Mariona Tomàs

Being metropolitan: the effects of individual and contextual factors on shaping metropolitan identity

ABSTRACT While the single institution of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (MAB) is a recent creation, some form of institutional cooperation among most of the metropolitan municipalities has been functioning over the past 40 years. However, despite the ample evidence about municipal and national patterns of identification in Catalonia, no data about political orientations or patterns of identity toward the metropolitan area among the metropolitan population have been gathered so far. Using new survey data we explore two main features of metropolitan identification among the Barcelona metropolitan population. First, we analyze the relationship between place of residence and metropolitan identification. Second, we explore the shaping of the orientations of citizens regarding the governance structure of the MAB, with particular interest in the central role of the city of Barcelona. Results underscore the role of the core city and the effects of residential mobility in shaping both metropolitan identity and governance orientations.

Moving to suburbia? Effects of residential mobility on community engagement:

Previous research has emphasised that residential mobility, especially the suburbanisation of metropolitan regions, is a key factor in understanding the social and institutional context that shapes local political dynamics. Recent studies show that local communities with high rates of recent population growth show lower levels of turnout than others with significantly lower levels or even negative growth. However, because of both the aggregate nature of most available data and sample designs, no firm conclusions can be drawn regarding the specific relationship between residential mobility and the individual and contextual determinants of social and political behaviour. In this paper we explore the interaction between individual and contextual features to better understand the problems that suburbanisation poses to local community engagement. We use data from a survey specifically designed to comply with the requirements of such a study. The sample was designed through strata that take into account the recent population growth of municipalities. Results show the relevance of accounting for both individual- and contextual-level variables to shed light on the political and social dimensions of residential mobility and local suburbanisation.

If Urban Regions are the Answer, What is the Question? Thoughts on the European Experience

This essay contributes to the current debate in the field of critical urban and regional studies on the meanings of the ‘regional’ and the ‘urban’. From a political science perspective, we focus on the European case. Firstly, we argue that the conception of the regional scale is not the same in various languages and traditions. Regions in Europe carry meanings and connotations that are not always easy to translate without losing their specific histories. Secondly, our analysis of contemporary debates on the ‘regional’ in the field of urban studies reveals that both practitioners and academics consider the regional scale mainly as a functional space, as the space for economic competitiveness. However, urban regions are also to be regarded as spaces for social and political mobilization. I argue that the political dimension of the ‘regional’ deserves more attention and that further research needs to be undertaken in this respect.

Urban governance in Spain: From democratic transition to austerity policies

This article aims to explain the evolution of urban governance in Spain during the last 40 years as a product of different waves of state rescaling. Historical, political and economic specificities shape the evolution of Spanish urban governance, especially because of the recent process of democratic transition, regional decentralisation and the specific process of de-industrialisation. We distinguish three periods in urban governance trends, from the restoration of democracy in the late 1970s to the current austerity urbanism marked by the economic crisis starting in 2008. For each phase, we highlight the three interrelated factors explaining urban governance: (1) the evolution of the Spanish political economy in the transition from Fordism to post-Fordism; (2) the evolution of the welfare state; and (3) the role of urban social movements.

Metropolitan challenges and reform pressures across Europe – the perspectives of city mayors

ABSTRACT Metropolitan governance arrangements and their policy purposes have been a matter of debate among researchers and practitioners around the globe. While we may trace three broad schools of metropolitan governance – reform school, public choice theory and new regionalism – with each still having its proponents, we are interested to learn whether there are assumptions on metropolitan governance that have today become general knowledge among urban political elites. By investigating the attitudes and perceptions of city mayors across Europe, we show that functional multipurpose governance bodies are indeed more generally associated with equitable service distribution, whereas the preconditions for cost-efficiency and sustainable development are more equivocally placed at different modes of governance. Moreover, we show that a perceived general lack of problem-solving capacities does not automatically translate into pressures for metropolitan reform, but it is only in combination with a general disaffection with the governance structures currently in place.