Joint Facilities, Improvement districts, Local clubs, and Commons: Towards a Taxonomy of Institutionalised Social Capital

• Associations for management of geographically extended joint assets (such as road networks, water systems, eco-systems, golf courts, harbours, common house properties, etc.) may both be seen as producers of club goods and institutionalised structures of social capital. In this paper we discuss classes of such organisations and their attributes. We also observe the uneven spatial distribution of a set of such associations in Sweden. In this respect we identify patterns of management cultures dependent on place, traditions, municipality size, and population density. For example, rural municipalities present a higher representation of joint facilities compared to urban areas. In order to allow for further examination and understanding of such differences we develop a taxonomy of organisations for joint management and their attributes. Key issues in our taxonomy are the character of the managed asset, length of commitment, level of voluntarism, involvement of the municipality, localisation, etc. Club theory and the well-known contributions by Nobel Laureates Ostrom and Williamson suggest that structures characterised by high transaction costs may not always offer market solutions for a set of actors. On the other hand, municipalities and other public bodies neither have the possibility to provide such a degree of variety that they may meet spatially individualised demand. Generally, this implies that municipalities favour mergers of small actors into larger organisations when goods are provided, a development not always advantageous for the supply within an individual locality. Given this, various -forms of joint asset management based on relations and partnerships with involvement of both private and public actors may offer a more effective and varied management and decision structure for resource allocation. Such institutional frameworks may reduce transaction costs and risk premiums, while possibilities for adaptive action still are secured. Hence, we here argue that a palette of instruments is called for in order to satisfy various needs for management of joint assets in a local property market. Due to our interest for joint management, the current organisations for joint management in the Swedish property market such as joint facilities, and Town Centre Management organisation are examined further. Besides acting as management organisations, they may also have key positions as instruments for creation of local social capital which in turn may enhance the possibility for local cooperation and development of a community. While we outline our taxonomy, we argue that those instruments may be viewed as local clubs. We also observe that "Business Improvement Districts" (BID) should be included in the taxonomy. This concept has so far not been introduced in Sweden. Internationally, BIDs have been used to encourage property owners to participate in the development of i.e. city centres. Previously, we have argued for an introduction of improvement districts in Sweden, here we also observe that this management concept may be transmitted into rural areas, where property owners need to cooperate but may lack appropriate institutional tools. In the absence of suitable institutions, close down of activities or failures in establishment of new enterprises are likely outcomes for both property developers and businesses. The paper is outlined as follows. In section two we give some preliminary theoretical considerations in relation to social capital, clubs, and local development. This gives some preliminaries to the taxonomy presented in section three. One attribute of our taxonomy is location. In section four we thus illustrate with Swedish data how the distribution of associations may vary over locations. Finally, we in section five conclude and summaries our presentation.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Nationalekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Economics (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Ekonomisk historia (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Economic History (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Social och ekonomisk geografi -- Ekonomisk geografi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Social and Economic Geography -- Economic Geography (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Countryside

Social Capital

Common

Local club

Improvement district

club goods

Bids

Business Improvement Districts

Socialt Kapital

Allmänningar

Landsbygd

Vägförening

Vattenförening

Samfällighet

BID

Economics

nationalekonomi

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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