Combining competitiveness and liveability in urban development projects in Amsterdam The cases of Zuidas and Overhoeks Wai Yin Liu 10787720 Supervisor: Dr. R. Ronald Second reader: Dr. M. Kaika August 15th, 2018 Master’s Urban and Regional Planning [email protected] Abstract This paper shows that urban agendas are changing due to globalisation processes. It is now more important than ever to achieve urban competitiveness to have sustainable economic growth. However, this can often lead to the deterioration of liveability in cities. Therefore, this research looks at how the municipality of Amsterdam incorporates both urban competitiveness ambitions with liveability ambitions in Zuidas and Overhoeks, two main urban development projects. Through the use of a discourse analysis and looking at policy discourses and discourses of experts, it becomes apparent that the municipality of Amsterdam takes a different approach to combining urban competitiveness and liveability in the area. The different developmental direction and ambitions, and the inherently different images the projects have, create a different relationship between urban competitiveness and liveability in both projects. Whereas liveability is seen as a means for achieving competitiveness in the Zuidas, enhancing urban competitiveness is not explicitly an aim in Overhoeks. Enhancing liveability is an end goal in Overhoeks, which is for a large part achieved by creating a mixed urban district. 2 Table of contents 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 4 2. Theoretical framework ................................................................................................................... 6 2.1. Urban competitiveness ........................................................................................................... 6 2.2. Property and real estate development in relation to urban competitiveness........................ 7 2.3. Place/city branding .................................................................................................................. 8 2.4. Liveability ................................................................................................................................. 8 3. Research questions ....................................................................................................................... 10 4. Methodology ................................................................................................................................. 11 4.1. Research design ..................................................................................................................... 11 4.2. Discourse analysis .................................................................................................................. 12 4.2.1. Defining discourse ............................................................................................................... 12 4.2.2. Foucault, discourse analysis and planning .......................................................................... 12 4.3. Expert Interviews ................................................................................................................... 13 4.3.1. Defining an expert ......................................................................................................... 13 4.4. Reliability and validity ........................................................................................................... 15 5. Results ........................................................................................................................................... 16 5.1. The creation of a business centre: Zuidas ............................................................................. 16 5.1.2. Prevalent policy discourses in Zuidas .................................................................................. 17 5.2. Overhoeks: history of development ...................................................................................... 21 5.2.1. Ambitions of plan Overhoeks .............................................................................................. 21 5.2.2. The image of Overhoeks ...................................................................................................... 22 5.3. Experts on the policy discourses of Zuidas ............................................................................ 23 5.4. Experts on the policy discourse of Overhoeks ...................................................................... 25 6. Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 27 7. Discussion ...................................................................................................................................... 28 8. References ..................................................................................................................................... 29 3 1. Introduction Throughout history, urban competition has always been present in cities, for they have been competing with each other on economic and cultural front. Perhaps cities do not compete in the way how commercial enterprises compete, that is through profit maximisation. Instead, their rivalry is often focused within product markets, inward investment and attracting desirable residents, population, tourism and public funds (Lever & Turok, 1999). But with the rise of globalisation, neoliberalisation and the increased interconnectedness of cities, urban competitiveness has only become more prominent (Shen, 2004). The process of globalisation and the resulting social, political and economic changes has led to the restructuring of urban economies. Likewise, it makes the aim towards more openly market- led neo-liberal development strategies more important (Swyngedouw, 2005). Globalisation has pushed cities towards adapting to the dynamics of economic restructuring, such as the global reorganization of production, restructuring of labour markets, and the cross border networking of companies (Ibid.). As Castells (2010, p. 442) argues, present day society is constructed around flows. That is flows of capital and flows of information, just to name a few. This new spatial form Castells calls the “space of flows” can be seen in parallel with the idea that globalisation has increased mobility in the new economy. The relocation of labour and production markets, and the increase of international capital mobility and firms are some features of increased globalisation (Castells, 2010; Buck et al, 2005). Though it might seem that physical places play a secondary role in Castells “Network Society”, they are still of great importance. There are still profound important agglomeration effects (Hall & Pfeiffer, 2013). These effects underline the importance of the city and its urban region. At the end of the day important economic and social activity are still centrally clustered in cities. This is particularly the case with two kinds of service activities: high-technology producer services such as banking and finance, and command and control and media services (ibid.). Both service activities also require lower-technology subservices such as, but not limited to, restaurants, bars, haircutting salons and all kinds of entertainment (ibid.). These are easier to find in cities. The dependency of service activities on agglomerations and cities has also been explained by Saskia Sassen (1991, p. 3, as cited in Castells, 2010, p. 415). She argues that: “…The combination of spatial dispersal and global integration has created a new strategic role for major cities. Beyond their long history as centres for international trade and banking, these cities now function in four new ways: first, as highly concentrated command points in the organization of the world economy; second, as key locations for finance and for specialized service firms ...; third, as sites of production, including the production of innovation in these leading industries; and fourth, as markets for the products and innovations produced.” Consequently, policy agendas of cities across the world are increasingly aimed at gaining a comparative advantage over others for economic and cultural activities. Achieving urban competitiveness is high on the agenda of cities across the world. Likewise, this trend shows itself in spatial planning. The need to compete with other cities has driven cities to acquire a competitive advantage by means of place branding and (urban) regeneration projects (Amin & Thrift, 1995). Development of neighbourhoods often incorporate mixed-use functions, which is seen as essential for the community life and health of the city (Bagaeen, 2006). Amsterdam’s policy agenda is for the most part in-line with the aforementioned. The municipality has a clear vision for the future, reflected in the publication of so called vision documents. It aims to be in a 4 competitive position in the world economy, because it is pivotal in providing its citizens wealth and wellbeing (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2011). Amsterdam has a long history of being an international gateway and has a high level of internationalisation (Musterd & Murie, 2011). In addition it is ranked high when it comes to quality of living and it remains an attractive investment destination in Europe1 2. Overhoeks and in particular Zuidas are two areas that are seen as means to enhance urban competitiveness.