Placemaking for Cities : Pilot project on the transfer of good practice in community-led placemaking

This report provides an account of the main outcomes of Placemaking 4 Cities (P4C) project and offers critical evaluation of process as well as content of this pilot project in good practice transfer (GPT). In doing so this report draws together detailed descriptions and assessments of the transfer process from learning logs, the mid-term review and exit interviews with P4C participants. The learning logs and the mid-term review are attached in a separate appendix entitled ‘Supporting Documents’. The first part of the report is concerned with an analysis of the results that were achieved. It begins with a presentation of the good practices and anticipated outcomes defined in the baseline study and compares these to the actual results and outputs achieved. The good practices that were adopted and adapted through the transfer are presented at the end of this section. We then review the methodological approach that was adopted to facilitate the GPT, focusing in particular the preparation and executing of the peer review which was central to the transfer process. This is followed by an attempt to assess the impact of the P4C pilot for participating cities of the medium and longer term and the report concludes with a number of recommendations about the design and delivery of future GPT networks.Final Published versio

Leadership and structure in the co-production of public services

This paper aims to initiate a debate about the utility of the concept of co-production in developing a better understanding of contemporary challenges to leadership and management in the provision of public services. The central argument made here is twofold: First, leadership must be shared to some extent for co-production to take effect, which supports current conceptual developments but also points to the need to focus future research more on relational dynamics and on institutional structures. Second, to develop models of leadership which reflect the nature of the co-production process, institutional concepts based on hybridity and blurred boundaries are likely to provide a useful starting point.Final Published versio

Co-producing responses to urban shrinkage

Hans Schlappa, ‘Co-producing responses to urban shrinkage’, in Hans Schlappa, William B.V. Neill, eds., Future Directions for the European Shrinking City, (London: Routledge, 2016), ISBN 978-1138814691.At a time of unprecedented budgetary austerity shrinking cities need to find strategies to tackle growing problems related to public services, employment, social cohesion and the environment in ways which differ from those pursued in the past. Drawing on the ideas and enhancing the resources and capabilities of local stakeholders is key to creating new strategic perspectives and initiatives. This chapter presents a case study from a small manufacturing town in Germany to illustrate that the concept of co-production is well suited to explain how municipalities of shrinking cities can successfully collaborate with their local community in the development of forward strategies that are based on their existing resources.Peer reviewe

The adoption and adaptation of good practice : Cross-national knowledge transfer in placemaking using the peer review method

The transfer of knowledge is a prominent feature in transnational networks regardless of whether they are aimed at practitioners, policy makers or researchers. Yet the process of transferring knowledge between countries and organisations is poorly understood, while the inclusion of citizens in the knowledge transfer process receives very little attention. This paper makes a contribution towards closing this gap in knowledge by presenting the outcomes of transnational knowledge transfer project aimed at community engagement in placemaking processes. The paper analyses the process and the outcomes of the knowledge transfer before critically discussing the barriers and challenges that were encountered. It concludes that knowledge exchange needs to be organised not only between officials but also between them and the communities they want to engage in their home cities. The concept of shared leadership has been found to capture the dynamics of knowledge exchanges well, but to ensure that organisations benefit from the application of new knowledge shared leadership needs to be balanced with strong strategic leadership. The implications of including citizens in a learning process through which tactic knowledge is shared between officials and communities are also discussed.Non peer reviewedSubmitted Versio

If not growth what then? Re-thinking the strategy process for shrinking cities

Hans Schlappa, ‘If not growth what then? Re-thinking the strategy process for shrinking cities’, in Hans Schlappa, William J.V. Neill eds., Future Directions for the European Shrinking City, (London: Routledge, 2016), ISBN 9781138814691, eISBN 9781315747286.This chapter puts forward a model of the strategy cycle which departs from traditional notions of strategy as being concerned with the continuous creation of economic growth and prosperity. Rather than attempting to generate ‘growth’ in purely profit oriented and narrowly economic terms, leaders of shrinking cities need to be supported in generating collaborative strategy processes which embrace the crisis they are experiencing as the beginning of a new direction for sustainable development.Peer reviewe

“That’s their problem isn’t it?” : Challenges for local authorities and third-sector organisations in the delivery of European Union funded urban regeneration initiatives

This paper presents the findings from the German part of a cross-national doctoral study on the benefits and challenges encountered by third sector organisations using URBAN II funding to deliver urban regeneration projects. The findings identify challenges around securing funding, managing organisational change, and joint working between third sector and public agencies. These challenges are then discussed with regard to the organisational capacity of third sector organisations, collaboration and the administration of European Union funding. The paper concludes with initial implications arising from the study findings for the implementation of European policy.Non peer reviewe

Leading Strategy in Shrinking Cities

Copyright and all rights therein are retained by the authors. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and conditions invoked by each author's copyright. These works may not be re-posted without the explicit permission of the copyright holders.This paper puts forward a conceptual framework of the strategy process which treats decline and crisis as an integral element of the search for locally appropriate responses to urban shrinkage. Rather than replicating unsuccessful attempts to create economic growth and competitive advantage in cities that have not been growing for many years, local leaders from all sectors need to be better supported in finding ways to generate local responses to urban shrinkage within policy frameworks that tend to offer very limited support for shrinking cities. This paper challenges assumptions that strategy is about the continuous increase in prosperity and argues for a strategy process which tackles the causes and consequences of decline with resources that local stakeholders can control. The paper concludes with arguments that professional development and higher education programmes need to place stronger emphasis on models of leadership and strategy which reflect the practical challenges associated with gaining control over long term decline.Final Published versio

Leaders without answers? Strategising in a context of continuous socio-economic decline

Hans Schlappa, ‘Leaders without answers? Strategising in a context of continuous socio-economic decline’, paper presented at the European Group for Public Administration (EPGA) Annual Conference, Speyer, Germany, 10-12 September 2014.Context and rationale for the paper The mainstream strategic management literature is based on notions of ‘development’ and assumptions that there are always opportunities to improve the status quo, provided organisations adopt the right strategy. But what about strategy in a context where there can be no realistic expectation of ‘development’ in its broadest sense? Governments are reporting that the economic downturn appears to be coming to an end and that there are signs of ‘growth’, but in most European countries statistical evidence of growth still has to translate into improved employment and living conditions for the majority. Progress reports on the Europe 2020 strategy for ‘smart, sustainable and inclusive growth’ are also up-beat about a post recession growth trajectory (European Commission 2014), but the reality is that a large number of European cities, which are Europe’s engines of growth, are in caught up in spiral of decline. Current estimates suggest that 40% of all European cities with more than 200,000 inhabitants are shrinking – the number for smaller settlements is assumed to be even greater. Scholars working on the COST funded research on shrinking cities in Europe speak about ‘islands of growth in a sea of shrinkage’ (Wiechman 2012). Others warn that governments cannot rely on the market to halt or reverse the process of urban shrinkage. They call for targeted action to develop the capacity of municipalities to generate viable forward strategies in a context of continuous socio-economic decline (Bernt. M. et al. 2012; Bontje and Musterd 2012; Großmann et al. 2012). The question is: what concepts, models and analytical tools can we offer those charged with developing forward strategies for cities which find themselves in a continuous cycle of decline? A recent review of current practice (Schlappa and Neill 2013) suggests that leaders of declining cities ‘recycle’ strategies which might have worked in the past or which reflect policy goals of supra-national funders rather than a realistic assessment of existing assets and capabilities. This is can be attributed to a number of factors, including denial of the reality of decline as well as EU policy which focuses on locations perceived to be capable of generating ‘growth’. However, there is also a void of ideas about how local strategies can be developed based on a paradigm of decline – rather than growth – and it is this issue this paper begins to address. Conclusions and contribution of the paper This paper initiates a discussion on new perspectives and approaches to strategy which reflect the realities public agencies face when attempting to arrest or reverse socio-economic decline. Drawing on public sector strategic management literature (Bolden 2011; Brookes and Grint 2010; Joyce 2012) and institutional theory concerned with the analysis of change(Ostrom and Basurto 2011), and illustrating arguments with a case study (Schlappa and Ferber 2013), the paper puts forward a revised model of Mintzberg’s (1998) strategy cycle. The proposed revisions are based on the argument that strategy rooted in a context of continuous decline must break with dominant assumptions that the outcome of the strategy process is ‘development’. The paper concludes with a number of suggestions, including: • Developing the capacity of leaders to develop strategy collaboratively; • Applying co-production theory for the analysis of collaborative strategy and service development, and • Exploring alternative economic models to guide strategic analysis in declining cities.Peer reviewedSubmitted Versio

Managing brownfield land in stagnant land markets

Hans Schlappa, Uwe Ferber, ‘Managing brownfield land in stagnant land markets’, in Hans Schlappa, William B.V. Neill, eds., Future Directions for the European Shrinking City, (London: Routledge, 2016), ISBN 978-1138814691.Shrinking cities are considerably challenged by stagnant urban land markets. Formal urban planning systems and instruments, developed to control urban grow and land development in the 1970s, are poorly adapted to manage situations where there is little or no pressure for development. Urban decline with failing property markets, the lack of integrated management strategies based on solid land information together with the inadequate use of planning instruments and financial incentives are major challenges for shrinking cities and regions. Examples of good practices and the ABC model for land management are presented here to show how brownfield land can be managed more effectively and sustainably.Peer reviewe

Leading the co-production process : Who is in charge?

Hans Schlappa, and Yassaman Imani, 'Leading the co-production process: Who is in charge?', paper presented at the IIAS Study Group Open Meeting, "Coproduction of Public Services", Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands, 8-9 June 2015.The notion of service co-production is becoming firmly embedded in the contemporary discourse on public service provision. While talking about co-production is rapidly gaining in popularity among policy makers and practitioners, the academic discourse is characterised by significant conceptual gaps despite an ever growing range of case studies of co-production. Of particular concern here is that questions associated with leading service co-production are theoretically and empirically under-developed. This paper makes a contribution towards filling this gap by putting forward a framework for the exploration of leadership in the co-production process. An initial and preliminary application of this framework to case studies of co-production suggests that the citizen co-producer is limited in the way she can enact leadership functions, the regular public service producer appears to be firmly ‘in the lead’ except where citizens are engaged in a process that runs from design, to management and implementation of a service.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio