Planning: A Glue for Development Coalitions? State Actors' Agency and Power Relationships in Urban Development Projects in Milan and Brussels


Abstract


In this paper, I combine urban regime analysis and financialisation scholarships to uncover the role of planning and question the role of state actors in urban development processes. Through an analysis of CityLife in Milan and Tour and Taxis in Brussels, I argue that state actors have a strong agency in decision making as they own a critical resource: planning. My investigation reveals that, in projects characterised by uncertainty and internal conflicts, planning functions as a glue of development coalitions. Local governments mobilise it to bring together private and public interests, in order to achieve their agendas. Nevertheless, this glue function plays out differently in Milan and Brussels. While in Milan local administrations used planning to facilitate the anchoring of capital, in Brussels local governments enacted planning to shift the balance of power between them. This outcome reveals contextual differences that ultimately depend on local governance settings and planning systems. The comparison depicts the making of two different development regimes. CityLife indicates a financialised turn in governance, in which planning choices are driven mainly by economic – and financial – imperatives. Tour and Taxis symbolises an experimental entrepreneurial urban regime, a sort of "laboratory" to test new governance and planning frameworks.

DOI Code: 10.1285/i20356609v14i2p829

Keywords: Brussels; development regime; Milan; planning; urban development projects

References


Andreotti A. (eds. 2019), Governare Milano nel Nuovo Millennio, Milano-Bologna: Il Mulino.

Anselmi G., S. Vicari Haddock (2020), “Milan Makes it to the Big Leagues: a Financialized Growth Machine”, European Urban and Regional Studies, 27(2): 106-124.

Baeten G. (2001), “The Europeanization of Brussels and the Urbanization of Europe. Hybridizing the City, Empowerement and Desempowerment in the EU district”, European Urban and Regional Studies, 8(2): 117- 130.

Bigatti G. (2016), “Milano: una Città Plurale”, Il Mulino, 1/21: 301-308.

BRAL (2017) Tour & Taxis. Revised May 23, 2021, Retrieved May 23, 2021 (https://bral.brussels/sites/default/files/bijlagen/Tour__Taxis_webversie.pdf).

Bolocan Goldstein M. (2009), Geografie Milanesi, Santarcangelo di Romagna (RN): Maggioli Editore.

Brenna S. (2013), “Come Difendere il Progetto CityLife da Sé Stesso”. Revised January 1 2018, Retrieved January 1, 2018 (http://www.arcipelagomilano.org/archives/26167).

Brill F., V. Conte (2019), “Understanding Project Mobility: The Movement of King’s Cross to Brussels and Johannesburg”, Environment and Planning C, 38(1): 79-96.

Clark E., H. Gutzon Larsen, and A. Lund Hansen (2015), “Financialiation of Built Environments: a Literature Review”, FESSUD Working Paper114, Revised May 23, 2021, Retrieved May 23, 2021 (https://ideas.repec.org/p/fes/wpaper/wpaper114.html).

Comune di Milano (2013), Delibera della Giunta Comunale N. 1292. Revised May 23, 2021, Retrieved May 23, 2021 (https://web.comune.milano.it/dseserver/webcity/documenti.nsf/b8c5b1ce6f43ba3e012567db0040fa9c/d5652c5eccc51932c1257b9d003894ad/$FILE/Approvazione_ai%20sensi_LR12.pdf).

Comune di Milano (2005), Programma Integrato di Intervento “Quartiere Storico Fiera Milano”: Relazione Economica di Fattibilità. Revised May 23, 2021, Retrieved May 23, 2021 (http://www.quartierefiera.org/notizie.htm#07/07/05).

Comune di Milano (2001), Ricostruire la Grande Milano. Documento di Inquadramento delle Politiche Urbanistiche. Revised May 23, 2021, Retrieved May 23, 2021 (http://allegati.comune.milano.it/esecutiviedilizia/Come%20presentare%20un%20progetto/Documento%20d%27Inquadramento.pdf).

Corijn E., J. van de Ven (2013), The Brussels Reader. A Small Worl City to Become the Capital of Europe, Brussels: VUB Press.

Corijn E., E. Vloeberghs (2013), “Brussels, a Small World City”, in E. Corjn, J. van de Ven (eds.), The Brussels Reader. A Small Worl City to Become the Capital of Europe, Brussels: VUB Press, pp. 13-27.

Farmer S., C.D. Poulos (2019), “The Financialising Local Growth Machine in Chicago”, Urban Studies, 56(7): 1404-1425.

Diaz Orueta F., S. Fainstein (2008), “The New Mega-Projects: Genesis and Impacts”, International Journal of Urban and Regional Studies, 32(4), 759-767.

Foot J. (2003), Milano Dopo il Miracolo: Biografia di Una Città, Milano: Feltrinelli.

Gibelli M.C. (2016a), “Milano: Lost in Transformation”. Revised September 29, 2020, Retrieved September 29, 2020 (http://www.eddyburg.it/2016/05/milano-lost-in-trasformation.html).

Gibelli M.C. (2016b), “Milano: da Metropoli Fordista a Mecca del Real Estate”, Meridiana, 85: pp. 61-80.

Gotham K.F. (2000), “Growth Machine Up-Links: Urban Renewal and the Rise and Fall of a Pro-Growth Coalition in a U.S. City”, Critical Sociology, 26(3): 268- 300.

Guironnet A., K. Attuyer K, and L. Halbert (2015), “Building Cities on Financial Assets: the Financialization of Property Markets and its Implication for City Governments in the Paris City-region, Urban Studies, Special Issue Article: Financialization and the production of urban space”, 53(7): 1442-1464.

Guironnet A., L. Halbert L (2014), “The Financialization of Urban Development: Projects, Concepts, Processes, and Implications”, Document de travail du LATTS –Working Paper, n° 14-04, December 2014.

Halbert L., K. Attuyer (2016), “The Fnancialisation of Urban Production: Conditions, Mediations and Transformations”, Urban Studies, 53(7), 1347–61.

Hall T, P. Hubbard (1996), “The Entrepreneurial City: New Urban Politics, New Geographies?”, Progress in Human Geography, 20(2): 153-174.

Harvey D. (1989), “From Managerialism to Entrepreneurialism: the Transformation in Urban Governance in Late Capitalism”, Geografiska Annaler , 71(1): 3-17.

Kaika M., L. Ruggiero (2013), “Land Financialization as a Lived Process: the Transformation of Milan’s Bicocca by Pirelli”, European Urban and Regional Studies, 23(1): 3-22.

Kesteloot C. (2000), “Brussels, Post-Fordist Polarization in a Fordist Spatial Canvas” in P. Marcuse, and R. van Kempen (eds.), Globalizing cities, a new spatial order?, London: Blackwell Publishers, pp. 187-210.

La Fonderie (2010), Tour and Taxis. Un Quartier en Mouvement, Brussels: Racine.

Lauermann J. (2016), “Municipal Statecraft: Revisiting the Geographies of the Entrepreneurial City”, Progress in Human Geography, 42(2): 205-224.

Logan J.R., Molotch H. (1987), Urban Fortunes: The Political Economy of Place, Berkey, Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Mazza L. (2007), Milan’s Strategies. Retrieved on june 2019 (https://www.academia.edu/4378945/Milans_strategies_2007)

Memo F. (2010), “I Grandi Progetti di Rinnovo Urbano. Genesi e Impatti”, Quaderni di Sociologia, 52|2010, 79-95.

Mosciaro M. (2020), “Selling Milan in Pieces: the Finance-Led Production of Urban Space”, European Planning Studies, 29(1), 201-218.

Mosciaro M. (2018), The Real Estate/Financial Complex: The Cases of Brazil and Italy, Phd Thesis, Politecnico di Milano and KU Leuven, Italy and Belgium.

Nassaux J.P. (2018) “Le Retour Du Débat Institutionnel Bruxellois (2016-2018)”, Courrier Hebsomadaire, No. 2374-2018, Bruxelles : Le CRISP.

O’Brien P., P. O’Neill, and A. Pike (2019), “Funding, Financing and Governing Urban Infrastructures, Urban Studies”, 56(7): 1291-1303.

Papadopoulos A. (2006), “Brussels: Pseudo-capital of Europe. Perspective of Belgium’s global city in-the-making’” in R. Schneider-Sliwa (eds.), Cities in Transition. Globalization, Political Change and Urban Development, Springer, pp. 251-271.

Pasqui G. (2019), “Chi Governa le Trasformazioni Urbanistiche: Attori, Poteri, Istituzioni e Mercato” in A. Andreotti (eds.) Governare Milano nel Nuovo Millennio, Milano-Bologna: Il Mulino

Peck J., H. Whiteside (2016), “Financializing Detroit”, Economic Geography, 92(3): 235-268.

Ponzini D., M. Nastasi (2011), Starchitecture: Scenes, Actors and Spectacles in Contemporary Cities, Torino: Umberto Alemandi & C.

Roth L., C. Artusi (2005), Fiera Milano: la Trasformazione del Polo Urbano. Il Progetto, Il Metodo, l’Innovazione, Milano: Il Sole 24 Ore Spa.

Savini F., M. Aalbers M.B. (2016), “The De-Contextualization of Land-Use Planning Through Financialization: Urban Redevelopment in Milan”, European Urban and Regional Studies, 23(4), 878-94

Savitch H.V., P. Kantor (2002), Cities in the international marketplace, Princeton-Oxford: Princeton University Press.

Scenari Immobiliari and Risanamento (2019), Rapporto2019 sul Mercato Immobiliare di Milano: A Star is Born. Milano Guarda Oltre. Rapporto 2019 sul Mercato Immobiliare di Milano, Milano: Scenari Immobiliari.

Stone C.N. (1993), “Urban Regimes and the Capacity to Govern: a Political Economy Approach”, Journal of Urban Affairs, 15(1): 1-28.

Stone C.N. (2004), “It’s More Than Economy After All: Continuing the Debate About Urban Regimes”, Journal of Urban Affairs, 26(1): 1-19.

Stone C.N. (2005), “Looking Back to Look Forward: Reflections on Urban Regime Analysis”, Urban Affairs Review, 40(3): 309-341.

Swyngedouw E., F. Moulaert, and A. Rodriguez (2002), “Neoliberal Urbanization in Europe: Large-Scale Urban Development Project and the New Urban Policy”, Antipode, 34(3): 542-577.

Taylor P.J. (2006), “Brussels in the World City Network” in De Groof R. (eds.) Brussels and Europe- Bruxelles et l’Europe, Bruxelles: ASP Academic and Scientific Pub.

Theurillat T., N. Vera-Buchel N., Crevoisier O. (2016), “Commentary: from capital landing to urban anchoring: the negotiated city”, Urban Studies Journal, 53(7): pp. 1509-1518.

Urban Land Institute and PricewaterhouseCoopers (2017), Emerging Trends in Real Estate. New Markets Realities. Europe 2017. Revised May 23, 2021, Retrieved May 23, 2021

(https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/industries/financial-services/asset-management/emerging-trends-real-estate/europe-2017.html).

Van Criekingen M., C. Vandermotten (2007), “Brussels Tour and Taxis: Entrepreneurship versus the Fragmented City” in Salet W., E. Gualini E. (eds.) Framing Strategic Urban Projects: Learning from Current Experiences in European Urban Region, London: Routledge, pp. 146-171.

Vermeulen S. (2015), The Brussels Canal Zone: Negotiating Visions for Urban Planning, Brussels: VUB press Brussels University Press.

Vicari S., H. Molotch (1990), “Building Milan: Alternative machines of growth”, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 14(4): 602-624.

Waldron R. (2019), “Financialization, Urban Governance and the Planning System: Utilizing ‘Development Viability’ as a Policy Narrative for the Liberalization of Ireland’s Post-Crash Planning System”, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 43(4): 685-704

Weber R. (2010), “Selling City Futures: The Financialization of Urban Redevelopment Policy”, Economic

Geography, 86(3): 251-274.


Full Text: PDF

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.
Bookmark and Share


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribuzione - Non commerciale - Non opere derivate 3.0 Italia License.