State and Territory Government Strategic Plans: Exercises in Managing,Monitoring and Marketing

All but three of the Australian States and Territories have whole‐of‐government, jurisdiction‐wide strategic plans in place and the three exceptions had previously established a state plan in the decade after the first such plans were introduced by Tasmania and Victoria in 2001. Scholarly attention to date has been directed towards discrete aspects of state plans, such as the extent to which they can be seen as exercises in participative democracy or sustainability, rather than with examining state plans for what they explicitly purport to be – strategic plans originating in the core executive of government. We propose that there are three key strategic orientations for Australian state plans: to holistically manage, monitor and market government administration. These orientations may be competing, complementary or overlapping, and can vary over time. The article also proposes that state plans are a significant development in public management and warrant further and more detailed examination.     

The post‐cold war security agenda of Russia: Implications for Northeast Asia

The end of the cold war has seen the emergence of new political and geo‐strategic rivalries for Russia. The major aspect of change has been an intensification of an eastern focus in Russian security policy. The identification of changing security concerns, be they the intensification of local conflicts on Russian borders or potential territorial claims from neighbours, poses new problems for the Russian army. This paper looks at Russia's post‐cold war security agenda and military modernization questions in the light of these potential problems. In regional terms the paper focuses on the implications of these wider questions for Russia's relations with Northeast Asia, especially in its dealings with the Korean peninsula issue and remaining border questions with China and Japan.     

Planning and Control System With a Network Approach： Evidence From the Italian Regional Governments

The focus on networks in public administration has grown rapidly in recent years and prompts modifications of traditional planning and control systems of public entities. Public networks have been defined as a response to the criticalities of New Public Management and they represent a recurring approach for policy implementation and service provision in the theoretical framework known as New Public Governance. This article addresses the question whether public entities are aware of being part of a network and whether they have actually changed, as such, their planning and control system. Focus is made on the case of Italian regional governments which are particularly significant for different reasons. First of all, the recent process of administrative devolution and federalism in Italy has reinforced regional governments＇ powers and responsibilities as well as their importance as actors in the political and economic scenario, where they can influence the behaviours of many public and private organizations. Furthermore, Italian regional governments have extensive autonomy and so they can actually modify and integrate traditional documents of their planning and control system. The article proposes a framework for mapping different approaches toward being part of a public network. This framework can support the interpretation of the behaviour of public entities involved in networks and take the initiatives to develop them.     

Local housing plans: Learning from Great Britain

Abstract

As the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development refines the new Consolidated Plans, which replace the Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategies, it should examine Britain's experience with local housing plans. Case studies of four best‐practice cities—Glasgow, Dundee, Birmingham, and York—highlight the value of these plans in assessing the success of cities in their new “enabler” role.

Five key lessons for American cities emerge from this article. First, these plans can serve multiple roles beyond bids to central government. Second, local housing plans should address market‐rate as well as below‐market‐rate housing issues. Third, American housing plans should use a wider range of data sources than census information alone and should incorporate housing market analyses dealing with specific areas and population groups. Fourth, the stress on implementation and strategy in British plans should be emulated. Finally, aspects of Britain's competitive bidding system should be considered for implementation.     

The Portland region: Where city and suburbs talk to each other—and often agree

Abstract

Portland, OR, is often cited as an example of successful regional governance and planning. The metropolitan area appears to match many of the precepts of the popular “compact city” model of urban growth and to demonstrate the capacity of local and state government to shape growing metropolitan regions. Given this reputation, it is important to evaluate the relevance of the Portland experience for other communities, distinguishing unique local circumstances from generalizable characteristics.

This analysis explores the spatial character of metropolitan Portland in the 1990s, summarizes the politics of regional planning, examines weaknesses in the Portland approach, and offers suggestions for other metropolitan areas. The study finds that many of Portland's accomplishments center on urban design, but that the region's most distinguishing characteristic is its attention to political process. The discussion concludes with suggestions about the value of extensive civic discourse, incremental policy making, and institution building.     

The challenge of our declining big cities

Abstract

This article describes the population forces that caused U.S. metropolitan areas to grow rapidly after 1940 but caused falling population in many large older cities. It shows why the basic processes that generated the spatial growth and development of American metropolitan areas have also undermined the fiscal strength of many older central cities and inner‐ring suburbs. By concentrating low‐income households in inner‐core neighborhoods, these processes create undesirable conditions that motivate economically viable households and firms to move to surrounding suburbs and not move back.

Three strategies have been suggested for improving these conditions: major structural reform of metropolitan institutions, limited reform of big‐city governments, and community development of inner‐core areas. The first is the most capable of changing the dynamics causing decline, but it lacks political support because it would require the majority of metropolitan residents to sacrifice some benefits they gain from existing arrangements.     

Mediterranean regionalism from territory to trains: spatial politics and planning of macro-regions and transport networks in Spain

The contested planning of European macro-regions and Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) exemplifies the complexities of spatial politics, territorial and relational. What stratagems – discursive and cartographic – may regional actors employ in the process, and what can we learn from them? In context of European Union integration policies, we explore Spanish regional politics – discursive and cartographic – surrounding planning of cross-border regions and a TEN-T “Mediterranean Corridor” (and its alternatives). The contested remapping of macro-regions and transport networks reveals the role of spatial planning in the vertebració (structuration in Catalan) of European territory in distinct ways, as Mediterranean regionalism shifts from territoriality to trains.     

Mothers Facing Imprisonment: Arranging Care for Their Adolescent Children

Although the population of imprisoned mothers is increasing, little formal data have been gathered about their dependents. This article draws on data from a study that examined the impact of maternal incarceration on 20 adolescent children in Victoria, Australia, focusing specifically on how and what care arrangements were made for the children and the implications of this care. Findings show a number of supportive and hindering factors that influence the making of care arrangements, including the support of another adult who enabled the woman in her role as mother, mothers' realistic outlook, and subsequent behaviors. Even where there were chronic problems, such as substance use, with a balance of supportive factors, these women were able to make reasonable and stable care arrangements for their children.     

城乡统筹视角下吉林省县域经济发展的思考

"十二五"时期,吉林省社会经济的发展关键在于统筹城乡,而发展县域经济是统筹城乡的必由之路。目前,吉林省县域经济发展的质量和效益都有稳步提高,但仍然存在着经济整体水平不高、地区发展不平衡、产业结构需调整、城乡差距大、生态环境差的问题。要全面推进县域经济,必须遵循"三化"统筹、推进城镇化和低碳化发展的原则:转变政府职能和经济发展方式;打造产业集群以推进工业化;发展城镇经济以推进城镇化;培育龙头经济以促进农业现代化。