Network City: Retrofitting the Perth Metropolitan Region to Facilitate Sustainable Travel

'Network City', the latest 25-year planning strategy for metropolitan Perth, Western Australia, is designed to realise the integration of land use and transport networks within established and new areas. This article examines the influence of urban form on travel patterns and the case for sustainable travel outcomes in order to set in context the 'Network City' concept. The concept is described, and then the article focuses on the operational detail needed to progress towards fuller integration between the transport network and the city it serves. This includes analysis of urban structure in the context of the factors that influence efficient use of public transport: including residential density, intensity of activity and the hierarchy of activity centres. The implications for road planning are discussed where land use-transport integration is the core objective rather than simply traffic efficiency. If sustainable travel is to be facilitated there is a need to change both the operation of public transport and the urban structure and these changes are mutually supportive.     

Planning transport infrastructure: examining the politics of transport planning in Melbourne,Sydney and Perth

Abstract

Australian cities have observed a “consensus turn” expressed as broad public support of greater accessibility and public transport provision as revealed in metropolitan strategic plans. In contrast large-scale road projects proposed to traverse the inner-city of three major Australian cities reveals an ongoing and deep-seated attachment by some to car-based travel in Australian urban transport planning. Comparative case studies of these three road projects in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth explores the impact that an antagonistic relationship between the state and community has on the culture of transport planning. Through observational insights, policy and media analysis and interviews with community groups, we show that this antagonistic planning culture arises when there is a fracture between metropolitan strategic plan-making and project planning, and when clear channels of communication and deliberation are undermined.     

Contested urban streets: Place,traffic and governance conflicts of potential activity corridors

Activity Corridors have emerged as one redevelopment form for accommodating growth within dispersed, car-centric cities. This has seen a new interest in the form and function of urban arterial roads. Efforts to increase development intensity in established suburbia, however, are often highly contentious among local stakeholders. It is unclear whether the offer of improved public transportation infrastructure - a central component of the Activity Corridor concept - influences residents' support for taller or denser built form. This dynamic was explored using a case study along an urban arterial road in Perth, Western Australia. A household survey identified residents' attitudes to increasing development intensity in exchange for varying public transport provision scenarios. The results informed interpretive interviews with planning practitioners. Residents were more supportive of increasing development intensity if public transport was improved. Planners questioned whether recent land use and transport planning approaches adequately reflected community expectations for local “amenity”, and noted several key governance constraints to developing urban Activity Corridors.     

International comparison of the changing dynamics of governance approaches to land development and their results for public value capture

A difference exists between public and private governance approaches to land development, also called ‘active’ and ‘passive’ approaches. These approaches change over time and interact with institutional, financial and environmental factors. This article evaluates how these factors influence governance approaches and compares the results of different approaches by analysing how they capture the economic value increase that accrues from urban development and how this affects the governances' intrinsic rationales. After categorising value capture tools, this article investigates the embedment and functioning of these tools into three different governance approaches in three different countries (England, Spain, and the Netherlands), ordered from more passive to more active approach: developer obligations in private land development and in land readjustment, and public land acquisition and development in public governance approaches. The studied cases suggest a general trend towards passive approaches and a sharpening and regularisation of the public value capture instruments embedded in them.     

Beyond designer diversity: Planners, public space and a critical politics of difference

This article is concerned with the connection between the planning of public space, social justice and the politics of difference. I argue that, to remedy injustice in public spaces, planning must be informed by a critical politics of difference, which can distinguish between various kinds of social difference. The article outlines some important dimensions of a critical politics of difference with reference to three recent conflicts in Australian public spaces: over graffiti, a women's pool and the policing of public spaces in Perth.     

新自由主义管治下的后奥运规划与开发：以悉尼奥林匹克公园为例

奥运会给主办城市留下的最大物质遗产是奥运基础设施和场馆。后奥运研究文献大多集中在设施和场馆的运营和管理上,而对以它们为基础的后奥运城市开发及其规划则重视不够。撰写此文的目的是为了增加有关后奥运规划和开发的研究成果。我们的方法是案例研究,以悉尼奥林匹克公园为例,分析2000年奥运会之后悉尼所在的新南威尔士州政府如何在新自由主义城市管治理念下继续规划和开发奥林匹克公园。我们的结论是：尽管政府投入巨资修建奥运设施有悖于纯粹新自由主义管治理念,可以看作是新自由主义面对全球化趋势的妥协,但是在后奥运规划和开发上,新自由主义管治所倡导的小政府、公私伙伴关系和政府从土地等资产盈利等却有利于使奥运设施遗产价值最大化。我们希望此文对中国主要城市的有关讨论作出贡献。     

公共项目征地拆迁中存在的问题及对策研究

作为我国在公共利益实践中的一个重要环节,公共项目具有明显的外部性和公益性特征,其征地拆迁工作关系着私权保护、社会稳定等诸多深层次问题。而这些问题的解决又很难通过单一的宏观调控或市场手段来实现。因此,与普通商业项目的征地拆迁相比,公共项目征地拆迁具有一定的特殊性和复杂性。从公共项目的特殊性出发,分析了公共项目征地拆迁过程中存在的问题,揭示了公共项目征地拆迁问题的成因,并在此基础上提出了相应的对策建议。     

Beyond designer diversity: Planners,public space and a critical politics of difference

Abstract

This article is concerned with the connection between the planning of public space, social justice and the politics of difference. I argue that, to remedy injustice in public spaces, planning must be informed by a critical politics of difference, which can distinguish between various kinds of social difference. The article outlines some important dimensions of a critical politics of difference with reference to three recent conflicts in Australian public spaces: over graffiti, a women's pool and the policing of public spaces in Perth.     

The Peri-urban Land-Use Planning Tangle: An Australian Perspective

With increasing urbanization of the world's populations, there is increasing concern about land consumption, particularly, urban expansion onto non-urban land. This paper identifies current approaches leading to this point and argues that these create a tangle requiring a more mature approach if land use is to be managed more effectively, especially at the peri-urban fringe. The effects of managing peri-urban land under current paradigms are demonstrated in case studies of Melbourne and Sydney, Australia. The conclusion uses international examples to suggest that fresh planning approaches that take an integrated view of land-use management in a new paradigm are needed.     

A Data-Driven Approach to Exploring Future Land Use and Transport Scenarios: The Online What If? Tool

ABSTRACT

In an era of rapid urbanization, there is a need for data-driven tools to guide long-term strategic planning. Online What If? (OWI) is a planning support system (PSS) that helps inform strategic planners about the impact of population growth and other socioeconomic factors will have on the future growth of cities. This research presents its application in metropolitan Perth with a two-part case study, demonstrating a first comprehensive application of the tool. First, OWI tests five scenarios for urban growth through the year 2050, allocating residential land use. Next, OWI alters land use allocations to align residential development with high frequency public transit, while also allocating commercial land use to support higher residential densities. Together, these data-driven scenarios inform city planners and policy makers in guiding the long-term, sustainable growth of Perth. The paper concludes with a review of OWI’s strengths, weaknesses and possibilities for continual development.     

Capturing Value for Urban Management: A New Agenda for Betterment

In the face of a continuing 'fiscal crisis of the state' this article addresses how land taxation might be reformed to better fund the demands on urban management. Our premise is that land tax initiatives offer governments a means for increasing the funds available for urban management without significantly compromising the assumed political boundaries of public fiscal restraint. The specific focus in the article is on the bridge provided by land taxation in the form of 'betterment' or the interchangeable notion of 'value capture'. The article recommends a new form of betterment tax that would operate alongside existing or future charges for infrastructure levied by local government. Importantly, the tax would be applied to value increments across the city, and not just in fringe areas which have been the traditional targets of betterment levies.     

In the shadow of the city: the fringe around the Australian metropolis in the 1950s

Metropolitan plans were prepared in Australia from 1948 to 1962 for four of its five biggest cities - the state capitals of Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide. They contain the first analyses and proposals for their rural-urban fringes. The earliest, that for Sydney, is the most visionary and radical and defined a Green Belt to contain and shape a slowly growing city; to provide amenities and recreation for citydwellers; and to reconstructa countryside ravaged by 'promiscuous urbanisation'. The next two plans for Melbourne and Perth are much more pragmatic, dealing with the organisation of headlong metropolitan expansion with surrounding rural areas seen as suburbs-in-waiting within servicing and topographical constraints. The last, that for Adelaide is a mixture of trend planning with strong design themes partly expressed in the fringe. These are forthright exercises in the master-plan mould. Developments since the 1950s regarding the fringe are briefly reviewed in the case of Sydney. These show much more complex issues and perceptions arising, particularly regarding natural resource management. There is consequently an absorbing challenge in describing these dynamic images, and also in shaping a policy-making process to reflect and handle them. There is also a possibility, apparent in the metropolitan plans of the 1950s, of cultural differences between the cities in this regard.     

The difficulty of integrating land trusts in land use planning

We examine land-owning organizations’ choice of strategy for steering spatial development. There are two highly visible strategies to influence land use. The first one, acquisition, is direct; it consists of either gaining outright ownership of the land, or various forms of partial title, including conservation easements. The second one, regulation, is indirect; it relies on the legal instruments of public policy, in particular land use planning, to influence the behavior of landowners. Often linking these two strategies in a coherent way is a challenge. On the one hand, local authorities are empowered by the law to plan for conservation, but they are not well equipped to do so (lack of capacity, expertise, political will). On the other hand, many small conservation NGOs are active at the micro level with little concern for supra-local considerations.Focusing on an important private conservation effort in Southern Quebec, this article seeks to better understand land-owning organizations’ position toward land use planning. It shows how conservation NGOs, which rely on property rights to influence land use, position themselves within the broader regulatory context and attempt to coordinate their action at a regional scale in order to complement their acquisition strategy.     

The need for new directions in metropolitan strategic planning

In the face of a continuing 'fiscal crisis of the state' this article addresses how land taxation might be reformed to better fund the demands on urban management. Our premise is that land tax initiatives offer governments a means for increasing the funds available for urban management without significantly compromising the assumed political boundaries of public fiscal restraint. The specific focus in the article is on the bridge provided by land taxation in the form of 'betterment' or the interchangeable notion of 'value capture'. The article recommends a new form of betterment tax that would operate alongside existing or future charges for infrastructure levied by local government. Importantly, the tax would be applied to value increments across the city, and not just in fringe areas which have been the traditional targets of betterment levies.     

GIS in the Land Development Planning Process Balancing the Needs of Land Use Planners and Real Estate Developers

A critical step in improving the planning and development process is to modernize land records. Modernization requires the application of geographic information systems (GIS) concepts and technology. Two types of systems are involved. One is a generalized GIS for site selection and evaluation and for land value analysis, both of which are needed to make the land transaction and land development process more efficient and effective. The other is a more detailed multipurpose land information system to facilitate the detailed analysis for site planning purposes, and to plan and engineer infrastructure systems to service development. This article discusses ways in which GIS technology can assist planners and developers through the design of land information systems (LIS) that can serve both groups. This prospect promises to minimize the “my data are better than your data” argument. The promise is elusive, unless state government takes a strong role in dealing with the land data needs of public and private sectors. The article identifies problems with current systems and approaches and offers a strategy for building more powerful LIS.     

房产转让中土地增值税筹划的浅见

企业税收筹划是指纳税人根据税法中的相关规定对企业涉税事项进行筹划旨在减轻税负,有利于实现企业财务目标的对策与安排。土地增值税是对转让国有土地使用权、地上建筑物及其附着物并取得收入的单位和个人,就其转让房地产所取得增值额征收的一种税。根据我国现行土地增值税的纳税特点及国家相关法规,结合企业实际,可以采用诸多税收筹划方法达到税收筹划收益。本文以土地增值税为例对房产转让税收筹划进行了分析。     

Dealing with interrelatedness and fragmentation in road infrastructure planning: an analysis of integrated approaches throughout the planning process in the Netherlands

Planning approaches that integrate road infrastructure and other land uses are being increasingly applied. Dealing with functional interrelatedness and stakeholder fragmentation are the main reasons for this. This article conceptualizes and analyses why and how such integrated approaches can be applied effectively throughout consecutive stages of infrastructure planning. The two case studies illustrate that the concept of integration is applied for strategic as well as operational reasons, and they reveal that these reasons may alternate throughout the planning process. Effective integration is therefore dynamic: it appropriately focuses on strengthening the socio-economic perspectives of a region for the longer term, as well as on the relations between different land uses that are physically adjacent and competing for space within a smaller area. Due to fragmented institutional contexts, successfully dealing with interrelatedness requires an intense level of interaction amongst involved actors. Such “co-production” of visions and plans has two important characteristics: negotiation, and learning about each other’s goals. Ultimately the case studies also show that planning at the infrastructure–land use interface needs institutional mechanisms to guide the alterations between strategically and operationally inspired integration. Contracts with private parties, public participation, and positive conditions for learning about each other’s referential frames are examples of the institutional mechanisms encountered in this study.     

Urban sprawl,density, and accessibility

Suburban sprawl is often criticized on the grounds that it results in low density land uses. A model is developed and calibrated in which a planning agency can influence the sequencing and densities of two phases of suburban development on the urban fringe. In this model an Ogawa-Fujita accessibility function plays an important role in determining rents per unit of built space and hence land values at any location. If the planner opts for a continuous rather than discontinuous development pattern, the result is lower densities but higher property values. It is concluded that planning efforts to limit sprawl are more consistent with tax base considerations than with concerns over density.     

The Purchase of Scenic Easements and Wisconsin's Great River Road

In the early 1950s, Wisconsin initiated the nation's first major state-supported program to acquire conservation easements when it began to purchase scenic easements on land along the highways adjacent to the Mississippi River-the Great River Road. This program became an early model for other conservation easement acquisition programs in the nation. Today, programs to purchase conservation easements are still viewed as an important planning tool for permanently protecting land from development; yet, very little is understood about the true nature of such protection. This article examines the experiences of Wisconsin's Great River Road program in an effort to begin to understand the constraints and limitations to the “perpetual” protection offered by conservation easements. Conservation easements can be modified or terminated; they can also be subject to political influence. I conclude that placing a conservation easement on a parcel of land is not the final step in achieving long-term protection. Conservation easement holders must formulate a long-term strategy to uphold the intent of these easements and ensure that their use remains in the public interest.     

‘Let’s be friends’; exploring governance,crime precipitators and public safety in the night-time economies of Cardiff (Wales) and Perth (Australia)

There are tensions between agencies seeking to restrict and control the night-time economy (NTE) and those focused on promoting it. These tensions need to be inspected. Using perspectives from environmental criminology it has been hypothesized that planning governance issues, relating to the provision of public transport, taxis services and public toilets, may act to precipitate crime and disorder and exacerbate public safety issues. Utilising research findings from a study of regular users of the NTE’s of Cardiff (UK) and Perth (Australia), we test this hypothesis. The research findings suggest that the most appropriate manner in which to deal with crime and disorder in the NTE is through inter-agency partnership approaches involving the users of the NTE. This approach refocusses the debate to explore the positive elements of the NTE we do want. This contrasts with many contemporary approaches focused solely on the negative aspects of the NTE we don’t want.