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Greening the Realm – cities and regions as laboratories of innovation and sustainable development
Kevin MorganSchool of City and Regional PlanningCardiff University
GIN2008 Conference, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands26-28 June, 2008
Overview
Governance and the multi-level polity
Models of Innovation
Cities & regions as experimental spaces
Green procurement: the power of purchase
Good practice is a bad traveller
The multi-level polity
The EU is the world’s most complex multi-level polity - supra-national, national and sub-national realms
A big political disconnect here between: policy design (supra-national/national) and policy delivery (sub-national)
The sub-national realm has little status, but manages and implements some 80% of all EU programmes
Subsidiarity is important for more effective governance (not just for more accountable governance)
The multi-level polity
Barriers to subsidiarity operate at the top and the bottom of the multi-level polity: Control – the upper levels are reluctant to devolve power Competence – the lower levels lack knowledge and skills Conflict – upper and lower levels in conflict
These problems not confined to the EU: The US – the green battles between the Feds and the States
(eg clean air standards in California) China - the centre cannot get local states to implement its
environmental laws
Models of Innovation
The models of innovation that have dominated the literature in the past 20 years include: the linear model, interactive model and open model
We are now witnessing the advent of a radically different kind of innovation model – the Sustainable Innovation Paradigm
Unlike earlier models, the SIP involves a new mix of economy, civil society and the multi-level polity
Key sectors of a low carbon society - energy, transport, building materials, food, waste - require the active cooperation of consumers and citizens to effect behavioural change
Cities and regions as experimental spaces
Firms may drive innovation but they do so in the context of their milieux (territorial and relational)
Today’s experimental spaces include: Austin, Texas – new solar energy cluster New Haven, West Virginia – carbon capture and storage trial California – clean technology across the board Marburg, Germany – renewable energy London, England – congestion charge Belo Horizonte, Brazil – urban food security Henan Province, China – peasant-owned joint stock companies Dongtan, China – eco-city design Rome – sustainable school food system Helsinki – green procurement of buses
Green procurement: the power of purchase
The procurement paradox – enormous power that is largely untapped by national and sub-national public bodies
Public procurement spending in the EU: 1500 billion euro 16% of GDP 65% managed by sub-national public bodies
Barriers to green procurement include: Cost – perception of increased cost Knowledge – lack of know-how Risk aversion – cultivated by the legal profession Legal issues – ambiguity about EU regulations Leadership – conspicuous by its absence
Green procurement: the case of food
Public procurement of food - can deliver a triple dividend of health, environmental and economic gains
Uniform EU regulations, but big national differences Italy – local food procurement in all but name UK – believed local food procurement was impossible Explanation – culture and politics = different interpretations
Key issues for greening procurement: Whole life costing Creative procurement skills Political leadership City-region strategies for sustainable food chains
Good practice is a bad traveller
Innovations do not diffuse as quickly/easily between firms as conventional economic theory would suggest
Public sector innovations are even more sluggish to diffuse
New networks of innovation diffusion are urgently needed: Territorially – within & between cities and regions Professionally – within & between professional associations Corporately – within and between supply chains
Cities and regions have a major role to play in animating and diffusing the SIP to create a post-carbon society
But all levels of the multi-level polity need to be mobilised to make good practice the norm not the exception