How to stay a smart city? Inspiration from a place-based spatial policy in Ghent: working together with local, smart citizens

Spatial planning in Europe and in Flanders is changing fundamentally. In the Europe 2020 strategy (2010-2020) Europe introduced the idea of a ‘place-based approach’ as an alternative or addition to traditional spatial planning. It refers to the context-dependent nature of efficiency and equity problems that the policy deals with, and to the fact that design of integrated interventions must be tailored to places, as it largely depends on the knowledge and preferences of the people living in it. Nevertheless, little research has examined the use of the place-based approach in Flanders. In this paper the place-based approach, also called area development, is referred to as a proactive planning approach, characterized by an intensive coordination of initiators, plans and projects in one specific area, in order to implement the plans and projects in the field. Participating with citizens in planning processes is not new. In general, we can distinguish three generations in citizen participation: from consultation by the authorities, to co-creation initiated by the authorities, and recently to citizen initiatives which are only supported and stimulated by the authorities. This paper reports results from a case-study in Ghent, Flanders. Within the neighbourhood around the main railway-station inhabitants and the local government are working together to create a new concept for the area, and are co-realising these new ideas in the field. We found earlier that authorities have been experimenting with place-based planning in Flanders for several years, but that results, actors and instruments differ. The new insight from the local, urban case in Ghent can be used to develop future place-based planning, programs and projects in Flanders and in cities within Flanders