the overall competitiveness. Therefore urban corridors that connect the peripheral countries to European system have to be paid attention, to formulate policies of development in these countries, within harmony to European policies. Such a corridor in Turkey is the Trans – European Motorway (TEM) corridor. TEM, as a part of Trans European Networks (TENs) connects the two most important metropolitan centres of Turkey, Ankara and Istanbul to Europe, over an already existing route. The route also hosts many important industrial plants, universities and is one of the most heavily used inland corridor. This paper tries to analyse whether the development of the corridor is in accordance with the aims of the ESDP and other European Union spatial policies, and if the competitiveness of the centres in the corridor has increased and if centre-periphery disparities have decreased by using provincial level data such as the level of regional specialisation, GDP per capita, labour force, amount of public investment and other indicators, from present to year 1980, the date when Turkey changed its economic strategy and an integration to global system gained more importance.

EU Integration and the Change of Spatial Organization in Turkey

After 1980, economic agenda changed and international trade and integration to global and regional systems gained more importance in Turkey, like in many countries. As a candidate of the EU Turkey as well has experienced a change in the spatial organization. It has been shown by many other studies that integration process leads to a change in the industrial structure and spatial organization. The effect of the removal or lowering of trade barriers and its effects on the industrial location has been widely investigated in the New Economic Geography literature. These effects are of great importance for some essential grounds of European Integration, such as a balanced regional development and decreasing inequalities among regions to increase overall competitiveness, since they may cause an increase in the regional disparities and conflict with main targets of integration. This paper analyses the change of spatial organization in Turkey through the integration process to the EU by using location quotient, dissimilarity index and some other indicators and tries to show whether if spatial organization changed in favour of existing centres or if new centres have emerged.

Economic globalization and convergence in regional productivity rates in Turkey

1970’lerden bu yana yaşanan haliyle ekonomik küreselleşme, dünya kentlerinin ekonomideki rolünü artırmış, küresel bir kentsel sistem ortaya çıkmıştır. Gelişmiş ve gelişmekte olan ülkelerde ekonomik gelişme dış ticarette avantajlı metropoliten alanlar ve çeperinde gerçekleşmekte, bölgelerarası farklılıklar sürmektedir. Neo-klasik bölgesel büyüme kuramına göre uzun vadede ülkeler veya bölgeler arası farklılıkların azalacağı öngörülmektedir. İçsel Büyüme Teorileri ise teknolojik gelişmeyi dışsal bir unsur olarak gören bu kurama karşı çıkarak, beşeri sermayeye bağlı olarak yerel bilgi birikimi ve yayılması süreçlerinin bölgesel üretkenlik farklılıkların sürmesine neden olabileceğini ileri sürmüşlerdir. Ampirik bulgular, mekansal yayılma etkileriyle bir bölgenin komşusu olan diğer bölgelerde de üretkenlik artışına etkisi olabileceğini göstermektedir. Türkiye’ye dair çalışmalar 1995 öncesi dönemde bölgesel üretkenlikte yakınsama olduğunu ve birinci derecede komşu illerin gelişmelerinin diğer iller üzerinde olumlu etkileri olduğunu göstermiştir. Ancak Doğu-Batı farklılıklarının sık sık dile getirildiği Türkiye’de mekansal taşma etkilerinin salt en yakın komşu illerle sınırlı olmadığı düşünülmelidir. Ayrıca beşeri sermayenin bölgesel üretkenlik artışları üzerinde etkisi olduğu da bilinmektedir. Bu etkenin 1990-2000 döneminde de bölgesel büyümeye etkili olduğu düşünülebilir. Bu varsayımları test etmek amacıyla 1990-2000 dönemi için bir koşullu beta yakınsaması modeli önerilmiş, beşeri sermayenin ve 500 km içindeki komşuların başlangıçtaki üretkenlik düzeylerinin illerin büyümesindeki rolü incelenmiştir. Sonuçta, başlangıçta kendisi düşük ancak komşuları yüksek üretkenliğe sahip illerin daha hızlı geliştikleri, ortalamanın üzerindeki beşeri sermaye birikiminin üretkenliğe olumlu etkisi olduğu anlaşılmıştır. Sonuçlar, yakınsamaya işaret etse de, bölgesel büyümenin gelişmiş merkezler çevresindeki az gelişmiş bölgelerde daha güçlü olduğunu ortaya koymaktadır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Ekonomik küreselleşme, bölgesel dengesizlikler, yakınsama, üretkenlik, beşeri sermaye.Economic globalization since 1970'es have increased the importance of world cities in the global economy, and a global urban system has emerged. Economic development is clustered in metropolitan regions and their periphery, which have certain advantages for international trade, such as proximity and historical connections; leading to sustaining regional inequalities. In this context, core, semi-peripheral and peripheral areas form a global economic system. Trans-national companies and transformation of production systems into more flexible forms play key roles in this spatial restructuring processes. Turkey's integration to the global economy which gained impetus in the post 1970 period has likely lead to similar spatial developments. The Neo-classical regional growth theory foresees a decrease in regional inequalities among countries or regions in the long run, due to decreasing returns to capital.. According to Solow's growth model, initially poorer regions grow faster and catch-up with richer regions. Endogenous growth theories reject the Neo-classical theory which assumes technology as a purely exogenous process, and propose that regional inequalities in productivity rates could be persistent due to local knowledge growth and diffusion, or, growth of human capital. Post-neo-classical empirical findings furthermore show that productivity growth may not be limited to a region and spatial spillovers may lead to growth of productivity in neighbor regions. Empirical studies about Turkey provide evidence of productivity convergence and first order neighbor region effects on productivity growth in the pre-1995 period. However, it should not be thought that spillovers are effective only for first order neighbors in a country like Turkey, where sharp differences between Eastern and Western provinces are observed. Spatial spillover effects may span longer distances, as evident elsewhere in the world. Apart from such spillovers empirical studies on Turkey have also demonstrated that human capital has an effect on per capita productivity growth in Turkey in the pre-1995 period. It is thought that this is still an important cause of productivity growth at the regional level, in the period 1990-2000. Three questions are asked regarding theoretical approaches and empirical findings on Turkey. Has regional inequalities in productivity rates decreased, or, in other words, is there beta convergence in Turkey during 1990-2000? Do long distance spatial spillovers have an impact on regional growth? And last, but not the least: Did growth of human capital have an effect on regional growth? In order to answer these questions, three variables are identified and a conditional beta convergence model is specified. The model is in the form of a log-linear cross-sectional model where the dependent variable is the productivity growth per worker in a region. Furthermore, it incorporates neighborhood effects within 500 km. Particularly, the model incorporates the influence of initial productivity levels of neighbor regions on growth of productivity within a region. A preliminary Moran's I test demonstrates that there is significant but weak spatial autocorrelation between the initial per worker productivity levels of neighbor regions and the growth rate of per worker productivity in a region. The model is estimated by using an OLS estimation procedure. The result is an adjusted R2 of 0.39. Usual tests like Breusch-Pagan and White tests show that heteroskedasticity is not a problem and Jarque -Bera test is not significant. Therefore, the model is thought to be thoroughly specified. Findings suggest that initially poorer regions grow faster, pointing to convergence. The speed of convergence is about 1.89% per annum, which indicates a half-life of approximately 37 years. The result suggests that the inequalities between productive and less productive regions are decreasing slowly. As expected, initial productivity levels of neighbor regions have a positive impact on growth of productivity in a region. Therefore, it could be concluded that spatial spillovers reach far distances, leading to growth in semi-peripheral areas. The strongest impact on productivity growth belongs to the human capital variable. Excessive growth of per worker scientific and technical professionals is an important determinant of productivity growth. Although the results suggest conditional convergence, they also point that regional growth is stronger in regions around developed metropolitan regions. Regional inequalities are likely to persist between East and West for a long time. Keywords: Economic globalization, regional inequalities, convergence, productivity, human capital

Strategic planning in Western Marmara and cross-border cooperation

Bu çalışmada Avrupa Birliği (AB) sınırötesi işbirliği (INTERREG) programları, bölgesel gelişmeye yönelik bir stratejik planlama aracı olarak değerlendirilmektedir. Batı Marmara örneğinin incelendiği bu çalışmada, son dönemdeki yasal-yönetsel düzenlemelerle beraber bölgesel kalkınma açısından önemi artan belediyeler, il özel idareleri ve ticaret-sanayi odaları ve borsaların yetki ve etki sahibi oldukları bölgeye ilişkin stratejileri ve sınırötesi işbirliklerine ilişkin sorunları irdelenmiştir. Türkiye’nin Avrupa’ya açılan kapısı konumundaki Batı Marmara Bölgesi, büyük metropoliten kentlerin Avrupa ülkeleri ile bağlantısını sağlamakla beraber, çeşitli kalkınma sorunları yaşamaktadır. Bu sorunlar, kentsel, bölgesel ve sınır-ötesi bölge düzeyinde birbiriyle ilişkilidir ve ulusal ve uluslar arası politikalarla bütüncül yerel politikalar üretilmesini gerektirmektedir. Çalışma, alanın büyüklüğü ve konunun kapsamlı olması nedeniyle bölgesel kalkınmayı yalnızca ekonomik boyutuyla ele almaktadır. Öncelikle güncel kalkınma yaklaşımları ve mekânsal ve kurumsal stratejik planlama süreçlerine ilişkin gündem kısaca özetlenmiştir. Örnek alan çalışmasında AB adayı ve Ekonomik İşbirliği ve Kalkınma Teşkilatı (OECD) üyesi olan Türkiye’de yerel yönetimlerin, merkezi yönetimin taşra teşkilatlarının stratejik planlarında bölgesel ekonomik gelişme önceliklerinin güncel yaklaşımlar çerçevesinde yeterince ele alınamadığı ve sınırötesi işbirliklerinden bu çerçevede faydalanamadıkları ortaya konulmuştur. Bunun yanı sıra, kurulma aşamasında olan kalkınma ajanslarının potansiyel ortakları olan yerel yönetimler ve merkezi yönetimin taşra teşkilatlarının finansal, insan kaynakları ve bilgi kaynaklarına ilişkin sorunlar, ticaret ve sanayi odaları ile borsaların ise yine insan kaynakları ve finansal sorunlar nedeniyle sınırötesi işbirliklerinden faydalanamadıkları tespit edilmiştir. Sınırötesi işbirliklerinin bölgesel kalkınmada bir araç olabilmesi için ortak bölgesel ekonomik stratejiler geliştirilmesi gerektiği ve bölgedeki bu kurumlara ilişkin kurumsal kapasite sorunlarının bütünlük içinde çözülmesi gerektiği saptanmıştır. Türkiye-Bulgaristan ve Yunanistan sınır illeri valilikleri tarafından yeni kurulan sınırötesi işbirliği ağı, bu yönde atılmış önemli bir adımdır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Stratejik Planlama, sınırötesi işbirliği, Batı Marmara Bölgesi.Cross-border cooperation for local development is one of the key concerns both in the developed and developing world. Border regions experience certain difficulties in development, which may base on geographic, socio-economic, political and cultural reasons, as well as incompatible infrastructure and the lack of an effective local cooperation among actors. The EU has developed a series of interregional cooperation programs which specifically deal with development problems in the border regions. Turkey as a prospective member of the EU has recently started to benefit some of these programs with some limitations that are imposed both by the local institutional background, but also other reasons such as the problems related to the progress in the membership of Turkey to the EU. This study aims at evaluating local institutional capacity and approach to strategic planning to understand whether if EU Cross-Border Cooperation programs could be used effectively in the case region, Western Marmara, as a strategic planning tool. The main focus is on the INTERREG program and the case of Western Marmara Region, which has both land and marine borders to the EU countries Greece and Bulgaria. The region experiences significant development problems despite its good proximity to developed metropolitan centers such as Istanbul. These problems are interrelated at the urban and regional levels within a cross-border regional context, hence needs establishment of local policies integrated to national and international policies. While the region experiences many socio-economic problems, the main focus in this study is on the spatial-economic development problems due to the vast size of the region and the complexity of issues related to local governance and development policy. We base our study on the fact that a group of new regional development policies has been introduced in the post 1980 era, bringing in strategic spatial planning on the top of the agenda for both developed and developing countries who deal with regional development problems in a globalizing world. These policies are those like establishment of competitive, innovative and learning trans-national regions, sustainability, establishing a regional strategic management system, and adaptation of regional development plans which incorporate joint strategies borne by regional and local authorities. INTERREG programs have proved to be very efficient tools for implementation of such policies. Introduction of reforms on local and regional governance in Turkey and the EU membership process have provided an opportunity for implementing such policies through cooperation of local and regional actors both at the national and cross-border levels. However, neither establishing nor implementing these policies are easy. Such work requires a systematic approach to analyze the development trends that are usually determined exogenously to the region, and efficient cooperation of agents under common strategic priorities. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the local institutional capacity and the approaches of agents to spatial strategic planning in the case region of Western Marmara, and identify certain problems related to INTERREG Programs as tools of policy implementation. As an introduction, we briefly evaluate the EU policy and legislative changes in Turkey on local governments and regional development. We then evaluate the development problems in the case region using secondary data on employment, industrial clusters and gender, as well as other information such as provided in the INTERREG IIIA cross-border cooperation program. Basic indicators demonstrate that the region experiences significant development problems although it is home to some important industrial clusters. Then, the strategies and cross-border cooperation related problems of municipalities, provincial private administrations and chambers of trade-industry are evaluated, as by new reforms these have become potential partners. The evaluation of the case region demonstrates that strategic plans of local administrations and local representatives of central government do not address well the issues of regional economic development in line with contemporary approaches, although Turkey is a member of OECD and applicant to EU membership. Furthermore, due to problems in financial, human and knowledge resources; local governments and administrations do not benefit much from the cross-border cooperation programs. Trade and industry chambers experience problems in financial and human resources as well, although they are potential partners of prospective development agencies. A holistic approach to solve institutional capacity problems in the region and establishment of common economic strategies are identified as two key solutions to improve the use of cross-border cooperation as a tool for regional development. The newly established cross-border cooperation network by the provincial mayors of Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria is a promising attempt in this framework. Keywords: Strategic planning, cross-border cooperation, West-Marmara Region.