Contagion externalities and the conversion of low-intensity land uses on the urban fringe

The last decade has been characterized by a growing concern over the conversion of important farmlands and unique natural environments to developed uses. Preservation of agricultural, recreation, and/or open space uses of land around expanding urban areas faces unique problems. This paper examines the impact of spatial considerations on preservation policy. In particular, the allocative significance of contagion externalities is explored for both short-run and long-run policy formation, and empirical evidence for two U.S. cities is presented. It is concluded that failure to account for the external effects generated from urban development will lead to inefficient preservation strategies based on fiscal incentives and misspecified preservation goals.     

Regional Cities In The Australian Urban System, 1961-1991

This paper examines change in the economic functions of Australia's regional cities and the relationship between industry structure and growth rates. It considers the role of regional cities within the national economy and suggests that they are becoming a more significant part of the national urban system. Labour force and population data indicate that while regional cities are growing more quickly than Australia as a whole, there are substantial variations between cities. The paper goes on to discuss functional classifications of Australia's regional cities based on the 1961, 1976 and 1991 Censuses and highlight the emergence of new functions over this period. It is argued that while the highest rates of growth have occurred amongst cities with economies founded on tourism, retirement and recreation, development has not been limited to these centres. The paper also considers the reasons why this research presents a picture of change within the urban system that is at odds with the views of other writers.     

Housing policy outcomes in global perspective: An application of discriminant analysis

Comparative analysis of the functioning of the housing sector has been severely limited by the dearth of reliable data. In seeking to rectify this, the UNCHS and World Bank have provided data on 52 cities through their joint Housing Indicators Program. Drawing on this data set, this paper identifies the housing policy outcomes that are particularly important in distinguishing various groups of cities. This paper also provides a classification of cities on the basis of their respective housing outcomes. The empirical analysis is based on a discriminant analysis. It reveals that infrastructure expenditure per capita is the most important housing policy outcome that discriminates between the various groups of cities. This is followed by floor area per person, housing credit portfolio, percentage of unauthorized housing, and total investment in housing. Furthermore, the analysis indicates that cities which are identical on the basis of their income levels may not necessarily be identical when their housing policy outcomes constitute the criteria for such classification. This is reflected in the fact that 15 of the 52 cities were reclassified on the basis of their housing policy outcomes. Ben C. Arimah is working at the Center for Urban and Regional Planning, University of Ibadan in Ibadan, Nigeria. His research interests include housing and urban economics, energy planning, and environmental management.     

Smart cities with big data: Reference models,challenges, and considerations

Cities worldwide are attempting to transform themselves into smart cities. Recent cases and studies show that a key factor in this transformation is the use of urban big data from stakeholders and physical objects in cities. However, the knowledge and framework for data use for smart cities remain relatively unknown. This paper reports findings from an analysis of various use cases of big data in cities worldwide and the authors' four projects with government organizations toward developing smart cities. Specifically, this paper classifies the urban data use cases into four reference models and identifies six challenges in transforming data into information for smart cities. Furthermore, building upon the relevant literature, this paper proposes five considerations for addressing the challenges in implementing the reference models in real-world applications. The reference models, challenges, and considerations collectively form a framework for data use for smart cities. This paper will contribute to urban planning and policy development in the modern data-rich economy.     

Energy consumption and urban texture

This paper explores the effects of urban texture on building energy consumption. It is based on the analysis of digital elevation models (DEMs)—raster models of cities which have proven to be very effective in the urban context. Different algorithms are proposed and discussed, including the calculation of the urban surface-to-volume ratio and the identification of all building areas that are within 6 m from a façade (passive areas). An established computer model to calculate energy consumption in buildings, the LT model, is coupled with the analysis of DEMs, providing energy simulations over extensive urban areas. Results for the three case study cities of London, Toulouse and Berlin are presented and discussed.     

Public transport decline in Melbourne: A question of density or service?

Public transport systems in Melbourne and other Australian cities have experienced steady decline in usage over the past 50 years. Concerned commentators and policy makers have debated the likely reasons behind this downward trend. The most widely held opinion is that sprawling low-density, post-Second World War urban form is the best explanation for the low levels of usage. However, some other authors argue that low usage rates can be better explained by the poor level of service offered in most areas of the city. This debate has centred largely on comparisons between Melbourne and other cities. Whilst recognising the complexity of this issue, this paper is focused on an analysis of the effect that urban density and service quality have on the operation of local public transport services in Melbourne. The paper concludes that Melbourne's low public transport usage rates are best explained by the poor levels of service quality offered by public transport systems.     

Contemporary South African Urbanization Dynamics

The paper provides an overview of urbanization patterns and trends in the current era in South Africa, focusing in particular on the key dynamics and driving forces underlying migration and urbanization. It considers overall demographic trends with regard to migration and urbanization, and points to some of the difficulties with data, and with the analysis of trends and patterns. The paper explores the changing rural context and dynamics, and some of the significant processes in this context: large-scale displacement of black people off farms, the impact of land reform, and conditions in the former homeland areas. Circular migration continues to be an important way in which households in rural areas survive, but some are unable to move, and are falling out of these networks. International migration—the consequence of both conditions in the home country and the draw of the South African economy—is another significant process fuelling mainly urban growth. The paper demonstrates the importance of cities in terms of economic growth and employment, and thus their attractiveness to migrants. Continuing migration to cities is of course a challenge for city management, but important trends towards declining household size and the splitting up of households are also driving the physical growth of cities and demands for housing, services, and infrastructure.     

The use of urban climatology in local climate change strategies: a comparative perspective

This paper discusses the extent to which the science of urban climatology has informed local climate change strategies in four city case studies – Stuttgart, Tokyo, New York City, and Manchester. The paper draws on historical and contemporary policy documents along with 60 interviews with practitioners, city officials, politicians, and academics in order to understand the use or non-use of urban climatology science in local climate change strategies. It explores the historic successes and failures of urban climate management of the cities and how the impact of global climate change and perception of risk, local competency and capacity, national programmes, and the involvement of cities in networks influences the application, stabilization, and institutionalization of urban climatology into climate change strategies. It concludes by highlighting the high levels of variability present and potential reasons for local policy engagement or non-engagement in the use of urban climatology science.     

Is Bangkok becoming more resilient to flooding? A framing analysis of Bangkok's flood resilience policy combining insights from both insiders and outsiders

The rapidly urbanizing cities in Southeast Asia experience increasing flood impacts due to the consequences of climate change. In these cities, policy efforts to build flood resilience are gaining momentum. The aim of this paper is to understand and assess flood resilience policy development, particularly in cities in developing countries. Bangkok is one of the cities that participates in the 100 Resilient Cities Programme (100RC) - the international policy platform for building resilient cities. In 2017, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) launched the ‘Bangkok Resilience Strategy’ to translate the resilience concept to its urban context. A framing perspective is adopted to reconstruct the strategy, process and anticipated outcome of Bangkok's flood resilience policy. We studied data obtained from ‘insiders’ (involved policy makers, experts and consultants) and ‘outsiders’ (local communities, civil society organizations and news media). Findings indicate that the economic growth frame is prevailing in the development of Bangkok's flood resilience policy, prioritizing structural flood protection with little attention for flood adaptation measures and related social impacts among vulnerable communities. The role of local communities and civil society in the formulation of Bangkok's flood resilience policy is limited. This paper therefore recommends cities in developing countries and cities in the 100RC Programme to organize a more inclusive resilience building process for addressing social problems regarding urban poor communities along with increasing flood safety and protection.     

Harnessing inclusive urban knowledge for the implementation of the New Urban Agenda

City-level data are needed to inform local strategies as well as to monitor progress towards the implementation of the New Urban Agenda (NUA). Not only do cities need more data, they also need information that is context sensitive and relevant to local policy needs. This paper reviews over 23 global urban data initiatives, concluding that the global urban data landscape in its current form is unable to support the implementation and monitoring of the NUA. Engaging a broader range of stakeholders in knowledge production is necessary as existing data offer a narrow understanding of the processes at play in cities.     

Does Policy Research Really Matter for Local Climate Change Policies?

This paper examines the role of policy-relevant research in climate change policy development. It attempts to address a practically important question: does policy research actually make a difference in the processes of formulating and institutionalizing local climate change policy? Two case studies from Central Java Indonesia are presented. The analysis focuses on the policy development processes in the cities of Semarang and Pekalongan, both of which were based on an urban climate vulnerability assessment. We discuss and compare the policy-making processes in terms of three analytic dimensions: the type of policy measures, agent, and policy approach. We examine the relationship between assessment outcomes and the efforts to institutionalize climate change policy in the two cities. These case studies show that although policy actors in both cities have developed strategies and policy measures for addressing climate change, the quality of policy-relevant research was a marginal consideration in the policy formulation processes. An established agenda within a policy network had greater impacts on policy-making than research outputs, which were articulated and used in the context of this agenda. Advocacy coalitions re-defined and re-interpreted what research has shown. Understanding this ability is key to ascertain why or why not policy-relevant research matters.     

Women's struggle for urban safety. the Canadian experience and its applicability to the Israeli context

This article examines the ways in which issues of women's safety in public space are integrated into planning practice and policy. It deals with two processes of struggle for urban safety, addressing the integration of ‘voices from the field’ into urban administration and planning, and questioning the possible adaptation of experiences of such integration, as developed in one socio‐culture system, into another. The article focuses on a number of Canadian cities, and assesses if their experience is applicable to cities in Israel. Thus it considers the transferability of knowledge and the potential of cross‐culture study, in relation to the production of professional knowledge. The first part of the article introduces the main issues to be explored in the article and considers these in the context of recent theoretical, professional and public debates, especially as related to gender and urban safety, and in relation to concepts of power, knowledge, meaning and identity. The second part presents the major findings of a research project related to local Canadian actions for urban safety and the urban policies adopted for its provision. The third part analyzes the applicability of the Canadian experience to the Israeli context and contains preliminary conclusions and recommendations as to the transferability of this experience.     

The Two Federal Lands of Berlin-Brandenburg: A European Region on its Way to Sustainable Development

Local decision-makers face a wide range of pressures over questions of urban development. Among these is to pursue urban economic growth, while simultaneously responding to environmental demands to reduce car usage. There is, however, a lack of empirical studies analysing urban entrepreneurialism in conjunction with car-use reduction. This paper focuses on city-centre development and regulation of retail trade in two Norwegian cities. The underlying logic is that while compact city development and concentration of commerce in the urban core are ways to reduce car usage, there are also pressures drawing shopping to the city outskirts. The paper highlights the conflicting spatial interests involved in policies for car-use reduction, as evident in discussions as to how to regulate parking throughout the urban area. The paper also shows how municipal policy for car-use reduction is affected by private actors and neighbouring municipalities. Ultimately, the cases illustrate how local decision-making is influenced by the balance of pressures for and against environmental policy. In this way, analysis of inter-municipal competition over retail trade, inhabitants and investments, provides important insights into urban policy and practice.     

THE COORDINATION OF LOCAL POLICIES FOR URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION IN FOUR SWISS CITIES

ABSTRACT: The present article aims at assessing the possibility for urban areas to coordinate local policies of urban development and public transportation and at explaining the differences in this achievement between urban regions. In order to do so, the study draws support from two empirical sources: a historical analysis of the “mass‐production” generated by the public service sectors in the field of transport and urban development in the cities of Basel, Bern, Geneva, and Lausanne since 1950, and a series of six case studies in these four cities. The study identifies factors located both at context level regarding morphological and geographical conditions as well as institutional settings and case‐specific idiosyncrasies regarding organizational structure, past policy decisions, as well as vocational cultures that determine the possibility for urban areas to meet the need for policy coordination.     

Immigration in gateway cities: Sydney and Vancouver in comparative perspective

Contemporary international migration shows points of departure from the immigration of the past. First, all continents are now significantly implicated in the transfers of populations. Second, there is immense diversity among immigrant characteristics and human capital, including both legal and illegal status, and ranging from the movement of well-resourced cosmopolitans to the flows of refugees who may well be poverty-stricken and without documentation. Third, the numbers of international migrants are at a very high level. Fourth, destinations are more concentrated than has been the case in recent history, focussed upon large metropolitan centres, or gateway cities, in advanced societies.These are contexts confronting planners on an everyday basis in multicultural gateway cities such as Sydney (Australia) and Vancouver (Canada). Both metropolitan areas share a common economic and cultural history, and their Pacific Rim location has recently strongly affected migration flows as legislative reform opened the boundaries of their nation states to new immigrant origins. While Sydney is a nationally primate city and twice the size of Vancouver, each metropolitan area displays similar processes of economic and cultural transformation.This volume addresses a number of intellectual and planning questions that have ensued. In Chapter 2 we ask to what extent contemporary immigration is reshaping urban spatial structure, requiring new concepts of urban form and new strategies for service provision. The housing dimension of immigrant settlement has been an important preoccupation of planners, and in Chapter 3 we consider such issues as tenure, affordability, house price inflation, land use conflicts, and the globalization of urban housing markets accompanying elevated immigration in gateway cities. The differential response to immigration among different family members has recently been identified, and Chapter 4 addresses the gendering of immigration and women's mobilisation to secure necessary services. An important institution in shaping attitudes about immigration is the media, and Chapter 5 considers its representation of minority groups, including two case studies of media coverage of land use conflicts between immigrants and the long-settled population. We argue that it is local government where immigrants typically encounter the state in the delivery of everyday services, and Chapter 6 considers the multicultural readiness of local governments in Sydney and Vancouver in serving a culturally diverse body of citizens. Finally, in Chapter 7 we offer some concluding remarks on the challenges of physical, social, and multicultural planning in gateway cities.     

Framing the Future: On Local Planning Cultures and Legacies

ABSTRACT

This paper considers the influence of established local planning cultures and legacies on the trajectory of contemporary local development policies. Local and sub-regional planning cultures are interpreted as overall ‘developmental frames’ which set the context for local planning approaches both through more concrete territorial, developmental and policy forms and through cognitive structures, assumptions and values. These frames then exert significant influence on how planning policy is conceived and enacted, with potentially major implications for local development outcomes. Three illustrative case studies are presented from sub-regional growth areas in the South East of England.     

The compact city: Theory versus practice—The case of Cambridge

Urban compaction has become a policy direction which has been followed in a number of European countries throughout the 1990s. Although this policy direction may have both theoretical and political appeal, there is concern over the likelihood of being able to concentrate the majority of future development within existing urban areas. Most analysis would suggest that urban decentralisation is set to continue. Reversing these established patterns, as well as past policies which have encouraged dispersal, is likely to be a tall order. The aim of this article is to provide a closer examination of a particular city-region to assess whether national policy, which promotes compact cities, is feasible at the local level. The Cambridge subregion, within the UK, has been chosen as it has a tradition of policies which have encouraged dispersal and are in direct contrast to Government's new policy direction. Past spatial planning policies within the sub-region have left a legacy of dispersed settlement patterns, separating homes from workplace and encouraging inward commuting into Cambridge. The effects of this past policy stance are so ingrained that it will be hard to reverse such trends and accommodate additional development, particularly housing, within Cambridge's existing boundaries. Nicola Morrison (Dr) is research associate and affiliated lecturer in the Property Research Unit, Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge. Her research interests are focused on housing and land use planning issues within the UK context.     

Re-imagining City Waterfronts: A Comparative Analysis of Governing Renewal in Adelaide,Darwin and Melbourne

Urban waterfront regeneration is one of the largest changes to the structure of Australian and many world cities over the last two decades. There is no comparative research which evaluates their governing with particular attention to the relationship and responsibility of quasi-public agencies and local government. This study advances the competitive-city paradigm from a focus on global cities to an examination of inter-city urban competition between differently located cities in the urban hierarchy by comparing waterfront renewal projects located in Adelaide, Darwin and Melbourne. Through interview, policy and document analysis, the article offers preliminary insights on current and emergent governance arrangements involved in urban waterfront renewal. In an era of increasing inter-urban competition, the study reveals hybrid forms of urban governance are driving the planning and delivery of these three waterfront renewal projects. Further, there exists a ‘knotty’ tension between these models of urban governance and the capacity for meaningful consultation and participation between governments.     

Spatial Segregation in Seven Cities: A Longitudinal Study of Home Ownership, 1971-91

Globalisation has been associated with the development of 'command node' cities in the global economy (Friedman, 1986; Sassen, 1991). Some scholars have argued that the social and spatial structure of such cities has been polarised, because of changing demand for labour and land. A number of debates have developed around this hypothesis, challenging the general applicability of these socio-economic trends to all global cities (e.g. Bruegel, 1996; Hamnett, 1996), while the spatial changes in the housing markets of global cities have been shown to be varied (Marcuse & van Kempen, 2000). They are heavily dependent on local context, but always associated with increased segregation of rich and poor, whether through displacement of the poor from the urban core (Smith, 1989) or through their displacement within it (Lyons, 1996). The present paper suggests that much can be learnt about urban change in an era of globalisation, from analysis of the differences between global and other cities. The hypothesis is that spatial restructuring of housing markets in London, a global city, is likely to have important similarities with those of other cities in England, which occupy lower positions in a global urban hierarchy. A comparison of the extent of socio-spatial clustering of home ownership in London, with six English cities at various levels of the urban hierarchy is presented, which partly supports the hypothesis, comparing change over a 20-year period, based on cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of ONS Longitudinal Study data for the years 1971, 1981 and 1991. Findings were that, despite its more socially polarised labour market, London's home ownership market was less spatially segregated than that of other cities in the sample. Implications for global city theory, and for the interpretation of the dynamics of other urban markets, are discussed.     

Greening the Rust Belt: A Green Infrastructure Model for Right Sizing America's Shrinking Cities

Problem: Existing planning and redevelopment models do not offer a holistic approach for addressing the challenges vacant and abandoned properties create in America's older industrial cities, but these shrinking cities possess opportunities to undertake citywide greening strategies that convert such vacant properties to community assets.

Purpose: We define strategies shrinking cities can use to convert vacant properties to valuable green infrastructure to revitalize urban environments, empower community residents, and stabilize dysfunctional real estate markets. To do this we examine shrinking cities and their vacant property challenges; identify the benefits of urban greening; explore the policies, obstacles, and promise of a green infrastructure initiative; and discuss vacant property reclamation programs and policies that would form the nucleus of a model green infrastructure right-sizing initiative designed to stabilize the communities with the greatest level of abandonment.

Methods: We draw our conclusions based on fieldwork, practitioner interviews, and a review of the current literature.

Results and conclusions: We propose a new model to effectively right size shrinking cities by (a) instituting green infrastructure plans and programs, (b) creating land banks to manage the effort, and (c) building community consensus through collaborative neighborhood planning. Our model builds on lessons learned from successful vacant property and urban greening programs, including nonprofit leadership and empowerment of neighborhood residents, land banking, strategic neighborhood planning, targeted revitalization investments, and collaborative planning. It will require planners and policymakers to address challenges such as financing, displacement of local residents, and lack of legal authority.

Takeaway for practice: We conclude that academics, practitioners, and policymakers should collaborate to (a) explore alternative urban designs and innovative planning and zoning approaches to right sizing; (b) collect accurate data on the number and costs of vacant properties and potential savings of different right-sizing strategies; (c) craft statewide vacant property policy agendas; and (d) establish a policy network of shrinking cities to share information, collaboratively solve problems, and diffuse policy innovations.

Research support: Our field work was supported by technical assistance grants and contracts through the National Vacant Properties Campaign.