romanian functional urban areas: between polarization and spatial

Alexandru Bănică, Researcher, Ph.D, Romanian Academy - Iași Branch,

Romania [email protected]

ROMANIAN FUNCTIONAL URBAN AREAS: BETWEEN POLARIZATION AND SPATIAL RESILIENCE

Prof. Ionel Muntele, Researcher, Ph.D, Romanian Academy - Iași Branch,

“Al. I. Cuza” University Iași, Romania [email protected].

4th Global Forum on Urban Resilience & Adaptation Bonn, Germany 31 May – 2 June 2013

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

The urban chore and the surrounding territory (rural and urban) that is directly influenced by it.

I. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

Partially synonyms Metropolitan districts

Bassin d’emploi

Chore based statistical areas Metropolitan statistical areas

Larger Urban Zones Functional urban areas

Urban and peri-urban areas

I.1. MAIN CONCEPTS

Resilience

sometimes seen as a metaphor (Pendall et al., 2008) or a general framework (Folke, 2006; Ahern, 2011), it should also be a tool for integrated planning of complex spatial systems such as cities and their polarized areas

Spatial resilience

refers to the relation between spatial variation of certain relevant variables inside and outside the system of interest and the resilience of that system across multiple spatial and temporal scales (Cumming, 2011)

Spatial resilience capacity

Theoretical functional urban areas

(metropolitan areas – in broad sense)

the differentiated and discriminatory competence of territories to respond, recover, cope, adapt and even develop when facing an unexpected, sudden perturbation or stressor.

Metropolitan regions

Resilience capacity

not focused on a certain disaster, but on the general ability to resist shocks as “some (…) [units] are structurally more prepared than others, and have greater capacity to bounce back in the wake of a stress” (Kathryn Foster, Dir., UB Regional Institute).

Hypothesis

RESILIENCE CAPACITY OF (ROMANIAN) FUNCTIONAL URBAN AREAS

OF WHOM?

TO WHAT?

HOW?

I.2. FRAMEWORK

A harmonious relation between the city and the polarized territory reduces spatial disparities and increases resilience capacity.

O1 – To test an integrated spatial resilience capacity index (SRCI) applicable to Romanian realities by adapting the existing methodologies

II. OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY II.1. OBJECTIVES

O2 – To assess the spatial similarities and the disparities at different scales in order to better understand both the capacity of studied units to adapt and their ability to become poles of regional stability and development

(Source: Google Earth, 2013) Bucharest city functional area Iași city functional area

II. OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY

II.2. METHODOLOGY

A. Delimitation of study areas:

>50000 inhabitants (at least once in their recent history) + spatial equity principle;

a road distance of max. 20 km (from the edge of the chore-city) allowing close socio-economic relations (commuting, daily services, ex-urban activities of the city).

B. Index construction

12 indicators (aggregated from local level to “metropolitan” level) normalized by using Min-Max rescaling scheme to create a homogenous dataset;

Principal component analysis for weighting the indicators and grouping them in three categories; some initial indicators (environmental) eliminated (no relevance for the model as hardly correlated to any other indicator);

Final Z Scores of the three aggregated indicators (for each category) and of the final index -spatial resilience capacity index (SRCI). A correlation matrix was obtained in order to study their relation;

Mapping the SRCI in order to compare:

• functional urban areas (metropolitan areas);

• metropolitan areas and non-metropolitan areas;

• urban metropolitan areas/rural metropolitan areas/urban non-metropolitan areas/rural non-metropolitan areas.

• (official) voluntary associations/partnerships • (theoretical) cities’ functional area

METROPOLITAN AREAS


II.2. METHODOLOGY







Final Z Scores of the three aggregated indicators (for each category) and of the final index -spatial resilience capacity index (SRCI). A correlation matrix was obtained in order to study their relation;





MEASURING RESILIENCE. FROM INDICATORS TO INDEX II.2.B. Index construction

(Bănică, Muntele, 2013)


II.2. METHODOLOGY







Final Z Scores of the three aggregated indicators (for each category) and of the final index - spatial resilience capacity index (SRCI). A correlation matrix was obtained in order to study their relation;





II.2.B. Index construction SPATIAL RESILIENCE CAPACITY INDEX

(Bănică, Muntele, 2013)


II.2. METHODOLOGY













II.2. METHODOLOGY












III. RESULTS SPATIAL RESILIENCE CAPACITY INDEX (SRCI). URBAN FUNCTIONAL AREAS

SPATIAL RESILIENCE CAPACITY INDEX (SRCI). METROPOLITAN AND NON-METROPOLITAN AREAS

III. RESULTS

III. RESULTS SRCI. METROPOLITAN - NON-METROPOLITAN, URBAN – RURAL AREAS

IV. CONCLUSIONS

SRCI - an adaptation of RCI to Romanian realities - spatially integrates the main urban poles to the surrounding area (hinterland) by taking into account the local, regional and national processes and outcomes that enforce or diminish resilience;

a peripheral country whose segregated territory shows a clear western orientation, but also the lack of coherent regional strategies which decreases the overall resilience capacity;

needed integration of resilience within spatial planning policies taking into account the context at local (urban-rural systems) and regional scale (relations between cities, fractures or complementarily between metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas);

metropolitan areas that became regional development poles benefit from investments, innovation, diversified economy, finances, high skilled human resources, infrastructure etc. and adapt easier to present globalized challenges;

the direct influence of a city is not a guarantee for a clean environment, a sound community, a healthy economic development or a high resilience capacity;

a high resilience capacity does not mean that an urban region/metropolitan area will successfully manage any crises it faces, but it is a premise that it might. Future developments the reiteration of SRCI: revising the 12 indicators, introducing others:

a better integration of indicators capturing environmental or geographic factors and governance is needed in order to better cover these dimensions of spatial resilience;

the assessment of long term regional trends in resilience capacity of urban functional areas.

IV. CONCLUSIONS

the direct influence of a city is not a guarantee for a clean environment, a sound community, a healthy economic development or a high resilience capacity;

a high resilience capacity does not mean that an urban region/metropolitan area will successfully manage any crises it faces, but it is a premise that it might. Future developments the reiteration of SRCI: revising the 12 indicators, introducing others:

a better integration of indicators capturing environmental or geographic factors and governance is needed in order to better cover these dimensions of spatial resilience;

the assessment of long term regional trends in resilience capacity of urban functional areas.

IV. CONCLUSIONS

Documents

romanian functional urban areas: between polarization and spatial