Can Competition Spoil Reciprocity? - A Laboratory Experiment

This paper investigates how group membership and competition among trustors interact with trust and trustworthiness in a laboratory one-shot trust game. To analyze these effects, we apply a 2x2 design. We induce group membership by letting subjects play coordination games with clear focal points, leading to higher investments and trustworthiness. Introducing competition leads to a decrease in trustworthiness, especially among partners. We argue that once competition comes into play, trustees perceive trustors’ investments as the outcomes of a competitive bidding process rather than good intentions, which reduces reciprocity.trust, reciprocity, investment game, group membership, competition

Urban Structure, Energy and Planning: Findings from Three Cities in Sweden, Finland and Estonia

Transforming energy use in cities to address the threats of climate change and resource scarcity is a major challenge in urban development. This study takes stock of the state of energy in urban policy and planning and reveals potentials of and constraints to energy-efficient urban development. The relationship between energy and urban structure provides a framework for discussing the role of urban planning to increase energy efficiency in cities by means of three in-depth case studies of medium-sized cities in Northern Europe: Eskilstuna in Sweden, Turku in Finland and Tartu in Estonia. In some ways these cities go ahead when it comes to their national climate and energy policies and aim to establish urban planning as an instrument to regulate and influence the city’s transition in a sustainable way. At the same time, the cities are constantly facing goal conflicts and limitations to their scope of action, which creates dilemmas in their strategic orientation and planning activities (e.g. regional enlargement and increased commuting vs. compact urban development). Finally, considering urban form and spatial structure along with the policy context as well as regional drivers and functional relations is suggested as a suitable approach for addressing the challenges of energy-efficient urban development

Urban energy planning in Tartu:[PLEEC Report D4.2 / Tartu]

The Estonian planning system allots the main responsibilities for planning activities to the local level, whereas the regional level (county) is rather weak. That implies a gap of cooperation on the regional level, leading to dispersed urban development in suburban municipalities and ongoing urban sprawl in the vicinity of Tartu. This development appears contrary to the concept of low-density urbanised space as formulated in the National Spatial Plan Estonia 2030+ (NSP) as the central spatial development concept for Estonia and also to a compact and intensive city development as formulated in the Master Plan of Tartu."br/""br/"Since Tartu has no relevant big industries, the main employers are the municipality and the university, energy related challenges occur from transport and residential (district) heating. The modal split shows big differences between journeys within Tartu and journeys between Tartu and its vicinity. While the first shows a high share of public transport and walking, the latter includes a high share of car use, especially in work related travelling. This is closely related to the issue of ongoing urban sprawl and increasing car ownership. Although the Tartu City Transport Development Plan 2012-2020 points very clearly at the weaknesses in the transport system of Tartu, the plan is not addressing cross-border issues, like e.g. regional commuting."br/""br/"The highest share of emissions is allotted to energy production. In terms of energy sources Estonia is very much dependent on imports like oil and gas and the Estonian electricity production is to more than 90 % based on Estonian oil shale. Thus, efforts towards higher energy efficiency at least on the national level are rather driven by ambitions to decrease fuel dependency than merely efficiency objectives. That illustrates the need for a transition of the energy supply and generation system in Estonia from two forces: decreasing fuel dependency and a shift to an increasing use of renewable resources. Document type: Boo

Urban energy planning in Turku:[PLEEC Report D4.2 / Turku]

Since industrialisation, Turku has been an important industrial town in Finland and still is. Today, after considerable restructuring of the industrial sector, most jobs (79 % in the city of Turku) are within services. Besides its economic base, Turku also is experiencing a change in the former prevailing urban sprawl, characterising urban development since the 1950s. The city is densifying and promoting sustainable urban develop-ment, though at a regional scale with several growth centres. Its future development is envisioned in the Structure model 2035, focusing on more compact urban development along public transport corridors. From the case report three issues arise which might be of considerable interest in a broader context of the PLEEC project:"br/""br/"1. Working with energy efficient regional urban structure (e.g. regarding urban sprawl) in a low density country and on a voluntary cooperative basis"br/"2. Keeping the industrial base in a city facing deindustrialisation and aiming for energy efficiency"br/"3. Decentralisation of energy supply enables new forms of settlements with the example of Skanssi Document type: Boo