ADDRESSING THE METROPOLITAN CHALLENGE IN BARCELONA METROPOLITAN AREA Appendix. Case studies of five metropolitan areas: Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Greater Manchester, Stuttgart and Zürich Case Studies of Five Metropolitan Areas: Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Greater Manchester, Stuttgart and Zürich is part of the study Addressing Metropolitan Challenges for the Barcelona Metropolitan Area was drafted by the Metropolitan Research Institute of Budapest for the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB). The views expressed herein are those of the authors alone, and the AMB cannot be held responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained in this document. © Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona June 2018 Table of contents 1. Amsterdam .......................................................29 2. Copenhagen. .36 3. Greater Manchester ...............................................42 4. Stuttgart .........................................................52 5. Zürich ............................................................60 28 Addressing the Metropolitan Challenge in AMB. Case Studies AMSTERDAM (Netherlands) 1. National level framework 1.1. Formal government system The Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy with that is, only binding to the administrative unit which a representative parliamentary democracy and a has developed them (OECD 2017a:21). Aside from decentralised unitary state, characterised by a strong establishing the general legal framework and setting a political tradition of broad consensus seeking in policy strategic course, the state defined 13 areas of national making. This tradition is also reflected in the institutional interest for which the central government takes direct framework of local territorial administrative levels, including responsibility, including such policy matters as the the various levels of metropolitan governance. Four formal Mainport Rotterdam Development projects, the Wadden territorial administrative tiers operate in the country: sea, the coast (including flood defences), world heritage sites, reserved lands, waterway safety (Ministry of • The central state. Infrastructure and the Environment 2013:20). • Four landen, consisting of the mainland Netherlands and three overseas territories. The twelve provinces have relatively limited • Twelve provinces (in the mainland Netherlands only). competencies, mostly with regard to matters of regional • Around 400 municipalities (again, in the mainland importance or to subnational issues which cannot be Netherlands only, with three additional “public bodies” in effectively managed on the municipal level. Most of their the Kingdom’s Caribbean territories). budgets are provided by central state funding, although they do have a limited capacity to levy taxes and collect Both the country’s current structure of territorial administrative fees (e.g. for environmental permits). administration1 and its spatial planning system are the They have a complex tripartite government structure of outcome of a comprehensive process of government elected executives and a Commissioner appointed by the reform that started in 2008 in response to the global Crown. The Association of Provinces of the Netherlands financial crisis and its massive impact on the economy (Interprovinciaal Overleg; IPO) monitors and supports the (Delsen 2012:4). The reform was aimed at decreasing interests of provinces, also functioning as a knowledge the number of administrative units and at shifting exchange platform and an initiator of proposed reforms. competencies to lower administrative levels, striving for greater efficiency in policy areas that could be The core tasks of the provinces are: better addressed at a more local level. As a result, the decentralized unitary nature of the country was • Province-level coordination of spatial development reinforced, with the central government in large part and water management, including coordinating land retaining exclusive responsibility only for tasks that management and zoning regulations, as well as can only be effectively implemented on a state-wide environmental, energy and climate issues. level (like national legislation and courts, police and • Transport infrastructure, especially regional public military force, foreign affairs etc.). The state does develop transport and accessibility. comprehensive strategies in all policy fields, including • Regional economic and rural development. spatial planning. However, zoning and land-use strategies developed at any administrative tier are self-binding; 1 The current overview only focuses on the European mainland. 29 Amsterdam • Cultural infrastructure. forth. Municipalities get most of their financing from the • Improving the quality of public services. state, ensured from the municipal fund, for which part of the state tax income is allocated. Municipalities also Notably, all of these tasks involve close cooperation levy their own taxes for local functions (like home and with, and coordination between, the municipalities in building ownership, tourism etc.), although the amount their respective territories, as towns and cities also have raised is very limited in comparison to state funding. In extensive power over these matters. In the end, the recent years, the Dutch government has been striving provinces are essentially soft governance platforms with to devolve an increasing share of tasks to the municipal a guidance and coordination role. level, an effort that had begun even prior to the 2008 administrative reform. The Social Support Act of 2007 Municipal tasks are wide ranging, and they include delegated an increased number of social support and administrative functions, social support measures, employment and activation tasks to the municipal level. cultural institutions, public schools and youth care, This legislation also authorised municipalities to offer a permits for businesses, etc. However, many of the greater number of local benefits and support measures areas that clearly fall under local authority are deeply (Delsen 2012:14, 17-18). Mergers of municipalities (in intertwined with land use and planning: land-use plans part a result of receiving more and more tasks from the for residential, industrial and green areas are defined by national government without full funding) have also municipalities; the supervision of housing construction been numerous, so sources regarding the exact number in cooperation with housing associations; local transport of municipalities vary, although the website of the infrastructure and accessibility of various planning Government of the Netherlands currently counts 390.2 zones, including pavements and cycle paths, and so Groningen Friesland Drenthe Noord Holland Flevoland Overijssel Utrecht Gelderland Zuid Holland Noord Brabant Zeeland Limburg Figure 3: Provinces of the Netherlands. 2 https://www.government.nl/topics/municipalities/ municipalities-tasks as of 8 December 2017 30 Addressing the Metropolitan Challenge in AMB. Case Studies 2. Metropolitan collaborations 2.1. From a City Region to a Transport Region The population of Amsterdam (the city proper) is to transfer to public transport). Besides strengthening currently around 850,000. In 2010, the city population efficiency, sustainability is also a key ATR goal. was 790,000, and it is expected to reach 925,000 by 2040. The City Region, consisting of Amsterdam and ATR drafts policies and connects local stakeholders to fifteen surrounding municipalities in the province of North improve the utilisation of the existing infrastructure and Holland, is home to 1,350,000 people. transport networks, including railways. The Transport Region staff supports transport and mobility related From January 2006 to December 2016, the Amsterdam municipal decision making, drafts regional policy City Region (Stadsregio Amsterdam) operated as a proposals, initiates and implements projects, and metropolitan grouping of 15 municipalities, exercising facilitates cooperation between stakeholders. Decision competences in the fields of traffic and transport, making and consultation take place at the Regional economy and tourism, regional housing and youth Council, which includes 56 seats occupied by the welfare. Over this period, the previously informal practices representatives of the 15 municipalities (a city’s number of cooperation in the Metropolitan Region body became of delegates is determined by population). more consolidated, and in January 2015 the Amsterdam City Region entity began a 2-year transition period that The Transport Region not only facilitates regional would end in its transformation into its current form, the transport, but also communicates and cooperates Amsterdam Transport Region (Vervoerregio Amsterdam). with federal authorities to improve interregional Economic cooperation was transferred entirely to the and international connections. Regularly consulted Metropolitan Region in January 2017; housing policy stakeholders also include education and research cooperation, on the other hand, was devolved to a lower institutions, civil society organisations, and business and administrative tier of the sub-region. Starting January trade representatives within the region. 1, 2015 youth welfare tasks were devolved to local municipalities. Although this action might be viewed as a downgrading of the city region, in practice the entity held onto the biggest share of its competencies by maintaining control of the integrated transport system (which has an annual budget of €450 million, in excess of the budget