Institutional environment and local development: commitment constrained opportunities in the implementation of settlement programs

Abstract

This paper studies the ways place-based interventions embedded in multilevel policy systems can make a positive contribution to spatial justice. Drawing on the idea that place matters, the place-based approach advocates that socio-spatial inequalities can be overcome by the production of place-tailored public goods designed and implemented through integrated and deliberative policy decisions, which guarantee the more equitable distribution of public resources. Within the EU"s multilevel governance system, the EU has provided incentives for place-based policies through its cohesion policy for over a decade. In this multi-level system the role of external agents, such as the European Commission and the central state, is to help local actors to mobilize resources #from below" through an enabling regulative framework. However, research has found that place-based interventions, in order to generate positive resources for local development, must be based on a #virtuous relationship" between various scales of government. This relationship is shaped by a governance framework that applies principles of distributed authority, integration of various branches of policies, and partnership between the central state, lower levels of state and non-state actors. This study analyses local desires for change and capacities in a series of place-based interventions in the disadvantaged neighbourhood of György-telep shaped by the governance framework of domestic policy regimes in which they were embedded. We interrogate the extent to which the Hungarian institutional and regulatory framework meets place-based desires, knowledge and capabilities and the kind of capacities local agents need to mobilize in order to foster integrated housing policies. Overall, our findings suggest that the state’s commitment to principles of spatial justice is a key factor in the efficiency of place-based interventions. State commitment to spatial justice can bring stability to governance structures, and enable the upscaling and long-term success of place-based interventions. State commitment can also ensure a #virtuous" representation of the public good, i.e. the accommodation of diverse understandings of the concept in policy decisions without favouring any particular representations. Our study demonstrates that in the absence of such commitments and strong local capacities for community action, the state can in fact co-opt place-based initiatives to promote national policy objectives rather than furthering local social cohesion. On the other hand, the low efficiency of place-based interventions is also related to the local state’s lack of commitment. The analysis of place-based projects in György-telep indicates that the implementation of settlement programs is often constrained by conflicting local relations and the lack of local commitment to social cohesion goals. The case of place-based interventions in György telep also testifies to the limits of Cohesion Policy-funded place-based initiatives in the EU"s multilevel governance system. Our study indicates that the effects of domestic institutional constellations can often be stronger than the catalysing role of place-based development. Place-based interventions have weak capacities for affecting domestic policy systems through spill-overs and social learning. If national policy objectives are based on the systematic reproduction of injustice narrowly targeted place-based projects cannot provide spatial justice for marginalized communities.