Handbook December 2017 - PROFECY - Processes, Features and Cycles of Inner Peripheries in Europe - ESPON

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Handbook December 2017 - PROFECY - Processes, Features and Cycles of Inner Peripheries in Europe - ESPON
PROFECY – Processes, Features and Cycles
    of Inner Peripheries in Europe

(Inner Peripheries: National territories facing challenges
      of access to basic services of general interest)

                    Applied Research

                    Handbook
                    December 2017
Handbook December 2017 - PROFECY - Processes, Features and Cycles of Inner Peripheries in Europe - ESPON
This applied research activity is conducted
within the framework of the ESPON 2020
Cooperation Programme, partly financed by
the European Regional Development Fund.

The ESPON EGTC is the Single Beneficiary of
the ESPON 2020 Cooperation Programme.
The Single Operation within the programme
is implemented by the ESPON EGTC and co-
financed by the European Regional Deve-
lopment Fund, the EU Member States and
the Partner States, Iceland, Liechtenstein,
Norway and Switzerland.

This delivery does not necessarily reflect the
opinion of the members of the ESPON 2020
Monitoring Committee.

Information on ESPON and its projects can
be found on www.espon.eu

The web site provides the possibility to
download and examine the most recent do-
cuments produced by finalised and ongoing
ESPON projects.

This delivery exists only in an electronic ver-
sion.
© ESPON, 2017

Printing, reproduction or quotation is autho-
rised provided the source is acknowledged
and a copy is forwarded to the ESPON EGTC
in Luxembourg.

Contact: info@espon.eu
Handbook December 2017 - PROFECY - Processes, Features and Cycles of Inner Peripheries in Europe - ESPON
Table of content

Foreword                                     5
   Objectives of the handbook                5
   How to use it?                            5
   Structure of the handbook                 5

WHERE ARE INNER PERIPHERIES LOCATED?
What’s an Inner Periphery?              6
Delineation of Inner Peripheries        7
Combination of the four delineation ap-
proaches                                8
Identification of Inner Peripheries     9

WHY IS THIS PHENOMENON OCURRING?
‘Status’ of Inner Peripheries identified in
Europe                                      10
Identification of areas at risk of becoming
Inner Periphery                             11
Processes and drivers of Peripheralization 12

HOW TO DEAL WITH IT?
Strategies for Inner Peripheries             14
   Exploring and utilising the territorial   14
   potentials for building IP strategies
   What are the steps to design a strate-    15
   gy for IPs?
   What policies can be used to support      16
   strategies for IPs?
   What is the role of the national level    17
   and regional governance?
   Recommendations to policy stakehol-       18
   ders

                                                  3
Handbook December 2017 - PROFECY - Processes, Features and Cycles of Inner Peripheries in Europe - ESPON
The ESPON PROFECY - Inner Peripheries Project Group consists of eight partners from seven
    European countries:

               Universitat de València                        CREA - Consiglio per la Ricer-
               (Lead Partner)                                 ca in Agricoltura e l’Analisi
               Joan Noguera Tur                               dell’Economia Agraria
               Mar Ortega-Reig                                Franco Mantino
               Hèctor del Alcàzar Indarte                     Barbara Forcina

               Nordregio                                      TCP International GmbH
               Andrew Copus                                   Carsten Schürmann
               Anna Berlina

               BABF - Bundesanstalt fuer                      University of Lodz
               Bergbauernfragen                               Marcin Wójcik
               Thomas Dax                                     Paulina Tobiasz-Lis
               Ingrid Machold                                 Karolina Dmochowska-Dudek

               ILS - Research Institute for Re-               MTA KRTK - Hungarian Aca-
               gional and Urban Development                   demy of Sciences, Centre for
               Sabine Weck                                    Economic and Regional Studies.
               Sabine Beißwenger                              Katalin Kovács
               Nils Hans                                      Gergely Tagay
                                                              Bálint Koós
                                                              Annamária Uzzoli

               Responsible party:                  More information on:
               Universitat de València             ESPON Inner Peripheries
               Instituto de Desarrollo Local       https://www.espon.eu/programme/pro-
               Joan Noguera                        jects/espon-2020/applied-research/inner-
               joan.noguera@uv.es                  peripheries-national-territories-facing

4
Handbook December 2017 - PROFECY - Processes, Features and Cycles of Inner Peripheries in Europe - ESPON
Foreword

Objectives of the handbook:                        Structure of the handbook:
The purpose of the handbook is to provide          The handbook is structured in three sec-
a short synthesis of the main insights from        tions:
the PROFECY applied research project.                 - Where are inner peripheries located?
                                                      Pages 6 to 9 present what an Inner Pe-
It is addressed to regional and national ac-          riphery is and what theoretical concepts
tors dealing with “Inner Peripheries” (IPs)           are behind it. Subsequently, four delinea-
and aims at enhancing the understanding of            tions to characterize it are defined, rela-
their features and underlying dynamics. The           ted with the theoretical concepts and
handbook also wants to provide meaningful             mapped for Europe. Lastly, an integrated
examples and ideas on how to cope with the            map is presented to summarize the main
challenges they present.                              drivers emerging from the four delinea-
                                                      tions.

How to use it?                                        - Why is this phenomenon ocurring?
                                                      Pages 10 to 13 include relevant facts
An understanding of the processes, features           about Inner Peripheries in Europe. It also
and cycles leading to the development and             presents the location of areas at risk of
persistence of Inner Peripheries allows us to         becoming Inner Peripheries and, lastly,
recognise what transforms a territory into            why these processes ocurr and how the
an IP, and consequently, which solutions can          drivers that are the “engines” of inner
be implemented in order to prevent further            peripherisation are related.
decline and to enhance territorial cohesion.
                                                      - How to deal with it?
The handbook takes into account different             Pages 14 to 23 explain the intervention
concepts and delineations of Inner Periphe-           logics and the steps needed to design a
ries. It also presents maps illustrating the lo-      strategy for IPs. After that, policies that
cation of IPs across Europe, a description of         can be used to support a strategy for IPs
the process of peripheralization and a selec-         are presented and the need to take ac-
tion of strategies to overcome such negative          tion at different scales in order to have
processes.                                            success in reverting the phenomenon.
                                                      At the end, recommendations to policy
It is hoped that these strategies can inform          stakeholders are provided at different
and inspire regional/national discussions to          levels (european, national, regional and
foster appropriate action when dealing with           local).
Inner Peripheries in their region or country.

                                                            Further ESPON PROFECY reading:
                                                            Final Report.

                                                                                                    5
Handbook December 2017 - PROFECY - Processes, Features and Cycles of Inner Peripheries in Europe - ESPON
What is an Inner Periphery?

    Inner Periphery (IP):                           Three theoretical concepts:
    Inner Peripherality represents a multiface-     Three theoretical concepts of IP are identi-
    ted and multidimensional phenomenon. Its        fied, although they are often mixed in real
    distinctive feature is the degree of “discon-   world.
    nection” with neighbouring territories and
    networks and not (or not only) their geo-       1. Areas with low levels of economic po-
    graphical position distant to centres. Un-      tential which are “enclaves” between core
    like purely geographical peripheries, those     areas with higher economic potential.
    associated with distance to population and
    economic activity centers, Inner Peripheries    2. Areas characterised by poor access to
    (IPs) also suffer the effects of socio-econo-   Services of General Interest (SGIs).
    mic processes that cause disconnection
    with neighbouring territories and networks.     3. Areas that exhibit low levels of socio-eco-
                                                    nomic performance which can be attribu-
    Inner Peripheries have in common the fact       ted to an absence of “organised proximity”
    that their general performance, levels of de-   (of whatever kind), which are in some way
    velopment, access to SGI, or quality of life    excluded from “the mainstream” of econo-
    of the population are relatively worse when     mic activity, or which can be said to be ex-
    compared with their neighbouring territo-       periencing a process of “peripheralization”.
    ries.

      Some common characteristics found
      in Inner Peripheries Case Studies:

      1. Large distance to regional centres
      2. Large distance to some Services of
         General Interest
      3. Out-migration of the young and
         highly-skilled people
      4. Decrease of population
      5. High old-age dependency ratio
      6. A lack of skilled workforce
      7. An economic sector often based
         on traditional activities

6
Handbook December 2017 - PROFECY - Processes, Features and Cycles of Inner Peripheries in Europe - ESPON
Delineation of Inner Peripheries

Four delineations to characterize Inner Peripheries at European level:
Delineation 1 (D1): Higher travel time to        Delineation 4 (D4): Depleting areas
regional centres                                 This delineation identifies areas suffering
Regional centres are considered a proxy          depletion which are related with the absen-
for administrative, economic and generally       ce of “organized proximity” (increase unem-
most important centres for SGI provision         ployment, population loss and GDP per ca-
and for all social and economic activities.      pita decrease). At some point in time, even
Areas experiencing a lack of access to such      when regions have good access to regional
centres can thus be interpreted as Inner Pe-     centres or to SGIs, they may enter into a ne-
ripheries. This delineation shows areas with     gative downward spiral, often triggered by
higher travel time to regional centres than      external shocks and trends.
their neighboring NUTS3 regions, accoun-
ting for the geographical distribution of re-
gional centres, and for the existing transport
networks connecting these centres with the
surrounding territories.

Delineation 2 (D2): Economic potential ins-
terstitial areas
This delineation identifies “interstitial”
areas of increased peripherality, which are
not on the physical edge of Europe, and are
                                                 These four delineations are overlapped to
surrounded by areas of greater centrality.
                                                 further understand the interaction of diffe-
This delineation selects areas of lower po-
                                                 rent Inner Peripheries in the map of next
tential accessibility to population and GDP
                                                 page.
than neighboring areas, relative to the re-
gion or country average.
                                                 How are the four delineations linked to the
Delineation 3 (D3): Areas of poor access to
                                                 three theoretical concepts?
SGIs
                                                 The relationship is illustrated in the fo-
An adequate provision and access to the
                                                 llowing table:
main SGIs constitute an indicator of the
degree of connectedness of territories. A                           D1        D2        D3         D4
better connectedness to SGI ensures higher        Concept 1
quality of life and increases the attractive-
                                                  Concept 2
ness of the area which may contribute to re-
duce population loss. This delineation iden-      Concept 3
tifies areas that suffer from relative poorer
                                                     indicates the main operacionalization of the concept.
access conditions to SGIs than the average
                                                     indicates the delineation can be used as a proxy.
in the surrounding areas and/or in the re-
gion.

                                                                                                             7
Handbook December 2017 - PROFECY - Processes, Features and Cycles of Inner Peripheries in Europe - ESPON
Combination of the four delineation approaches

    Interactions between the four delineations at European level

    The map presents the areas that have been        more. Furthermore, 35.3% of Inner Periphe-
    identified as Inner Peripheries at grid level,   ries are identified in only one delineation,
    approximately 45% of the entire ESPON te-        meanwhile 64.7% of them appear in two
    rritory. The areas are classified according      delineations or more.
    to the number of times an area is identified
    as an inner periphery by one delineation or

8
Handbook December 2017 - PROFECY - Processes, Features and Cycles of Inner Peripheries in Europe - ESPON
Identification of Inner Peripheries

What are the main drivers provoking peripheralisation?

This map shows the combination of deli-        and/or to regional centres. At last, 9% of the
neation results grouping them in three ca-     areas show (3) a combination (aggravation)
tegories. Areas where the main driver is (1)   of both factors.
a poor economic or demographic situation,
represent 46% of all IPs. In addition, 45%              Further ESPON PROFECY reading:
of the areas have (2) poor acess to services            Annex 6 and Annex 7.

                                                                                                9
Handbook December 2017 - PROFECY - Processes, Features and Cycles of Inner Peripheries in Europe - ESPON
“Status” of Inner Peripheries identified in Europe

             Relevant facts about Inner Peripheries in Europe
             The “status” of Inner Peripheries can be                    The socio-economic trends of inner peri-
             only really understood and interpreted by                   pheral areas regularly reveal clear and well-
             comparing its features to indicators of other               known regional patterns:
             types of regions in Europe.                                      - the shrinkage of population in East
                                                                              Central Europe and in certain coun-
             Results indicate significant geographical                        tries from the Mediterranean area;
             overlap between different groups of Inner                        - the accelerated ageing in Eastern
             Peripheries and other regional typologies                        Germany;
             (Table). In general, regarding EU regional                       - the path switches caused by the
             typologies, inner peripheral regions tend                        shock of the economic crisis in the
             to frequently overlap with intermediate,                         Mediterranean countries;
             rural, mountain and lagging areas. Besides,                      - the advancements of East Central
             other region types might show more nota-                         European Inner Peripheries to Euro-
             ble overlap with one or another IP delinea-                      pean level averages;
             tion types, such as the case of depleting In-                    - the position loss of Italian regions
             ner Peripheries and urban or metropolitan                        compared to their former positions
             areas, which imply that processes of mar-                        regarding economic performance.
             ginalisation could significantly affect these
             territories too.

Regional                  Urban Intermediate Rural   Mountain            Island  Metropolitan L a g g i n g L a g g i n g
Typologies                regions regions    regions regions             regions regions      (
Identification of areas at risk of becoming Inner Peripheries

Areas at risk: areas that would became IPs if one/two SGIs are closed down

Areas at risk of becoming Inner Peripheries      that have poor access to three or four SGIs.
in the future represent territories that today   If the area would have poor access to five
are not identified as Inner Peripheries, but     or more SGIs it will be identified as an inner
which already lack access to some services.      periphery regarding access to services.
However, there is a great risk that they will
become Inner Peripheries in the near futu-
re, if service provision deteriorates further.
The map identifies as areas at risk the areas

                                                                                                  11
Processes and drivers of Peripheralization

     Descriptive Models
     The Descriptive Models are theoretical abs-       Their value lies in helping to understand the
     tractions. They represent, through simple         logic of the various interacting processes
     diagrams derived from the three theoretical       which account for the negative socio-econo-
     concepts, the processes and drivers that are      mic characteristics of IPs. All of these are dri-
     the “engines” of inner peripherisation. They      ven by inadequate connectedness of some
     are intended as the basis for intervention lo-    form. This is what distinguishes an IP from
     gics for strategies and policies (see page 14).   other kinds of marginal region.

     Descriptive Model for “Enclaves of low economic potential” (IP Concept 1)

     Descriptive Model for “Areas with poor access to or provision of SGIs” (IP Concept 2)

12
Processes and drivers of Peripheralization

Descriptive Model for “Areas experiencing aspatial Peripheralization Processes” (IP Concept 3)

Concept 1: Its initial “trigger” is poor access   Concept 3: Areas with a lack of “organized
or a long travel time to centres of econo-        proximity” show features of geographic
mic activity. There are multiple “feedback”       distance, but also include an acknowledge-
loops which make difficult to reverse the         ment of weak “interrelations” and interac-
trend once the cycle has been triggered.          tion of regional actors. The main “trigger” is
The drivers and outcomes are defined in           a weakness of interaction/a lack of connec-
terms of economic activity and economic           tedness of IP stakeholders and institutions
disadvantages, whilst human and social ca-        related to wider networks. This is associa-
pital effects have a background role.             ted with a lack of influence on the centres
                                                  of power and in governance arrangements.
Concept 2: It is primarily driven by geogra-
phic distance and aspects of available infras-
tructure. Access to SGI has a direct impact
upon the human and social capital cycle,
and thence an indirect effect upon the pro-
ductivity of economic activity, which feeds
back into regional tax-raising capacity.

                                                                                                   13
Strategies for Inner Peripheries

     Exploring and utilising the territorial potentials for building IP strategies
     A strategy to address the needs of an IP           For example, in the case of the first kind of
     should, first of all, be based upon a careful      peripheralization process the root cause is
     investigation of the process which has cau-        likely to be inadequate transport infrastruc-
     sed and sustained the cycle of decline.            ture – and so it makes sense to incorporate
                                                        transport network improvements into the
     It seems likely that this will be driven by one    strategy. Where the primary process is dri-
     or more of three “primary peripheraliza-           ven by poor access to services the strategy
     tion” processes which are bundled together         should respond (for example) by exploring
     with a range of “secondary marginalization”        the benefits of new technology, or promo-
     effects. The three “Descriptive Models” can        ting social innovation solutions. The third
     form the basis for appropriate intervention        kind of peripheralization process is the most
     logics (Figure).                                   challenging in terms of strategy design, re-
                                                        quiring wide ranging efforts to improve the
     Each of them may be developed at a variety         capacity for interaction, across a variety of
     of spatial scales, although the first will usua-   actors, from individual entrepreneurs to es-
     lly be delivered through a national level of       tablished businesses, institutions and local
     governance, the second by regional autho-          governance.
     rities, and the third by local community ini-
     tiatives.

14
Strategies for Inner Peripheries

What are the steps to design a strategy for IPs?
The elaboration of place-specific strategies      In general, no single factor is responsible
is a process which each region has to under-      for IP processes (alone) and challenges ex-
take separately. Nevertheless, learning les-      tend to a number of interrelated aspects of
sons from how this process should be orga-        socio-economic and cultural development.
nized and which steps it should include can       This includes the following aspects in regio-
be used from previous relevant action.            nal activities: internal differentiation; focus
                                                  on main reason for IPs, but also reflect the
From considerations on regional develop-          complex dynamics; make use of local op-
ment planning it appears that well-being          portunities and interaction as prime levers;
and sustainable development goals have            develop “intangible factors” (community
been placed high on the priority list. Policy     relations, social norms and local capacity);
programmes should take an “integration”           adapt the institutional setting; and renew
perspective embracing a series of inter-rela-     perspectives on regional potential.
ted policies and schemes to tackle (jointly)
                                                  Steps for regional policy integration
IP challenges. The sequence of activities
presented in feedback loops suggests that
there is a continuous need for reflecting
and returning in regional strategy work to
the previous stages/elements of policy ela-
boration (steps 1-5).

It is crucial that this integrative perspective
at the local/regional level not just focuses
on the main drivers of peripheralization but
extends to all relevant policy areas in order
to address the inter-related effects of regio-
nal development. Moreover, action at local/
regional level has to be seconded by larger
administrative levels to become effective
(step 6).

  One of the major obstacles in de-
  signing strategies for integrated ap-
  proaches is to find drivers that can
  make a change at an early stage, that
  turn around “spiraling-down” proces-
  ses of Inner Peripheries.

To overcome fragmentation in action, “inte-
grated” strategies need to address the va-
rious components that lead to IP processes.

                                                                                                    15
Strategies for Inner Peripheries

     What policies can be used to support strategies for IPs?
     There is a range of different policies ad-           rent Funds involved. Most of initiatives are
     dressed to territorial needs. These policies         funded by only one financial instrument.
     have been experimented in the last decade,           Moreover, public support tends to focus on
     encompassing two programming periods                 already economic developed areas rather
     2007-2013 and 2014-2020. The whole ran-              than trying to rebalance social and econo-
     ge of EU policies are implemented at regio-          mic disparities between sub-regional terri-
     nal and local level, from the CAP (Common            tories.
     Agricultural Policies) to Cohesion program-
     mes, from national to regional and local             Local strategies can take policy support in
     schemes. There is a strong variety of policy         the context of Inner Peripheries by four
     instruments used and their mix varies from           kinds of policy instruments: a) Integrated
     an area to another.                                  territorial investments (ITI); b) Communi-
                                                          ty-Led Local Development (CLLD); c) other
     At the figure it is shown a first type of policies   forms of integrated approaches funded by
     that is delivered though the main-stream             EU pogrammes (e.g. some territorial pacts
     programmes: Operational Programmes                   or integrated value chain scheme); d) some
     funded by ERDF and ESF, on one side, and             national/regional approaches (see figure).
     Rural Development Programmes funded                  These different forms of place-based ap-
     by EAFRD, on the other. In addition to EU            proach are usually perceived (by people in-
     policy schemes, in some countries specific           terviewed at local level) as more fitted than
     schemes can be implemented by national/              the territorially-blind mainstream program-
     regional funds.                                      mes to the local development and social
                                                          needs.

                                                          Local development strategies allow several
                                                          advantages for IPs: earmarking of financial
                                                          resources in a relatively small territorial sca-
                                                          le and in a programming period, interlinked
                                                          projects instead of independent and isola-
                                                          ted projects, design and implementation at
                                                          the relevant scale and possible adaptation
                                                          to changes of the local situation, opportu-
                                                          nity to design a strategy encompassing eco-
                                                          nomic development and access to services,
                                                          etc.

     These programmes can frequently be te-
     rritorially-blind, not targeted to IP areas,
     lack a coherent vision of specific territorial
     needs and a coordinated action of the diffe-

16
Strategies for Inner Peripheries

What is the role of the national level and regional governance?
Effective policy interventions for overcoming      Regional level
or reversing peripheralization processes are       An agency, platform or coordination unit
based upon a multi-level policy approach.          at a higer administrative level may have an
Path changes in the development trajectory         important role as an intermediary actor. It
of regions defined as Inner Peripheries are        could ensure creating dynamics from coor-
rare - which is why concerted political action     dinated efforts from below, and at the same
is required in order to break a continuing         time, bundling and channeling relevant re-
downward cycle.                                    sources from upper levels into the area. This
                                                   supra-local level is important as, in some
National level                                     cases, Inner Peripheries are rather small in
Increased political attention needs to be          scale or they are of a very dispersed nature,
paid to the challenges, and at the same time,      so that it is difficult for local stakeholders to
the specific potentials and assets of Inner        raise sufficient resources for an effective in-
Peripheries. National governments have a           tervention strategy.
significant role in enabling or supporting lo-
cal stakeholders in Inner Peripheries in their     Cross-local cooperation and strategic plans
policies. The prosperity of Inner Peripheries      seem to be promising specifically regarding
depends on utilizing their territorial poten-      the following challenges:
tial in a way that benefits the particular loca-
tion. The pathway to change rests upon an             ­* Generating visibility for the spe-
endogenous development process and, at                   cific needs in Inner Peripheries
the same time, the capacity to connect with              - be it physical connectivity, SGI
exogenous resources and agencies. National               access or supporting organised
or regional state governments can support                proximity
Inner Peripheries in this process.                     * Locality branding and increase of
                                                         positive visibility of the affected
This does not necessarily imply the call for             regions
new funding programmes. It is, however,
first important to screen, in how far existing
                                                       * Retaining or attracting skilled
                                                         workforce
national funding and support programmes
(for rural development, or for supporting              * Fostering innovation through
                                                         R&D and SME development
structural change) can be possibly adapted
to better accommodate the needs of Inner               * Strengthening of regional coope-
                                                         ration and mutual support
Peripheries. Second, more political atten-
tion needs to be given to monitor the exis-            * Increasing the local/regional
tence and development of Inner Peripheries               stakeholders’ influence on hig-
in the national context.                                 her-policy decision-making levels
                                                       * Monitoring and evaluation

                                                                                                       17
Strategies for Inner Peripheries

     Recommendations to policy stakeholders
     In dealing with the phenomenon of Inner                socially innovative forms. It is,
     Peripherality, the following recommenda-               however, importat to consider
     tions might be helpful for policy stakehol-            this for specifically sparsely po-
     ders at particular levels.                             pulated rural regions. This pro-
                                                            cess may be initiated or exa-
                                                            cerbated by restructuring of
     1. At local level                                      administrative areas, in search
        a.   Clarity on causes and effects. It is           of scale economies. Obviously,
             important to base strategy building            there is no easy solution, but in-
             upon a careful investigation of the            tegrated policy action is needed
             process which caused and sustain-
             ed the cycle of decline. Attention             ·  Lack of relational proximity:
             needs to be paid to the different              Identifying “interrelations” as
             primary drivers, which are accor-              primary driver would suggest
             ding to the three IP models:                   a range of interventions desig-
                                                            ned to strengthen and broaden
                ·   Deficiency of connectivity,             the interaction space of the full
                leading to low “economic po-                range of actors within the local
                tential”: In this case, a rational          economy and society. Exam-
                response would be to consider               ples would be, network broke-
                how the locality might be better            rage to support the expansion
                connected to European trans-                of the business networks of lo-
                port networks, through con-                 cal SMEs, or establishing links
                ventional infrastructure impro-             to higher-policy levels in order
                vements, logistics systems, or              to draw attention towards the
                travel cost reductions. Changes             specific challenges of Inner Peri-
                in infrastructure and travel cost           pheries and need of support for
                reductions obviously cannot be              dealing with these in the speci-
                dealt with at the local level only          fic region
                and call for a concerted effort
                across different policy scales.
                Interventions will profit from an
                                                     b. Articulating a pathway to change.
                integrated policy approach in
                                                        It is relevant to have a clear un-
                order to limit “pump effects”
                                                        derstanding of the specific place-
                                                        based assets and limitations and
                · Lagging intra-regional service        the way forward in terms of the
                delivery: In this case, a policy
                                                        appropriate intervention logic. The
                response would aim to improve
                                                        six steps can be followed to deve-
                the access to and the efficiency
                                                        lop a pathway to change:
                of services, perhaps incorpora-
                ting novel IT-based solutions, or

18
Strategies for Inner Peripheries

          1. Identifying long-term goals              hance cooperation. They were
                                                      reported to be particularly suc-
          2. Backwards mapping and con-               cessful when bundling a local
          necting the preconditions ne-               economy-oriented project and
          cessary to achieve that goal and            linking this to a wider supra-
          explaining why they are neces-              regional market, be it through a
          sary and sufficient                         specialised product or through
                                                      the creation of a positive regio-
          3. Identifying basic assumptions            nal image
          about the context
                                                      2. Establishing new horizontal
          4. Identifying the interventions            cooperation: Local stakeholders
          that the initiative will perform            are asked to think across esta-
          to create the desired change                blished boundaries and paths.
                                                      Some of them are successful in
          5. Developing indicators to mea-            establishing new SGI catchment
          sure the outcomes to assess the             areas to provide improved and
          performance of the initiative               more efficient service deliveries
                                                      and accessibility
          6. Writing a narrative to explain
          the logic of the initiative                 3. Establishing new or focu-
                                                      sing on vertical cooperation:
                                                      Although long-term established
  c.   Development of strategic institu-              local-to-local cooperation can
       tional capacity. It is an influential          be a good basis, effective coo-
       and decisive factor for breaking               peration can also be built up on
       downward cycles, changing routi-               the basis of current common
       nes and reversing trends. It is cru-           challenges and involve different
       cial to adopt an integrative pers-             governance levels, e.g. for tac-
       pective to tackle IP challenges.               kling questions of lagging mobi-
       Local connectedness and interac-               lity and digital infrastructures
       tion can successfully be pursued in
       different organisational forms and
       for different monofunctional or         d. Improvement of the service provi-
       multifunctional purposes:                  sion. It is important to involve new
                                                  ways and constellations incorpora-
          1. Making use of established            ting socially innovative models of
          national and EU programs. For           service delivery and novel IT-based
          example, LEADER/CLLD pro-               solutions. Improvements of the
          grams can be applied by local           service provision can be organised
          stakeholders as a vehicle to en-        on the local level through:

                                                                                          19
Strategies for Inner Peripheries

               1. Social innovation processes        region, or joint initiatives for quali-
               and spatial restructuring, so         fying local labour force
               that services can be accessed in
               places formerly inaccessible or       Territorial capital can take diver-
               services are brought to places        se forms. Local stakeholders shall
               where they were unavailable           consider the following fields for
               before or threatened to become        detecting specific strengths of
               unavailable                           their IP area:

               2. Activating the civil society and      1. Skills, specialized products or
               letting it take over activities and      industries inherent in the local
               tasks formerly provided by pu-           labour market and economic
               blic or economic stakeholders            institutions and related to the
               and through this compensating            labour market
               for otherwise economically un-
               sustainable markets                      2. Social features such as power-
                                                        ful, constructive cooperation or
               3. Responsibly allowing market-          abilities for network and resour-
               driven solutions to take over            ce brokerage to support the at-
               and by transferring responsibili-        traction of external labour force
               ty to private households                 to the region, or joint initiatives
                                                        for qualifying local labour force.
               4. This can be supported or              In response to deficits in service
               complemented by making use               provision, it might involve new
               of adapted solutions digitalisa-         ways and constellations incor-
               tion can provide, going beyond           porating novel IT-based solu-
               the already established fields of        tions.
               digital shopping and administra-
               tion infrastructures                     3. Cultural legacies that might
                                                        allow for strengthening feelings
                                                        of belonging and create visibili-
       e.   Connectedness of territorial ca-            ty beyond the IP
            pital. Local policy makers could
            adopt an explicit focus on connec-          4. Specific natural assets or in-
            tedness and interaction capacity            frastructures that might provide
            when reflecting the localities’ te-         the essential basis for develop-
            rritorial capital. Examples related         ment and competitiveness if
            to the labour market are: network           further acknowledged and de-
            brokerage to support the attrac-            veloped
            tion of external labour force to the

20
Strategies for Inner Peripheries

2. At regional level                           1. Generating visibility for the
  f.   The role of intermediary regional       challenges in IP localities and
       agencies. It is convenient to streng-   creating attention for their spe-
       then a regional agency or platform      cific needs - be it physical con-
       for the following purposes:             nectivity, SGI access or suppor-
                                               ting organised proximity
          1. Coordinating efforts from be-
          low and providing a platform to      2. Locality branding and increa-
          develop a common understan-          se of positive visibility of the
          ding on important topics, goals      affected regions
          and understandings of the peri-
          pheralisation situation and be-      3. Developing strategies for ur-
          yond                                 gent problems, e.g. retaining or
                                               attracting skilled workforce by
          2. Providing a conceptual fra-       connecting companies, voicing
          mework that links development        interest in training facilities or
          plans of the local, the regional     providing a clear and positive
          and the supra-regional level         image of the current and future
                                               local working and living condi-
          3. Negotiating peripheralisa-        tions
          tion issues, such as resources
          and infrastructure provision, or     4. Fostering innovation through
          representation and network in-       R&D and SME development
          tegration with upper decision-       through elaborating clear goals
          making levels and giving the IPs     and ambitions, and the defini-
          a voice in decision making           tion of supportive structures

          4. Providing a permanent and         5. Strengthening of regional
          balanced platform for monito-        cooperation and mutual sup-
          ring and evaluation                  port

  g.   A comprehensive institutionalized
       vision on synergies and comple-
       mentarities. Regional cooperation
       and strategic plans are core requi-
       rements and seem beneficial and
       promising elements to tackle the
       following challenges:

                                                                                    21
Strategies for Inner Peripheries

     3. At national level                           National/regional state govern-
       h. Paying political attention to Inner       ments or agents can support Inner
          Peripheries. There is a common            Peripheries in this process. This
          perception among political stake-         is not necessarily a call for new
          holders of “being forgotten” in the       funding programmes. However, it
          national political agenda in a two-       does imply political attention to
          fold sense                                the presence of Inner Peripheries
                                                    in the national context, how these
            On one side, it is difficult to get     might be better targeted in existing
            sufficient attention and support        programmes and a monitoring of
            from higher political levels for dea-   their development
            ling with the specific challenges of
            their region                            The national level shall reconsi-
                                                    der existing programs regarding
            On the other side, there is a feeling   their adaptability to IPs special
            of being little connected to the        needs, such as out-migration, de-
            decision-making policy arenas at        mographic change, lack of skilled
            higher policy levels, and thus not      workforce, insufficient SGI provi-
            being able to influence the agenda      sion or unsuitable connectivity
            setting processes for the future
                                                    In a further step it can consider po-
            Therefore, the national discussions     sitive discrimination of IP areas to
            on spatial justice and comparabi-       break through a downwards spira-
            lity of standards regarding infras-     ling development, e.g. for issues of
            tructure, SGI and financial support     digitalisation
            within the national framework
            shall be strengthened

            The national level shall open or
            create communication channels
            to decision making levels for IP re-
            gions

       i.   Monitoring and supporting access
            to funding. The pathway to change
            rests upon an endogeneous deve-
            lopment process and, at the same
            time, the capacity to connect with
            exogenous resources and agencies

22
Strategies for Inner Peripheries

4. At European level                          of interventions and to their im-
  j.   Integration of programmes and          pact with regards to overcoming or
       policies. It is important to realise   reversing peripheralization proces-
       a greater territorialisation of both   ses
       Cohesion and Rural development
       policies in order to strengthen
       interventions which can evolve
       around the specific challenges of
       inner peripheral areas

  k.   Access and transparency. It is re-
       commended to promote local
       stakeholders accessing supra-local
       funds on the basis of locally defi-
       ned priorities and a place-based
       approach. Consider IP specific in-
       dicators such as out-migration,
       demographic change or a lack of
       skilled workforce as new criteria
       for allocation of funding. Increase
       acceptance for stabilising rather
       than growth-oriented goals in fun-
       ding schemes

  l.   Decentralisation of decision ma-
       king. Consider the sub-delegation
       of competencies and resources to
       the lowest possible regional/local
       level in order to allow cooperative
       governance and strategy building
       which is sensitive to local specifi-
       cities

  m. Implementation. It is necessary to
     ensure that control of compliance
     to rules and legality does not over-
     shadow the attention to the quality

                                                                                    23
www.espon.eu

Interested in ESPON?

The ESPON 2020 Programme is part-financed by        and larger territories. In doing so, it shall facilitate
the European Regional Development Fund, the         the mobilisation of territorial capital and develo-
EU Member States and the Partner States Iceland,    pment opportunities, contributing to improving
Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. It shall     European competitiveness, to the widening and
support policy development in relation to the aim   deepening of European territorial cooperation
of territorial cohesion and a harmonious develop-   and to a sustainable and balanced development.
ment of the European territory.                     The Managing Authority responsible for the ES-
ESPON shall support Cohesion Policy development     PON 2020 Programme is the Ministry of Sustaina-
with European-wide comparable information,          ble Development and Infrastructures of Luxem-
evidence, analyses and scenarios on framework       bourg.
conditions for the development of regions, cities
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