Urban benchmarkingUSESPON Workshop „Urban Benchmarking”

6.11.2013 Katarzyna Wojnar

Cele warsztatu

1.Presentation of urban benchmarking tool as a tool for complex assessment of development potential on urban, regional and national level. During the workshop, participants get basic information

about the assumptions and methodology of benchmarking cities, and then, under the guidance of experts, will have the opportunity to

2.Conduct their own analysisIncluding available analytical tools, especially ESPON tools.

3. Integration of 3 levels

Groups

1. Central Perspective2. Regional Perspective3. Local perspective

Agenda:

11.00 - Introduction11.30 - Brainstorming and presentation of results12.00 - Benchmarking towns, step by step12.45 - Lunch 13.20 - Online applications and ESPON ESPON CityBench HyperAtlas13.30 - Benchmarking towns in practice14.00 - Benchmarking cities group exercises14.45 - Discussion: feelings, doubts, dilemmas15.15 - Evaluation of the meeting (evaluation questionnaire) 15.30 - End of the meeting 

ESPON Programme www.espon.eu

Urban Benchmarking as a tool for complex assessment of development potential

USESPON Workshop „Urban Benchmarking”

6.11.2013 Katarzyna Wojnar

The origin and nature„bench-mark”: point of reference, level marked, as a starting point to conduct measurements of hight

Benchmarking: a tool for improving performance that goes beyond measure, indicating HOW to achieve better results (Foot, 1998)

Methos of relative assessment of performance results, especially for the measurement of complex phenomena that are difficult to define with a clear measure of success

Diagram of the relative evaluation result in characterizing UB

Miasto badane

Inne miasto Inne miasto Inne miasto Inne miasto Inne miasto0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Benchmarking can be used to learn from the best of their knowledge and experience. As a management tool first appeared in the private sector

Benchmarking in public sector

„all governments need reliable methods for assessing the relative results of the various public programs to be able to set the overall goals and formulate strategies. Benchmarking allows officials to improve the quality of information based on the achieved results [...], helping to meet the requirements of internal and external accountability. ” O’Connel (2000: 22)

Benchmarking in public sector the 80s. : Margaret Tatcher Compulsory Competitive Tendering –

benchmarking efficiency in public services the 90s. : Beacon Scheme in UK- dissemination of bestpractices in

the field of public services usług publicznycamong local adminsitration, quality certificates

First decade of the twenty-first century: the rise of urban studies

Changing number of articles in the field of urban studies, 1992-2012

19921993

19941995

19961997

19981999

20002001

20022003

20042005

20062007

20082009

20102011

20120

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

ContextTypology of European metropolitan areas (MEGA)Source: ESPON Project 1.1.1

Legend

Typology of European metropolitan areas (MEGA) based on their function in the information economy and industry

76 MEGA: biggest concentration in the so-called European Pentagon

Warsaw has been classified as MEGA 3

Other  large Polish cities as noeds of fourth category

Context Cities play key role in development processes Biggest cities in Poland are facing dynamic changes

related to development of metropolitan functions Position of Polish cities in European metropolitan space

is relatively weak Urban governance demands new approach including

complex relations that characterise functional areas

Context

EUROPA 2020Smart, sustainable and inclusive growth

Urban context demands new analytical tools that allow: (1) merging several thematical fields of analysis, (2) flexible indicator adjustments allowing operationalisation of

abstract issues such as „smart growth”, (3) presentation of results in relative perspective focused on areas

with potential for improvement.

Urban benchmarking : pros allows objective analysis of strenghts and weaknesses of a

particular city shows areas with potential for improvement comparative approach – evaluation of a particular city in relation

to other, similar (reference group) – easier identiffication and interpretation, better communication of results

evaluation of effectivenes of programmes targeted at restructuring and improvement of urban functionality

flexibility – allows to adjust the diagnosis, i.e. to 3 strategic goals of the Europe 2020 strategy

participation - mechanism empowering public engagement, both on the diagnostic and interpretative stages

it allows to include environmental issues

Urban benchmarking : cons temptation to look for an ideal solution or perform copy-paste

strategy there is no universal formula to select the right reference group – it

needs to be selected very carefully using universal standards (i.e. EU average) can be blind for

territorial specificities need for critical analysis of indicators – their relation to goals,

comparability, credibility of sources limited availability of comparable statistical data disadvantages of statistical approach resulting from different

definitions and indicator construction methodologies