IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/policy/v58y2025i1d10.1007_s11077-024-09562-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Policy integration in urban policies as multi-level policy mixes

Author

Listed:
  • María José Dorado-Rubín

    (Universidad Pablo de Olavide)

  • María José Guerrero-Mayo

    (Universidad Pablo de Olavide)

  • Clemente Jesús Navarro-Yáñez

    (Universidad Pablo de Olavide)

Abstract

This paper analyses policy integration in the field of urban policies. Specifically, the policy framework on sustainable urban development promoted by various international organisations is analysed as an exemplar combining multi-sectoriality in its substantive dimension (policy goals in different policy subsystems) and integration in its procedural dimension (integration between policy actions across policy subsystems involved). It is assumed that urban policies often take the form of multi-level policy mixes, and that integration involves a process of collective action between different policy subsystems. Based on the literature on policy integration and actor-centred institutionalism frameworks, it is postulated that in the absence of clear indications about the integrated strategy and policy integration capacities in the policy frame, the collective action dilemmas that this strategy entails in local projects will prevail, reducing the possibility of policy integration. The implementation of the urban dimension of the European Union's cohesion policy in Spain between 1994 and 2013 is analysed a total of 82 urban projects, where the integrated strategy is a central element but understood as multi-sectorial objectives rather than a complementarity between policy subsystems. Empirical results show a high level of diversity of objectives across policy sectors and a very low level of integration; specifically, a curvilinear pattern in the relationship between these two aspects. The results highlight the need to include policy instruments and capacities in the policy frame to address the collective action dilemmas that policy integration implies, especially if the policy frame calls for a broad multi-sectorial agenda across different policy subsystems.

Suggested Citation

  • María José Dorado-Rubín & María José Guerrero-Mayo & Clemente Jesús Navarro-Yáñez, 2025. "Policy integration in urban policies as multi-level policy mixes," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 58(1), pages 45-67, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:policy:v:58:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s11077-024-09562-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s11077-024-09562-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11077-024-09562-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11077-024-09562-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Guillermo M. Cejudo & Philipp Trein, 2023. "Pathways to policy integration: a subsystem approach," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 56(1), pages 9-27, March.
    2. Camagni, Roberto & Capello, Roberta & Nijkamp, Peter, 1998. "Towards sustainable city policy: an economy-environment technology nexus," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 103-118, January.
    3. Vincent Nadin & Dominic Stead & Marcin Dąbrowski & Ana Maria Fernandez-Maldonado, 2021. "Integrated, adaptive and participatory spatial planning: trends across Europe," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(5), pages 791-803, May.
    4. Philipp Trein & Manuel Fischer & Martino Maggetti & Francesco Sarti, 2023. "Empirical research on policy integration: a review and new directions," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 56(1), pages 29-48, March.
    5. Gemma Carey & Brad Crammond, 2015. "What Works in Joined-Up Government? An Evidence Synthesis," International Journal of Public Administration, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(13-14), pages 1020-1029, December.
    6. Philip McCann & Attila Varga, 2015. "The Reforms to the Regional and Urban Policy of the European Union: EU Cohesion Policy," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(8), pages 1255-1257, August.
    7. Sonia De Gregorio Hurtado, 2018. "The EU urban policy in the period 2007–13: lessons from the Spanish experience," Regional Studies, Regional Science, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(1), pages 212-230, January.
    8. Ostrom, Elinor, 1991. "Rational Choice Theory and Institutional Analysis: Toward Complementarity," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 85(1), pages 237-243, March.
    9. Thomas Bolognesi & Florence Metz & Stéphane Nahrath, 2021. "Institutional complexity traps in policy integration processes: a long-term perspective on Swiss flood risk management," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 54(4), pages 911-941, December.
    10. Robbert Biesbroek & Jeroen J. L. Candel, 2020. "Mechanisms for policy (dis)integration: explaining food policy and climate change adaptation policy in the Netherlands," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 53(1), pages 61-84, March.
    11. Sébastien Lambelet, 2023. "Unintended policy integration through entrepreneurship at the implementation stage," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 56(1), pages 161-189, March.
    12. John Bachtler & Colin Wren, 2006. "Evaluation of European Union Cohesion policy: Research questions and policy challenges," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(2), pages 143-153.
    13. Bolognesi, Thomas & Nahrath, Stephane, 2020. "Environmental Governance Dynamics: Some Micro Foundations of Macro Failures," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    14. Michael Howlett, 2009. "Governance modes, policy regimes and operational plans: A multi-level nested model of policy instrument choice and policy design," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 42(1), pages 73-89, February.
    15. Philip McCann, 2015. "The Regional and Urban Policy of the European Union," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 16000.
    16. Gerber, Jean-David & Knoepfel, Peter & Nahrath, Stéphane & Varone, Frédéric, 2009. "Institutional Resource Regimes: Towards sustainability through the combination of property-rights theory and policy analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 798-809, January.
    17. Jeroen J. L. Candel & Robbert Biesbroek, 2018. "Policy integration in the EU governance of global food security," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(1), pages 195-209, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Guillermo M. Cejudo & Philipp Trein, 2023. "Policy integration as a political process," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 56(1), pages 3-8, March.
    2. Thomas Bolognesi & Florence Metz & Stéphane Nahrath, 2021. "Institutional complexity traps in policy integration processes: a long-term perspective on Swiss flood risk management," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 54(4), pages 911-941, December.
    3. Sébastien Lambelet, 2023. "Unintended policy integration through entrepreneurship at the implementation stage," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 56(1), pages 161-189, March.
    4. Philipp Trein & Manuel Fischer & Martino Maggetti & Francesco Sarti, 2023. "Empirical research on policy integration: a review and new directions," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 56(1), pages 29-48, March.
    5. Benito Giordano, 2017. "Exploring the role of the ERDF in regions with specific geographical features: islands, mountainous and sparsely populated areas," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(6), pages 869-879, June.
    6. Israel Solorio & Jorge Guzmán & Ixchel Guzmán, 2023. "Participatory decision-making in the policy integration process: indigenous consultation and sustainable development in Mexico," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 56(1), pages 115-140, March.
    7. Ida Andersson & Ian R Cook, 2019. "Conferences, award ceremonies and the showcasing of ‘best practice’: A case study of the annual European Week of Regions and Cities in Brussels," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 37(8), pages 1361-1379, December.
    8. Fritsch, Michael & Wyrwich, Michael, 2021. "Is innovation (increasingly) concentrated in large cities? An international comparison," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(6).
    9. Bolognesi, Thomas & Pflieger, Géraldine, 2024. "Do you perceive interdependencies among human activities related to water? Drivers and effects on preferences for participation and regulation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    10. Ling-ling Zhang & Rui Zhang & Zong-zhi Wang, 2024. "Intergovernmental collaboration, instrument adaptation and embedded synergistic governance: based on 1984–2020 water pollution control policy research," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(11), pages 28727-28749, November.
    11. Eduardo Medeiros & Ana Brandão & Paulo Tormenta Pinto & Sara Silva Lopes, 2021. "Urban Planning Policies to the Renewal of Riverfront Areas: The Lisbon Metropolis Case," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-20, May.
    12. Thomas Bolognesi & Andrea K. Gerlak & Gregory Giuliani, 2018. "Explaining and Measuring Social-Ecological Pathways: The Case of Global Changes and Water Security," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-21, November.
    13. Henriette Ruhrmann & Michael Fritsch & Loet Leydesdorff, 2020. "Smart Specialization Strategies at National, Regional, or Local Levels? Synergy and Policy-making in German Systems of Innovation," Jena Economics Research Papers 2020-007, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    14. Ueli Reber & Karin Ingold & Manuel Fischer, 2023. "The role of actors' issue and sector specialization for policy integration in the parliamentary arena: an analysis of Swiss biodiversity policy using text as data," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 56(1), pages 95-114, March.
    15. Guillermo M. Cejudo & Philipp Trein, 2023. "Pathways to policy integration: a subsystem approach," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 56(1), pages 9-27, March.
    16. Erkan Erdil & İbrahim Semih Akçomak & Umut Yılmaz Çetinkaya, 2022. "Is There Knowledge Convergence Among European Regions? Evidence from the European Union Framework Programmes," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 13(2), pages 1243-1267, June.
    17. Jeroen Candel & Carsten Daugbjerg, 2020. "Overcoming the dependent variable problem in studying food policy," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 12(1), pages 169-178, February.
    18. Pallavi Rachel George & Vishal Gupta, 2024. "Environmental identity and perceived salience of policy issues in coastal communities: a moderated-mediation analysis," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 57(4), pages 787-822, December.
    19. Ueli Reber & Manuel Fischer & Karin Ingold & Felix Kienast & Anna M. Hersperger & Rolf Grütter & Robin Benz, 2022. "Integrating biodiversity: a longitudinal and cross-sectoral analysis of Swiss politics," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 55(2), pages 311-335, June.
    20. María José Dorado-Rubín & María José Guerrero-Mayo & Clemente Jesús Navarro-Yáñez, 2021. "Integrality in the Design of Urban Development Plans. Analysis of the Initiatives Promoted by the EU in Spain," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-17, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:policy:v:58:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s11077-024-09562-5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.