Territorial Governance Alexandre Dubois Nordregio

A tentative definition Multi-level and geographically flexible territorial governance should be able to manage different functional territories and ensure the balanced and coordinated contribution of the local, regional, national, and European actors – such as authorities or governments – in compliance with the principle of subsidiary through systematic integration of territorial aspects. (Territorial State and Perspectives 2011, 85) Territorial Governance is... ‒ a way of achieving spatial development objectives (Stead & Waterhout, 2008) ‒ the means by which to achieve a teritorial development goal (ESPON TANGO) ‒ the notion that makes it possible for territories to act as collective actors at different levels (Davoudi et al. 2008)

Unpacking Territorial Governance ‒ Territorial Capital: How to make best use of the assets that a territory holds? ‒ Re-scaling, re-territorialisation of policy strategies and practices: functional territories as an object of policymaking ‒ New institutional settings and Territorial Cooperation: developing new legal frameworks for territories to deal more efficiently with the territorial impacts of borderless, joint challenges ‒ Spatial Visioning: prospective interventions -vs- reactive ones

Operationalising Territorial Governance Three interlocking aspects to consider ‒ Complex issues: interdepedencies between territories are such that addressing development challenges, e.g. linked to globalisation, demographic decline or climate change, in one region may have an impact in another one. ‒ Policy coordination and integration: an issue-based approach calls for policy integration (upstream) and coordination (downstream), among actors and policies. ‒ Functional territories: identify coherent (i.e. with strong interdependencies) geographic entities for developing adequate policy interventions and pooling resources.

Narratives Narratives are THE important part of the scenarios when it comes to territorial governance as it explains how processes unfold ”Corporate governance practices” ”Inefficient planning and rigid governance structures” ‒ Obsolescence of boundaries for affecting socio-economic processes (”political borders are overcome by flows”) ‒ Decisions of non-public actors have strong territorial impact (”corporate government”, ‒ Link between sectoral priorities and the distribution of their impact across EU territory ‒ Tackle ineffective planning => Spatially differentiated strategies ‒ Managing conflicts of interests between actors, between sectors ‒ From Fragmented to integrated (”Catching up will require an unlikely coordinated effort.”)