Dalia Mukhtar-Landgren

Experimental governance: the role of municipalities in urban living labs

ABSTRACT Innovations in urban governance such as Urban Living Labs (ULL) are expected to accelerate the transition towards more sustainable and climate-resilient cities. This article reviews different ULL across Europe and explores the role and potential capacity of municipalities in the development of and/or facilitation of ULL as a form of experimental governance. It focuses on the role of the public sector in the multi-actor collaborations that often characterize experimental governance. The article draws on literature on cities in sustainability, climate and environmental governance, and bridges this with political science literature on governance. Based on institutional theory that emphasizes roles, identities, and perceived and actual acting space, three functional roles for the municipality are singled out – promoter, enabler and partner – in a framework with a set of indicators that are used to analyse 50 case studies of ULL (http://www.urbanlivinglabs.net). The aim is to advance knowledge on how municipalities can facilitate urban sustainability through experimental governance.

Governing Mobility-as-a-Service: Insights from Sweden and Finland

Based on a review of recent developments in Sweden and Finland, this chapter analyzes the roles of public organizations in the governance of a transition to Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS). In particular, we draw on insights from transition frameworks to explore what these two pioneering cases can teach us about how the public sector can both enable the development of MaaS and steer the development trajectory toward diffusion of MaaS offerings that contribute to transport policy goals. We propose three main points. Firstly, public sector organizations at national, regional, and local levels have key roles to play in potential transitions to MaaS, regardless of their intended operative roles in the emerging MaaS ecosystem. Secondly, a central task for public sector organizations is to align operational and tactical MaaS governance activities with both an overarching MaaS strategy and with other relevant strategies, such as transport infrastructures investments, programs for economic and industrial growth, city plans, and parking norms. Thirdly, new models and tools for public–private collaboration are needed in order to effectively govern the development and diffusion of sustainable MaaS.

Re-compartmentalizing local policies? The translation and mediation of European structural funds in Sweden

ABSTRACT The local governments of EU member countries are attracted to the possibility of receiving EU funding. However, as the governance structures of EU funds are complex and dynamic, municipalities are increasingly drawing on the knowledge and resources of ‘EU experts’ who mediate and provide project support. This article contributes to our understanding of how EU cohesion policy is translated through EU projects, with a specific focus on the processes of preparing and applying for project funding. Drawing on education policy, this study analyses a tool which has been developed to facilitate and increase the number of EU projects in the Swedish region of Scania. The analysis shows that regional mediation – and the ambition to reframe local policies into EU projects – entails substantive as well as organizational changes in two aspects. First, the policy content shifts from the realm of education policy to the realms of collaborative development policy, social cohesion and innovation, and second, the translation entails an organizational shift from permanent public education administration to temporary project organizations. These processes are conceptualized as the re-compartmentalization of local policies.

Problematisations of Progress and Diversity in Visionary Planning

Abstract The aim of this paper is to contribute to studies of urban renewal by taking a step back in time to the years prior to urban regeneration and investigating the problem formulations developed during the crises years in Malmö, Sweden. Drawing on Carol Bacchi’s (2010) methodological tool ‘What is the problem analysis’, this paper explores the problem formulations proceeding Malmö’s attempts of urban regeneration, with specific regard to the role of immigration. The paper highlights two problem formulations found in the visionary work. The first problem formulation concerns how the demise of the industrial city brought with it a perceived loss of a coherent identity and unity. The second problem formulation concerns the fear of certain groups not being able to ‘keep up’ with the anticipated progress and transition into the city of knowledge.