European Geographer 7 - Scientific Symposium 2010

Magazine from the European Geography Association for students and young geographers

The European Geographer

* Offshore wind energy in Northwest Europe * Space pioneers in the Havel- land area * The emerge of metropolitan region Rotterdam - The Hague?

7th issue September 2011

the Scientific Symposium 2010

ISSN: 1605-6566

ColophonThe EGEA Magazine is a publication from the Euro-pean Geography Association for Geography students and young Geographers. The EGEA Magazine is published twice a year. The magazine is produced for the EGEA community, EGEA partners and all oth-ers interested in EGEA, Geography and Europe.

Postal address:EGEAFaculty of Geosciences - Utrecht UniversityP.O.Box 80.115NL-3508 TC UtrechtTelephone: +31-30-2539708E-mail: [email protected] E-mail EGEA magazine: [email protected] Website: www.egea.eu

Editors of the seventh issue:Inge Wiekenkamp, Maike Metzkow, Jan Smutek, Jakub Ondruch, Maria Cristina Onet, Olga Cherno-pitskaya, Sille Marie Myreng, Annika Palomaki

Graphic Design: Anne Blok, Daniel Metzke and Inge Wiekenkamp

Contributing authors:Lena Puschel, Martijn Claes, Luuk Stelder, Ruben Maes, Dominique Chasseriaud, Michael Poulsen, Thijs Brugman, Stefan Esch, Miguel Geraldes, San-dra Sosnowski, Pieter Jan Karstijns, Estela Nadal Romero, Els Verachtert, Jean Poesen.

Photos:Martijn Claes, Luuk Stelder, Ruben Maes, Domi-nique Chasseriaud, Thijs Brugman, Stefan Esch, Pieter Jan Karstijns, Simon Reichenwallner.

Coverphoto:Daniel Metzke

Authors are completely responsible for the content of their articles and references made by them.

The editors would like to thank:Peter Adelaar – Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht UniversityRoos Saalbrink – EGEA BoE Secretariat Director 10/11Karl Donert - president of EUROGEO and UK Na-tional Teaching Fellow at Liverpool Hope UniversityAll authors

EGEA is supported by:ESRIEUROGEOFaculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University

Content

3 Lena Püschel Editorial: The Scientific Symposium 2010 & the Special Scientific Edition of the European Geographer

4 Martijn Claes, Claus Larsen Assessment of offshore wind energy in Northwest Eu - rope: Development of a GIS Model

8 Pieter Jan Karsijns, Luuk Stelder The application of GIS in accessibility research the shift in relative accessibility with the introduction of the Dutch rail network

10 Stefan Esch Space pioneers in the Havelland area (West of Belin)

12 Sandra Sosnowski, Dominique Chasseriaud Appropriation and recreation of space through out resistance:The example of the Hannoversche Wend land

16 Thijs Brugman The emerge of metropolitan region Rotterdam -The Hague? A comparison with metropolitan regions Mittel deutschland and Øresund in the field of governments and policy.

20 Ruben Maes Evaluating the piping erosion susceptibility of loess-de rived soil horizons using the pinhole test

23 Michael Poulsen The EU Blue Card - the quest for high skilled migrants

27 Miguel Geraldes GIS analysis on the location of peat bogs in continental Portugal, as ancillary tool to phylogeographic research Europe

2

The European Geographer, Edition 7

is more an adventure and struggle for high skilled migrants than a real invitation (Michael Poulsen, EGEA Copenhagen)? That something small like a pinhole test can provide important information about erosion risks of loess based soils (Ru-ben Maes, EGEA Leuven) or that there is no real definition of “the European Metropolitan Region” even if it already exist (Thijs Brugman, EGEA Utrecht)?

A Geographical Information System is known to be a useful tool and can solve many questions in our world of Geography. The fascinating applicability of GIS can be shown by many examples; it can be used to compare travel times over the centuries for modeling accessibility of places (Pieter Jan Karsijns, Luuk Stelder, EGEA Groningen) as well as to determine the best location for offshore wind energy plants in the North Sea with the help of different modeling pa-rameters (Mathijs Claes, EGEA Leuven). Searching for signs of resistance in the Wend-land was an exciting journey, which showed us what a new definition of space can create (Sandra Sosnowski, Dominique Chasseriaud, EGEA Mainz).

The Special Scientific Edition of the European Geographer Our Presenters introduced us to new and interesting themes, on which they worked very intensively, e.g. dur-ing their Bachelor or Master thesis. They accepted the challenge and an-swered all questions during the Symposium in a confident way. To give more EGEAns the chance to be introduced into their re-

search, the European Geographer offered to publish articles from the presenters of the Scientific Symposium and from all other people who handed in an abstract.

Our Special thanks go to Karl Don-nert, president of EUROGEO and UK National Teaching Fellow at Liv-erpool for helping the editorial board of the European Geographer and the Scientific Committee to pro-duce this Special Scientific Edi-tion of the European Geographer.

Scientific Symposium 2011 reloaded

Because of the great success of the Sci-entific Symposium 2010, there will also be a next one at the upcoming Annual Con-gress 2011, which will be organized by EGEA Muenchen & EGEA Erlangen. This AC is going to take place from 10th - 15th of September 2011 in Ebermannstadt, Bavaria, Germany. Same as last year, there will be a Scientific Symposium. Make sure you will be there!!!

Lena

Scientific Symposium 2010

Two Moderators, six Presentations and a room full of interested EGEAns. That was the Scientific Symposium in numbers. The idea of having a Scientific Sympo-sium at the Annual Congress (AC) was developed by the Scientific Committee and the AC Organizers in order to add a new scientific aspect to the Annual Con-gress of EGEA. With this initiative we wanted to offer EGEAns the opportunity to present their scientific work, the results of e.g. their bachelor or master thesis, to a bigger group of young geographers.

We challenged EGEAns to take their chance and test their presentation skills. At the end of the subscribing deadline, 20 abstracts were handed in. Together with the Scientific Coordinator of the AC, the Scientific Committee started the hard work of choosing the presenters. After in-tensive discussions, a very long e-meet-ing and several pros and cons 6 abstracts were chosen out of 20. In this editorial, the Scientific Committee would like to thank all EGEAns, who took the chal-lenge and handed in an abstract. After 8 month of preparations, hard work and thoughtful planning our presenters intro-duced us to a big variety of geographical topics at the AC 2010 in Poiana Zanelor.

Who knew, that the European Blue Card

Editorial: The Scientific Symposium 2010 & the Scientific Edition of the European GeographerLena Püschel , EGEA Osnabrueck

Source: Simon Reichenwallner

3

The Scientific Symposium 2010

Introduction

Large amounts of fossil energy are produced and used by humans and this increases global warming. The growth of electricity needs goes hand in hand with our dependency on fossil fuels. Alternatives for this dependency are renewable energy sources, for in-stance wind energy. Onshore wind turbines dominate the wind energy landscape, but there is little potential left on land [Europa, 2008]. Offshore wind energy could provide a lot more energy than it does today. The North Sea can be an appropriate area for the gain of offshore wind energy, but there has to be cooperation between the dif-ferent countries that possess territo-rial waters in the North Sea (figure 1).

To help achieve this cooperation, a tool should be made available that will estimate the potential (resources and costs) of offshore wind energy in the sea area of these countries. The aim of this project is to provide a model that can be used to calculate the po-tential available energy, the cheap-est location for producing energy and the cost of this energy. A GIS model was a good way to turn the spatial data available into quantified data.

“How can a model be created so it can estimate the possible future place-ments for offshore wind energy parks in the chosen case area, the North Sea?”

tial data as inputs and concerting them to data that can be quantified and localized.

In the second phase, some restrictions were added to approach a more realistic view of reality. Several areas were excluded for building wind energy parks. These exclud-ed areas contained oil & gas fields, pro-tected environmental areas (Ramsar) and areas that fell within a viewshed. This mod-el is described as the “restrictive model”.

1.Basic Model

One of the methods that can be used to find the most feasible areas for offshore wind energy parks is the concept of “Lev-elized Production Cost” (LPC) by Kühn [2001]. The LPC establishes a break-even cost of energy production. This is the mini-mum energy price at which energy can be sold in order for a project to have a bal-ance of zero at the end of its expected lifetime. The LPC formula consists of the total investment costs (I), the yearly operation & maintenance costs (O&M) and the annual energy production (E):

I is the total initial capital cost in €/km², O&M represents the yearly costs in €/MWh for the operation and maintenance of the wind turbines and E is the annual energy production in MWh/year * km². The investment costs are split up in dif-ferent parts: foundation cost and grid connection costs which are the variable costs, and the fixed costs, including tur-bine costs and other costs. The factor a is used to annualize the investment cost for the lifetime of the project and its value can be calculated by the following formula:

In this formula i is the interest rate and y

Methodology

Two models were developed to estimate the most suitable locations for offshore wind energy parks. The first model is the “basic model”, which is based on 3 main inputs:

• Bathymetry of the chosen case area • Wind data of the case area• The relative connectivity of points to the European power grid

The sea depth is important because of the building costs for the foundations of a wind energy park. The potential wind energy determines the amount of energy a given wind turbine can produce. The more wind, the more energy created. The distance to the shore is important because the only way to get the produced electricity to the shore is via power cables that follow the seabed. The longer the cables, the higher the cost.

In order to produce an estimate of the eco-nomics of a given wind energy resource in a given area, it is necessary to quantify these three spatial factors. This can only be done using a model that can take spa-

Martijn Claes, Claus Larsen, Aalborg University, 2009

Figure 2: Schematic overview of the basic model inputs

Figure 3: Schematic overview of the restrictive model inputs

Assessment of offshore wind energy in Northwest Europe D e v e l o p m e n t o f a G I S M o d e l

Figure 1: The chosen case area

4


is the expected lifetime for the proj-ect. For this model, a lifetime of 20 years and an interest rate of 6% are assumed. These values can of course be edited by the user of the model.

1.1 Investment costs (I)

The total investments cost can be calcu-lated as follows:

a. Foundation costs

The foundation cost of a wind energy park can be calculated based on the sea depth:This relationship has been quan-tified by Gooch et al. [2008]:

Where: k = the initial cost for one foundation

= 251.719

d = sea depth in meters.

This gives the following result when the bathymetric model is used as input factor (d) in the given formula: figure 4.The cost-depth model has been worked out in €/km² by calculating the amount of foundations needed per km². This was 0.577 foundation/km² (own calculations).

b. Grid connection costs

Typical for offshore wind energy parks is the added complication of transferring power from several kilometres out at sea. These transmission costs can be calcu-lated using a cost-distance model, where the price for connection to the power

grid will increase with increasing distance to the power grid access points on land.The formula for the grid connec-tion costs is a linear formula, which is empirically derived: (fig.5)

c. Fixed Costs

The remaining costs are fixed costs. These include turbine, consultancy, electric installation and control system costs. They were calculated using a constant value from the Danish Energy Agency [DEA, 2004] for the total invest-ment costs. This value is 1.600.000€/MW. As each windmill produces a power of 5MW and there are 0.577 per km², the fixed costs can be calculated as follows:

1.2 Operation & Maintenance costs (O&M)

The operation & maintenance costs for offshore wind energy will be higher than those for onshore wind energy. This is due to the decreased accessibility of wind energy parks in the sea. Boats and/or helicopters are required to perform main-tenance. There is also the problem that maintenance cannot be performed at all times due to adverse weather conditions. Wind speeds higher than 12 m/s and wave heights over 2m hinder the maintenance of the wind energy park [Rademakers et al., 2002]. In this project a constant val-ue of 10€/MW will be used [DEA, 2004].

1.3 Energy Production

a. Wind speed model

The model uses a wind model to de-termine the energy output for offshore wind turbines. The wind model used was created based on an image, shown in figure 6, of European wind [Energicon, 2005]. The image was im-ported into ArcGIS and georeferenced, to fit a known country outline. The iso-lines of the images were then drawn up as a polyline shapefile. This shapefile was then transformed into a raster us-ing the Topo-to-raster tool and used as an input to the model.

b. Annual Energy production

The potential energy that a wind energy park can produce in one year depends on the wind speed power curve and the wind speed frequency distribution in a certain area. When the mean annual wind speed is known, the following for-mula [Boyle, 2004] can also be used to make a rough estimate of the electric-ity production in KWh per year from a number of wind turbines in a wind en-ergy park:where E = Annual energy pro-duction K= 3.2 and is a factor based on typical turbine performance character-istics and an approximate relationship between mean wind speed and wind speed distributionv = the annual mean wind speed. The wind speed map will be used as input factor.A= is the swept area of the turbine in m². To calculate this area the rotor diameter of a 5MW wind turbine has been used. This is 120m. The following

formula has been used:

2. The Restrictive model:

“A step closer to reality”Unfortunately the basic model does not provide a realistic view of the situation, because only a few physical factors are taken into account. In this second model an attempt has been made to approach reality by adding restrictions to the basic model, by reducing the amount of potentially available space for placing wind turbines in the North Sea.

2.1 Oil & Gas fields

The locations in the North Sea where oil and gas resources are available are not suitable for placing wind energy parks. The buffer area surrounding these fields has been chosen based Figure 4: Cost-depth model in €/km²

5


Figure 7: LPC map of the Basic model

Figure 5: The cost distance model

on a qualified guess. If this guess is wrong it could be altered to any given size in the model. The model itself just uses the buffer size as an input to its calculations. Different users of the lo-cational model might have different perspectives and therefore requirements concerning the size of such a buffer.

2.2 Ramsar areas

Ramsar sites are created based on the Ramsar convention. It is an international treaty for the con-servation and sustainable utilization of wetlands. The stakeholders of this treaty defined protected wetlands which have an ecological, botanic, zoo-logical and hydrological value, where the impor-tance as a habitat for water birds is a main issue [Ramsar, 2008]. These (offshore) areas are not suitable for the building of wind energy parks be-cause their construction and operation will disturb the natural habitats of these water birds. That is why they have been excluded from the locational model.

2.3 Fish breeding areas

Another change to the basic model concerns fish breeding areas. In comparison with the other lay-ers, this layer doesn’t have a restrictive function. The presence of wind energy parks has a positive influence on the development and conservation of fish breeding areas. The foundations of the wind turbines protect the breeding areas, by cre-ating artificial reefs and by keeping trawling fish-

ing boats away, which could otherwise cause overfishing. These areas could be preferable to locate wind energy parks.

2.4 Viewshed analysis

A viewshed analysis is included in the restricted model. The reason for in-cluding a viewshed analysis is a grow-ing antipathy against on-shore wind turbines [Bishop and Miller, 2006]. Studies carried out by Bishop and Mill-er [ibid] showed that the further away from the shore the wind turbines are located the better. The study further shows that moving/working wind tur-bines were better liked than still stand-ing/non working wind turbines. The argument was that “when the turbines are moving they are seen as being ‘at work’, doing good, producing energy” [Bishop and Miller, 2006; page]. This citation suggests that the survey group in [Bishop and Miller, 2006] could live with sea-based wind turbines that are within visual range, as long as they are doing what they were meant to do: producing clean renewable energy.

3. Results

The basic model provides a map with “Levelized Production Costs” (figure 7). It is clearly visible that the West-ern Danish seawaters are the most suitable region to build off-shore wind energy, with a production price start-ing from 24€/MW. The areas south of Ireland and Norway are characterized by very deep seas, which implies high production costs. There is however a large area that spans the Danish, Ger-man, Dutch and English EEZ that could be recommended as suitable locations to build offshore wind energy parks.The restrictive model (figure 8) adds restrictions to the basic models output.

The “holes” in the North Sea are the re-moved oil and gas wells. After adding the restrictions, the picture changes and some different areas can be identi-fied as better than others. For example, the light yellow spot in the British sea territory, also known as Dogger Bank (figure 9). Dogger Bank is a sandbank that has an area of approximately 17.600km². The water depth ranges from 15-36 meters [Timegun, 2008].Dogger Bank is also an important fishing area as shown in figure 9. The implementation of wind en-ergy in this area would also be a protective factor for the fish popu-lation in this area, but could cause problems with the fishing industry.The Western Danish sea territory was another possible implementation area, as described in the basic model:. It has however become less accessible due to the presence of a Ramsar area at the Danish West coast which prohibits a cheaper connection to the power grid. Apart from Dogger Bank and the western sea territory, figure 10 shows that there are areas along the English, Irish and French coast that show great promise.

By adding the Viewshed analysis to figure 8, and producing figure 10, it can be seen that the visibility factor has an impact on the usable area for offshore wind turbines. For instance it can be seen that the inner areas of the Dan-ish sea are greatly affected by it. Great care should be used when deciding the extent of the visibility factor because of the rising cost per produced MWh of electricity from the wind turbines.

Conclusion

The project formulation was as follows: “How can a model be created so it can estimate the possible future placements

Figure 6: The image used in the creation of the wind model, Source: Energicon, 2005

6


Figure 7: LPC map of the Basic model

Figure 8: LPC map of the Restrictive model

Figure 10: LPC map of the Restrictive model with a viewshed included

Figure 9: Dogger Bank, Source: Timegun, 2008

Reference List

Bishop, I. D. & Miller, D. R., 2006. Visual assessment of off-shore wind turbines: The influence of distance, contrast, movement and social variables. Renewable Energy. Vol. 32, pp. 814-831.

Boyle, G., 2004. Renewable Energy: Power for a sustainable future. Oxford University Press, pp. 266-268.

DEA, 2004. Technology Data for Electricity and Heat Generating Plants. Available on:http://www.ens.dk/graphics/Publikationer/Forsyning_UK/Technology_Data_for_Electric-ity_and_Heat_Generating_Plants/html/chapter19.htm (Accessed: 18th of December 2008)

Energicon, 2005. European Wind Resource Map. Available on:http://energicon.co.uk/Documents/wind%20data%20%20europe.jpg (Accessed: 18th of December, 2008)

Europa, 2008. Climate Action, Energy for a Changing World. Available on: http://

for offshore wind energy parks in the chosen case area, the North Sea?”

Working questions:

• How can a geneal model be created to address this problem? • How can this model be applied to other scales than the case area?

It can be concluded that the main purpose of the project has been fulfilled. A working model that can be used to estimate the possible future placements for offshore wind energy parks in the chosen case area. Even more so it was found that the cre-ated model works in any given case area, be it small or large.

The methodology section largely answers the first working question in its thorough review of the buildup of the basic model, the restric-tive model and the application of the restrictive model. The applica-tion of the restrictive model would be one way to go to a smaller scale with the model using an existing calculation as an input to another calculation based on a smaller case area. The conclusion to the last working question is based on the prepara-tion of the inputs to the model. If the intended use of the model is of a large scale then the basic inputs are needed and the calcula-tions should be done with a large cell size to limit the calculation time and the amount of data. When working on smaller scales it is more important to use more inputs to get a more correct image of the complexity of reality. In general it can be said that the larger the scale the fewer inputs are needed. The opposite is correct as well. The smaller the scale, the more inputs are needed to understand the complexity of the given case area.

The final conclusion is that the results of the model are only as good as its inputs. Great care should be taken when setting up the model and making sure that all the input values and data is correct for the given case area.

ec.europa.eu/climateaction/(Accessed: 18th of December, 2008)

Gooch, S.A., Guerrero C.A., Rodriguez, R.A., Wisniewski, J., 2008. An Energy and Cost Based GIS Approach to Offshore Wind Farm Site Mapping.

Kühn, M., T.T. Cockerill, G.J.W. van Bussel, W. Bierbooms, and R. Harrison, 2001. Combined technical and economic evaluation of the Northern European offshore wind resource. Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynam-ics, pp. 689-711

Rademakers, L.W.M.M. & Braam. H., 2002. O&M aspects of the 500MW off-shore wind farm at NL7. DOWEC project.

Ramsar, 2008. The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Available on: http://www.ramsar.org/ (Accessed: 18th of December, 2008)

Timegun, 2008. Fisherman’s Fright. Available on: http://www.timegun.org/fish_fright.html (Accessed: 18th of December 2008).

7


The application of GIS in accessibility research T h e s h i f t i n r e l a t i v e a c c e s s i b i l i t y w i t h t h e i n t r o d u c t i o n o f t h e D u t c h r a i l n e t w o r k

To calculate the accessibility of a city at a given moment in time, a network was cre-ated, digitizing old maps using ArcGIS and attributing the connections with data on the first year of operation and the applied maximum speed. In this network, all cities are connected to one another with lines (here, rail connections), each having a specific ‘resistance’, in this case the time it takes to travel this line. This hands the op-portunity to calculate the total travel time to all other cities from any given city. The re-sults differ over time, with changing ‘resis-tance’ to distance as more accessible and faster rail transportation was introduced. Figure 2 shows the results of the above applied to the 33 biggest cities in the Netherlands. This first calculation is

While digitizing and combining data from From a traditional economic geographer’s point of view, the development of new or improved infrastructure is often linked to economic development, especially in pe-ripheral areas. But when a transportation innovation emerges throughout an area everywhere at the same pace, it is very questionable whether this development creates advantages for a specific city or region. When the travel time and ex-penses halve on all routes from every city to every other city in a given region, this changes nothing concerning the relative (economic) position of any of these cities.

Though small differences are present throughout the country, the introduction of the Dutch railway network is a fairly typical example of equally spread advancements in infrastructure (Veenendaal, 2004). Since 1839 this mode of transportation expanded to an all time high in the early thirties of the 20th century (figure 1). Combining old rail maps with new GIS applications provides us with the opportunity to analyze this pro-cess and see whether such a revolution in transportation may have led to specific ad-vantages to certain places. More clearly; did the introduction of this network merely result in an absolute change in acces-sibility, or can we detect a relative shift?

While digitizing and combining data from old maps and archives, a GIS model was created in which the development of ac-cessibility for 33 cities in the Netherlands could be monitored for any given year dur-ing the period between 1838 and 1931, the growth period of the Dutch rail network. In doing so, creating the possibility to calcu-late whether the introduction of the rail sys-tem caused a shift in relative accessibility among the top 33 cities of the Netherlands.

The concept of relative accessibility

Throughout academic history, a variety of measurements have been applied in researching accessibility issues (Hine, in Knowles et al. 2008). Makri (2001) defined time, costs and efforts as the main dependent variables for accessibil-ity. However it can be argued that costs and efforts are inherent to the time of travelling, thus leaving time to be a fairly stable variable for simple analyses (van Wee, Dijst 2002) as is conducted here.

based on a ‘rail-less’ situation, draw-ing straight lines between cities, al hav-ing the same traveling speed (5 km/h) . This will, obviously, give a typical centre/periphery view of the Netherlands (fig-ure 2), with the more central cities hav-ing the lowest accumulated travel time. The shift in accessibility only starts when adding the rail system and comparing the differences between two or more years. At a first glance, the same calculation with the total rail network of 1931 (figure 3), doesn’t provide a very different view. The relationship between cities stays the same, since cumulative travel times will still be the lowest in central places. Only when we start to compare the difference in difference over time, can the relative shift

Pieter Jan Karsijns, Luuk Stelder, Faculty of Spatial Sci-ences, University of Groningen

Figure 1: The Dutch Railnetwork in 1931, Source: Karsijns, P.J., Stelder, L.. 2010

8


just. If further research were undertaken, it could provide quantifiable data on the missing assumptions that could be blend-ed into the model, making it a more ac-curate and very powerful tool for further accessibility research.

in accessibility be observed.

The accessibility shift

When comparing the pre- and post rail re-sults of the analyses, the most notable re-sult is the dramatic drop in absolute travel times the introduction of the rail network induced, for all of the connected cities. Figure 4 shows the fastest and the slowest developing city (e.g. Delft and Emmen), both dropping over 90% of original travel times. Though there is a clear difference in the speed of the decline, we can see the eventual drop in travel time is almost the same, which would support the theory of hardly shifting relative accessibility.

As to the shift in relative accessibility, this can be calculating by dividing the cumula-tive travel times at T=0 by those in T=1, here being the years 1838 and 1931, which will give the relative amount of de-clining travel times for each city. Visually this results in a map of the shift in relative accessibility, as is shown in figure 5. The blue areas gaining more profit from the in-troduction of the railways and the red ar-eas profiting the least. Comparing this map to figures 2 and 3, a pattern emerges in which the centre of accessibility has clear-ly shifted towards the east of the country. This mainly results from the predominant east-wards direction of the main connec-tions, granting the more eastern cities a relative advantage to the west. Secondly, intra-regional connections in the west did not evolve very efficient, leaving these cit-ies with relatively high travel times to one another.

A second major fact is the high loss in relative accessibility of part of the north-ern region. This is a direct consequence of

the barrier the Zuidersea became with the introduction of fast rail transportation. In the rail-less era, traveling over water was as fast, if not the fastest, way of travel - thus granting the northern areas a direct and reliable connection to the west. The new situation offers a much faster way of transport, but one that is land bound, resulting in large detours on route from north to west (and vice-versa, another reason for the loss of the leading position of the western cities). Conclusion

This research relies heavily on a few as-sumptions of reality, included in order to model the real world. One example was in making travel time the sole dependent variable of accessibility, while actual costs of traveling and the personal effort it takes were not included. Also, a 100% connec-tivity of railway lines was assumed. This is also a highly unlikely situation, since a high number of very small, private owned rail road operators (often exploiting mere-ly one line) dominated the late 19th cen-tury, making train transfers a timely and difficult operation (Sluiter, 2002). Also, the frequency in which trains departed was not taken into account, something which could very well vary a great deal region-ally.

Most of these assumptions were made due to time constraints, but are in effect not so important, considering the main goal was in researching the application of GIS in accessibility research. The model created is extremely flexible, it could be used now to evaluate the actual rail net-work of any given year within the research period. Furthermore, the constraints given to every rail line would be very easy to ad-

References

Hine, J, 2008. ‘Transport and Social Justice’ in Knowels et al. (eds) ‘Transport Geographies; Mobilities, Flows and Spaces’ Blackwell Publish-ing, Oxford.

Makri, M.B., 2001. Accessibility Indices, a Tool for Comprehensive Land-Use Planning. School of Architecture and the Built Environment, Stock-holm.

Sluiter, J.W., 2002. Overzicht van de Nederland-se spoor- en tramwegbedrijven. Matrijs, Leiden.

Veenendaal, A.J., 2004. Spoorwegen in Neder-land: van 1834 tot nu. Boom, Amsterdam

Wee, B. van, Dijst, M., 2002. Verkeer en Vervoer in Hoofdlijnen. Couthino b.v , Bussum.

Figure 2: Total Travelling Time 1838Source: Karsijns, P.J., Stelder, L.. 2010

Figure 3: Total Travelling Time 1931Source: Karsijns, P.J., Stelder, L.. 2010

Figure 4: Percentage of Original Travel TimeSource: Karsijns, P.J., Stelder, L.. 2010

Figure 5: Shift in Relative Accessibility 1938-1931Source: Karsijns, P.J., Stelder, L.. 2010

9


Background

Some rural regions in East Germany have been experiencing a significant decline in population and function thin-ning for decades. Among the reasons for this is a generative behaviour which has dramatically changed since 1990 and therewith led to a significantly low birth rate, as well as the departure of young people in the childbearing age.The consequences of these processes are diverse and include not only an ad-ditional worsening of the demographic situation but also an occasionally pre-carious economic condition of these re-gions. A structurally dangerous decline in the demographic, economic, social and functional situation can already be noted.However, one can also find certain de-velopments that seem to counteract the trends outlined above. The so called “space pioneer phenomenon” is an exam-ple of people and small networks settling in the empty, functionally thinning regions of East German states (IRS, 2009; IRS, 2010). Once there, these people “invent” new functions in the area ranging from low-tech, organic-farming and craftwork to new media. Many different professions and live-

Space pioneers in the Havelland area (West of Berlin)

Stefan Esch, EGEA TuebingenFigure 1: Area of research and location of space pioneers, Source: Google maps; revision by Lauer, 2011

lihoods, such as returning gentry families (disappropriated during communist time), design- and knowledge workers and art-ists can be identified as “space pioneers”.

Previously, these circumstances have only been described on the basis of case studies (see for example: David, 2009). Even though “space pioneers” are seen as a major factor for a new valorisa-tion of empty areas, this assumption has still been lacking qualitative research.Therefore, a student project was car-ried out in the Havelland area (West of Berlin) which tried to quantify this new phenomenon and to analyse its space-concerning influences and potentials.

Objectives

In order to get better knowledge of the amount and activities of space pio-neers in the Havelland area, the proj-ect dealt with the exploration of an-swers on the following questions:

1. How many space pioneers can be found in the Havelland area and where are they located? 2. Which kinds of activities do they have? Are these activities full-time- or part-time-jobs? What

about their seasonal presence? 3. What types of space pio-neers can be identified? 4. Based on which reasons and back-grounds did the space pioneers settle in the Havelland area? How important were the special characteristics of the area for their choice of settlement? 5. To what extend are the space pioneers cross-linked locally/ re-gionally with other pioneers/ the metropolitan area of Berlin? 6 With which impulses do the space pioneers contribute to a local/ regional development? 7. Which problems do occur and how are the space pioneers supported?

Methodology

The research project was introduced through a seminar dealing with the re-gional geography of the Havelland area as well as some basics on empiric re-search methods. An important step during preparation was the accurate definition of the term “space pioneer”, which can be seen as ”(…) a collective term for people and micro-networks that try to put unused rural areas back into economical and cul-tural value. By doing this, space pioneers serve as precursors and set impulses for

10


the activation of endogenous potential in the affected regions” (Koalick, 2007).

Once this term was established, the area of research was identified. Focusing only on the rural parts of the Havelland region, all towns and the suburbanisation zone of Berlin were ignored (figure 1). Furthermore, ex ante research on the possible locations of space pioneers in the area was car-ried out and guidelines for the procedure of qualitative interviews were designed.

During the field work, two teams (six stu-dents each) travelled through the area of research by car. They asked people on the street at random, questions such as: “Do you know anyone who has moved in this area after 1990, who has built up a small firm, an art studio, an organic-farm or some-thing similar?” The research group then drove to the address mentioned, rang the bell and asked for an appointment. During the appointment itself, an interview with the potential space pioneer was held ac-cording to the guidelines set up (figure 2).Afterwards, the recorded interviews were transcribed and all the unimportant infor-mation was filtered out. The final results of the research project have been visual-ised in maps, posters and a printed report. Results

Concerning the seven research ques-tions, the following conclusions can be drawn:There are around 60 people in the Havelland area that can be defined as “space pioneers”. Besides a con-centration located in the ‘one-hour-to-Berlin’ distance area (mostly in eastern spots),, almost no space pioneers could be found in the middle of the research area. In contrast, further clusters were located at scenic sites (lakes, river-banks) in the western area of research.The activities of space pioneers were

very diverse, ranging from organic-farm-ing, restaurants and alternative tourism activities to art studios and small firms. Furthermore, these people often set up local associations supporting cultural and political participation. Most of the pio-neers earned their living by carrying out their activity and are permanently present.

Concerning the classification of space pioneers, three main groups could be identified: craftsmen, farmers and art-ists. Each of these can be further di-vided into those that were only active in a commercial sense and those that also have a high cultural / tourist potential.The major reasons for their settlement in the Havelland area were: more indepen-dence, cheap living and working space (art studios), new inspiration, living in the countryside; closeness to Berlin; pure nature. Whereas most of these attributes can also be found in other rural areas, artists particularly emphasised the spe-cial characteristics of the Havelland area.

For most of the space pioneers, the dis-tance to Berlin was very important: On the one hand most of their customers were located there; on the other hand they did not want to live in complete isolation. Nonetheless, local and regional cross-linkage of space pioneers is getting great-er the longer they lived in the rural area.The impact of single space pioneers on their environment was not very high. However, observed as a whole, they can highly contribute to a better im-age of the Havelland area and serve as a nucleus for endogenous potential.The problems facing space pioneers in the Havelland area ranged from high ad-ministrative bureaucracy to conflicts with neighbours and bad Internet connections. Some of the space pioneers were funded by programmes of the European Union or local authorities to realise their goals.

Conclusions

The research project carried out in the Havelland area was a first approach to quantify the activities of space pioneers in the rural area of East Germany. Even though very interesting results have al-ready been obtained, there remain some open questions, e.g. concerning the ru-ral population’s view on the activities of space pioneers. Furthermore, similar re-search could be done in other rural areas, facilitating an inter-region comparison.

References and further reading Budke, A. 2006. Raumpioniere als Akteure der Stadtentwicklung. In: M. Dickel & D. Kanwisch-er (eds.): TatOrte. Neue Raumkonzepte didak-tisch inszenieren. Berlin, pp. 221-228.

David, O. 2008. Der Professor, der Doktor und die Dörflichen. Ethnographie eines Raumpioni-erprojekts in der Uckermark. Tuebingen. Final thesis.

Kinder, S. (ed.) 2011. Raumpioniere im Have-lland. In preparation.Koalick, G. 2007. Raumpioniere. Available from: http://web.tu-dresden.de/Darstellungslehre/_pdf/hauptstudium/bildsprache/ws0708_Kerzig-Tanja-Raumpioniere.pdf (Accessed 20 March 2011)

Lange, B. und U. Matthiesen (2005). Raum-pioniere. In: P. Oswalt (eds.): Schrumpfende Städte. Band 2 - Handlungskonzepte. Berlin, pp. 374-383.

Lauer, H. (2011): Untersuchungsraum und Verteilung der Raumpioniere. In: S. Kinder (ed.): Raumpioniere im Havelland. In prepara-tion.

Leibniz-Institut für Regionalentwicklung und Strukturplanung (IRS). 2010. Raumpioniere im Stadtquartier. Zur kommunikativen (Re-) Konstruktion von Räumen im Strukturwan-del. Available from:http://www.irs-net.de/profil/forschungsabteilungen/forschungsabteilung-3/leitprojekt.php (Accessed 20 March 2011)

Leibniz-Institut für Regionalentwicklung und Strukturplanung (IRS). 2009. Raumpioniere im Stadtquartier. Zur kommunikativen (Re-) Konstruktion von Räumen im Strukturwandel. Available from: http://www.irs-net.de/download/forschung/LeitprojektFA3.pdf (Accessed 20 March 2011)

Figure 2: Typical interview situation with a space pioneer, Source: Esch, 2010

11


Introduction

In the academic year of 2008 the entities of Egea Mainz, Berlin and Munich orga-nized an excursion to the Region of Wend-land in Germany. This region in northern Germany with one of the lowest densities of population (41 persons per km2) and its rural structure may not seem so interest-ing at first sight, but looking closer into it reveals many important aspects for geog-raphers. Research needs to consider the course of events for the last 40 years. The rural life of the local population changed dramatically in the 1970’s, when the Ger-man government decided to construct several nuclear waste management cen-tres and a nuclear reprocessing plant in Gorleben, a village in the region. This decision provoked an unexpected resistance among the local and national population. In 1980, the government an-

Appropriation and recreation of space throughout resistance

Sandra Sosnowski, Domin-ique Chasseriaud,EGEA Mainz

T h e e x a m p l e o f t h e H a n n o v e r s c h e W e n d l a n d

nounced that deep drilling investigations would be started, but only a few days later, a resistance camp with a village of huts was constructed and the “Independent Republic of Wendland” declared. Since then, the anti-nuclear resistance has been active in the region with slogans like “Gor-leben soll leben” (Gorleben shall live) and “Gorleben ist überall” (Gorleben is every-where).

Today, there exist many different creative civic resistance initiatives. Mass demon-strations and the new appropriation and reinterpretation of space by the people of the region have led to the fact that many parts of the original government plans, in-cluding the reprocessing plant, were not fulfilled. But even today the Wendland is dealing with one of the biggest prob-lems of our time: How to regulate the fi-nal deep repository of highly radioactive waste produced by nuclear reactors. The salt dome next to the village Gorleben is the only place in Germany where inves-tigations are done for this purpose. About once a year highly radioactive waste is

transported to the interim storage facility in Gorleben. This provokes considerable conflicts. But today, the Wendland does not only have the reputation of being just a rural area with small villages and high un-employment rates with nuclear problems, but it has also become a model region for sustainable development with a popular image in Germany.

We decided to organize this excursion because we were interested in the protest performed in the region of Lüchow-Dan-nenberg (official name for the region) and how it may interrelate with the fact that the Wendland has become a model region when talking about sustainability and re-newable energies.

The existing literature did not only include scientific literature but also flyers, newspa-pers, etc. from the region. During our field-work we applied a mixture of methods: We carried out expert interviews but also talk-ed to people visiting a cultural event. As geographers we tried to “read” the space, by analyzing symbols and codes spread

Figure 1: Manifestation in front of the interim storage facility, Source: DOMINIQUE CHASSERIAUD, 2008.

12


all over the Wendland. We also visited some important places of protest.

Social movement

It is important to give a theoretical intro-duction a priori talking about the happen-ing in the Wendland-region. First we want to talk about social movements as the form of protest movements that we consider to be virulent in the Wendland. As their name already implies protest movements are not fixed and stiff they rather change con-stantly and stay flexible so that you could say they always move. Therefore it is not easy to define them scientifically. We will present some basics with which most lit-erature agrees on.

Külz (2001) writes that a social movement is a collective actor trying to achieve politi-cal and societal changes. But to be able to talk about a social movement its claims need to concern a fundamental change in society’s structure or values. What makes them different from one-time events like demonstrations is their time of duration.

They are defined by a certain continua-tion in time. Another important aspect is the lack of a structured and hierarchic organization. Instead they are character-ized by a loose organisation of different forms and actions within the movement (Bender, 1997). Bender (1997) says that a social movement is network mobilized by informal networks like families, friends, etc. Following the argumentation of Rucht (1994), a social movement is a system of social action carried by a collective iden-tity. It consists of mobilized networks of groups and organisations that want to provoke a societal change by using pro-test. This shows that collective identities play an important role when it comes to protest movements. That is why we want to talk about that concept in the next part of the paper.

Collective Identity

Identity is a lifelong process of defining oneself by making distinction to others (Berg, 1999). This also happens within collective identities. Also here inner and outer borders are drawn to others. This means that identity is not something we have but something we do (Vester, 1996). As we already stated, such a collective identity is fundamental for the function-ing of a social movement. Fahlenbrach (2002) describes the becoming of such an identity as the development of a network based on communication. That is why the communication between the individuals and groups that are part of the movement is essential for the “making of” a collective identity.

The construction of the inner self always includes the construction of the outer alien. The alien is fundamental to define the self. Whereby the inner is seen as the good and right and the outer as the bad and wrong (Bückmann, 2007). To draw these borders in a social movement emo-tional identification with its goals and ideas is important. Actual situations of protest like a demonstration function as a polar-ization of the inner and outer. Therefore, these situations of confrontation have a highly stabilizing character for the collec-tive identity (Fahlenbrach, 2002).

Another very important aspect for the formation and stabilisation of such an identity are symbols and visual codes. It can come to that extreme that all the knowledge, goals, etc become readable in a symbol (Jäger, 2007).

Furthermore Fahlenbrach (2002) writes that a collective identity is linked to a com-mon habit and lifestyle. The expressivity of lifestyle and habits confirms who be-longs to the group. It marks the collective

identity.Also, fundamental for producing and sta-bilizing a collective identity are rituals. These are defined actions that are repeat-ed on more or less regular bases. They have a tying and affirming function within groups. The participants take actions in those rituals to demonstrate their com-mitment and togetherness. Those rituals can take place on micro, meso and macro levels (Petermann, 2007). A ritual under-lines the borders of insiders and outsiders (Giesen, 1999). To conclude this section we can point out that the development of a collective iden-tity is a complex process and is formed throughout communication and at differ-ent levels.

Space and Place

Since this article deals with the new ap-propriation, creation and redefinition of the Wendland during the last decades we have to introduce some basics about space and place here. As cultural geog-raphers we do not take the perspective of determined container spaces because we do not believe in them. We rather apply a relational concept of space. From a relational and constructivist per-spective: “(…) we recognise space as the product of interrelations; as constituted through interaction (…)” (Massey, 2005). That means that we, as acting subjects, are producing space in a constant process that is never to be completed (Petermann, 2007). Those actions and relations though happen in physically and metrically de-scribable places, but even these places are never neutral. Everyone interprets them selectively and based on his or her own biography. A place as a relational concept is the focus of a mixture of social relations (Mahon & Keil, 2008).

Field research during the excursion

The field research, was carried out with 25 students and two lecturers from Egea Mainz and Munich, it took place in 2008. The initiation for the excursion came from the students and it was mostly self-orga-nized, each entity preparing one day of activities dealing with different aspects. We decided to visit the Wendland with its ongoing social movement provoking spe-cial processes that we considered to cover many interesting topics for geographers.The Wendland region is located in north-ern Germany, it used to be bordered on three sides by the former German Demo-cratic Republic and is now located in the middle of Germany. With its size of ca. 1,200 Km2 it has an average size of a German county and corresponds to ¼ of Bistriţa-Năsăud County . With a popula-tion density of 41 persons/ Km2 it is one of

13


the lowest in Germany, lower than Bistriţa-Năsăud County (58 persons/ Km2). The following section connects the above described theories with the situation at the region named “Wendland” by its inhabit-ants, seen by the students and especially by the authors. We enforced the critical view on field research, as Lippuner (2003) considers it as essentially important to fo-cus not only on the subject of research, but also on how the subject is seen by the researchers during the research. Both of the authors are enthusiastic about the life style in the region and Dominique Chas-seriaud is originally from this region. Both of us try to keep the necessary scientific distance, but we are aware about the illu-sion to be objective. The Wends, in German “Wenden”, settled in the region in the 7th century naming it Wendland. During the 1980’s the protest movement took over this name to symboli-cally split off from the German state, see-ing no future in a state promoting nuclear energy and so providing no possibility for a living in harmony with nature. The name can be seen as a symbol for a wish to live in an alternative world. This spirit came up during the existence of the resistance camp made by protesters in 1980 occu-pying the construction site and so delay-ing the ongoing construction work of the deep drilling implemented by the govern-ment. During one month, people from all over Germany came to visit the camp and its residents, living an utopian life by con-structing, farming, and living together.

At this time many activists decided to stay in the region, trying to continue their uto-pian way of life in small communities with self-supply gardening or starting as or-ganic farmers. The excursion group itself stayed in an organic farmhouse, and we visited an eco-village in the neighbouring region. To understand better about the ac-tual life of people living in the region, we carried out several interviews, including those with three experts of the resistance and several locals.

People living in the Wendland are proud of the area and identify themselves close-ly with the region. The question of being opposed to nuclear-energy or not goes through all society levels, from worker to lawyer, from doctor to pupil, cutting through families at home and friendships at school. Everybody is free to have its own opinion, but the network of protesters was very present in everyday life in the region because of the numerous events throughout the year connected with it. The best example for such an event we could find was the “Kulturelle Landpartie”, which took place during our excursion. This two-week event is taking place every year since 1989 and is an opportunity for many

artists to open their house and transform their barn, lobby or garden into an atelier or public stage. Its origin lies within the nuclear resistance. For this reason we always discovered some documents or comments about Gorleben next to or in ateliers, spectacles and workshops and we even joint an evening comedy full with many hints to the resistance. Meanwhile the event has a well-known reputation in cities like Hamburg and Berlin.

The second event, attracting people from all over Germany to the Wendland, is the nuclear transport of highly radioactive waste to the interim facility in Gorleben. The first occasion took place in 1995, about 15 years after the protest camp and the beginning of the resistance. It was ac-companied by 15,000 policemen to secure it against thousands of protesters. Up to today, there have been eleven transport events. In November 2010 the twelfth was scheduled. During these manifestations and at all the other events throughout the year, the anti-nuclear-movement of Wend-land is living its togetherness and is sta-bilizing its identity by its separation from others. The nuclear transport, with its high number of policemen and with the strong feelings of local habitants of being in an occupied zone, strengthens the collective inner identity with its outer borders. Some of those situations of confrontation and demonstration can be seen in figures 1 and 2.

Supporting elements for a collective identi-ty are coded symbols, readable especially to insiders. We find them widely spread in the landscape of the Wendland and in dai-ly life. We discovered many X-signs made by wood or printed on stickers, flyers, posters, trucks, cars. Other widely seen symbols are the laughing red sun on yel-low background and a green tree together with the slogan “Gorleben shall live”. Some, more rarely seen symbols were the “Wendenpass”, an alternative Pass-port for the “Republic of Wendland”, origi-nally produced during the resistant camp in 1980, the unofficial Wendland-driving licence for protest-vehicles produced by local farmers, pure silver-coins with resis-tance symbols as unofficial currency, and there have been unofficial issued stocks for the salt dome, where the deep reposi-tory of highly radioactive waste is planned to be established. Some of these symbols can be seen in figures 3 and 4. Interesting to note was that there was even a licence plate with an X used as a symbol.

In Wendland there are different groups that are connected but do not depend on each other. We got a deep insight by an expert interview with the well-known activist Jochen Stay. He explained to us that there was no strict hierarchy lead-ing all groups. The first, and maybe most coordinating group is the “Bürgerinitiative Lüchow-Dannenberg”, founded in 1977 just at the beginning of the resistance. Besides them, there are now many other

Figure 2: Manifestation between Gorleben and the interim storage facility,Source: DOMINIQUE CHASSERIAUD, 2008.

Figure 3: Symbols on car, Source: DOMINIQUE CHASSERIAUD, 2008.

14


groups like the farmers “Bäuerliche Not-gemeinschaft”, the people older than 60 “Initative 60”, generally older people called “Graue Zellen”, pupils and groups orga-nizing sit-in protests like “Widersetzen”, “X-100-mal-quer”, or “Ausgestrahlt”. The groups are very heterogenic but have more or less the same goal: constrain the nuclear transport, stopping nuclear energy production, starting the research for a final deposit place for nuclear waste with con-vincing scientific research, and others.

In a second expert interview with Dieter Schaarschmidt we got told that people do not only want to show their protest but also the possibility of living of renewable energies, organic farming, and that they want to live a life with a special (ecologi-cal) lifestyle. We got the opportunity to climb a wind energy plant and to visit a biogas plant, the first and only one in Germany providing biogas as fuel for ve-hicles using natural gas. Schaarschmidt explained details about renewable energy and confirmed that in the Wendland there is the highest rate of organic farmers in Germany. People experiment with differ-ent renewable techniques and different ways of life. To be an utopist person in the Wendland is not unusual and all these ele-ments are enforcing the identification with the Wendland. All these actions are creat-ing the space people today connect with the name “Wendland”. Through symbols, resistance and the historic declaration of the “Independent Republic of Wendland” (Freie Republik Wendland), a new interpretation of the re-gion’s identity has been established and a new kind of space was created. This new interpretation of space and the new “eco-logical” identity in the region initiated new creations like “Model region for renew-able energy and ecologic farming”. The new space called Wendland is like a big cluster of people fallen out of conventional

society. Ever since the beginning of the resistance, the region is trying to change towards renewable energy. The goal is to cover their demand of energy only by renewable sources. There are many wind energy plants, biogas block power sta-tions, and solar cells in use. We can also find a strong tendency towards ecologi-cal farming and resistance to genetically changed products.

Conclusion

The social movement in the region start-ed in the late 1970’s, and since then up until to today the protest movement against nuclear energy provokes a high level of identification with the Wend-land. The question being pro or against nuclear power goes through the whole Wendlands society, dividing and con-necting people of all ranks and ages.

During our research we discovered that due to the resistance a new and very unique identity in the region has been de-veloped. Symbols and recurring events are manifesting this identity. Events like manifestations confront and therefore distinguish the inner from the outer espe-cially when powerful police operations are taking place. We found many symbols, places and activities of resistance against nuclear power that today are highly inte-grated into daily life. At the same time, or-ganic farmers, artists, renewable energies, and communes provoke an image with an exceptional lifestyle. The resistance has led to a new appropriation and creation of space by the people in the region and is maintaining it alive.

Future prospects

This paper provides an introduction to the theme and the processes going on in the Wendland. Since this region covers so

Figure 4: X-Symbols in a garden, Source: DOMINIQUE CHASSERIAUD, 2008.

many interesting aspects of geography and is concerned with important themes of our time, there will be another project of the Mainz University with students. It is planned to get deeper into the complexity of effects provoked by social movements.Of course, we want to thank all other par-ticipants because without them it would be impossible for us to write this article.

References

Bender, H. 1997. Die Zeit der Bewegung – Struk-turdynamik und Transformationsprozesse: Beiträge zur Theorie sozialer Bewegungen und zur Analyse kollektiven Handelns. Frankfurt am Main: Europäische Hochschulschriften.

Berg, W. 1999. Kollektive Identität: Zugänge und erste Überlegungen. In Kulturunterschiede. Interdisziplinäre Konzepte zu kollektiven Identitäten und Mentalitäten, ed. H. Hahn, 217-238. Frankfurt am Main: Verlag für Interkulturelle Kommunikation.

Bückmann, E. 2007. Dem Fremden auf der Spur: Postmoderne Identität zwischen Eigenem und Frem-den. Marburg: Tectum-Verlag.Fahlenbrach, K. 2002. Protestinszenierungen: Visuelle Kommunikation und kollektive Identitäten in Protest-bewegungen. Wiesbaden: Westdeutsche-Verlag.

Giesen, B. 1999. Kollektive Identität: Die Intellektu-ellen und die Nation. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp-Verlag.

Impact-mailorder 1990. Anarchie-Aufkleber. Available from: http://www.impact-mailorder.de/Aufkleber/Anar-chie-Aufkleber::2502345.html (Accessed 25. August 2010)

Jäger, M. 2007. Deutungskämpfe: Theorie und Praxis kritischer Diskursanalyse. Wiesbaden: Verlag für Soz-ialwissenschaften.

Külz, H. 2001. Das Management von sozialem Pro-test: Die Aufrechterhaltung und Ausweitung von so-zialem Protest durch seine Integration in den Alltag am Beispiel des Castor-Transports nach Gorleben im März 2001. Konstanz: Universitätsbibliothek.

Lippuner, R. 2003. Alltag, Wissenschaft und Ge-ographie: Zur Konzeption einer reflexiven Sozial-geographie. Available from: http://www.uni-jena.de/unijenamedia/Bilder/ faculties/chgeo/inst_geogr/Soz-ialgeographie/Texte+Lippuner/Alltag_Wiss_Geogr-p-11249.pdf (Accessed 28 August 2010)

Mahon, R. 2008. Space, Place, Scale: Zur politischen Ökonomie räumlich-gesellschaftlicher Redimension-ierung - ein Überblick. In Politics of Scale: Räume der Globalisierung und Perspektiven emanzipatorischer Politik, ed. M. Wissen, 35-55. Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot.

Massey, D. 2005. For space. London: Sage Publica-tions Ltd.

Petermann, S. 2007. Rituale machen Räume: Zum kollektiven Gedenken der Schlacht von Verdun und der Landung in der Normandie. Bielefeld: Transcript-Verlag.

Rucht, D. 1994. Modernisierung und neue soziale Bewegungen: Deutschland, Frankreich und USA im Vergleich. Frankfurt/New York: Campus-Verlag.

Vester, H.-G. 1996. Kollektive Identitäten: Von der Völkerpsychologie zur kulturvergleichenden Soziolo-gie und interkulturellen Kommunikation. Frankfurt am Main: Verlag für Interkulturelle Kommunikation.

15


The Emergence of the Metropolitan Region Rotterdam - The HagueA C o m p a r i s o n w i t h M e t r o p o l i t a n R e g i o n s M i t t e l d e u t s c h l a n d a n d Ø r e s u n d i n t h e F i e l d o f G o v e r n m e n t a n d P o l i c y

Long before the start of my Master thesis, I discovered the concept of metropolitan regions during my internship at the mu-nicipality of Rotterdam at the end of 2008. Rotterdam Airport was about to change name, as The Hague would be added to it. This was all part of the closer cooperation between Rotterdam and The Hague in the new atmosphere of the Rotterdam - The Hague metropolitan region (Figure 1). My job was to find out how Rotterdam - The Hague Airport could develop its surround-ing area, with the existence of the metro-politan region. Via case studies of other re-gional, cooperating airports in north-west Europe, I got to know about possibilities of the new concept, especially in the field of city branding.

However, the description of what metro-politan regions consist of was actually very unclear. How was it possible that two separate cities could suddenly call themselves a metropolitan region, while hardly anything has changed from the old situation? At first it seemed to be a new concept as one of many this region had before. After Randstad, concepts as City-Bond, Deltametropolis and Southwing had been successively presented the last de-cade as the new solution or approach for spatial planning in this area. The question remained if the concept of the metropolitan region faced the same fate as previous, apparently slightly successful, concepts.

When starting my thesis, the main goal was to determine how the approach of Rotterdam and The Hague was in line with successful concepts of metropolitan regions in Europe. This led to the research question: To what extent can metropolitan region Rotterdam - The Hague be com-pared with other European metropolitan regions in the field of government and policy?

To avoid subjective and political favoured comparisons, the regions were not select-ed on a basis of data, but of structure and policy.

European metropolitan regionsWithin Europe, the rise of metropolitan re-gions can be seen as a new trend. Twenty

years ago they were not considered rel-evant, whereas nowadays the European information exchange network for met-ropolitan regions METREX has over 50 members. The definition of a metropolitan region however is not fixed within ME-TREX, as the aspiration for becoming a metropolitan region is the only criteria for access. Even descriptions of scientists, policies, structures, European programs and the metropolitan regions themselves hold many variations of the term metro-politan region. The development of metro-politan regions can be seen as a process, where the current situation is only a snap-shot. When described in a simple man-ner, metropolitan regions usually exist of medium-sized cities, creating a profile with the surrounding region. Cooperation or an overarching structure of several cities or municipalities is usually the case.

Within metropolitan regions, three types of structures can be recognized; monocen-tric, polycentric with one core or polycen-tric with several cores (Aring & Reuter, 2006; Berg et al., 2000; Houtum & Van Lagendijk,2001; Salet, 2003; Scott, 2001). In this research the focus is specifically on the polycentric metropolitan regions with several cores, as the research area Rotterdam - The Hague is organized in such a way. Through the help of the list

of members of METREX the metropolitan regions Mitteldeutschland (Figure 2) and Øresund (Figure 3) have been selected as case studies. According to Heywood’s (2006) theoreti-cal framework about criteria for effective metropolitan policy, five metropolitan fea-tures are formed. 1. The metropolitan region has an ac-countable representation 2. The delivery and coordination of ser-vices are publicly arranged within the met-ropolitan region3. The spatial planning and regulation of the metropolitan region is in accordance with the planning of other governments 4. The representation of the metropolitan region prevails over the representation of the own (local) government5. Within the metropolitan region there are sustainable policies and capacities to maintain natural and social capital.

These five metropolitan features have been compared in terms of relevance for the metropolitan regions via the analysis of the three different research areas, as a method to find out to what extent they are metropolitan regions.

Methodology

In this regional research different research

Thijs Brugman, EGEA Utrecht

Figure 1: Approximate reproduction of the daily urban systems of Rotterdam and The Hague and (future) metropolitan region Rotterdam – The Hague, Source: Metropoolregio Rotterdam – Den Haag, de agenda, 7 april 2009, p.5.

16


methods have been used. First, scientific literature and articles have been referred to as a source of information. Secondly, many institutional documents, reports and articles have been used. In total as many as 20 different government levels ex-ist in the four different countries. Several websites have been consulted to provide information about structures of organiza-tions and policies. Besides a theoretical foundation, these sources also provided a lot of background information. The research has been completed with qualitative research in means of inter-views. These interviews were adminis-tered face-to-face in each region. I chose for an open interview in a way of a con-versation, as the information needed from each interview varied considerably. In to-tal 13 interviews have been arranged, five in Netherlands, four in Germany, three in Denmark and one in Sweden (see refer-ences).

Quantitative research was omitted as the research of policy plans and government structures are hard to measure. Further-more, this subject is in such an early stage, that the people directly involved were able to provide more up-to-date in-formation than other sources.

Different government structures

The extensive analysis of the policy docu-ments with relevance to metropolitan pol-icy showed that the influence of govern-ment differs for each country. The Dutch

structure of government illustrates a top-down pattern, where the functions are de-centralized to both the provinces and local authorities and where most issues are de-cided in consultation between the differ-ent levels of government. The initiative of Rotterdam - The Hague to develop itself as a metropolitan region is therefore also in accordance with the other policy levels. The metropolitan region is represented in administrative couples, as two represen-tatives of municipality Rotterdam and The Hague cooperate on different fields of in-terest of the metropolitan region. This is a very loose structure.

Germany demonstrates a top-down struc-ture, whereas the federal national gov-ernment leaves many functions to the federal states. Local government is less important, but still enjoys considerable in-fluence. This can also be traced back to cooperation within the metropolitan region Mitteldeutschland, where the cities are represented. However, metropolitan poli-cy matters are generally left to the federal states. Mitteldeutschland has a relatively organized structure, with among other things four working groups, a steering committee and a communal committee.

In the administrative sphere, Denmark and Sweden are organized differently. Denmark experiences a fairly committed national government, but local authori-ties perform many functions. Therefore a bottom-up structure can be recognized, where the regional government layer has

limited capabilities. This bottom-up struc-ture is also valid for Sweden, but with a national government which doesn’t inter-vene much at all. Local authorities have particular influence on spatial planning, although Skåne can be seen as an excep-tion due to an experimental reorganization with an increase of regional competence. The organizational structure of the Øre-sund metropolitan region is quite exten-sive. With 36 representative politicians in the Öresund Committee and a number of administrative structures set up for the in-habitants and visitors, the Øresund region is extremely organized.

‘Win-win thinking’

From the comparison between the metro-politan regions, it appears that the metro-politan features for effective metropolitan policy are not well adaptable for metro-politan regions with a polycentric structure with several cores. These metropolitan regions have no accountable representa-tion, as the creation of a new policy layer is a complicated and long lasting process. At the moment the metropolitan regions are in an early stage of development and do not yet have the necessity for a directly chosen executive board. Firstly auto mechanisms will need to be devel-oped, in order to make the cooperation within the region run smoothly. For now the local level experiences take priority over the representation of metropolitan re-gions. This is partly because of the limited policy areas of the metropolitan regions.

Figure 2: Participating federal states in the Mitteldeutschland metropolitan region, formerly known as the SachsenDreieck, Source: http://hildebrandt-projektbuero.de/bilder_zu_artikel/projekte/

metro/metro_karte.jpg

17


Residents have little to do with the devel-opment on the metropolitan scale, except in the sphere of the ‘daily urban systems’ (Figure 1), which becomes larger through cooperation. It is not possible to talk about an all-embracing strategy for the region; instead, there has been a specific focus on those policy areas where profit can be achieved by means of cooperation be-tween cities and regions. This cooperation characterizes the investigated polycentric metropolitan regions; the basis of which is to combine forces and create a European competitive region. By doing so one can see common profiling through the met-ropolitan region, but ultimately each city keeps developing itself according to its own strategy. The degree in which the ‘win-win thinking’ is maintained determines the de-gree of success of the cooperation. Within the metropolitan region Mitteldeutschland it has been observed that cities may even seek to hinder cooperation in cases where others gain more profit from the coopera-tion than their own city. Compared to this region the Øresund and Rotterdam - The Hague metropolitan regions perform better in this context, as they tend to stress long-term surplus value of the collaboration. If a city would drop its own priority on some issues, the region as a whole could benefit from this situation, including that city.

Long-term planning

The process to become a strong metro-politan region takes a long time, especially concerning institutional change. Actually, there are no polycentric metropolitan re-gions who act as a government. Before this might take place, research suggested

that a fully integrated region would need to be established for a period of about thirty years. During the interviews the example of the metropolitan region Rhein - Neckar was cited and they made it clear that it took at least 20 years of cooperation before a region has a good enough structure to start thinking about institutional changes. So it is important to mainly focus on coop-eration rather than institutional changes.

Within the cooperation it is also impor-tant to work on a project-by-project ba-sis. In Mitteldeutschland there has been too much discussion about the structure of the region, though there was no basis from which such developments could be built on. Common problems would serve as a starting point for future cooperation. The project-based approach of Rotterdam - The Hague can therefore be seen as a more suitable operating procedure.

Limitations in goals

The metropolitan regions have a provi-sional weakness, in that they lack the op-portunity to form policy independently via the committees, as they don’t have legal authorities and obligations. The policy paper of the metropolitan region only rep-resents the common ideas of the partici-pating parties, but also the lack of institu-tional instruments forces the execution to be happened via the cities separately. So it is not practically possible to talk about a policy of the metropolitan regions. This does not alter the fact that the circum-stances to have a common spatial policy are more favourable in Rotterdam - The Hague than in other metropolitan regions.

Furthermore, the strong tradition of dia-logue between the different administrative levels in the Netherlands means that there is an opportunity to develop the metropoli-tan region in the future. At the same time the local authorities are not so powerful to introduce changes in all the areas. Still the Rotterdam - The Hague metropolitan region does not have to cope with dif-ferences in national or regional policies, which can create obstacles as illustrated the case between Denmark and Sweden and that between the federal states of Germany.

A rapid expansion of the metropolitan re-gion Rotterdam - The Hague seems fool-ish. As the example of Mitteldeutschland indicates, it is of vital importance to create a solid basis on which future developments can be based. In cases where strong po-litical unity has been created, other parties could join the concept. However, coopera-tion with new actors on a project basis can also be realized, without the actual join-ing the overarching regional goal. Only in cases when large financial funds become available, which demand larger coop-eration, will it be interesting to leave this path. The example of European Interreg funding in the Øresund region shows that many achievements can be realized with large financial resources.

At this moment in time, the Rotterdam - The Hague metropolitan region does not have a clear organization structure. The way in which the region operates makes it unnecessary. With future expansion or with an intensification of regional coopera-tion, the need for an organizational struc-

Figure 3: Øresund metropolitan region, Source: http://www.oeresundsbron.com/object.php?GSID=&obj=8b000c

18


ture will emerge. In such circumstance, specific political representation, as in the case of the Öresund Committee, can make direct negotiations easier. In a larg-er context, the Øresund region also incor-porates different collaborative platforms, where an information platform, a project platform and a lobby platform can be dis-tinguished. By separating these platforms via different offices, more focused func-tioning is stressed and improved coordi-nation promoted. The metropolitan region Mitteldeutschland shows that working groups with their own focus areas are the ideal way to unite the representatives of the administrative departments of the cit-ies, together with the interested parties from related sectors. In a similar way, con-crete collective cooperation projects can be set up, which illustrate public-private cooperation, which in turn creates more involvement, ideas and possibilities.

To conclude

It is difficult to indicate whether one can talk about European metropolitan regions, especially in the field of government and policy. Their polycentric structure does not lend itself to an overarching struc-ture. The main focus should be on co-operation, where common interests can be gained. The concept of metropolitan regions is an interesting development, which takes many years to develop and confirm whether it can actually become a successful concept. Rotterdam - The Hague did not make itself felt in a Euro-pean perspective, due to its limited organi-zational structure. However, the coopera-tive parties stay realistic and have set up the cooperation steadily, without creating too high expectations. According to the resources and the previous developments the cities were involved in, this seems to

be the right move. Even though the policy of metropolitan regions on a European scale is almost absent, the policy paper of the Rotterdam - The Hague metropolitan region shows similarities with the other case studies. With good implementation and integration with other policy docu-ments at other government levels, a good basis could be achieved. In terms of gov-ernment, Rotterdam - The Hague is inten-tionally not developed within the structure. In a European perspective they are no exception, although a better organization structure could be introduced. It is not sig-nificant that Rotterdam - The Hague can-not be defined as a metropolitan region; in essence, there are more regions in Eu-rope which have actually little to do with metropolitan regions. Nevertheless, the metropolitan region is more about the way of thinking and the growth process in the development of the region; as together cities can experience benefits of scale, as well in their own re-gional area as at the European level.

References

Heywood, P. 2006. The metropolitan region, the new challenge for regional planning. Available from: http://eprints.qut.edu.au/7941/1/7941.pdf (Accessed 7 September 2009)

Aring, J. & Reuter, I. 2006. Regiopolen zwischen Metropolregionen und Peripherien. Intentionen und Ergebnisse einer Tagung am 14.09.2006 in Kassel. Manuskript. Available from: http://bfag-aring.de/pdfdokumente/Aring_2006_Re-giopolenTagung2006_Bericht.pdf. (Accessed 10 November 2009)

Berg, P.O. Linde-Laursen, A. Löfgren, O. 2000. Invoking a Transnational Metropolis: The Making of the Øresund Region. Lund: Studentlitteratur.

Houtum, van H. & Lagendijk, A. 2001. Concep-tualising regional identity and imagination in the construction of Polycentric Urban Regions: The

cases of the Ruhr Area and the Basque regions. Urban Studies, vol. 38, no 4: pp.747-767.

Salet, W. Thornley, A. Kreukels, A. 2003. Metro-politan governance and spatial planning; com-parative case studies of European City-Regions. Londen etc.: Spon Press.

Scott, A.J. 2001. Global city-regions: trends, theory, policy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Interviews Aarts, Martin, Rotterdam (2009) - Municipality of Rotterdam, spatial planning; city development and housing. Representative METREX Rotter-dam.

Boot, Luc - Rotterdam (2010) - Municipality of Rotterdam, policy coordinator, department of de-velopment; Strategy matters.

Broeyer, Conny - Leiden (2010) - Municipality of Leiden, chairwoman of the committee for space and accessibility, committee member education and society, PvdA party member.

Salet, Willem - Amsterdam (2010) - Prof. of urban and regional planning at the faculty of social and behavioral sciences, University of Amsterdam.

Kooijmans, Jan Willem - The Hague (2010) - Mu-nicipality of The Hague, department of urban de-velopment, policy; department spatial planning and monuments. Representative of METREX The Hague

Luczak, Urs - Dresden (2010) - Head coordinator Metropolitan region Mitteldeutschland.

Egermann, Markus - Dresden (2010) - Doctoral for Metropolitan region Mitteldeutschland & re-searcher at the Leipziger Institute of ecological and regional development.

Burdack, Joachim - Leipzig (2010) - Prof. Dr. at the Leibniz-institut für länderkunde, former con-tact person METREX from Leipzig.

Opitz, Jan - Leipzig (2010) - Administrative em-ployer city planning Leipzig, second contact person Leipzig for Metropolitan region Mittel-deutschland.

Zinn, Jarl - Copenhagen (2010) - Senior adviser, project manager city of Copenhagen for infra-structure, truck transport and rail roads. Former METREX contact person and former member of the Öresund Committee.

Matthiessen, Christian Wichmann - Copenha-gen (2010) - Prof. Dr. at the Geografisk Institut Københavns Universitet, expert in the field of the Øresund region.

Ohlsson, Kristina - Malmö (2010) – Municipality of Malmö, Senior adviser and department of spa-tial planning.

Carlsen, Anette Vedel - Copenhagen (2010) - Se-nior advisor, Öresund Committee, Secretariat.

Due to the relevance, only the interviewees are mentioned together with a few relevant articles. The full Master’s thesis can be read online at: http:// igi tur-archive.l ibrary.uu.nl/student-theses/2010-0601-200246/UUindex.html. In the document you can find a fuller list of references

Figure 4. Rough reproduction of the daily urban systems

19


Evaluating the piping erosion susceptibility of loess-derived soil horizons using the pinhole test

Ruben Maes, EGEA Leuvenco-authors: Estela Nadal Romero , Els Verachtert, Jean Poesen

Introduction

Piping erosion (also termed tunnel ero-sion or subsurface erosion) is defined as “the hydraulic removal of subsurface soil, causing the formation of subsurface chan-nels in the natural landscape” (Boucher, 1990). The subsurface channels or pipes are induced by a high flow shear stress on the pore walls due to a rapid flow of soil water through macropores (Botschek et al., 2002). In Europe, piping erosion occurs in a wide range of climatic, geo-logical, topographic and land use settings. Estimations of the total area in the EU at risk from piping erosion exceed 260 000 km² (Faulkner, 2006). Piping occurs in gleysols and organic peat (histosols) in upland areas in northern Europe, in the marls in southern Europe as well as in the collapsible loess belt of north and central mainland Europe (Faulkner, 2006). In the Pleistocene, this belt was covered by a high-erodible aeolian sediment – loess – and makes part of a large loess belt that covers large areas of Northern France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and extends further eastwards into Poland and Ukraine (Poesen, 1993). In the past, piping has not always been taken into account because it is not di-rectly visible at the surface. Nowadays, it has become clear that piping also plays an important role in gully development (Poesen, 1993; Faulkner, 2006). Rill and gully erosion phenomena initiated by pip-ing are accepted as a critically important soil process in a wide range of European environments.

Objectives

Piping phenomenon has been observed in many regions of Europe and other parts of the world. Overall, only qualitative obser-vations have been made in the field be-cause it is difficult to measure piping. No standardized widely applied methodology exist to assess susceptibility of soils to pip-ing. Quantitative data on the susceptibility of soils to piping are still scarce. This re-search aims at evaluating the usefulness of the pinhole test device described by Sherard et al. (1976) for the assessment

of the susceptibility of different loess-de-rived soil horizons to piping. By carrying out laboratory analysis using the device, the authors aim (i) to evaluate the effect of different hydraulic heads, (ii) to evalu-ate the response of different loess-derived soil horizons (clay-enriched horizon (Bt), decalcified horizon (C1) and calcareous horizon (C2)), and (iii) to assess the effect of different initial moisture contents on the hydrological and erosion response.

Methodology

In 1973, a new laboratory test (pinhole test) was developed by James L. She-rard for direct measurements of dispers-ibility and erodability of compacted fine-grained soils in which water is caused to flow through a small specimen (Sherard et al., 1976). The main purpose of the test was providing reliable identification of dis-persive clays, which were responsible for many failures of earth dams and serious erosion problems in other earth structures in Australia (Sherard et al., 1976). Piping

within earth dams and embarkments has caused a number of collapses with high costs of human life and economic dam-ages (Selby, 1993). Initially it was not in-tended to be used as a quantitative test for measuring erosion rates as a function of time, but after some years, the test became used all over the world for as-sessing the susceptibility of different soil horizons to dispersion without reporting large problems. Dispersibility is assessed by observing effluent colour and changes of flow rate through the hole, measuring sediment concentrations in the effluent and by visual inspection of the hole after completion of the test. Disturbed samples are taken, and analyzed with the pinhole test device using distilled water (EC, 26 µS cm-1) and 4 hydraulic heads (50, 180, 380 and 1020 mm)(figure 2).

Materials

Three different soil horizons were tested. Samples were taken between Leuven and Brussels (Belgium) in the collapsible Bel-

Figure 1: Methodological scheme, Source: Ruben Maes, 2010

20


gian loess belt. During the last Glacial pe-riod (Würm, 100.000 BP until 12.00 BP), this area was covered with loess. The loess covers Tertiary sand deposits with a depth ranging from a few centimeters to more than ten meters. In the study area, the thickness of the loess deposits was about 2.5 m. Decalcified (C1) and calcareous (C2) soil samples were taken in a sunken lane bank in Koorbeel Dijle. Samples of clay-enriched horizons (Bt) were taken in Ber-tem, in a soil pit that was dug 0.6 m deep at the border of a cultivated field. At a depth between 40 and 60 cm, hydrologi-cal processes, leaching, transformation, clay enrichment and sedimentation had already occurred. According to USDA classification, the texture of all horizons was silt-loam. The main characteristics of the studied soil horizons are shown in table 1.

Results

In general, experiments have shown that the clay-enriched horizon (Bt) is less sus-ceptible to piping than decalcified loess (C1) and significantly less susceptible than calcareous loess (C2). From these experiments, it is clear that pipe flow dis-charges inclease linearly with rising hy-draulic head (H, mm) (figure 3). The hy-draulic head represent the water pressure

above the pinhole. The flow discharge of the water under saturated conditions is determined by the hydraulic head of the soil. The higher the hydraulic heads, the higher the hydraulic gradients and the higher the pipe flow discharge (Qw, cm³ s-1) and sediment discharge (Qs, g s-1) will be. During a test with a constant H, Qw and Qs due to pipe erosion. In gen-eral, Qw and Qs decrease with increasing initial soil moisture contents.

Discussion and conclusion

Piping erosion is induced by Hortonian overland flow in the research area. Be-cause of the formation of structural and depositional crusts in the field, infiltration rates decrease from more than 100 till 2 mm h-1. If surface run-off water on the loess plateau flows down and suddenly gets into a macropore (created by ani-mals and roots), the water will start erod-

ing very quickly and the subsurface pipes will easily increase in dimension until the roof collapses (Poesen, 1993). According to the pinhole test results, clay-enriched horizons are less susceptible than decal-cified loess and significantly less suscep-tible to piping than calcareous loess.Field observations revealed that the pres-ence of CaCO3 in the silt and clay fractions of loess increased its susceptibility to pip-ing and gully formation. Since the aeolian Würm deposit of the loes, the calcareous loess (C2) was never compacted by exter-nal environmental processes. By contrast in the C1 horizon, no hydroconsolidation occurred in this sediment. Calcareous dust was only compacted by its own weight. In a dry state, the physical arrangement of loess particles is normally characterized by a low bulk density. Once the calcare-ous loess is wetted for the first time, the soil structure will change and the soil will collapse because there will be some rear-

Figure 2: (A) Pinhole test device; (B) module components; (C) successful experiments; (D) failed experiment with a C2 sample (too wet), Source: Ruben Maes, 2010

Table 1: Main characteristics of soil horizons sampled. (MC=Moisture content; BD = Bulk density). Source: Ruben Maes, 2010

21


rangements of particles resulting in a loss of volume and a corresponding increased bulk density (Faulkner, 2006). This ex-plains why calcareous soils are also called collapsible soils. Due to a lack of clay and a low organic matter content, calcareous loess is vulnerable to water erosion. Acid percolating water has already transformed the structure and content of the decalcified loess. The CaCO3 has already been dis-solved and the soil structure is changed.For the quantitative data out from the ex-periments, the pinhole test device seems to be a reliable tool for measuring piping. Quantitative results obtained from per-formed laboratory experiments for mea-suring piping erosion agreed well with field observations of resistance to rill and gully erosion (Selby, 1993). In this research, the pinhole test device was evaluated for identifying the suscep-tibility of different soil horizons to piping. The validated experimental results will help to predict where in a loess-derived soil profile pipes might develop.

References

Botschek, J., Krause, S., Abel, T., Skowronek, A., 2002. Piping and erodibility of loessic soils in Bergischer Land, Nordrhein-Westfalen. Institut für Bodenkunde, Universität Bonn, Bonn, Ger-many, pp. 241-246.

Boucher, S.C., 1990. Field tunnel erosion – its characteristics and amelioration. Department of Geography and Environmental Science, Mo-nash University, Victoria, pp. 64.

Faulkner, H., 2006. Piping hazard on collaps-ible and dispersive soils in Europe. Flood Haz-ard Research Centre, University of Middlesex, Middlesex, United Kingdom, pp. 537-559.

Poesen, J., 1993. Gully topology and gully con-trol measures in the European loess belt, Farm Land Erosion: in Temperate Plains Environment and Hills. Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., pp.221-239.

Selby, M.J., 1993. Hillslope material and pro-cesses. Oxford University Press, second edi-tion, Oxford, pp. 206.

Sherard, J., Dunnigan, L., Decker, R., Steele, F., 1976. The pinhole test for identifying dispersive soils. Journal of the Geotechnical Engineering Division, American Society of Civil Engineers, Lincoln, Vol. 102, nr1, pp. 69-85.Soil Science Society of America, Glossary of Soil Science Terms, Available from: http://www.soils.org/files/publications/soils-glossary/fig-ure-1.pdf, (Accessed: 23th of may 2010).

Figure 3: Graphical results of the performed pinhole test experiments, Source: Ruben Maes, 2010

22


The EU Blue Card - the quest for high skilled migrants

Introduction

The competition for high-skilled migrants poses a recent development within the field of labour migration. A 2008 headline from Newsweek said: “The EU has a plan to lure talented foreigners to its shore, set-ting up a new global race – for brains” (Un-derhill 2008). At first sight it might sound a bit macabre. This plan, nonetheless, is a new initiative proposed by the Commis-sion of the European Union in 2007 and adopted by the Council of the European Union on May 25 2009 under the name of the EU Blue Card. Thus, the EU Blue Card is an attempt to compete in the global war for talent, a war mainly fought between the countries or regions with the highest GDP per capita.

This study examines the engagement by the EU in this competition by addressing the problematic: How is the EU Blue Card designed in order to ensure the attraction of high-skilled migrants? And, how does it correspond with the idea of attracting high-skilled migrants?

The issue will be considered as a bipartite question. The first part revolves around the package of benefits and rights the Blue Card offers in order to attract high-skilled migrants. The second part takes this a step further partly by contemplating how this package corresponds with the wish to engage in a competition for high-skilled mi-grants, i.e. does the package of rights and benefits compose a potent engagement in attracting high-skilled migrants, and partly by contemplating how the high-skilled mi-grants are selected from the huge pool of all migrants.

Methodology

Due to the relatively recent nature of the initiative, little research has been done on the EU Blue Card and thus the basis for evaluating it vis-à-vis the intentions behind it is very limited. However, temporary for-eign worker programmes (TFWP’s), as I will argue the Blue Card is, is not a new concept, and there are important prior ex-periences to draw on in an analysis of the Blue Card. The same applies to the global competition for high-skilled migrants. The literature is rich in both areas, but it has only sparsely been linked to the Blue Card. Thus, in this study I argue that to some extent it is possible to give a mean-

ingful, though tentative, evaluation of the structure and the framework that the Blue Card provides for attracting high-skilled migrants.

TFWP’s became widespread across the world after World War II. Though they are all put under the same label they often differ substantially on several aspects. Martin Ruhs provides an excellent analyti-cal approach for recognizing these differ-ences, based on the parameters of num-bers, selection and rights: ``(i) the number of foreign workers to be admitted; (ii) the mechanism for selection and recruitment; and (iii) the bundle of rights and entitle-ments to be accorded to foreign workers after admission´´ (2003:4). In this way TF-WP’s can be characterized by on the one hand their restrictive provisions regarding how many and who to let in, and on the other hand on how generous they are re-garding rights.

The first parameter refers to the arrange-ments for managing numbers. This can be done through quotas, permit fees, or la-bour market tests (Ruhs 2003). A laissez-faire approach is also an option, were for example the demand from the employer determine the numbers of labour immi-grants. The second parameter refers to the mechanisms for selection. These can be designed to match supply with demand in terms of skills. The skills in demand can differ widely from scheme to scheme but may relate to education, specialization and work experience or alternatively turn in another direction and focus on spon-sorship, nationality or language. Lastly, the third parameter refers to the rights the immigrant is entitled to. The question of rights concern most aspects of life and are often much smaller in scope than those

applying to natives. It includes social and economic rights such as pension, access to healthcare, marital rights, family reuni-fication etc. Labour market rights, such as the right to join unions, holidays and leaves, may be restricted too.

However, the Blue Card is an initiative meant to constitute the European engage-ment in the global competition for high-skilled migrants. When recognizing this it is important to be fully aware that certain choices have been made when targeting high-skilled and excluding low-skilled mi-grants. Such a programme is based on the distinction between these two group-ings (or more for that sake). Thus, being central to the understanding of modern TFWP’s engaging in this competition, the concept of skills and the benefits and problems related to the grouping of ‘high skills’ will briefly be discussed.

The analysis following in the next sec-tion will be based the policy parameters described above. As the scope of this paper does not allow for a full account of the analysis only a few, though central, ar-ticles in the directive will be emphasised in order to illustrate the relevant points.

Background of the EU Blue Card

The name itself, the EU Blue Card, might lead the mind to the American Green Card. To what extent it actually resembles the Green Card is outside the scope of this paper, but it nonetheless constitutes an answer and an engagement in the global competition for high-skilled migrants.

In order to cope with this competition, the European Union (excl. Denmark, UK and Ireland) adopted the EU Blue Card in May

Michael Philip Poulsen,University of Copenhagen

Figure 1: the EU Blue Card, Source: http://media.photobucket.com/image/blue%20card/Wenda79/Bluecar-dEU.jpg?o=101

23


2009 (Council of the European Union, 2009). The idea started with Jakob von Weizsäckers’ ‘A European Blue Card Pro-posal’ in 2006. The relevance of this ini-tiative, he argued, is evident in the failure of single member states to attract high-skilled immigrants despite the introduction of several policies (von Weizsäcker 2006). Compared with USA, Canada, and Aus-tralia where the percentage of high-skilled immigrants relative to the total population amounts to 4.5%, 10%, and 8% respec-tively, many EU-countries lag critically behind with the share staying well below 2%. Von Weizsäckers’ initial idea with the Blue Card was that instead of 27 differ-ent national systems, the Blue Card could provide a coherent, uniform and transpar-ent application procedure that gave the immigrant access to the whole EU labour market (von Weiszäcker 2006 and Cerna 2008).

The year after von Weiszäcker proposed the Blue Card, the President of the Euro-pean Commission, Mr. José Manuel Durão Barroso, repeated the concern of EU lag-ging behind and called for the introduction of a European Blue Card (Barroso 2007). In his opening remarks at a meeting in Strasbourg October 23 2007 he acknowl-edged that ``we [the EU] are not good enough at attracting highly skilled people. Nor are we young or numerous enough to keep the wheels of our societies and economies turning on our own´´ (ibid.:2). Thus, the need for the EU to participate in the global competition for high-skilled mi-grants outlined above was made explicit at the highest level.

The next section will analyse how the Blue Card is designed in order to engage is this competition with regard to the policy parameters of rights, numbers and selec-tion. The EU Blue Card As Ruhs & Martin (2008) and Solimano (2008) point out, highly-skilled migrants are in demand and as a result can to a large extent pick and choose between dif-ferent destinations. While culture and cli-mate may also be a factor when choosing between destinations, rights are a factor that governments can manipulate. This may explain the dedication to the matter of rights as part of the Blue Card.

The Blue Card does provide the pro-spective immigrant with quite favourable conditions (Council 2009). It affords a package of rights and benefits consisting of social, health care, and labour rights based on equal treatment with nationals of the member state concerned. The right

to family reunification within 6 months is another potentially big pull-factor as well as the prospect of gaining permanent residency which is automatically granted after 5 years. Thus, the Blue Card, as a temporary foreign workers programme, represents a strong initiative in terms of attracting high-skilled migrants.

These conditions however unavoidably also look attractive to a much larger pool of potential immigrants than those preferred. Thus, some mechanisms for sorting the wanted immigrants from the unwanted im-migrant are needed. It is stated in article 6 that ̀ `This Directive shall not affect the right of a Member State to determine the vol-ume of admission of third-country nation-als entering its territory for the purpose of highly qualified employment´´ (Council of the European Union 2009:article 6). Thus, the demand is ultimately determined by the willingness of individual governments to admit immigrants. One consequence of this is that the Blue Card holder cannot move to another country to work for the first 18months and even after that she will have to apply for a new Blue Card in the member state she wishes to move to (ibid: article 18). Thus, national borders are ef-fectively maintained and mobility severely restrained.

Another mechanism is the need to have a work contract or binding job offer. This is a particularly attractive paragraph for mem-ber states in that it minimizes the risk of having to provide certain welfare benefits and the immigrants will most likely con-tribute positively to the state economically (von Weizsäcker 2006, Fachini & Mayda 2009).

The economic argument can also be made for giving preferential access to high-skilled workers. Following von Weiz-säckers’ argument, the economic effects of high-skilled immigration are generally positive while low-skilled immigration has more ambiguous effects (2006). There-fore, it is relatively easy to argue that there should be opened up for high-skilled immigration. A problematic, however, lies in how to define skills and how to differen-tiate between low-skilled and high-skilled immigrants. The directive provides its own guideline for this, saying that an appli-cant needs to attest fulfilment of specific conditions where required and otherwise attest relevant higher professional quali-fications (Council 2009: article 5), where higher professional qualifications can be obtained through formal post-secondary higher education of at least three years or a minimum of five years of professional experience (ibid: article 2). However, the concept of skill is in itself is very ambigu-

ous and any demarcation of high-skilled immigrants is debatable. The EU defini-tion is very broad, placing nurses, teach-ers and laboratory assistants in the same box as scientists and professors .

The above suggests that the Blue Card on the one hand does offer a quite extensive set of rights and benefits and on the other hand provides some restrictive measures for regulating the numbers and composi-tion of immigrants in terms of skills and job opportunities. These provisions however necessitate a discussion of to what extent the Blue Card can be conceived as a com-mon EU scheme aimed at attracting just the high-skilled migrants. The following section will continue on this discussion.

A common EU scheme for attract-ing high-skilled migrants?

As argued above the Blue Card does of-fer a quite comprehensive set of rights and benefits. One right however, that has been dramatically compromised when compared with the original version pro-posed by von Weiszäcker is the immedi-ate access to the whole EU labour market. This has reduced the benefit of a common EU scheme to a mere standardised appli-cation procedure requiring the migrant to lodge an application each time he or she wishes to obtain a Blue Card valid in an-other member state. This includes qualify-ing for the selection criteria each time; se-lection criteria which are largely based on national standards. For regulated profes-sions there may be different requirements in terms of education among member states, and differing standards for accredi-tation of educations obtained outside the EU may in general result in varying selec-tion criteria (Collett 2009b).

This lack of mobility for Blue Card holders was considered again at a recent confer-ence on labour migration in Malmö. One speaker, Elizabeth Collett, found the adop-tion of the Blue Card an important step for the EU albeit the directive was adopted in a ``diluted´´ form (2009a). Along with other speakers, such as Gregory Maniatis (2009), she called for a greater focus on making intra-EU mobility work. Whether this will succeed in representing the EU as one big labour market and, thus, function as a pull-factor for high-skilled migrants is an empirical question that we need time to reveal for us. Certainly though, it is a factor where EU cooperation could carry great benefits.

The question of mobility is being put to the fore because it exposes the fact that the EU is still composed of many national enti-ties that are very reluctant to concede any

24


sovereignty. Thus, the Blue Card has the potential to attract high-skilled migrants, though not to the EU per se but rather to the single member states. As for the selec-tion criteria mentioned above, this is also evident in how the package of rights and benefits is constituted.

The rights that are granted the immigrant (and family) upon arrival are as mentioned based on equal treatment with nationals. This does not ensure equal treatment across the EU but on the contrary high-lights the differences in the scope of these rights between member states (Collett 2009a). Thus, instead of constituting a pan-EU immigration scheme providing ac-cess to the whole EU labour market, the Blue Card rather resembles a plethora of national schemes.Another point is the question of skills. As the Blue Card is promoted as an initiative to attract high-skilled migrants the ap-plication of the term ‘high-skill’ deserves a closer look. While acknowledging that it provides some very good conditions in terms of attraction, the selection of high-skilled migrants includes a very broad group that, arguably, extends beyond the high-skilled. So who is it exactly that Eu-rope wants to attract? In his speech at the meeting in Strasbourg in 2007 Mr. Barroso emphasized the role of the Blue Card in making the EU a competitive knowledge-based economy:

`We need a European approach to legal immigration if we want to be serious in be-coming the most competitive, knowledge-based society in the world.´´ (Barroso 2007:3)

This need was reiterated in the final Direc-tive (Council 2009: introduction paragraph 3 and 4). With respect for the merits of all professions, it can be argued that the designation ‘high-skilled’ in relation to a knowledge based economy should only apply to the highest educated and special-ized workers. With the Blue Card Directive including health professionals, teachers of all school levels, laboratory technicians and assistants, it risks watering down the concept of ‘high skills’. This very broad category blurs the distinction between on the one hand knowledge enhancing occu-pations and on the other hand disciplines that are indeed essential for our societies but hardly contribute to the competive-ness of a knowledge-based economy. It is, though, on par with other programmes such as the American H-1B programme that requires a bachelor degree or equiva-lent from the migrant. In this perspective it is on line with the concept of the global competition for high-skilled migrants, but looking merely on the skill-level required,

such a claim can be questioned (Martin, Lowell & Bump 2009).

It may indeed be argued that it rather in-cludes the ‘right’ migrants, understood as the migrants that are, or are projected to become, in critical shortage and who is politically acceptable to let in. However, taking another perspective, this provides opportunities for attracting much needed labour which may not pose a problem in itself. On the contrary it may very well show that the Blue Card provides an im-portant framework for attracting the most demanded migrants.

Conclusion

Until recently, the engagement in the com-petition for highly-skilled migrants by Eu-ropean countries has been based on na-tional schemes. However, on May 25 2009 the EU adopted the European Blue Card, a pan-European TFWP for attracting high-skilled migrants.

Excess demand of any good implies ris-ing costs for that good. This is the ordi-nary supply and demand model proposed by economic theory. The literature on the ‘global competition for high-skilled mi-grants’ suggests that this also applies as the demand for high-skilled migrants is bigger than the supply in which case the cost is rights and benefits. While culture and language may also affect the choices of prospective migrants, rights are a factor that governments can manipulate.

This paper argues that in the design of the Blue Card, the EU has created a scheme affording migrants a package of quite extensive rights and benefits. Based on the principle of equal treatment with the national of the member state concerned, it offers the Blue Card holders the same rights and benefits, in terms social, health care, and labour rights, as those that ap-ply to nationals. It also provides for fam-ily reunification within six months and the right to permanent residency after having held a Blue Card for five years. Thus, as a TFWP in the global competition for high-skilled migrants the Blue Card is an impor-tant strategic initiative.The application of skills, however, is found to be very broad and, arguably, waters down the concept of ‘high-skills’ and in this regard blurs the idea of the competition for high-skilled migrants. With respect for the merits of each occupation, not all in this wide range of occupations, though essen-tial to our societies, contribute to enhanc-ing the competitiveness of the knowledge based economy that is politically empha-sized. Nonetheless, with the ageing soci-ety that the European Community, the US

and other rich economies face, this paper points towards that the wide inclusion of occupations provides some opportunities for sustaining the economic and welfare basis of these societies.

A further point this paper reveals is the missing EU or community aspect of the Blue Card. By upholding their autonomy, especially with regard to immigrant mobil-ity, the member states have comprised one of the potentially very big merits of the Blue Card. These are the merits of better efficiency due to a more mobile la-bour force and greater attractiveness due to a much larger job market. In its current form the Blue Card scheme hardly poses anymore than a plethora of national, albeit standardised, immigration programmes across the EU with national job and labour markets retaining their size and national regulation. Thus, the Blue Card does not represent a common pan-European policy but rather reflects the member states re-luctance to concede power to the EU.

Although, it is ultimately an empirical question of how well the Blue Card fares in attracting high-skilled migrants, this paper should be seen an initial step in understanding the Blue Card and in an-ticipating the consequences of it. Further studies could enhance this understanding. This could be studies of the negotiations between the different levels of the Euro-pean society from citizen to Commission; it could be the importance and potential of harmonizing labour markets; and it could be that the very idea of the global com-petition for high-skilled migrants should be revised. Whatever the next step, it is a very new initiative and it should be most interesting to witness the implementation and development of it.

References

Barroso, José M. D. (2007), ‘Opening remarks of President Barroso – Legal Immigration’ SPEECH/07/650, 23 October. Available on: http://europa.eu/rapid/searchAction.do (Ac-cessed: 11th of January 2010)

Cerna, Lucie (2008), ‘Towards an EU Blue Card? The Delegation of National High-Skilled Immigra-tion Policies to the EU Level’, COMPAS Working Paper, no. 65, pp. 1-27.

Collet, Elizabeth, 2009a. Building a competitive immigration policy in Europe. Conference on La-bour Migration and its Development Potential in the Age of Mobility, October 15-16 in Malmö, The Swedish Presidency of the European Union, pp. 18-23. Available on:www.se2009.eu/en/meetings_news/2009/10/15/labour_migration_and_its_development_poten-tial_in_the_age_of_mobility (Accessed: 11th of January 2010)

25


Collett, Elizabeth, 2009b. Blue Cards and the ‘global battle for talent’, commentary at the con-ference on Labour Migration and its Develop-ment Potential in the Age of Mobility, October 15-16 in Malmö. The Swedish Presidency of the European Union, pp. 18-23. Available on: www.se2009.eu/en/meetings_news/2009/10/15/labour_migration_and_its_development_poten-tial_in_the_age_of_mobility (Accessed: 11th of January 2010)

Council of the European Union, 2009. Council Directive on the conditions of entry and resi-dence of third-country nationals for the purpose of highly qualified employment. Council Directive 2009/50/EC of 25 May. Available on viewed 11 January 2010, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/RECH_legislation.do (Accessed: 11th of January 2010)

Fachini, G. & Mayda, A. M, 2009. The Political Economy of Immigration Policy. UNDP Research Paper, no. 3 (April).

International Standard Classification of Occupa-tions, 2008. ISCO-08 Structure and preliminary correspondence with ISCO-88. Available on: http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/stat/isco/isco08/index.htm (Accessed: 21st of August 2010)

Maniatis, Gregory A., 2009. Building a Common Understanding About More Effective Migration Policies in the European Union. Conference on Labour Migration and its Development Potential in the Age of Mobility, October 15-16 in Malmö, The Swedish Presidency of the European Union, pp. 18-23. Available on: www.se2009.eu/en/meetings_news/2009/10/15/labour_migration_and_its_development_potential_in_the_age_of_mobility (Accessed: 11th of January 2010).

Ruhs, Martin, 2003. Temporary Foreign Worker Programmes: Policies, adverse consequences and the need to make them work’, Perspectives on Labour Migration, no. 6, International Labour Organization, pp. 1-50

Ruhs, Martin & Martin, Philip, 2008. Number vs. Rights: Trade-Offs and Guest Worker Programs. International Migration Review, vol. 42, no. 1, pp. 249-265.

Solimano, Andrés, 2008. Causes and Conse-quences of Talent Mobility. A. Solimano (ed.),The International Mobility of Talent, Oxford University Press, Oxford (UK), pp. 1-19.

von Weizsäcker, Jakob, 2006. A European Blue Card Proposal’, Horizons Stratégiques, no. 1, July, pp. 1-13.

26


GIS analysis on the location of peat bogs in continental Portugal, as ancillary tool to phylogeographic research in Europe

Introduction to the project: The aims

Glacial refugia are characterized by the persistence of high genetic diversity and can have contributed to Mediterranean biodiversity hotspot (Médail & Diadema 2009). Their identification may be critical in spatial planning policies and conserva-tion strategies as they constitute significant reservoirs of genetic diversity. The Iberian Peninsula is considered one of the three peninsulas in Southern Europe (together with Apennine and the Balkan Peninsulas), which acted as glacial refugia for many species of present wide distribution in Eu-rope. Of the 52 refugia identified by Médail & Diadema (2009) for the Mediterranean bioclimatic region, 25 are included in these three peninsulas. The Iberian Peninsula has the highest number of refugia (11) being therefore propitious for research.

The bogs of southern Europe are, other than the mountains ones, relict ecosys-tems from past cold climates. Ever since the Holocene warming commenced more than 11 thousand years BP (Vieira, 2004), they have become isolated and their com-munities were fragmented into a disjunc-tive biogeographical distribution (Honrado et al., 2001). The southwestern low-alti-tude sub-littoral bogs are thus exceptional (Neto, 1997; Arsénio et al., 2009), and its communities may have played a major pa-laeogeographic role (Neto, 1997, 2009). Portugal has in Estremadura, along the Sado River and coastal Alentejo several peatland areas with isolated populations of species of optimal temperate. The aim of this essay is to highlight recent findings concerning the classic Theory of Mediter-ranean Glacial Refugia during LGM, which states those were “characterized by the persistence of high genetic diversity and can have contributed to Mediterranean biodiversity hotspot (Médail & Diadema, 2009)”. Three European peninsulas (Ap-ennine, Iberian and the Balkanian) acted as glacial refugia in the South for many species of present wide distribution in Eu-rope.

In 2000 Godfrey Hewitt wrote a compre-hensive paper in which he encompassed the European Holocenic recolonization route paradigms, underlining the role of east-west barriers for all species, estab-

lishing the so-called leading-edge mod-el of post-glacial colonization. Another model is being debated by some authors notwithstanding. Indeed, “in contrast to the expanding edge, the low-latitude limit (rear edge) of species ranges remains un-derstudied, and the critical importance of rear edge populations as long-term stores of species genetic diversity and foci of speciation has been little acknowledged (Hampe & Petit, 2005)”. These authors introduced the Rear-edge Hypothesis or Rear-edge Model. Little attention has been paid to the rear edge populations notwithstanding. The genetic study (phy-logeographic) of European populations, combined with morphological and phyto-sociological approaches, will aim to ex-plain its palaeobiogeographical meaning, encompassing Quaternary climate oscilla-tions and anthropogenic climate changes.

Material & Methods

The information from the largest survey of peatlands ever made in Portugal (Seneca, 1999, 2002) and also data of abiotic vari-ables - e.g. altitude, slopes, temperature, precipitation, runoff - from the Portuguese Institute for the Environment - were added to a GIS platform, in the context of a doc-toral thesis focused on phylogeography of European peat bog populations, estab-lishing a set of analytical functions, which reveals a correlative location of peat bogs according to certain attributes of environ-mental variables. The aim was to under-stand which minimal values of the vari-ables are necessary for bogs to exist. With such information, modeling may allow the reconstruction of both past and potential distributions, expanded from glacial refu-gia (Schmitt, 2007), and the direction of Quaternary post-glacial migration routes. A GIS-Database will be built on peat bog abiotic factors, allowing populations to be vectorized and selected for analysis. Re-mote sensing and field work will correct flaws due to using the information avail-able - points rather than polygons - in vectorising the mire populations. During a three-year field work, flora inventories on bog communities will be filled in after Braun-Blanquet Method (Géhu & Rivas-Martínez,1980). These phytosociological rosters will be analyzed statistically. DNA samples will be collected as well, provid-ing green material to be used in AFLP-PCR (Amplified Fragment Length Poly-morphism) analysis. Restriction enzymes will be used to digest genomic DNA fol-

lowed by ligation of adaptors to the sticky ends of the restriction fragments. After DNA extraction, digestion of total cellular DNA will be carried out with one or more restriction enzymes and ligation of restric-tion half-site specific adaptors to all re-striction fragments. Selective amplification of some of these fragments will be per-formed with two PCR primers that have corresponding adaptor and restriction site specific sequences. The DNA sequencing will then be feasible trough electrophoretic separation of amplicons on a gel matrix, followed by visualization of the band pat-tern. Analysis of cpDNA loci will follow.

Further on, the impact of several sce-narios of climate change on peatlands in Europe, using abiotic, biological and phy-tosociological factors, like resilience and dispersion, and including introducing data from ex situ experiments in Potsdam, Ger-many, will be also modeled. With model-ing, predictive maps based on extrapola-tion of the relationships between variables and factors will be produced. Applying the algorithm Bioclim and using the software Open Modeller with a GIS, all possible logical relationships will be modeled and evaluated.

Expected results

Four taxa will be researched: Drosera in-termedia Hayne (Droseraceae),,Genista anglica L. (Fabaceae), Gentiana pneumo-nanthe L. (Gentianaceae), and Cirsium palustre L. (Asteraceae). An UPGMA clus-tering of populations will be performed, as well as neighbour joining diagrams based on genetic distances (Nei, 1978). Maximal parsimony trees and spanning networks will also be done. After these analytical results, the glacial refugia for these spe-cies are expected to be pinpointed. These areas will be mapped where the allele frequencies prove to be higher, revealing populations with higher genetic diversity, which signify in former differencing cen-ters, the so-called glacial refuges.

The data from fossil pollen records de-scribed in the bibliography and geomor-phological data (sedimentation) of bogs will contribute to past climate calibration through use of the ecological amplitude of the four species as a bioindicator. Hence the migration routes are expected to be correlated with the evolution of Palaeocli-mate in Europe. The possible post-glacial colonization routes will be proposed.

Miguel Geraldes

27


A model of actual and future climatic data in the IPCC Climate Change scenarios will be carried out, defining climate envelope boundaries for the 4 taxa in these scenar-ios. The common garden ex situ experi-ments with peat bog plants in University of Potsdam (Germany) will help to test for “Rear-edge-hypothesis” (Hampe & Petit 2002), shedding light on the limit adapta-tions to an increasingly warmer climate and its associated environmental changes (higher decomposition and nutrient avail-ability (Schwarzer et al., 2010).

All the previous results will be gathered and a selection of priority allele-rich peat bog areas for conservation of in Europe will be made. This ought to support some land-planning proposals for menaced peat lands in Europe.

Discussion

Many taxa of animals and plants have been already object of such research. This significance had been acknowl-edged before (Hewitt, 2000). The routes for post-glacial colonization where drawn from southern refugia: the ‘Hedgehog paradigm’ (no biogeographical barriers); the ‘Bear paradigm’ (the Alps as main barrier), the ‘Grasshopper paradigm’ (the Pyrenees and the Alps acting as barriers). A fourth paradigm was later added - the ‘butterfly paradigm’ -, in which only the Pyrenees act as main barrier (Schmitt, 2007). Themes like the Holocenic migra-tion routes, the presence of biogeographi-cal east-west barrier in the separation of genetically differentiated populations, or the discovery of extra-Mediterranean dif-ferentiation centers have been thoroughly analyzed, as well as modeling the impact of climate change in many leading-edge species (Hampe, 2004). Regarding this whole bunch of new fresh data being car-ried into the discussion, questions will arise and need to be answered. From the distribution of peatland species regarding Quaternary climate oscillations through the characterization and location of glacial refugia with these plants did exist, going past what way did the Holocenic migra-tion routes of studied peatland species take or where the individuals were able to come across the east-west biogeographi-cal barrier (the Pyrenees, the Alps and the Carpathians-Transylvanian relief system), many conclusions will be drawn from the present work.

Conclusion of your research topic

The use of points was restrictive. The flaw was present due to use of available information - points rather than polygons

- in vectorising the bogs. Using remote sensing and field work, this will be cor-rected. The results will be condensed into thematic maps and a database, and the richest populations in genetic diversity will be correlated with the most threatened populations according to the model re-sults. Hence, proposals for environment management, protection and recovery of genetically the richest and endangered peat bog communities of Europe will be made.

Those populations from the latitudinal rims of the distribution range have dy-namics which set up the pace for species responses to expected climate change. Thus “marginal rather than central popula-tions commonly harbor the bulk of species genetic diversity (Hampe & Petit, 2005)”. Only further research of this dispropor-tionate importance, combining the genetic study (phylogeographic) with morpho-logical and phytosociological approaches, will be able to assess the response of the whole range in future scenarios.

This project is focused on contributing to understand the critical and disproportion-ate function that rear edge populations of four peat-specialist species have for the survival and evolution of biota, bringing together recent findings from the fossil record, phylogeography and ecology. The response of this vegetation in future evo-lution scenarios concerning recent and prospective climate changes under Glob-al Change will be modeled, concerning that it has been widely accepted that the anthropogenic climate change caused by production of greenhouse gases emitted by human activity is producing poleward range shifts of numerous taxa, communi-ties and ecosystems (Parmesan & Yohe, 2003). The huge differences in ecological fea-tures, dynamics and conservation re-quirements that are found in rear-edge populations, when compared to from those of other populations of the range, may lead into failure of conservation prac-tices for rear edge populations, mainly when the models do not “incorporate more detail and attain greater biological realism (Hampe, 2004)”. The present proj-ect aims to help filling this gap, clarifying whether the mountain chains worked as biogeographical barrier in the separation of genetically differentiated populations or ecological intrinsic barriers to genetic flow took the lead in southern Europe. Let alone the possibility of any of these taxa having an extra-mediterranean differen-tiation center (Habel et al., 2010).

References

Arsénio, P., Neto, C., Monteiro-Henriques, T., Costa, J.C. (2009), Guia Geobotânico da Ex-cursão ALFA 2009 ao litoral alentejano, Quer-cetea, 9: 4-42.Géhu, J.M. & Rivas-Martínez, S. (1980), No-tions fondamentales de Phytosociologie. In Cramer, J. (ed) Syntaxonomie, Vaduz.

Habel, J., Drees, C., Schmitt, T. (2010), Review Refugial Areas and Postglacial Colonizations in the Western Palearctic. In Habel, J., Assman, T. (eds) Relict Species. Phylogeography and Conservation Biology. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Hampe, A. & Petit, R.J. (2005) Conserving bio-diversity under climate change: the rear edge matters, Ecology Letters, 8: 461–467

Hampe, A. (2004) Bioclimate envelope models: what they detect and what they hide, Global Ecology and Biogeography, 13: 469–471.

Hewitt, G. (2000) The Genetic Legacy of the Quaternary ice ages, Nature, 405: 907–913.

Honrado, J., Séneca, A., Caldas, F.B., Ortiz, S. (2001) Complexos de vegetação turfófila nas serras do Parque Nacional de Peneda-Gerês (Subsector Geresiano-Queixense, Sector Galaico-Português, Região Eurossiberiana), Quercetea, 3: 197-211.

Médail, F., Diadema, K. (2009) Glacial refugia influence plant diversity patterns in the Medi-terranean Basin, Journal of Biogeography, 36, 1333–1345.

Moreira, M.E., Neto, C. (2005) “Parte VI – Veg-etação”. In Medeiros CA (ed) Geografia de Portugal, Vol.I – Ambiente Físico. Círculo de Leitores, Lisboa, 417-482.

Neto, C. (1997) A Flora e a Vegetação dos Meios Palustres do Superdistrito Sadense. Centro de Estudos Geográficos, Lisboa.

Schmitt, T. (2007) Molecular biogeography of Europe: Pleistocene cycles and postglacial trends, Frontiers in Zoology, 4: 11.

Schwarzer, C., Heinken, T., Luthard, V., Joshi, J. (2010) Experimental Study – Adaptation of Plant Glacial Relicts to a Changing Climate. In Endlicher W, Gerstengarbe F-W (eds) Abstracts of Lectures and Posters of the Continents Un-der Climate Change Conference on the Occa-sion of the 200 Anniversary of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. April 21-23, 2010, Berlin.

Vieira G (2004) Geomorfologia dos planaltos e altos vales da Serra da Estrela. Ambientes frios do Plistocénico Superior e dinâmica actual. PhD Thesis, University of Lisbon, Lisbon.

28


29


Picture impression Scientific Symposium 2010 Photos made by: Jan Grade, Simon Reichenwallner, ZackAdrian and Tobias Michl

30


31


ISSN: 1605-6566 © EGEA, Utrecht

All rights reserved

7th issue September 2011