espon seminar aalborg – 13 june 2012 workshop 2: the role of innovation, attractiveness and...
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ESPON Seminar Aalborg – 13 June 2012
Workshop 2: The role of innovation, attractiveness and creative economy in specific types of regions
Erik GløersenDepartment of Geography and Environment
University of Geneva
The GEOSPECS project
Development opportunities and challenges in specific types of territories:
• Mountain areas,• Islands,• Sparsely populated areas,• Outermost regions,• Border regions,• Coastal areas,• Inner peripheries.
GEOSPECS categories
Policy context
Mention of GEOSPECS areas in EU Treaty (Article 174)
EU-Parliament Intergroup
Green Paper on Territorial Cohesion 5th Cohesion Report
DG REGIO Working paper on areas with geographic specificities (Philippe Monfort, 2009)
Regional policy focusing on growth and sustainable development rather than on compensation for handicaps
Research question
Do geographic specificities
affect the capacity of a local community
or region to be
- innovative?
- attractive?
- creative?
TERRITORY
Research question
Affluent / Poor
Well-functioning / unbalanced governance Extensive/
limited infrastructure
Centrally located / Remote
Strong / weak identity
Attractive / repulsive climate
Highly urbanised / rural
Sluggish / dynamic
demographyTERRITORY
Mountain Island Sparselypopulated Coastal Border Outermost
«Innovative» «Creative»«Attractive»
“ceteris paribus”
Is this reasonable?
GEOSPECS categories
Identifying the defining features of each category of geographic specificity.
For example, mountains are characterised by:- Specific topography (slopes, altitude)- Harsher climate- Lower population densities & concentration in valleys
GEOSPECS categories
Mountain areas in Europe
Mountain areascan be found in most European countries.
There is a great diversity of socio-economic situations,both between and within massifs.
Population potentials
Number of personswith commuting distance(45 minute) by road
Cross-delineation
ESPON_Area
Border area (within 45 minutes)
Border area (within 90 minutes)
Coastal area (within 45 minutes)
Coastal area (within 90 minutes)
Sparsely populated and PC areas
Island without fixed link
Island with fixed link
Outermost region
Mountain area
Urban area > 100 000 inh.
Urban area > 750 000 inh.
Border area (within 45 minutes) 100.0% 10.9% 20.5% 38.6% 0.1% 4.7% 31.6% 34.2% 11.5%Border area (within 90 minutes) 57.1% 13.0% 23.5% 25.5% 0.4% 3.3% 29.9% 40.4% 13.9%Coastal area (within 45 minutes) 8.9% 18.6% 100.0% 26.8% 14.6% 2.9% 3.6% 38.3% 40.8% 13.2%Coastal area (within 90 minutes) 10.4% 20.8% 61.9% 21.5% 10.8% 1.8% 2.3% 38.6% 39.5% 12.7%Sparsely populated and PC areas 29.9% 34.6% 25.4% 32.9% 7.0% 1.0% 5.9% 55.9% 0.2% 0.0%Island without fixed link 82.7% 99.0% 42.3% 6.7% 71.9% 16.7% 3.0%Island with fixed link 3.8% 17.5% 100.0% 100.0% 34.6% 39.9% 23.3% 15.0%Outermost region 51.2% 62.8% 48.8% 48.8% 83.8% 15.9% 12.2% 0.6% Mountain area 14.4% 23.8% 21.3% 34.6% 32.9% 7.0% 0.6% 0.5% 17.6% 3.7%Urban area > 100 000 habitants 18.3% 37.9% 26.7% 41.7% 1.9% 0.4% 0.0% 20.8% 30.4%Urban area > 750 000 habitants 20.3% 42.9% 28.4% 44.0% 1.1% 0.9% 14.1% 14.1% 100.0%
The table reads as follows:- Within mountain areas (9th line), 21,3% of the area is also a coastal area (3rd column)
Main parameter: access to urban areas
Access to urban areas modifies the possibilitiesof implementingstrategies forinnovation, attractiveness and creative economy
Proximity to metropolitan regions and large urban regions
influences development perspectives for the Alps positively and negatively.
The Alpine range: surrounded by metropolitan areas
Mountains and potential urban commuting areas
Only a limitedpart of European mountain areasare within commuting distance of medium to large cities
Mountains and potential urban commuting areas
The proportionsof mountain areapopulations within commuting distanceof cities are quitevaried.
Attractiveness for tourism
Employment in tourism
Proximity to metropolitan regions and large urban regionsinfluences development perspectives for the Alps positively and negatively.
Attractiveness for tourism
Attractiveness for tourism
Tourism in coastal areascan be concentratedalong a narrow stripalong the coastline.
Climatic attractiveness: sunshine duration
Conclusions• It is not generally meaningful to seek to identify statistical
correlations between “geographic specificity” and indicators of “attractiveness”, “innovation” or of “creative economy”
• The natural limitations to the emergence of innovation clusters can be compensated by other factors
• Pro-active policies can be one of these factors
• Categories of geographic specificity are rather useful as components in the design of tailor-made strategies for each region or locality
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