Workshop 9:
Locality and Foresight Practices
Friday 9 June at 9.15-11.00
Chair: Heli Hookana
The Use of Local Culture in Regional Development in Southwest-Finland Archipelago
Katriina Siivonen (Ethnology, University of Turku and Turku School of Economics, Finland Futures Research Centre, Finland)
EU regional and structural funds are used for developing economy and living conditions of the Southwest-Finland archipelago. Local culture is considered an important aspect in this development work.
Interaction between individuals and their surroundings is the basic process in culture. Accordingly, boundlessness, heterogeneity and change are basic qualities of culture. Therefore culture is one global unity, and as whole it forms an ever changing, multidimensional network. Through these points of view it is possible to search for explanation for different empirical cultural observations without any a priori concept of “a culture”. However, in to the global cultural process arise relatively homogenous and separate structures, which are usually seen as different local cultures. Such view of cultures is frequently utilised in regional development work.
According to my interview and observation material I will show how the culture of everyday life is opposite to the construct of cultures used in the regional development work. There arise easily tensions between everyday culture and the culture used in the development work. Further, when analysing the use of culture in regional development work, it seems relevant to direct attention to two points. First is the requirement to consider the local distinctiveness as a merit, and second is putting the regions in reciprocal competition, when resources for local development are being dispensed. Because of this, there arise tensions also between different constructs of local culture used by different organizations in the development work. With cultural understanding all these tensions can be relieved.
Future of Local Authorities - Future Barometer of the Municipal Sector
Santtu von Bruun (The Association of Finish Local and Regional Authorities, Helsinki, Finland)
This study examined the future expectations of experts and municipal managers with regard to the local government sector (until the year 2025). Based on these expectations, important changes in the operational environment from the viewpoint of local authorities and possible future paths have been assessed, as well as the development in different parts of the country and in different local authorities. The purpose of the study was not to forecast the future of the Finnish welfare society, but to support local authorities to create their own future and to produce material on future-related issues and possible alternative development trends for the discussion about the future and as basis for decision-making. The Delphi method was applied in the study. The first inquiry was sent to a respondents panel composed of selected local authority respondents and other experts. Another more extensive inquiry was sent to all Finnish municipal managers, chairmen of the municipal councils and boards, and to a separate expert panel. The estimates of the respondents were mainly quite unanimous and the future of local authorities appears in many respects to be dictated by necessity due to changes in the operational environment. The estimates focused on the effects of the global economy, the ageing of population and migration and on changes in the employment rate, municipal finances, service production and regional structure caused by them. According to the estimates, the concentration of trade and industry, jobs and population to a few vital growth regions will accelerate. The growth regions are particularly the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, the biggest university towns and the surrounding municipalities in their catchments area. There will be only a few small successful areas besides these growth regions. Along with the development there will be a more and more distinct division into viable successful regions and declining set-back regions. The development of the general economic situation and of the employment rate in particular are critical factors from the local authority perspective. According to the estimates, the current employment rate is not sufficient to finance the present welfare system, taking in consideration the expected strong fall in the support ratio in the next few years. It is likely that the development process will include a high unemployment rate simultaneously combined with shortage of labour in some sectors or areas, while the relationship between demand and supply of labour will vary considerably between different tasks, sectors and in particular in different parts of the country. In the majority of local authorities municipal finances will weaken even in the short run. This calls for new ways of service production and increased productivity. Most likely local government functions will more and more be organised as contractual cross-border and regional co-operation. The personal responsibility for individual well-being will increase clearly. Due to fiscal austerity, the local tax rate will increase and the services will be prioritized and cut in almost every local authority. In addition most local authorities will introduce new service fees or increase present fees significantly. This development will lead to extensive changes in local government structures. Local authorities will merge into larger administrative units or form new co-operative structures based on networks. Strengthened co-operation between local authorities will be supplemented by a considerable reduction of the number of local authorities through mergers and by transferring certain functions to the regional level. Local authorities will lose significance as arenas of decision-making, and the responsibility for decision-making will increasingly be transferred to the regional level. In declining local authorities, the lack of financial resources results in a diminution of local government. This might lead to decreased opportunities for citizens to exert influence. Local authorities play a significant role as providers and deliverers of welfare services. Ongoing changes will have a considerable impact on what the whole Finnish welfare society will look like in the future.
Future of Place? Local-regional Development and the Challenge of Place Promotion
Topiantti Äikäs (Department of Geography, University of Oulu, Finland)
In my paper, the concepts of place, place promotion and local-regional development are studied as a part of wider aim of improving the reputation of cities and regions. The discussion is based on three arguments that point out the importance of dialogue between academic research and practical local development practises. The arguments are: i) the concept of place is not fully understood among local-regional developers and city authorities; ii) the process of place promotion is taken for granted from the economical point of view and its role of symbolic economy is underestimated, and; iii) the problems of local-regional development acts relates the short-term aims and resources on future-making. Finally, I will end up with three possible scenarios which connect these aspects to the question of place in the future.