Assessing and Governing Rural-Urban Interactions

1. Assessing and governing Rural-urban interactions web page: www.oecd.org/regional/rurban Joaquim Oliveira Martins Regional Development Policy Division GOV OECD Metz, 16 November 2012

2. Outline • Urban-rural interactions and externalities: theory and evidence • Beyond urban and rural divide: an integrated approach • Towards functional regions: concept and identification • Governing rural-urban interactions: a more complex picture

3. 1- Urban-rural interactions and externalities • Traditional approaches focus on urban-rural divide • There are still differences in socio-economic conditions and performances between urban and rural areas • GDP per capita is much higher in urban areas than in rural and intermediate areas. • On average, no convergence in terms of GDP per capita

4. 1 - Urban-rural interactions and externalities • However, opportunities for growth are observed in any type of region • In terms of GDP growth, rural regions show the highest variability U.S., Canada, Chile, Mexico, Israel and Island are excluded from the analysis for reasons of data availability

5. 1 - Urban-rural interactions and externalities • However, opportunities for growth are observed in any type of region • In terms of population growth rural regions show the highest variability • the variability of growth rates is much higher in rural areas than for the other types of region • part of this variability can be explained by looking at the role of the relationships with Urban or Intermediate regions (urban-rural linkages) U.S., Canada, Chile, Mexico, Israel and Island are excluded from the analysis for reasons of data availability

6. 1 - Urban-rural interactions and externalities Strong spatial externalities between urban and rural regions are observed • population rural regions grow more, ceteris paribus, the more connected they are (the smaller the distance) to the closest urban or intermediate region • there positive growth spillovers from urban to rural regions in terms of population. These effects are decreasing with distance • In addition • urban areas benefit from rural areas in terms of provision of landscape, recreation, open space, natural resources, etc. • there can be pressures in the use of land from urban to rural areas (e.g. issue of urban sprawl) The existence of these externalities makes worth shifting the attention from the administrative to the functional organization of the territory (functional regions)

7. 2 – Beyond urban rural divide Deep territorial transformations in the last decades Larger distances daily travelled by individuals Economic development / structural changes New patterns of territorial organization Increased integration of places before more independent Improved ICT and transport New concept of cities and rural areas Mass diffusion of cars Increased urbanization Larger functional regions

8. 2 – Beyond urban rural divide • The traditional concepts of cities and rural areas, based on administrative boundaries, are not anymore coherent with the actual economic and social organization of the territory • From a socio-economic point of view, territory is organized in functional regions

9. 2 – What is a functional region? geographical spaces where the bulk of local economic processes takes place. They are increasingly different from administrative region Functional regions How it can be identified? Commuting (labour market) Services Partnerships Transport networks Supply chains Etc. Administrative region (higher level) Administrative region (smaller level) Functional region

10. 2 – Functional vs. administrative regions A functional approach makes it possible to highlight two main discrepancies between the administrative structure and the actual organization of the territory 1) Core cities (cities de facto) vs. administrative cities Rennes, France 2) Functional regions (e.g. metropolitan areas) vs. administrative regions OECD functional metro region TL3 administrative region

11. 3 – First step: identification of functional urban regions Under the guidance of the OECD Working Party on Territorial Indicators, and carried out jointly with the EC and Eurostat OECD has identified functional urban areas beyond city boundaries, as integrated labour market areas (using population density and travel-to- work flows). 1 175 functional urban areas have been identified across 29 OECD countries It allows comparisons among the different forms that urbanisation takes Website: www.oecd.org/gov/regional/measuringurban

12. 4 – Functional regions and rural-urban interactions: a more complex picture • Urban, peri-urban and rural areas are integrated through a broad set of linkages • Different functions may be associated with different boundaries High complexity of Urban-rural relationships High variability of spatial boundaries

13. 4 –Governing rural-urban interactions • Functional regions based on labour market interactions are able to catch many types of rural-urban interactions, especially for metropolitan areas • The Rurban project aims at going beyond a statistical definition of functional regions and at understanding the higher complexity of rural-urban interactions and their governance. • For this reason 12 case-study regions are providing evidence on how and at what territorial level different functions are governed. • The role and the structure of partnerships to govern rural-urban interactions are being assessed

14. 4 – Governing rural-urban interactions: preliminary findings from case studies The case of Rennes: different geographies for different functions (1/2) (metropolitan region)

15. 4 – Governing rural-urban interactions: preliminary findings from case studies The case of Rennes: different geographies for different functions (2/2) Different access to public services (e.g. public hospitals) Planning activity at the level of the Pays de Rennes Rennes Métropole (main rurban partnership) • there are different regions for different functions • high discrepancy among administrative regions and functional territories

16. 4 – Governing rural-urban interactions: preliminary findings from case studies The case of Forlì-Cesena: different geographies for different functions (1/2) Network of medium-sized cities Prov. of Ravenna Prov. of Forli-Cesena Prov. of Rimini

17. 4 – Governing rural-urban interactions: preliminary findings from case studies The case of Forlì-Cesena: different geographies for different functions (1/2) Network of medium-sized cities Chosen rurban partnership (e.g. agro-industry) Tourism and water: the area of Romagna (territorial identity – soft factor) Labour market areas (LLSs) Forli Cesena • different regions for different functions • labour market areas are not large enough to catch all the territory involved in the rurban partnership • soft factors such as a strong territorial identity (e.g. ‘Romagna”) plays a role for the identification some of the partnerships (tourism, water, etc.)

18. Governing rural-urban relationships: preliminary findings from case studies • Strong Leadership: leadership plays an important role in bringing Urban and Rural Municipalities together (e.g. Germany, Italy) • Strong partnership buy in: partnership working is viewed as the optimum way to do business (e.g. Italy, Germany, US) • Strong territorial identity: The existence of a territorial identity helps to foster partnerships (e.g. Italy, Germany) • No single model of collaborations and partnerships: complex landscape of Rurban partnerships in some cases result in high transaction costs and partnerships, sometimes engaging large number of players (e.g. Italy) • Shared regional responsibility: Rural- Urban collaborations leads to improved ownership of the region: the responsibility (e.g. Germany) • Power sharing inner structure: one-voice one vote approach to power sharing in a Rurban partnership is one way to ensure that the partnership functions (e.g. Germany, Australia)

19. What we learnt and further steps ahead • Territorial relationships between urban and rural areas are very complex and their governance require an approach on functional regions • The statistical identification of functional regions through the OECD method is a relevant step ahead to provide a geographical representation of territorial relationships and a guide to more integrated policies for urban and rural areas • However, labour market flows alone cannot always catch the whole spectrum of urban-rural relationships, especially in non-metropolitan regions, where labour flows are less intense and representative of actual territorial relationships • A high flexibility should be accepted for both identification and governance of urban-rural interactions • After drawing functional boundaries, it is not easy to organize institutions. There are different models of governance across OECD regions (formal, informal, conflictual, cooperative, etc.). These models are analysed through a set of 12 case-studies

20. Thank you!