Re-structuring competetive metropolitan regions: on territory, institutions and governance. RheinRuhr compared with London, Paris and the Randstad Holland

Currently social and political constructed urban regions are about to approach a threefold role regarding their functional, economic and political function. At first they constitute a basis for economic and social life. What is next is their role as a vital relational asset to refine competitive advantages and thirdly they exemplify the significance of a new era of reflexive capitalism. One underlying consequence of the "new" interest concerning the de- and re-territorialisation of political economic activity is to consider the regional scale as a functional space for economic planning and political governance. Our intended contribution for the ERSA-Conference deals with the role of selected European Metropolitan Regions as "driving forces" for national and Europe`s competitiveness and the involved challenges for such urban regions to pool their resources and potentials in order to cerate some kind of "appropriate organising capacities". To do so, the authors would draw on the ongoing debate about the adequate analysis of regional political economies and on the empirical results produced within two recently finished international research projects (named as EURBANET and GEMACA II: both were executed under the umbrella of the INTERREG IIC operational programme for the North Western Metropolitan Area). Whilst GEMACA II focussed on the competitiveness of metropolitan regions, the EURBANET project took on board the possible contribution of polynuclear urban regions, such as RheinRuhr and the Delta Metropolis, in order to strengthen the regional competitiveness and quality of life. Additionally, their potential roles in transnational planning processes were under study. The planned paper would start with the observation that a great number of examinations on urban or city-regional economies reduce these "spatialities" to empirical given administrative bounded cities and simultaneously to a "container" for socio-economic processes. However, a "region" is comprehended as a historical contingent process and its emergence needs to be understood as a part of socio-spatial structure and collective consciousness of society. Questions of spatial scales, territorial shapes, institutional formations and cultural identities are thus given preference by a number of social scientists and human geographers. In order to respond to this perspective, the authors want to discuss three key factors of the economic development exemplified by four metropolitan regions (as named in the headline). 1. the territorial shape of comparable functional urban regions including the specific questions of the internal spatial shape (rather monocentric or polycentric configurations without a dominant core); 2. the present "economic performance" of the selected regions embedded in the discourse of "regional competitiveness"; 3. the importance of "appropriate" institutional and policy-making frameworks for effective metropolitan governance and governments by bringing together the mutual interests of various city-regional stakeholders.

Corrigendum to “Some problems of Wielandt revisited” [J. Algebra 302 (1) (2006) 167–185]

AbstractAn error in the proof of Theorem 2 in [W. Knapp, Some problems of Wielandt revisited, J. Algebra 302 (1) (2006) 167–185] (concerning the action of semisimple groups) is corrected

Realisierung und Überprüfung eines 3D-Tastsystems für Mikro-Bauteile

Es wird ein neues 3D-Tastsystem vorgestellt, dessen Design nicht nur bezüglich isotroper Steifigkeit am Tastelement, sondern auch bezüglich wirtschaftlicher Herstellung der einzelnen Bauteile und deren einfacher Montage optimiert ist. Eine Verlagerung des Tastelementes resultiert in einer Änderung der Position und/oder Orientierung einer beweglich gelagerten Messplatte, in welche der Taststift geschraubt wird. Die Bewegungen der beweglichen Messplatte werden mit kapazitiven Sensoren gemessen. Die Geometrie des Tastsystems wird unter Verwendung der Finite-Elemente-Methode (FEM) berechnet und mittels Kraft-Messungen überprüft. Damit steht ein verifiziertes Werkzeug zur Verfügung, mit welchem die Eigenschaften des Tastsystems, beispielsweise dessen Steifigkeiten, an vorgegebene Spezifikationen angepasst werden können. So werden verschiedene Varianten des Tastsystems vorgestellt, die für einen Einsatz auf (Mikro-) Koordinatenmessgeräten oder Werkzeugmaschinen angepasst sind. Die geometrische Überprüfung des Tastsystems umfasst die Bestimmung des Linearitätsfehlers in Antastrichtung, die maximale Antastabweichung, die Wiederholgenauigkeit sowie den Einfluss der Umgebungsbedingunge

A new method for the characterisation of rounded cutting edges

The influence of the cutting edge micro geometry on cutting process and on tool performance is subject of several research projects. Recently published papers focus on optimising the cutting edge rounding. The results are partly inconsistent. Unfortunately, no international standard yet exists to properly describe the cutting edge micro geometry. This is seen as the root cause for detected discrepancies. To develop a common understanding for the influence of rounded cutting edges, it is indispensable to use the same basis to characterise the edge profile. This paper gives a review on existing characterisation methods, analyses the difficulties in their application and discusses different modelling ideas to describe the cutting edge profile. Based hereon, a new algorithm and geometrical parameterisation of the cutting edge is proposed, which reduces uncertainties and difficulties in the application of currently available methods. The proposed method considers measurement uncertainties and is robust against form errors and creates thus the basis required for the study of the influence of rounded cutting edge

„Europa 2000“: Raumordnung als Appendix der Binnenmarktstrategie?

Im Zusammenhang mit der voranschreitenden Integration wurden in jüngster Zeit eine Reihe von Untersuchungen vorgelegt, die u. a. auch Baustein sein wollen für die Diskussion um eine gemeinsame Raumordnung in der EG. Hierher gehören auch die unter dem Titel „Europa 2000“ von der EG-Kommission vorgelegten „Perspektiven der künftigen Raumordnung der Gemeinschaft“. Wie sich zeigt, wird damit aber kein europäischer Bezugsrahmen erstellt, der die wahrscheinlichen räumlichen Entwicklungen darstellt und mit dem Willen eines eigenen Gestaltungsanspruchs aus europäischer Perspektive bewertet

"Sie werden assimiliert werden, Widerstand ist zwecklos." Zwischen Beratung, die begleitet, und Beratung, die sich verliert: Versuch über die Gratwanderung von Beratung zwischen Systemgrenzen und Grenzüberschreitungen.

Beratung bewegt sich an den Grenzen eines Systems und bildet dabei ein weiteres System: Was geschieht an Systemgrenzen? Wie tief, wie lange dürfen / können sich Beratende in des System hineinbegeben, ohn

Re-structuring Competitive Metropolitan Regions in North-west Europe: On Territory and Governance

This paper intends to build a bridge between academic debates on the conteporary rescaling of political economy, with regard to urban governance, and the strategic approaches produced by policy makers and planners with a view to establishing region-wide governance-structures for metropolitan regions. To do so, the authors use empirical evidence from several north-western metropolitan regions, namely London, Paris, Randstad and RheinRuhr, which were under study in the framework of two research projects, namely, EURBANET and GEMACA. The paper commences by discussing whether ‘places’ can actually compete, and this will be followed by a short historical survey of the nation state’s interest in developing global cities and metropolitan regions as competitive territories. After taking into account their specific ‘spatial configurations’ we will then focus on the territorial shapes of such regions. The authors present a rather simple method to demarcate city-regions as comparable ‘Functional Urban Regions’. It will then be argued that to optimise their development and to exploit their potentialities, political focus should be directed towards upgrading the economic, institutional and social base, which is a prerequisite for entrepreneurial success. The article chiefly deals with the issue of establishing appropriate city-regional ‘organizing capacities,’ and provides a critical overview of the situation in four exemplary regions. In the concluding section this perspective will be extended by discussing in what sense these ‘Functional Urban Regions’ are actually ‘regions’

Laser-bonding of long fiber thermoplastic composites for structural assemblies

International audienceThe use of laser light for bonding of long fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites (LFTPC) offers new possibilities to overcome the constraints of conventional joining technologies. Laser specific transmission welding procedures are known in manufacturing of short fiber thermoplastic composites. The technical basics of the joining process and an outline of some material inherent characteristics using long glass fiber reinforced composites with PA resin are discussed. The technical feasibility and the mechanical characterization of laser bonded LFTPC are demonstrated. The results show that the laser provides an alternative joining technique and offers new perspectives to assemble structural components emerging in industrial manufacturing