UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) The power to collaborate : How judicious use of power accelerates the strategic capacity of regions in the Netherlands Haran, N. Publication date 2010 Document Version Final published version Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Haran, N. (2010). The power to collaborate : How judicious use of power accelerates the strategic capacity of regions in the Netherlands. Eburon. General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:29 Sep 2021 def_cover_4.indd 1 13-01-2010 11:57:18 THE POWER TO COLLABORATE How judicious use of power accelerates the strategic capacity of regions in the Netherlands Nadav Haran Eburon Delft 2010 THE POWER TO COLLABORATE How judicious use of power accelerates the strategic capacity of regions in the Netherlands ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam op gezag van Rector Magnificus prof. dr. D.C. van den Boom ten overstaan van een door het college voor promoties ingestelde commissie, in het openbaar te verdedigen in de Agnietenkapel op woensdag 10 maart 2010, te 10:00 uur door Nadav Haran geboren te Jeruzalem, Israël Promotiecommissie: Promotor: Prof. dr. W.G.M. Salet Co-promotor: Dr. M.P. Wolsink Overige leden: Prof. dr. ir. L. Bertolini Prof. dr. H. van der Cammen Prof. dr. G.P.M.R. Dewulf Prof. dr. E. Klijn Prof. dr. S. Musterd Prof. dr. W.A.M. Zonneveld Faculteit der Maatschappij- en Gedragswetenschappen This research has benefited from the financial support provided by Habiforum and the Amsterdam Institute for Metropolitan and International Development Studies (AMIDSt), University of Amsterdam. ISBN 978-90-5972-355-9 Uitgeverij Eburon Postbus 2867 2601 CW Delft tel.: 015-2131484 / fax: 015-2146888 [email protected] / www.eburon.nl Cover design: Ben Langeveld © 2010 Nadav Haran. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing from the proprietor. “Power is in some ways the deepest of mysteries, hence taboo, for what ever is behind it is at once holy and unclean” (P. Rahv, The myth and the powerhouse) CONTENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ix 1. INTRODUCTION: THE RISE OF THE COMPETING REGION AND THE IMPERATIVE TO COLLABORATE 11 1.1 The resurgence of the competitive region 11 1.2 The governance of the competitive region 13 1.3 The regional imperative in the Netherlands 16 1.4 Structure of the research and the book 25 2. STRATEGIC CAPACITY OF REGIONS, GOVERNANCE DILEMMAS AND THE ROLE OF POWER 29 2.1 The strategic capacity of the competing regions 29 2.2 The governance dilemma 40 2.3 The role of power in enhancing regional strategic capacity 48 2.4 Research design and method 60 3. TOUS POUR UN, UN POUR TOUS: THE STRATEGIC CAPACITY OF BRABANTSTAD 65 3.1 The polycentric urban network of BrabantStad 66 3.2 The strategic capacity of BrabantStad 72 3.3 Power and the strategic capacity of BrabantStad 85 3.4 Conclusions 93 4. BRIDGES OVER RIVERS: THE STRATEGIC CAPACITY OF CITY REGION ARNHEM-NIJMEGEN 95 4.1 The duo-centric city region of Arnhem-Nijmegen 96 4.2 The strategic capacity of the city region Arnhem-Nijmegen 102 4.3 Power and the strategic capacity of the city region Arnhem-Nijmegen 113 4.4 Conclusions 122 vii 5. CAN THE NORTH WING FLY? THE STRATEGIC CAPACITY OF AMSTERDAM METROPOLITAN AREA 125 5.1 The monocentric Amsterdam Metropolitan Area 126 5.2 The strategic capacity of Amsterdam Metropolitan Area 135 5.3 Power and the strategic capacity of Amsterdam Metropolitan Area 146 5.4 Conclusions 153 6. THE POWER TO COLLABORATE: COMPARISON AND CONCLUSIONS 157 6.1 The observed strategic capacity of three RCAs 158 6.2 Power and regional strategic capacity 163 6.3 Conclusions 172 EPILOGUE 181 APPENDICES 183 RESEARCH SUMMARY 195 RESEARCH SUMMARY (DUTCH) 205 REFERENCES 215 viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Rigid scientific activity and good fortune are not necessarily contradictory. I was a lucky researcher during the years I worked on this study. My fortune came not only from the favorable conditions and the supporting environment I enjoyed during the research but also from the fact I was led by the wheels of fortune to some unpredicted findings. Findings that brought me unexpected happiness. I’ll get to that later. All throughout this research, I enjoyed excellent guidance from my supervisors, Willem Salet and Maarten Wolsink, to whom I am deeply grateful. Willem and Maarten formed a great duo and skillfully advised and supported me with the research. They challenged, demanded incisiveness and always provided a firm and impartial commentary in a clear, sincere manner. Thanks should also go to Enrico Gualini who guided me at the first stage of the research. Special appreciations are reserved to Luca Bertolini, Pieter Tordoir, Pieter Terhorst, Jochem de Vries, Stan Majoor and the rest of the “Synergin’ research team who did not spare time and efforts to assist me in sharpening and improving my ideas. Especially I would like to thank Leonie Janssen-Jansen, the coordinator of the team, for her helpful remarks and her encouragement along the years. The professional and international working environment of the Amsterdam Institute for Metropolitan and Development Studies (AMIDSt) and the great administrative support led by Geert van der Meer, Barbara Lawa, Marianne van Heelsbergen, Guida Morais e Castro Ermida and Puikang Chan were both very much appreciated from the first day I got into office. Telling the story of this research would have been impossible without the professional assistance of Enda Murphy who carefully examined early versions of the text and brought linguistic improvements. Assistance in summarizing the research in the Dutch language was given by dear friends and colleagues Hebe Verrest and Michaël Deinema. Els Veldhuizen assisted me with the production of the GIS maps and Karin Pfeffer offered me her assistance in so many matters I wouldn’t know where to start. I was fortunate to share my hours with exciting colleagues with whom I enjoyed great conversations and good laughs. I would like therefore to express my appreciation to Sebastian Dembski, Marco te Brömmelstroet, Bas Hissink Muller, Thomas Straatemeier and Melika Levelt for offering me their insights, charm and friendship. I would also like to thank Perry, Amanda, Rogier, Anna, Inge, Manuel, Koen and Joram for their companionship and for the electrifying moments experienced while working on our plan B. ix Last thanks are reserved for my dear family: to Kata, the woman this research led me to, who always knew how to lift my spirit when heavy research clouds threatened to invade my mind. To Noam, who patiently waited to be born until the moment his father submitted the manuscript. And to my lovely supporting parents who gave me confidence and so often called out: “Yalla, Tigmor Kvar!” To them this book is dedicated. Nadav Haran, Amsterdam, October 2009 x 1 ______________________________________________ INTRODUCTION: THE RISE OF THE COMPETING REGION AND THE IMPERATIVE TO COLLABORATE In October 2008, the Dutch Council for Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment recommended acknowledging the inadequacy of legislative and administrative amendments for planning coherent regional spatial policies (VROM- raad 2008). Despite continuous amendments aiming to improve how Dutch regions were governed and spatial and economic policies planned, negative perceptions persisted. Now, the council offered an alternative to top-down administrative frameworks. It pleaded for more flexible forms of regional collaboration that were not officially or procedurally prescribed, and it recommended launching another kind of search. A search for successful collaborative practices. The main objective of this study is to better understand how regional collaboration can be made successful. As the unique potential of urban regions becomes increasingly important, how to make the most of it remains a moot point. Growing competition between regions (Porter 2001) and the persistent impression that regional resources are poorly exploited has accelerated the debate and the search for suitable modes of governance to encourage efficient spatial economic development in regional areas (Le Galès 1998, Keating 2001). 1.1 THE RESURGENCE OF THE COMPETITIVE REGION The focus on regions for addressing social objectives is nothing new. Since the beginning of modern planning, regions have been conceived as promising geographical scale over which spatial economic developments can work their magic. Founding fathers of modern planning, including Ebenezer Howard and Patrick Geddes, have considered the spatial economic relations between core cities and their hinterlands as vital for achieving social objectives and improving the living conditions of the urban population (Hall 1988). In the middle of the 20th century, a pragmatic approach of planning guided spatial and human activities in regions in order to achieve utopian goals. Suburbanization and the expansion of daily human activity beyond the jurisdictions of core cities raised disparities between core cities and their surrounding residential suburban municipalities.