Challenges and Perspectives for
Applied Territorial Research:
The ‘ESPON Way’
ESPON Seminar
14-15 November 2006, Espoo
Simin Davoudi
Director of Social Systems
IRES
Institute for Research on Environment and Sustainability
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Evidence matters for criminal
conviction!
• “It is a capital
mistake to theorise
before you have all
the evidence. It
biases the
judgement”
2
Evidence matters for political
conviction, too!
ESDP first official draft, points to the need for:
• “undertaking longer term research on relevant
spatial issues as a part of continuing updating
process of the ESDP.”
»
(CEC, 1997:90)
3
Contextual challenges to European
territorial research
At the EU level:
• Low profile of territorial policy compared
• Limited recognition of, and funding for,
social science research in the EU research
programmes
• Lack of available, accessible, harmonised
and consistent spatially-relevant data and
indicators
• Dominance of the economic imperatives in
data collection
4
Contextual challenges to European
territorial research
At the national level, there are differences in:
• Weights given to the European dimension of
territorial development in different MS
• Modes of governing, funding and managing research
• Ways of assessing research excellence
• Approaches to dissemination and publication
• Educational and research traditions
• Cultural and language diversities
• Data collection, compatibility, availability and
accessibility
5
Contextual challenges to European
territorial research
• The inter-disciplinarity:
• Different understanding of what constitutes
knowledge
• Different intellectual traditions
• Multiple methodological approaches
• Different ways of conceptualising and framing
the problem
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‘ESPON Way’: A brave attempt!
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ESDP: Making the case!
• Recognising the need
for improving the
knowledge base of the
EU policy concerns
about territorial
disparities and
diversities
8
SPESP: Paving the way!
• Piloting the idea of an
observatory
• Identifying key
research questions
• Setting up the first
network of 200+
researchers
9
ESPON 2006: Raising to the challenge of
building up the evidence-base
• Scientific challenge:
– Type and quality of
evidence produced
• Socio-political
challenge:
– Nature and extent of
influence on policy
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ESPON’s score on scientific challenge:
Strengths
Weaknesses
• Descriptive and policy
analysis
• Macro level trends
• Widening of analysis
• Transcending EU
boundaries: ‘ESPON Space’
• Highlighting gaps in data
and indicators
• Quantitative
• Rigorous and consistent
• Committed researchers
• Analytic findings on causal
relationships
• Micro level trends
• Deepening of analysis
• Being constrained by the
NUTS system
• Being driven by data
availability
• Qualitative
• Vague and fragmented
• Contextual constraints
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Overall verdict…
• An impressive outcome
– 34 projects, 25000+ pages of reports, numerous indicators,
typologies, models, maps and scenarios
•
•
•
•
•
Far beyond the initial expectations
Within a short period of time
With limited resources
Often under pressure to produce ‘quick fixes’
But, enjoying a high degree of motivation,
commitment and dedication from all people involved
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The socio-political challenge
ESPON’s interface with policy
2 views of policy-research interface
• Instrumental / utilitarian view
• Enlightenment / conceptual view
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Instrumental View
assumes that research feeds into policy in a direct, linear
and unproblematic way
• Expert ‘on top’ model
• Expert ‘on tap’ model
• Research leads policy,
hence policy is researchdriven
• Research follows policy,
hence research is policydriven
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The ‘expert on tap’ model
• Evidence has to be
timely and available on
demand
• Research for policy’s
sake is highly selective
• Policy making is a
rational process
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Problem of little effect!
• Much of the applied research commissioned by policy
makers sit on the shelves, gather dust!
• How evidence is used (or not used) in policy depends
on the context within which it is used!
• Evidence is not the only contender for influencing
policy
• There are other powerful competitors, such as:
– Ideology, interests, institutional norms, …
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Contrary to the instrumental view:
“There is more to policy and practice
than the disinterested pursuit of truth
and wisdom”.
(Solesbury, 2002: 93)
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Having access to all information doesn’t
make the policy-making easier!
• “… there is nothing a government hates
more than to be well-informed; for it makes
the process of arriving at decisions much
more complicated and difficult”.
(John Maynard Keynes in: Skidelsky,
1992:630)
.
• Evidence can be incomplete, contradictory
or inconclusive
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The enlightenment view
• Rather than research serving policy agenda
directly, its benefits are indirect and sometimes
take longer to be realised.
• Rather than producing ‘punchy policy messages’,
the aim is to illuminate the landscape within which
policy decisions are made
• The emphasis is on evidence-informed policy
rather than evidence-based policy
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Overall verdict
ESPON’s enlightening influence on policy has been as
important as (if not more) its the instrumental impact
• Being the follow up to the ESDP process
• Advocating the significance of territorial dimension
• Keeping up the momentum for developing territorial
research and policy
• Keeping the debate about territorial cohesion alive
• Exploring new ways of conceptualising and measuring
peripheralities, imbalances and potentials
• Creating an expanding forum for collective learning
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The ‘ESPON Community’
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‘Information overload’
• “The U.S. Congress works largely through
face-to-face dealings. … Research that
arrives in written documents doesn’t have
much of a chance”
»
(Weiss, 2001: 286)
• The ‘25000+ pages’ syndrome!
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ESPON 2013:
Improving the evidence
• Developing strengths in analytical knowledge
• Further focusing on causal relationships and future scenarios
• Providing comparable regionalised data for ESPON’s expanding
Space but, …
– without compromising the depth for the breadth
• ESPON does not intend to become just a ‘better Eurostat’
• Targeted Analysis: an opportunity for:
– In-depth studies
– Reaching out beyond the ESPON Community
– Engaging with policy and practice at the sub-national level
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ESPON 2013:
Strengthening the interface with policy
• By enlarging the space for interaction
between researchers and policy makers
• By continuing to be policy-informed, but…
– Not following the ‘expert on tap’ model
– Ensuring that time and resources are
commensurate to scope and scale of research
– Not expecting research to be fed into policy in a
direct, linear way!
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Commitment to good research!
• Knowledge finds its way to:
– Enlighten policy domain
– Inform public debate
– Influence collective action
– Change attitudes and behaviours
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