IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envira/v46y2014i4p770-787.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Relationship between Spatial Planning and Economic Competitiveness: The ‘Path to Economic Nirvana’ or a ‘Dangerous Obsession’?

Author

Listed:
  • Philip Boland

    (School of Planning, Architecture and Civil Engineering, Queen's University Belfast, David Keir Building, Stranmillis Road, Belfast BT9 6AG, Northern Ireland)

Abstract

This paper offers a contribution to contemporary studies of spatial planning. In particular, it problematises the relationship between neoliberal competitiveness and spatial planning. Neoliberal competitiveness is a hegemonic discourse in public policy as it (allegedly) provides the ‘path to economic nirvana’. However, commentators have critiqued its theoretical underpinnings and labelled it a ‘dangerous obsession’ for policy makers. Another set of literatures argues that spatial planning can be understood as a form of ‘neoliberal spatial governance’ and read in a ‘postpolitical’ framework that ‘privileges competitiveness’. Synthesising these debates this paper critically analyses the application and operationalisation of neoliberal competitiveness in Northern Ireland and Belfast. In focusing on this unique case study—a deeply divided society with a turbulent history—the paper takes the debate forward in arguing that rather than offering the ‘path to economic nirvana’ neoliberal competitiveness is a ‘postpolitical strategy’ and represents a ‘dangerous obsession’ for spatial planning.

Suggested Citation

  • Philip Boland, 2014. "The Relationship between Spatial Planning and Economic Competitiveness: The ‘Path to Economic Nirvana’ or a ‘Dangerous Obsession’?," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 46(4), pages 770-787, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:46:y:2014:i:4:p:770-787
    DOI: 10.1068/a4687
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/a4687
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/a4687?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Patsy Healey, 2004. "The Treatment of Space and Place in the New Strategic Spatial Planning in Europe," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 45-67, March.
    2. Colin Hay, 2012. "The 'dangerous obsession' with cost competitiveness … and the not so dangerous obsession with competitiveness," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 36(2), pages 463-479.
    3. Phil Allmendinger & Graham Haughton, 2013. "The Evolution and Trajectories of English Spatial Governance: 'Neoliberal' Episodes in Planning," Planning Practice & Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(1), pages 6-26, February.
    4. John Lovering, 2001. "The Coming Regional Crisis (And How To Avoid It)," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(4), pages 349-354.
    5. Martínez-Alier, Joan & Pascual, Unai & Vivien, Franck-Dominique & Zaccai, Edwin, 2010. "Sustainable de-growth: Mapping the context, criticisms and future prospects of an emergent paradigm," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(9), pages 1741-1747, July.
    6. Michael Kitson & Ron Martin & Peter Tyler, 2004. "Regional Competitiveness: An Elusive yet Key Concept?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(9), pages 991-999.
    7. Alberto Vanolo, 2010. "European Spatial Planning Between Competitiveness and Territorial Cohesion: Shadows of Neo-liberalism," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(8), pages 1301-1315, August.
    8. Kevin Ward & Andrew E G Jonas, 2004. "Competitive City-Regionalism as a Politics of Space: A Critical Reinterpretation of the New Regionalism," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 36(12), pages 2119-2139, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Naudé, Wim, 2024. "Entrepreneurship Is Dangerously Obsessed with Growth and Incompatible with Current Visions of a Post-growth Society," IZA Discussion Papers 17158, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Philip Boland, 2007. "Unpacking the Theory-Policy Interface of Local Economic Development: An Analysis of Cardiff and Liverpool," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 44(5-6), pages 1019-1039, May.
    2. Peter Mayerhofer & Oliver Fritz & Dieter Pennerstorfer, 2010. "Dritter Bericht zur internationalen Wettbewerbsfähigkeit Wiens," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 42430, April.
    3. Edward J Malecki, 2007. "Cities and Regions Competing in the Global Economy: Knowledge and Local Development Policies," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 25(5), pages 638-654, October.
    4. Nikolaos Kapitsinis & Theodore Metaxas, 2012. "Territorial Competition: Theories, arguments, policies and lessons of the last 25 years," ERSA conference papers ersa12p947, European Regional Science Association.
    5. KAPITSINIS, Nikolaos & METAXAS, Theodore & DUQUENNE, Marie Noelle, 2013. "Exploring The Coherence And The Meaning Of Territorial Competition: Do National States Behave In The Same Way As Firms In Case Of Default?. The Cases Of Greece And Dubai," Applied Econometrics and International Development, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 13(2), pages 57-72.
    6. Steffen Wetzstein, 2008. "Relaunching Regional Economic-Development Policy and Planning for Auckland: Remaking the State and Contingent Governance under Neoliberalism," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 26(6), pages 1093-1112, December.
    7. Robert Huggins & Nick Clifton, 2011. "Competitiveness, Creativity, and Place-Based Development," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 43(6), pages 1341-1362, June.
    8. Mike Hodson, 2008. "Old Industrial Regions, Technology, and Innovation: Tensions of Obduracy and Transformation," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 40(5), pages 1057-1075, May.
    9. Tatyana Boikova & Sandija Zeverte-Rivza & Peteris Rivza & Baiba Rivza, 2021. "The Determinants and Effects of Competitiveness: The Role of Digitalization in the European Economies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-22, October.
    10. Mace, Alan & Holman, Nancy & Paccoud, Antoine & Sundaresan, Jayaraj, 2015. "Coordinating density; working through conviction, suspicion and pragmatism," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 56768, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. Fulong Wu, 2016. "China's Emergent City-Region Governance: A New Form of State Spatial Selectivity through State-orchestrated Rescaling," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(6), pages 1134-1151, November.
    12. Han, Wenjing & Zhang, Xiaoling & Zheng, Xian, 2020. "Land use regulation and urban land value: Evidence from China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    13. Malmaeus, J. Mikael & Alfredsson, Eva C., 2017. "Potential Consequences on the Economy of Low or No Growth - Short and Long Term Perspectives," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 57-64.
    14. Xue, Jin, 2014. "Is eco-village/urban village the future of a degrowth society? An urban planner's perspective," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 130-138.
    15. Katsu Masaki, 2022. "Exploring the ‘Partial Connections’ between Growth and Degrowth Debates: Bhutan’s Policy of Gross National Happiness," Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics, , vol. 34(1), pages 86-103, January.
    16. Georg Feigl & Sepp Zuckerstätter, 2013. "Wettbewerbs(des)orientierung. WWWforEurope Policy Paper Nr. 2," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 46674, April.
    17. Dula Borozan, 2008. "Regional Competitiveness: Some Conceptual Issues and Policy Implications," Interdisciplinary Management Research, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Faculty of Economics, Croatia, vol. 4, pages 50-63, May.
    18. Jin Xue & Hans Jakob Walnum & Carlo Aall & Petter Næss, 2016. "Two Contrasting Scenarios for a Zero-Emission Future in a High-Consumption Society," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-25, December.
    19. KANG Byeongwoo & MOTOHASHI Kazuyuki, 2020. "Local Industry Influence on Commercialization of University Research by University Startups," Discussion papers 20086, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    20. Crystal Legacy & Ryan van den Nouwelant, 2015. "Negotiating Strategic Planning's Transitional Spaces: The Case of ‘Guerrilla Governance’ in Infrastructure Planning," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 47(1), pages 209-226, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:46:y:2014:i:4:p:770-787. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.