Maria Elena Santagati, Sara Bonini Baraldi and Luca Zan
Decentralization is a widespread and international phenomenon in public administration. Despite the interest of public management scholars, an in-depth analysis of the…
Abstract
Purpose
Decentralization is a widespread and international phenomenon in public administration. Despite the interest of public management scholars, an in-depth analysis of the interrelationship between two of its forms – deconcentration and devolution – and its impact on policy and management capacities at the local level is seldom investigated.
Design/methodology/approach
This article addresses this gap by examining the implementation of deconcentration and devolution processes in France and Italy in the cultural field, combining the analysis of national reform processes with in-depth analyses of two regional cases. The research is the result of document analysis, participatory observation and semi-structured interviews.
Findings
The article reconstructs the impacts of devolution and deconcentration processes on the emergence of policy and management capacity in two regions (Rhone-Alpes and Piedmont) in the cultural sector. The article shows that decentralization in the cultural sector in France and Italy is the result of different combinations of devolution and deconcentration processes, that the two processes mutually affect their effectiveness, and that this effectiveness is deeply linked to the previous policy and management capacity of the central state in a specific field/country.
Originality/value
The article investigates decentralization as a result of the combination of deconcentration and devolution in comparative terms and in a specific sector of implementation, highlighting the usefulness of this approach also for other sectors/countries
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This article reflects on the lack of focus on history characterizing the strategic management field. Reasons and consequences of such a peculiar situation need to be pointed out…
Abstract
This article reflects on the lack of focus on history characterizing the strategic management field. Reasons and consequences of such a peculiar situation need to be pointed out in order to develop a better history-grounded research approach inside the field.
In terms of (the missing) history of thought, a fear of history seems to characterize the field, for a more aware historical understanding of strategic management and practices is likely to question not only notions and concepts, but the very perception of the field as a practically oriented discipline. A lack of historical reflection is usually preferred, wherein strategic management seems to come out of the blue, ignoring its inner evolution over time, and the relationships with previous bodies of knowledge in the business realm, such as for instance administrative sciences and accounting.
In terms of the history of practice the situation is – if possible – even worse, with an obscure understanding of contexts and features of managerial practices in the past. Archival research is called for here, drawing on two research projects on pre-industrial revolution context (the Spanish Royal Tobacco Factory in the XVIII century, and the Venice Arsenal in the turn of the XVI century), in order to examine how prior management practices can influence and inform our present understanding of the discipline of strategic management. A less simplistic view of managing practices in the past emerges, which challenges the commonly held cycle of innovation and discontinuity perpetually alleged in the strategic management field to legitimize its own existence as a research area.
While strategic management tools show a potential contribution to historical understanding in this archival research, a more historically aware understanding of the evolution of the field is thus intended as a way to falsify strategic management theory.
The purpose of this paper is to introduce the papers selected for the present special issue on planning and heritage. This paper aims at advancing knowledge about the variety of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce the papers selected for the present special issue on planning and heritage. This paper aims at advancing knowledge about the variety of uses and meanings of planning tools and practices in the cultural heritage field, by bridging disciplines and by building on evidence from the studies composing the special issue.
Design/methodology/approach
After a review of the debate on planning in management studies, the paper briefly outlines the features of the five selected papers and it reconstructs a composite narrative on planning in cultural heritage, as it emerges from the collected papers taken together.
Findings
In the fields of both management and urban studies a similar trajectory of “rise and fall” of rationalistic views of planning has taken place. Today's discourse of planning in urban studies is strongly dominated by the issue of inclusiveness and participation. When looking at “who” really participates in these processes, it is clear that a vast array of public and private actors is involved, at least formally. When looking at “how” they are involved, a variety of possible approaches to participative planning are in use, from more formal, to more informal and emergent ones. Whether these participative forms of planning in cultural heritage actually “work” remains in part an open question.
Originality/value
Despite the increasing centrality of plans and planning in cultural heritage management, an investigation about the state-of-the-art of the debate on planning in this field and an exploration of how planning is done in practice are missing.
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Luca Zan and Qingmei Xue
Transformations taking place in China are of crucial importance in the development of the world economy. The international community is turning its attention to China's move…
Abstract
Purpose
Transformations taking place in China are of crucial importance in the development of the world economy. The international community is turning its attention to China's move towards a market economy and assessing the likely impact on the years ahead. This paper aims to plot the evolution of administrative reforms in China with particular reference to the state (and therefore public sector), because the modernization of the state is an issue that will persist into the future, and because the state itself was driving the country's transformation towards a market economy in a deliberate way.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper revisits the debate on administrative reforms at different levels, i.e. fiscal, budgeting, government organizations, and public sector units (PSUs). In addition to reconstructing the evolution of norms and procedures as part of deliberate strategies by the center, the paper also investigates how actual practices at the micro level have followed this process of reform, with reference to the administration of cultural heritage at the municipal level, based on a field research project.
Findings
A lack of understanding of the role played by actual accounting transformation seems to characterize the current debate on policies. Serious discrepancies can be found between expectations and actual changes; between macro and micro policies, and micro practices.
Originality/value
An holistic focus on various trend of reforms is taken, looking at debates that are usually separated, also linking them to actual changes in accounting practice.
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The purpose of this paper is to discuss some of the main UNESCO sites in China. The cases under study offer some insight into the complexity of the management of Chinese cultural…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss some of the main UNESCO sites in China. The cases under study offer some insight into the complexity of the management of Chinese cultural organizations, as well as the problem of the presentation of China's heritage in a new global context.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on field research in 2008/2009 on the Chinese sites on UNESCO's World Heritage List (WHL). While details of the research will be provided in a later stage, some interesting findings and patterns are emerging.
Findings
Building on the evidence of several case studies, a preliminary evaluation of the costs, the benefits and the negative outcomes of the listing process is presented in the second section. In a nutshell, the process appears to be increasingly expensive for local government and, despite the expectations for successful inscription onto the WHL, results in terms of increased tourism income are not always guaranteed. On the one hand, being listed raises the awareness of heritage protection among the general public but, on the other, there are also risks connected to tourism overexploitation.
Originality/value
From a methodological point of view the study points out the scarce quality of basic data regarding visitors and financial issues among Chinese World Heritage sites. This is particularly critical for sustainable development if it is considered that a World Heritage site should be accountable to the international audience. In the final section of the paper some open questions concerning sites' management models are presented.
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The purpose of this paper is to analyze elements of continuity and change in the administrative history of the Historical Sanctuary of Machu Picchu (HSM) over the last decade.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze elements of continuity and change in the administrative history of the Historical Sanctuary of Machu Picchu (HSM) over the last decade.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a field study and of both qualitative and quantitative data, the paper reconstructs changes in accounting and planning processes and discourses.
Findings
At the macro level, in the recent past Peru has gone through a process of modernization of the State, moving to more transparent and accountable forms of public management that deeply restructured the public sector. In parallel, the international community (particularly, UNESCO) has urged the adoption of a comprehensive strategic management plan for the HSM. Common to these pressures for change is a logic of efficiency, of rationalization and control of public expenditures and of more effective public services. At the micro level, these two pressures for change are shaping both the transformation of the accounting representation system and the managerial and planning practices in Machu Picchu.
Originality/value
The paper focuses on a description of the institutional settings in order to make sense of the multiple rationalities involved; second, a reconstruction of the underlying “business model” of the main entity involved in the administration of Machu Picchu (in terms of internal structure and scope, visitor performance, financial performances, human resources); and third, a focus on the progressive introduction of master planning as a practice.
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Veronica Cristina Heras, Anja Wijffels, Fausto Cardoso, Aziliz Vandesande, Mario Santana, Jos Van Orshoven, Thérèse Steenberghen and Koenraad van Balen
The purpose of this paper is to presents a conceptual framework for a value-based monitoring system that serves as the core element for heritage conservation planning of World…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to presents a conceptual framework for a value-based monitoring system that serves as the core element for heritage conservation planning of World Heritage Sites. It reports on the early stage of heritage management research within the PRECOM3OS framework, in collaboration with the University of Leuven in Belgium and the Universidad de Cuenca in Ecuador. A new management concept was developed throughout a five-year interdisciplinary and multi-actor growth process within an international setting.
Design/methodology/approach
The application of the preventive conservation approach to world heritage management places the concepts of authenticity and integrity at the core of the heritage monitoring system. Moreover, the monitoring system is converted into a decision support tool for intervention and maintenance planning, beyond the mere purpose of inventorying or generating alerts.
Findings
The regular update of information for condition, risks and value assessment strengths and support strategic heritage planning. The conceptual information system developed is based on an inventory system and updated through monitoring. Therefore, planners are supplied with a tool for alternative scenarios, potential prioritization of intervention, options for preventive conservation and multi-criteria support for strategic planning over time.
Research limitations/implications
The monitoring system is not fully implemented in the World Heritage Site of Cuenca; however, a generic model is put forward, developed to generate a planning tool that can be applied for different heritage sites.
Originality/value
More specific, the integration of two concepts: the value assessment and monitoring from a preventive conservation perspective is considered an innovative contribution to the development of decision-making systems in the broader urban planning context of historic cities.
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Are Thorkildsen and Marianne Ekman
The purpose of this paper is to examine a pilot in a national R&D programme in Norway (2007-2010) to join the ongoing discussion on the different meanings and uses of planning…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine a pilot in a national R&D programme in Norway (2007-2010) to join the ongoing discussion on the different meanings and uses of planning tools and approaches in cultural heritage across various disciplines. The study aimed to reveal how patterns of collaborative planning processes unfold in a complex cultural heritage setting, the key challenges, dilemmas and tensions in the different phases of the process and implications for future research and policy.
Design/methodology/approach
Longitudinal explorative dialogic action research was undertaken to investigate and capture the evolution of knowledge-creating processes. The qualitative data collection methods included 25 semi-structured interviews, focus group interviews, participatory observation and text and document analysis.
Findings
Experiential R&D activities can bridge and transcend the context-specific tensions that separate the involved actors and their activities. Furthermore, a pro-active cultural heritage authority is required at the national level to maintain supportive links to the local level, and it is necessary to manage and prevent potential opportunistic action from negatively affecting cultural heritage sites and processes.
Research limitations/implications
The single case study approach makes generalising beyond the current study difficult. However, the findings raise relevant issues for further research on the management of cultural heritage policy from a sustainable development perspective.
Originality/value
This paper identifies the need to study the evolving processes of linking cultural heritage, sustainable development and collaborative planning, as well as the dynamic relationship between the national, regional and local levels of heritage management.
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Katarzyna Kosmala and Roman Sebastyanski
The main objective of this paper is to analyse the roles of the artists’ collective in the creation of socially shared knowledge, concerning Gdansk Shipyard's heritage protection…
Abstract
Purpose
The main objective of this paper is to analyse the roles of the artists’ collective in the creation of socially shared knowledge, concerning Gdansk Shipyard's heritage protection during the urban regeneration process over last ten years, since 2002.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical section of the paper is based on a single case study concerning the artists collective’ ability to build a complex network of social relations, to research cultural heritage of the Gdansk Shipyard, to translate this knowledge into symbolic languages through art-based work and to transmit knowledge to the wider public with an aim to engage in an open dialogic public communication.
Findings
The case study draws on insights from participant observation carried out on the premises of the Gdansk Shipyard between years 2000 and 2008 and interviews with individual artists from the collective, conducted between years 2004 and 2006. Data was also drawn from archival research. The exposure in public media was also examined over last ten years, including Internet websites as well as newspapers and magazines’ content.
Research limitations/implications
The case study research indicates that methods and techniques applied by the artists’ collective in researching the shipyard's historical heritage and communicating their findings to the wider public have been more effective than the official planning methods of expert-led post-industrial urban regeneration. Over the last ten years, the artists have succeeded to transform the negative perceptions about the values of the shipyard's cultural heritage and engaged local citizens in the preservation of the historical identities of the place. In 2012, the Mayor of Gdansk has invited representatives of the artists’ collective to the newly established Young City Stakeholders’ Board in order to utilize their knowledge of the shipyard's cultural heritage and their capacity to mediate between various groups involved in urban regeneration planning process as well as to communicate with the wider public.
Practical implications
Despite persistent views in literature that equate public engagement in the planning process of urban regeneration with a kind of “modern utopia”, we argue that participatory process is not only possible in practice but also can be highly effective and democratically ethical.
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Marlijn Baarveld, Marnix Smit and Geert Dewulf
The purpose of the study is to generate insights into the planning process for reusing cultural heritage within urban redevelopment projects and identifies barriers to and drivers…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the study is to generate insights into the planning process for reusing cultural heritage within urban redevelopment projects and identifies barriers to and drivers for stakeholder commitment.
Design/methodology/approach
Characteristics of five Dutch urban redevelopment projects with built cultural heritage are studied in terms of the context, interaction and commitment. The findings are confronted with insights from urban planning literature.
Findings
The study shows that although there is a strong belief in the added value of reusing cultural heritage, dealing with uncertainty over costs and benefits associated with heritage transformation is a major barrier. There is no standard planning strategy to deal with these issues. Further, we could not identify a direct link between the planning strategy used and the commitment of key stakeholders. Nevertheless, it seems that a shared framework and a shared belief in the heritage's added value are vital.
Research limitations/implications
The study has an explorative character meaning that further analysis is needed to gain a greater understanding on how planning strategies affect stakeholder commitment in cultural heritage projects. As only cases in the Netherlands are studied, institutional differences are not considered.
Practical implications
This study can help practitioners to develop planning strategies by offering insight into a number of barriers and dilemmas that need to be overcome in the planning process.
Originality/value
This study explains why the presence of cultural heritage creates difficulties in adapting available planning tools and in developing new sustainable strategic planning approaches.