THE IMPACT OF THE REGIONAL APPROACH ON THE WELFARE AND THE WELL BEING OF CITIZENS

Opening considerations

Decentralization and regionalization are a hot topic in Europe. And not only because a number of regions does not agree with the policies of their national government and do not feel culturally recognized. Since 1992 the European Union works with the subsidiarity principle. This is defined in the following way: “The subsidiarity principle aims to ensure that decisions are taken as closely as possible to the citizen. Except in cases where the EU has exclusive competence, action at European level should not be taken unless it is more effective than action taken at national, regional or local level.”[1] The EU focused on local initiatives in its previous committee and in its current committee with the Cohesion Funds as crucial incentive. The Cohesion Funds are a tool of the EU’s cohesion policy which is “the European Union's strategy to promote and support the ‘overall harmonious development’ of its Member States and regions.”[2]

In recent years, the trend towards urbanization has shown that mayors and agglomeration presidents can have an important impact on the development of their city or urban area. Successful mayors and governors, however, have one feature in common: they are all very influenced - consciously or unconsciously - by the adage of the third American president Thomas Jefferson: “The care of human life and happiness and not their destruction is the only legitimate object of good government. ”Ironically, this can be read in a letter that he addressed to the Republicans on 31-03-1809.

There are fantastic theoretical explanations about how the regional or local approach should function. A bestseller is the book by Benjamin R. Barber, senior research scholar at City University of New York.[3] Unfortunately, the subtitle of his book is provocative and confronting: "Dysfunctional Nations, Rising Cities". Decentralization and regionalization are therefore viewed with suspicion in centrally organized states and with governments that prefer to be in control.

I prefer to work from a practical point of view, with examples of successful local and regional projects and themes that have not offended national governments, but rather have been fully acknowledged by them that they have benefited the well-being of their nationals. In this article I start from the celebration of the 25-year governorship of the governor of the province in which I live and work, Lodewijk De Witte. In addition, in my speech I incorporate lectures organized by the Public Works’ Elderman of the municipality in which I live and work. And although almost 40% of the population in my region is also blinded by allegations of right-wing and left-wing politicians that cause them to fall in the pit of their own electoral behavior, Belgians are contradictively enough to be among the happiest people in Europe according to Eurostat[2]. And that has in the first place to do with the historical fact that since centuries, cities and municipalities in my country have enjoyed a very important series of freedoms and have therefore been able to pursue a policy close to the citizen in many areas even though we became dominated by Burgundy, Spain, Austria and France. And those local authorities took very practical initiatives, starting from the Latin adage: improvidus, apto, quod victum, or improvise, adapt and overcome.

The themes of the province

The celebration of Governor Lodewijk De Witte gave a good overview of his assignments and "passions", because at least one speaker had been invited for each. It gives a good picture of what regional and local authorities can do as an extension of the national ones,[4] provided that they have sufficient powers and resources. Because the first adage of this governor is: legal, correct and honest administration. The tasks and powers that were treated with great fire were: representation in the region of the higher authorities, coach and interlocutor of the local authorities, spatial planning and mobility, safety, regional development as well as social and economic innovation. And that contained real passions: society, economy, ecology and solidarity.

Break the compartmentalisation of public services

One of the most important tasks that has been addressed and that sends a message to national, regional and local authorities across Europe is a genuine commitment to breaking the fragmentation of public services.[5] This concerns the eternal dichotomy between specialists and generalists. But it is also a plea for national, regional and local projects to set up steering groups with all stakeholders so that they are and remain aware of the obstacles and obligations that authorities impose to come up with solutions. We come back with the slogan "improvidus, apto, quod victum".

We experienced it ourselves in the realization of a business park of 80 ha where 18 different government agencies and ministries had to give their approval, where it was expected that an environmental impact report would be drawn up, a stop for public transport, an exemplary project for waste water purification of the companies with a 3-hectare reed pond, a bicycle bridge over the highway had to be realized so as not to interrupt a cycle highway, an entrance and exit complex on the highway had to be constructed, sound barriers had to be raised, a central parking lot for all companies. Twenty to 25 government services often sat at the table in quarterly meetings. The advantage was that specialists got to know each other and learned to think in terms of problem-solving.

Jeroen Reyniers told the same story during a conference on high-performance suburban landscape.[6] His proposition was that the scarce open space that still exists in urban and suburban areas in the densely populated Benelux should be cherished and that spatial planning of such areas should be the starting point for building contractors of roads, business parks and residential areas. The main argument is that areas without open space run the risk of getting warmer by 4 degrees by 2040. Its main principles were that open space should be open and accessible to the neighborhood, so that the neighborhood will also take ownership of the area. These so-called "cherished neighborhoods" also lead to more solidarity between the neighborhood residents, regardless of their origin. It is also important here that the systemic value of open space should be increased as much as possible, with emphasis on -among other elements- water, sufficient food for animals and plants, perpetuating biodiversity. This could only be achieved by his agency, the Flemish Land Company, by gathering all parties involved around the table and thereby allowing each body to contribute to finding solutions. Once again, this was about trying out small projects, which then tried to connect and finally reach a consensus with other organizations that planned interventions in the same area.

Mobility and ecology in local and regional context

Europe has few megapolises except London, Paris, Moscow and Istanbul. In other parts of the world that trend is faster and more intense. Studies show that by 2030 there will be 41 mega cities in the world [7] and that by 2050 66% of the population will live in cities.[8] If there is a theme that attracts cities and urban areas, it is mobility and its social, economic and economic aspects. Cities have the advantage of being able to work from a city council and with a mayor. Urban areas can declare themselves happy if they have a governor of a province or region who can draw and coordinate initiatives at the level of the entire area. In Belgium, Brussels is one of those headache generators: it is a capital region with 18 municipalities and the city of Brussels. But next to the city region, the urban area continues in the 19 municipalities of the Brussels outskirts, which belong to the Flemish region. The coach of those municipalities is the provincial governor of Flemish Brabant who has quickly recognized the need for consultation and cooperation. Ironically, the metropolitan region has more contiguous open space areas than the periphery. This has grown historically and is also cherished by the urban region, often at the expense of the development of mobility in the peripheral area that is intersected by a city ring that is one of the busiest motorways in Europe. According to the 'TomTom Congestion Index', Brussels is the 10th most 'obstructed city in Europe'.[9]

Within the Brussels-Capital Region, however, people are working hard on solutions. And those are not simple, because the challenges for traffic attacks and pollution are constantly increasing with the technological evolutions: e-commerce, department stores with mass supply, Uber eats and other prepared meals home delivery. In Europe there are 555,000 early deaths from air pollution. E-commerce is currently not a blessing with its principles of delivery within 2 hours or at the latest the next day, of free returns and of missed home deliveries that are collected elsewhere. The consumer behavior of the city dweller also has a negative impact on mobility and air pollution, with the majority informing themselves online, testing in a shop, making the purchase online, having it delivered at home even if they are absent, and ordering too much, which leads them to the collection point to return. Research into pollution in Brussels by road transport has shown that the cost to the community is € 51.692 / day.[10]

What solutions are being considered? Within the city there is a trend for mixed use of buildings, so that both living and working occur, and even city farming on the roofs. An important tendency is to make it less compulsory for people to leave on a daily basis to work by introducing telecommuting, by implementing co-working at premises close to cross roads and transport hubs, by organizing teleconferencing instead of physical meetings.[11] In addition, car sharing is already present, bicycles and steps with various systems applied: back to one bicycles, back to many (pole stations), free floating bicycles, free floating steps and scooters. The next step will be car sharing with the perspective of 21,000 taxis instead of 330,000 private vehicles and 621 buses.[12] And certainly through a dramatic rethinking of the production lines by going from linear economy to recycling economy to circular economy. We have already dealt with this topic in previous articles.[13]

Local or regional initiatives also often make the difference in rural areas. The construction of wind turbines as an alternative energy source is in the doldrums of many densely populated Western European countries. Resistance from the population is persistent and consistent. As a result, the number of new wind turbines in Belgium and France has only increased marginally in recent years. After all, the burden is often for the population in rural areas with a lot of open space, and the benefits for the energy multinationals. Local initiatives sometimes break that pattern. In the neighborhood of Charleville-Mézière, the cooperative "Les Ailes des Crêtes" was founded, stimulated by local mandatories. The idea of this was already developed in 2003, when a group of municipalities alongside the northern French city of Charleville-Mézières devised a local climate plan. They were then the avant-garde of the "transition écologique", a term that since then has been taken over by the Yellow Vests . This is a civilian project in which the majority of the capital is in the hands of private individuals and local companies and all income returns to them. By playing builder themselve, the citizen coordination also ensures that the participating municipalities are not overwhelmed by gigantic windmills and that their beautiful landscape is preserved.[14]

Regional development is a crucial task for local authorities

When we talk about regional development, we often tend to focus solely on job creation. And indeed, it is an important aspect. According to Abraham Maslow's theory, humans would only strive to satisfy the needs that were placed higher in the hierarchy after the lower-placed needs were satisfied. Physical needs such as sleep, food, drinking, sex, but also needs for safety and security such as work and relationships must first be realized before attention can be paid to friendship, love and positive-social relationships.

Municipal governments are expected to take an increasingly active role towards building territorial cohesion and establishing an enabling environment that promotes local economic growth and meets the real needs of citizens. The infrastructure needs of the municipalities remain high in many regions of the EU and in the candidate-member states, while the financial and management capacities of the municipal governments are still weak to address these needs also because of inadequate funds to cover the related costs.

In calls for proposal issued by the EU in the framework of its assistance to municipalities in candidate-states, the priority of the call is to support municipalities in the fields of job creation and local economic development, but also for youth empowerment, education, sports, environment, culture, and other basic municipal infrastructure.[15]

Striving for socio-economic innovation within the dynamics of a region

Cities and regions with dynamic governance also often have a tendency to address social problems dynamically. In many cases they get help from the competence centers and from the companies that are present in their area. The role of these competence centers is not only to help companies to become more efficient or to develop new products. It often goes further and broader, through the search for solutions to social problems that arise in the city or region.

Numerous cities have sought solutions to accommodate newcomers in a structured way, to provide them with housing and work, to learn the language and to integrate it into the society where they ended up. It is denying a reality if one ignores the refugee problem, even if a majority of the population would rather see them leave the country. Newcomers demand a targeted policy, with adapted initiatives, certainly at school, especially for the labor market, also in the housing and welfare policy.[16] Immigration is not always bad news. There is also talent that can strengthen the local economic and social tissue. In many Italian municipalities, immigrants are recruited to combat depopulation and to once again man a shop, school and cultural tissue to the benefit of the young local families who have to leave otherwise due to a lack of local facilities.

Innovation with urban space took place in the German city of Freiburg, where a new district was built in Vauban in the 1990s, about 4 kilometers south of the city center and is intended as a model for sustainable urban development, including a number of passive houses . The 41-hectare area consists of apartment blocks, student houses (converted barracks) and large garage buildings. All buildings have a maximum of 4 floors, and no two buildings are exactly alike. Streets in the neighborhood are relatively car-free, it is not allowed to park the car on private property. But people can drop their groceries at home and then park the car in one of the large garages covered with solar panels on the outskirts of the neighborhood. Energy and heat are generated centrally for a large part of the neighborhood with wood pellets. At the edge of the neighborhood there is also an energy plus section designed by Rolf Disch. There are currently around 5600 people living in 2472 families. The average age is 28.7. The number of cars per 1000 inhabitants is –very low- 172.[17]

Economic innovation is finally high on the agenda of many a region. Sometimes the regional administration encourages this. The Moldova North Region Business Forum was organized on September 20th 2019 in Bal?i by Regional Development Agency North (ADRNord) with the focus on SME integration into the Global Value Chains. Several key-note speakers[18] explored the possibilities of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). This phenomenon, which is aimed at outsourcing a number of services from large companies to lower-wage countries with sufficiently highly educated people, offers opportunities for the Moldova region in Romania and the republic of Moldova to keep their better educated in the country and thus contribute to the growth of its economy. In Flemish Brabant and Brussels, on the other hand, there is the will of the universities to create spin-offs from scientific research, which contribute to the economic development of the region. In both cases the incentive comes from the university as well as from the region, the province or the city region.

Ensure safety

“Safety is more than not fearing for one’s own life. It is about protecting against burglary and theft, or preventing violence within the family, or combating drug addiction with its sometimes dramatic consequences. The point is that people can feel comfortable, at home and on public roads. It is about being able to organize parties and festivals, with well thought out security measures, but without extreme regulations. It is about providing an effective response to feelings of fear that no one is protected from, but which are often falsely encouraged.”[19] These wise words from our governor indicate that this governmental aspect must be exercised close to the population, where knowledge of the terrain is paramount, but where objectivity must also be paramount. The principle of equality is one of the foundations of Western constitutions and therefore requires an approach without prejudice. And again it refers to Maslow's theory, in which basic needs have to be fulfilled before people can develop their personalities. Those basic needs are the same for everyone and should not be taken away. It is also clear that those basic needs are best safeguarded by authorities that are close to the people, from a regional approach.

Final remarks

I have already dealt with the subject on topics that can be realized by regional and local authorities in earlier articles.[20] The fact that the EU pays so much attention to it in its recent programs is encouraging. On the other hand, it is also clear that the regional approach theme comes across as threatening for countries that are traditionally centralized and therefore do not systematically allocate resources to their provinces or cities / urban areas.

The fact that the EU also devotes significant resources to supporting regions in candidate countries such as Albania and Northern Macedonia, and even in Partnership countries such as Ukraine and Georgia, means that it is serious. During the opening statement as nominee, newly elected EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen explicitly stated that "we need more" on cohesion funds, and spoke out in favor of subsidiarity. The proposals also include regions and local communities in a European Climate Pact. This is, or course, the way to reach a local-friendly EU.[21]

[1] https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/policy/what/glossary/s/subsidiarity, Retrieved on 7/01/2020

[2] https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/policy/what/glossary/c/cohesion-policy. Retrieved on 7/01/2020.

[3] Benjamin R.Barber: If Mayors Ruled the World. Dysfunctional Nations, Rising Cities, 2013, Yale University Press

[4] In the case of the Kingdom of Belgium, the governor here represents both the land of Flanders and the federal state of Belgium.

[5] Joost Swinnen, project manager De Lijn and Brabantnet, presentation on Spatial planning and mobility, dated. 16-12-2019

[6] Jeroen Reyniers: Open ruimte als sturend element van stadsontwikkeling, (Open space as a guiding element of urban development) presentation, De Muze Meise 19/12/2019

[7] Jeff Desjardins, These will be the world's megacities in 2030, in World Economic Forum, 30 Oct 2018 https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/10/mapping-the-world-s-new-megacities-in-2030/

[8] https://citywise.net/news/2017/2/9/the-united-nations-projects-that-66-of-t, retrieved on 22-12-2019

[9] Wanneer staan de ergste files rond Brussel? (When are the worst traffic jams around Brussels?), in Vacature 2019, https://www.vacature.com/nl-be/carriere/werkplek/wanneer-staan-de-ergste-files-rond-brussel retrieved on 22-12-2019

[10] Mommens, Brusseleers, Van Lier & Macharis, Brussels vrachtverkeer meer impact op gezondheid dan gedacht (Brussels freight traffic has more impact on health than expected), VUBPress, 2019

[11] Cathy Macharis, Mobiliteit van de toekomst (Mobility of the Future) presentation De Muze, Meise (B), 28 november 2019

[12] Pieter Ballon, Cathy Macharis en Michael Ryckewaert (ed): De Humane Stad, 30 voorstellen voor een stad op mensenmaat,( The Humane City, 30 proposals for a city on a human scale), VUBPress, 2017

[13] Louis Delcart, Regions and Cities as Stimulators Towards Green and Digital Economy,

in:

International Journal of Innovation in the Digital Economy (IJDE), sept.2018

[14] Story in Jolien De Bouw - ‘Zelf windmolens bouwen om ons landschap te redden’ ("Building windmills yourself to save our landscape") - De Standaard – 31-12- 2019

[15] EU for municipalities, Guidelines for grant applicants, Reference: EuropeAid/166359/DD/ACT/AL

[16] Lodewijk De Witte, Terug- en vooruitkijken (Look back and ahead), Speech 1-10-2019, Provincial government Flemish Brabant

[17] Freiburg Statistical Yearbook 2013

[18] Very efficient interaction on #BPO potential with key speakers: from Iasi, Dan Zaharia, founder of FabLab & PIN Magazin, George Turcanasu, Iasi University Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Alina Monacu, Sector advisor ICT & BPO, Balti State University representative. Sharing the experience of Iasi and inspiring Balti BPO business opportunities. Mila Malairau, Executive Director of #AMCHAM Moldova shared the experience and BPO development trends. Pedersen & Partners shared their experience of BPO activity in Balti. Franz-Anton Plitt, shared the experience in Edinet. They appreciated the multilingual, cost efficient and dedicated human capital. Another strong asset is developed Internet infrastructure, and the incentives of Moldova IT park with 7% unique tax.

[19] Lodewijk De Witte, Terug- en vooruitkijken (Look back and ahead), Speech 1-10-2019, Provincial government Flemish Brabant

[20] Louis Delcart: THE REGIONAL APPROACH: WHICH SUBJECTS CAN HAVE A BENEFIT THROUGH IT?, in LinkedIn Pulse, September 13, 2016, https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/regional-approach-which-subjects-can-have-benefit-through-delcart/ retrieved on 22-12-2019

[21] https://platforma-dev.eu/local-friendly-new-commission-president-ursula-von-der-leyen/ retrieved on 22-12-2019