PhD

Alois humer cover

Author

Alois Humer

ISBN code

9789491937231

Size

246 pages

DOI code

10.17418/PHD.2016.9789491937231

This German-language monograph was presented as a PhD thesis, focusing on Services of General Interest (SGI) in a European context as a shared object of welfare policy and spatial planning. The term 'SGI' refers to the manifold public services and infrastructure such as energy, transportation and communication networks, as well as healthcare and educational facilities, etc. SGI have become ever more politically relevant on a European scale since the 1990s; first in the course of single market and liberalisation issues, later in relation to social and territorial cohesion with regards to universal access. So far, the objectives of SGI have rarely been discussed in the context of spatially relevant issues, despite many EU communications, legal frameworks, white papers and charters speaking of 'fair access to SGI for every citizen'. The guiding research question is: "How should Services of General Interest be organised and provided in order to contribute to the objectives set out in European strategies?" Current megatrends – such as demographic ageing or economic crises – further necessitate adaptations to SGI provision approaches from a spatial perspective. This work takes a critical rational scientific approach, contributing a comparative study on the political forms of SGI organisation as well as regional standards of provision. Using case studies, conclusions are drawn about SGI provision and organisation in a better-integrated, European way.

About the author

Alois Humer (1980) is a post-doctoral researcher at the Institute for Urban and Regional Research at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. He carried out his PhD research during a five-year assistant position (2009-2014) at the Department of Geography and Regional Research at the University of Vienna. Previously he held the position of scientific referee for the Austrian Conference on Spatial Planning and was the Austrian ESPON Contact Point (2008-2009). His research interests are foremost on European affairs of social policy, spatial development and spatial planning from a comparative perspective. His work contributes to a spatially sensitive approach towards welfare policy. He teaches as part of the Applied Geography, Spatial Research and Spatial Planning programmes at the University of Vienna. He is active in various European academic and applied scientific networks, including AESOP and ESPON.