Investigating the Social Dimensions of Transport Disadvantage II: From Concepts to Methods through an Empirical Case Study

This article is the second of two papers that review the field of spatially sensitive social scientific research into the links between social status and transport disadvantage. The first paper undertook a comprehensive review of the social scientific and transport planning literature to mark the level of development in the field and identify conceptual and methodological issues and constraints in this field of inquiry. The present article supports the advancement of socially and geographically sensitive transport research by opportunities for the development of more sophisticated spatial analytical methodologies. The approach we present is able to account for factors not previously addressed in either social or transport planning research, in particular the temporal dimensions of transport service accessibility. The article articulates the methodology through an empirical case study of socio-spatial transport disadvantage within the Gold Coast City. The article demonstrates that there are important theoretical and practical lessons to be gained for researchers and policy makers in addressing the social dimensions of transport and infrastructure provision. Further, the article argues that an attentiveness to new ways of combining and representing social and transport data-sets can promote policy relevant empirical social inquiry. The article also contributes in a productive way to the empirical knowledge of Australia's sixth-largest metropolitan area, which is often overlooked by urban scholars.     

Investigating the Social Dimensions of Transport Disadvantage—I. Towards New Concepts and Methods1

This article is the first of two papers that engage critically and productively with the relationship between the socio-economic transformations of cities, the differentiation of vulnerable groups within urban space and the distribution of transport services. This article undertakes a comprehensive review of the major conceptual and methodological approaches by which scholars and policy researchers have sought to address the connection between social disadvantage and access to transport. The article critically assesses the relative merits of various spatial analytical methodologies in illuminating social–transport links. The study finds that there is a need for greater sophistication in the use of analytical methods in transport research as well as an imperative for greater sensitivity to social differentiation within urban areas and relative to infrastructure and services. The article concludes by developing a method for combining spatial social and transport service data that is then deployed in the empirical case study reported in the second paper.     

Investigating the Social Dimensions of Transport Disadvantage—I. Towards New Concepts and Methods

This article is the first of two papers that engage critically and productively with the relationship between the socio-economic transformations of cities, the differentiation of vulnerable groups within urban space and the distribution of transport services. This article undertakes a comprehensive review of the major conceptual and methodological approaches by which scholars and policy researchers have sought to address the connection between social disadvantage and access to transport. The article critically assesses the relative merits of various spatial analytical methodologies in illuminating social-transport links. The study finds that there is a need for greater sophistication in the use of analytical methods in transport research as well as an imperative for greater sensitivity to social differentiation within urban areas and relative to infrastructure and services. The article concludes by developing a method for combining spatial social and transport service data that is then deployed in the empirical case study reported in the second paper.     

Digital Ethnography as Planning Praxis: An Experiment with Film as Social Research,Community Engagement and Policy Dialogue

Stories and storytelling are part of a post-positivist paradigm of inquiry influenced by phenomenology, ethnography and narrative analysis, along with the evolution of visual methods in social research. New information and communication technologies today provide the opportunity to explore storytelling through multimedia, including video/filmmaking, in what we describe as digital ethnography. While there has been a tradition in the planning field of using film for advocacy purposes since the 1920s, we argue for a new direction informed by collaborative planning theory and situational ethics.

This paper reports on a three-year, three-stage research project in which we experimented with the use of film as a mode of inquiry, a form of meaning making, a way of knowing, and a means of provoking public dialogue around planning and policy issues (in this case, community development and the social integration of immigrants). We explored the expressive as well as analytical possibilities of film in conducting social research and provoking community engagement and dialogue, taking advantage of the aesthetic and involving dimensions of film as narrative. The research question was a socio-political one: how do immigrants become integrated into a specific social fabric, and how do they acquire a sense of belonging? The site of the research was a culturally diverse neighbourhood in the city of Vancouver, and the specific focus was a place-based local institution, the Collingwood Neighbourhood House. The paper concludes with critical reflections on the use of film in this research project, focusing on ethical issues, power relationships, insider/outsider dilemmas, and reciprocity.     

Implementing urban renaissance—problems,possibilities and plans in South East England

This paper explores the concept of urban renaissance and how it applies to the South East of England, the region where pressure for new housing development is at its most extreme and the responses of the planning process in the past have been at their most conservative. The paper initially explores the notion of urban renaissance and its probable alternative—urban malaise. This analysis is contextualised through a review of national policy on planning and sustainability, before the concept is pulled apart and a range of its key constituent dimensions reviewed. This wide-ranging policy and research review subsequently forms the basis for an analysis of South East planning policy in the second half of the paper.Initially the problems and pressures in the South East are explored before a review of the developing regional planning guidance examines how these concerns are being addressed. The key empirical work next reviews development plans from across the region as a means to gauge the extent to which the planning process is already addressing the urban renaissance agenda, and to assess the evolving nature of policy. A final chapter presents the key findings and looks to the future, discussing the role of the development plan in delivering an urban renaissance in the region and offering an agenda to take practice forward. The argument is made that the planning process provides potentially the central focus around which contributions to implementing an urban renaissance may converge. In this role the development plan can have a central co-ordinating and visionary function, although as yet examples of this potential are few and far between.     

Value for money: Quality and price of land for social housing in the Netherlands

The Dutch take pride in their policy on housing and the development of urban land. After the Second World War, the Housing Act—dating from 1901—was elaborated into specific rules for physical planning and a system of subsidizing the production and management of a large number of social rented dwellings. The effectiveness of the Dutch approach was based upon the synergy of state interventions in physical planning, housing and land policy. This article analyses the performance of this system in two respects. Firstly, it looks at how the system affected the influence of prices of virgin land and of land development costs on decisions in physical planning, and what effect it had on prices of serviced land for social housing. This section is based on an analysis of Dutch land policy and the resulting land prices for housing over the entire post-war period. Secondly, this article considers what the Dutch system contributed to social integration in Dutch cities, and whether it gave lower—income groups access to locations with better quality than the free market would have offered. This second part of the study is based on empirical data on the socio-spatial development of The Hague and its region. Regarding the existing English literature on the successes of Dutch policy, the author suggests a more carefully balanced appraisal. This leads to some points for a research agenda for land policy in the Netherlands, given the rapid shift to marketled production in Dutch housing.     

作为公共政策的风景名胜区规划

简要回顾中国风景名胜区规划的发展及体系特色,并对存在的问题进行了分析与总结。通过对公共政策的了解,结合国际上保护地管理规划经验,提出风景名胜区规划应该成为公共政策。认为在现有风景名胜区规划框架之下,单一目标和项目清单式的规划成果已无法满足社会发展的需求。提出在目前新的调整时期,风景名胜区规划体系亟须进化与改革,有必要重构风景名胜区的规划理论和体系,使规划能够满足社会发展和科学管理的需要。     

Strategic Use of Analytical Information in Transport Planning in China: How Is It Different from Western Democracies?

Theory on the strategic use of knowledge in planning large infrastructure projects is comparatively well-developed in the fields of public policy and urban/transport planning for Western democracies. But how policymakers make use of knowledge and what position policy analysts hold in non-Western countries still remains largely unknown territory in the literature. This article begins to explore this topic by studying two urban transport projects in the Chinese city of Dalian. Based on empirical evidence, the article concludes with a number of preliminary but notable differences between Western countries and China in terms of the administrative mechanisms underlying the strategic use of knowledge in policymaking. We found that Chinese institutional incentives with regard to cadre evaluation and promotion channels largely constitute the motivation of politicians to use knowledge strategically. Additionally, the wider social and administrative cultures in China, including a command-and-control tradition and a high level of power distance create a basis for the strategic use of information as well as the manipulation of analytical data.     

从珠江三角洲到粤港澳大湾区演变看规划响应

采用实证研究方法,以规划响应的演变印证规划的本质。前半部分对珠江三角洲乃至粤港澳大湾区的历版规划进行高度概括梳理凝练,解读了规划演变历史背景,揭示规划响应是一个由局部到整体、层级由低到高的演变过程,既是国家意志体现,亦是经济规律使然,此观点具首创性。后半部分主要阐述《粤港澳大湾区发展规划纲要》的出台及粤港澳三地聚焦科技创新走廊的规划响应,通过描述粤港澳三地在空间上和政策上各自作出的规划响应,以地区的特殊性再次重申“体现国家意志,顺应社会经济发展规律”的规划本质。     

The coexistence of amenity and biodiversity in urban landscapes

Amenity is a long-standing component of town planning and municipal governance. Biodiversity is a far more recent concept, yet interpreting the conservation mandate in a local context is a significant challenge for landscape and urban planners. This article explores the concepts of amenity and biodiversity and investigates their compatibility in an urbanising world. Their historical expression in law and urban planning is considered, and empirical research on the links between human well-being, green environments and biodiversity is reviewed. We argue that amenity is an underutilised vehicle for achieving biodiversity goals in line with new urban greening paradigms because of its long-standing currency with planning professionals. However, conflict between biodiversity and amenity can arise in practice, depending on a city’s social–ecological context. These challenges can be overcome through setting clear objectives, utilising scientific evidence, engaging with local communities and ensuring landscape policy is sufficiently flexible to accommodate local needs and characteristics.     

Social dilemmas in built-heritage policy: the role of social considerations in decisions of planning inspectors

This paper addresses an underrated aspect of historic preservation policy: the role played by social factors in conflicts over proposals to develop heritage properties. After reviewing existing literature, we develop a theoretical framework and apply it to heritage-related decisions made by planning inspectors in the English planning system. Specifically, the research focuses on planning appeals pertaining to development in conservation areas. We focus on conflicts in Greater London Area and analyse the content of 105 sampled case studies. The findings show that social considerations are present, to some extent, in almost half of the decisions, and that inspectors are often cognizant of the positive and negative social aspects of heritage protection policies. Although heritage policy in England has been acknowledged for its physical and architectural emphasis, in fact, the analysis reveals that, during planning processes, decision-makers also focus attention on the social implications of historic protection. The recognition of the social implications suggests that there are multidimensional perspectives in heritage policy. Indeed, in a large share of conflicts, the inspectors viewed historic preservation in a critical manner, emphasizing the social benefits attributed to demolitions and alterations rather than to preservation. In those cases, planning inspectors stressed better and more affordable housing as public interests which justify why heritage could not be strictly protected. By studying the trajectories of heritage disputes, the paper points out the underlying dimensions of conflicts and concludes that if policymakers are to devise socially inclusive heritage policies, they must first acknowledge their deep and often complex social implications.     

Social consequences and mental health outcomes of living in high-rise residential buildings and the influence of planning,urban design and architectural decisions: A systematic review

Different types of high-rise residential buildings have proliferated in different countries at least since the 1940s, for a range of reasons. This paper aims to provide an overview of the current state of evidence on how planning, urban design and architectural aspects of high-rise residential buildings may influence social well-being and mental health. A systematic review following the PRISMA guidelines was conducted. Searches for peer-reviewed papers were conducted in MEDLINE, Embase, PsycInfo, Scopus, SciELO, and Web of Science; 4100 papers were assessed. 23 empirical studies published between 1971 and 2016 were included. The review found that house type, floor level, as well as spaces intrinsic to high-rise residential buildings (e.g. shared stairwells) are associated with social well-being and mental health. However, conceptual gaps and methodological inconsistencies still characterise most of the research in this field. We expect that research about and policy attention to this subject may intensify due to its strategic relevance in the face of global challenges such as increasing urbanization and loneliness. This paper concludes by highlighting a number of recommendations for future research.     

Integrating Ecological,Social and Cultural Dimensions in the Implementation of the Landscape Convention

Implementation of the European Landscape Convention requires new tools that link ecological, social and cultural dimensions in practical planning. Here, we propose connectivity as a conceptual tool to include different dimensions into landscape and spatial planning. We present a short review of the connectivity concept in relation to ecological, social and cultural dimensions and illustrate it by examples from a real landscape planning case.     

Embracing Complexity and Uncertainty: The Potential of Agent-Based Modeling for Environmental Planning and Policy

Targeted consultation of ethnic minority groups has been promoted as a tool to address systemic racial disadvantage within society. Within planning there has been an emphasis upon identifying ethnic minority communities in the context of considering differing policy needs within the development planning process. The article draws upon research investigating how the ideology of the nation constructs ethnicity which acts to shape consultation practices within local planning authorities in England. The development of such consultation within urban planning, it is argued, has reinforced false understandings of ethnicity. Despite good intentions in some respects, planning authorities continue to address the needs and interests of ethnic minority people in a superficial manner. The article suggests that there is a need to give greater attention to how the ideology of the nation limits the actions of planners.     

The concept of polycentricity in European spatial planning: reflections on its interpretation and application in the practice of spatial planning

The concept of polycentric development has emerged as one of the hallmarks of the emerging field of European spatial planning. It was one of the key principles in the European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP), it has been frequently debated by academics, and it has been invoked by those engaged in spatial development policy making across the scales of multi-level governance in Europe. The concept is subject to multiple interpretations. This article argues that as well as being differentiated by spatial scale (vertical differentiation), the concept can also be differentiated horizontally by context. It is currently being interpreted and employed in at least three domains of meaning: in the emerging field of transnational spatial planning for Europe; in the practice of spatial development policy making at the various levels of multi-level territorial governance within Europe where planning occurs; and in an emerging academic discourse relating to European spatial planning. The article then focuses on the second domain where polycentricity is employed and has meaning ascribed to it, through a consideration of how the concept has been interpreted and applied in recent spatial planning initiatives in England. The article concludes that further ‘bottom-up’ comparative research and analysis is key to future research into the concept of polycentricity in European spatial planning.     

Devolution,Planning Guidance and the Role of the Planning System in Wales

The paper outlines the implications of the National Assembly for Wales for the planning system and planning policy for Wales. The advent of the Assembly has brought a new emphasis on strategic planning, inclusive partnership working and outcomes. The Assembly's Corporate Plan- Betterwales- has three major themes: sustainable development, tackling social disadvantage and equal opportunities, and contains a commitment to producing a National Spatial Planning Framework. Initial stages are in progress, the framework will draw on spatial aspects of the new Planning Policy Wales, the Assembly's vision, strategies and its Sustainable Development Scheme, research and spatial planning experience, in the UK and Europe, and the work of the Assembly's agencies, and Welsh local planning authorities.     

The Community Infrastructure Levy: An Information Economics Approach to Understanding Infrastructure Provision under England's Reformed Spatial Planning System

This review paper introduces a research agenda designed to invigorate interest in information economics as a conceptual framework within which to analyse the purported transition from regulatory land-use planning, such as that operating in England prior to 2004, to “spatial planning”. In considering one specific area of reform—the management of infrastructure provision—a research agenda is introduced to investigate a specific policy instrument, the Community Infrastructure Levy. It is approached as a transaction cost, the determination of which is a function of how information is traded between counterparties. In conceptualizing important information asymmetries between local planning authorities and the development industry a case is made for further empirical research.     

The limits to shaping diversity as public culture: Permanent festivities in Barcelona

In spite of the existence of an extensive debate on cultural policies on the one hand, and on local diversity policies on the other hand, there are still few studies dealing directly with this nexus. This emerging research trend will be discussed in the context of Barcelona and through the analysis of a specific cultural policy field: the planning of permanent festivities.After overviewing its migration history and after presenting the theoretical framework and methodology, this article frames Barcelona’s general cultural policy and intercultural policy patterns, arguing that the Catalan capital is really at a very initial stage of connecting diversity with cultural policy. After that, I will defend the argument that, in spite of recognising diversity, the analysis of Barcelona’s permanent festivities shows that there are also some limits to the development of this connection, due primarily to a lack of democratization of culture. Interviews and a discussion group confirm this empirical diagnosis. The argument I want to put forward is that this lack of participation of immigrants in cultural planning and diversity promotion is probably due to the fact that the two departments in the city represent, indeed, two approaches toward the question of how to promote the nexus between culture and diversity, and thus they are still working separately. The department of culture still has an elitist focus, centred on a culture of excellence, while the immigration department has a more social focus on cultural diversity.     

通过辩论做规划:规划理论中的交往转向

本文提出了一种规划方法,它的目的是在当代发达的经济条件和形形色色的社会结构条件下发掘规划的民主潜力。在这样的社会里任何与规划相关的主张都需要应对挑战,这些对规划思想的挑战来自于公共政策中经济评价的复兴,更根本地说,来自于对科学理性主义的后现代哲学批判。本文认为凭借技术,道德与表现美学的实践和理解方式,哈贝马斯关于各种话语群体之间的主体间理性的概念,可以为建立规划行为的模式与惯例指明一个方向,这些模式与惯例适合社会探求达成“求同存异”的进步方法。本文通过引用当代规划理论界许多研究成果,勾勒出上述方法的轮廓,以及它对当前环境规划实践的启示。     

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.