The green heart and the dynamics of doctrine

The Green Heart is the most pronounced of Dutch planning concepts. It rests on an organic metaphor that for over 40 years now has been at the heart of Dutch national planning. Although the object of much debate, the national government has decided recently to stick to a restrictive policy for the Green Heart, for the next decade anyhow. The authors shed light on the apparent continuity of policy by invoking the concept of planning doctrine. Planning doctrine is a framing device for planners. It combines substantive as well as procedural aspects. In developing the notion of planning doctrine, the article draws on the work of Kuhn, Lakatos and Laudan. Arnold van der Valk ia an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Environmental Sciences and the Amesterdam Study Centre for the Metropolitan Environment (AME) of the University of Amsterdam. Andreas Faludi is a Professor of Planning at the Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Chairman of the Board of the Amesterdam Study Centre for the Metropolitan Environment (AME) of the University of Amsterdam.     

Private rented housing in France

This paper reviews the evolution of the French private rented housing sector. It traces post-war policy developments, putting the specific tenure in a wide housing market context. The paper reviews France’s intricate system of personal and property—oriented housing subsidies, and assesses their demand and supply side repercussions. Discussion of the general post-war decline in private rented housing as a means of housing consumption is situated in the evolution of the national housing system, and the paper alludes to some key regional and local differentiations. The paper discusses the market contexts for attempts to revitalise the sector, concluding that broad fiscal measures are likely to have greater impact than rent decontrol. Madhu Satsangi is Lecturer in Housing Studies at the School of Planning and Housing, Edinburgh College of Art/Heriot-Watt University. Madhu has researched housing markets, voluntary and private-sector housing finance and housing management issues.     

Book Notes

Urban government for the paris region by Annmarie Hauck Walsh Frederick A. Praeger, New York, 1968. 217 pp. $12.50.

Urban government in metropolitan lagos by Babatunde A. Williams and Annmarie Hauck Walsh Frederick A. Praeger, New York, 1968. 182 pp. $12.50.

Urban government for Zagreb, Yugoslavia by Eugen Pusic and Annmarie Hauck Walsh Frederick A. Praeger, New York, 1968. 190 pp. $10.00.

The Urban explosion in Latin America: A continent in process of modernization Edited by Glenn H. Beyer Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, 1967. 360 pp. $9.75.

Financing Latin American housing: Domestic savings mobilization and U.S. assistance policy by Sean M. Elliott Frederick A. Praeger, New York, 1968. 232 pp. $12.50.

The city in Modern Africa Edited by Horace Miner Frederick A. Praeger, New York, 1967. 364 pp. $7.50.

Planning for Development in Peru by Daniel R. Kilty Frederick A. Praeger, New York, 1967. 196 pp. (processed) $12.50.

Resource-Conserving Urbanism for South Asia By Richard L. Meier Regional Development Studies VII, Department of Resource Planning & Conservation, School of Natural Resources, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1968. 95 pp. (Processed) n.p.

Law and contemporary problems, vol. xxxii, number 2, housing—part 1 : Perspectives and problems School of Law, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, Spring 1967. 182 pp. $3.00.     

Building Designs for Living: Studio 804 University of Kansas

Abstract

Studio 804 at the University of Kansas School of Architecture and Urban Design uses the design-build experience as a way to explore alternative models for design practice. The Studio is a collaborative workshop, whose designs are open-ended. Student participants learn both to explore new materials for typical construction applications and to invent new applications for typical materials. They learn to discover new constructive possibilities in familiar objects, sometimes in surprising ways.     

Financing the non-profit rented sector in Western Europe

The degree to which the non-profit rented sector in Western Europe has had to adjust itself toward privatization is the subject of this article. Specifically, we examine how private financing in the non-profit rented sector is implemented in Western Europe. We also trace how these practices affect the way the sector performs in various countries. In the final section of this paper, we shed some light on the diversity of responses to the challenges facing the non-profit rented sector in Western Europe. This article is based on the study “Financing the non-profit rented sector in Western Europe”, published in the series Housing and Urban Policy Studies. This project was carried out by the OTB Research Institute for Policy Sciences and Technology of Delft University of Technology, in cooperation with the School of the Built Environment of the De Montfort University in Leicester (UK). This cooperation forms part of the Centre for Comparative Housing Research. Peter Boelhouwer is a senior researcher at the OTB Research Institute for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies, Delft University of Technology. His research focus has been on general housing policy, housing finance and comparative housing research.     

A perennial problem? On underoccupation in English council housing

Abstract

Addressing the issue of underoccupation has been a prominent feature in English social housing policy since the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition government was formed in 2010. A key move under the Coalition’s welfare reform agenda was the implementation of the underoccupancy penalty—the so-called ‘bedroom tax’—from April 2013. However, while this policy triggered high-profile protests, it does not represent a novel policy preoccupation. Variations on the theme have recurred in housing policy debates almost since the advent of council housing. This paper adopts a long-term perspective and presents a sociological institutionalist analysis which focuses on the mechanisms through which underoccupation has been governed. Drawing on a range of archival material, we argue that the government of underoccupation has undergone revealing transformations over the period since 1929. Not only does the broader policy context—understandings of the purpose of social housing and the role it fulfils in the housing market—differ over time, but, at the more detailed level of policy instruments, the mechanisms proposed to address underoccupation differ in ways that can be explained in terms of prevailing policy logics and institutional structures. Most significantly, the nature of the underoccupation problem has been framed differently: the rationales offered as justification for policy action draw on very different vocabularies, in ways that allow us to trace the influence of more fundamental shifts in policy discourse into the domain of housing policy.     

Making Room for the River

Abstract

Problem, research strategy, and findings: In this study we analyze plan integration for flood resilience in the city of Nijmegen, the site of the largest Room for the River project in The Netherlands. Little is known about the degree to which local and regional plans are coordinated with the national Room for the River program or about the cumulative influence of plans on flood vulnerability. To effectively investigate these issues, we use and build upon the Plan Integration for Resilience Scorecard (PIRS) concept and method, which analyzes the consistency and effects of networks of plans on community vulnerability. We expand the scope to include plans from multiple administrative scales and the focus to include environmental vulnerability. Using a three-phase evaluation process, we demonstrate that Room for the River policies are well integrated in Nijmegen’s network of plans, particularly with respect to flood safety and natural protection. However, we also find that policies at different administrative scales lack consistency in some places, some socially vulnerable neighborhoods receive comparatively little policy attention, and local plans often prioritize development over flood resilience, though higher tier plans sometimes make up for these policy gaps. Flood resilience is still finding its way in the Dutch planning system.

Takeaway for practice: The PIRS offers planning practitioners a method to assess how networks of plans influence community vulnerability and, as demonstrated in this analysis, to determine the degree to which plans at multiple administrative scales target the most physically, socially, and environmentally vulnerable geographic areas. It can be used to support the ambitious goals of a program like Room for the River and align them with local development priorities.     

Foundations of Real Estate Development Financing: A Guide to Public–Private Partnerships,Arthur C. Nelson

Problem, research strategy, and findings: Advocates of accessibility as a transportation performance metric often assert that it requires higher density. Conversely, traditional transportation planning methods have valued speed per se as an indicator of success in transportation. In examining these claims, we make two methodological innovations. The first is a new intermetropolitan gravity-based accessibility metric. Second, we decompose the impact of density on accessibility to highlight the distinct opposing influences of speed and proximity in a manner that illustrates different families of relationships between these two factors. This reveals that denser metropolitan regions have slower travel speeds but greater origin-destination proximity. The former effect tends to degrade accessibility while the latter tends to enhance it. Despite theoretical reasons to expect that the speed effect dominates, results suggest that the proximity effect dominates, rendering the denser metropolitan areas more accessible.

Takeaway for practice: Having destinations nearby, as when densities are high, offers benefits even when the associated congestion slows traffic. Where land use policy frequently seeks to support low-development densities in part in an attempt to maintain travel speeds and forestall traffic congestion, our findings suggest that compact development can often improve transportation outcomes.

Research support: Environmental Protection Agency project RD-83334901-0, FHWA Cooperative Agreement Number: DTFH61-07-H-00037, and the Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute at the University of Michigan.     

Housing the very poor or the young? Implications of the changing public housing policy in South Korea

Abstract

This paper discusses the reorganization of the roles of the national and local governments in public housing policy alongside decentralization, with particular reference to South Korea. Focusing on policy changes over the past decade, it reveals that rather than retrenchment amid a push towards greater local autonomy, the national government has diversified and expanded its public housing policy, and is increasingly pursuing a universal approach to public housing. Through case studies of Seoul and Gyeonggi, it also shows how the two local governments have become creative suppliers of public housing that is more customized to the local context. In particular, it highlights the rising emphasis on targeting young people rather than the very poor in public housing policies, a shift that is partly a legacy of Korea’s ‘productivist’ welfare state. The paper closes by discussing the implications of this latest policy trend, especially on local–national policy coordination.     

Housing Recovery Lessons From Chile

Problem, research strategy and findings: The 8.8 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck south-central Chile on February 27, 2010, affected 75% of the country's population and damaged or destroyed 370,000 housing units (about 10% of the housing in six regions). Within six months, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development published a plan to repair or rebuild 220,000 units of low- and middle-income housing with government assistance within four years. By February 2014, 94% of the housing was complete. The successful rebuilding effort had strong leadership at the national and local levels and used existing programs and institutions. The management staff adapted programs over time to meet the needs of local conditions. When compared with housing recovery programs in other countries, Chile's program stands out, combining national government management with local citizen input. The reconstruction plan also included updated zoning plans, road and infrastructure improvements, heritage recovery, and new master plans for affected cities. Going forward, the earthquake created an opportunity for Chile to use the recovery planning to expand national urban policy and to develop a framework for citizen participation at the local level.

Takeaway for practice: Successful planning in disaster recovery involves strong government leadership and coordination together with the engagement of local government and the participation of citizens.     

Uganda’s Emerging Urban Policy Environment: Implications for Urban Food Security and Urban Migrants

In recognition of the challenges posed by Uganda’s rapid urbanization, the national government is in the process of developing a Uganda national urban policy (UNUP). The government is also preparing a “stringent” new national migration policy. Up to now, Uganda’s policy environment has ignored the urban dimensions of poverty and the food insecurity that accompanies it. Migration, an important driver of both urban poverty and urban food insecurity, has been poorly understood, and only international migration has been addressed. This paper explores the urban policy environment and the multilevel governance policy process in Uganda, in order to understand not only how new policies are being shaped by the government’s political priorities in the face of its weakening popular legitimacy and growing signs of urban discontent but also what potential entry points exist to influence policy making in Uganda in ways that might better support the needs of the nation’s growing numbers of urban food insecure, among them are internally displaced Ugandans.     

Themes and contradictions in housing management: An analysis of bureaucratic discourse

The aim of this paper is to examine the ways in which housing management is socially constructed through analysis of the language and meaning used in one policy document, the Housing Management Standards Manual, produced by the Chartered Institute of Housing. Four recurrent themes are identified in the Manual which illustrate the ways in which language is used to construct the nature of the housing management task and build the professional and organizational structure which provides the framework for relations between housing managers and tenants. An analysis of the document illustrates the impact of contextual factors such as economic change, government policy and the restructuring of public sector management, which are facing housing management in Britain. The research on which this paper is based was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. Lise Saugeres worked as a Research Associate with Bridget Franklin and David Clapham in the Centre for Housing Management and Development at Cardiff University on a two-year project on ‘the social construction of the occupational role of housing management’, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. She has recently obtained her Ph.D. from Manchester and has now been appointed as a Lecturer in Human Geography in Plymouth.     

The different faces of private rented housing

The relation between public policy and the private rented sector is usually unclear. The private rented sector often suffers from public policy, although private landlords mostly enjoy fiscal advantages as well. In many European countries, private renting housing has been losing ground. Nevertheless, private rented housing fulfils a number of useful functions in the housing market: as a tenure for urban starters; for the elderly; and for a mobile, well-to-do segment of the population engaged in flexible labour markets. The main lines of seven country profiles are sketched here: (West) Germany, England, the Netherlands, Sweden, France, Canada and the United States. In his comparative contribution at the end of this special issue, Maclennan points out that the private rented sector has indeed declined in many European countries. But he also shows that in countries like the USA, Germany and Sweden the sector has had a broadly constant share since about 1980. In the future, private rented housing will remain an attractive sector, at least for those who are unable to afford owner-occupied housing and those unable to gain access to social housing. Hugo Priemus holds the chair in housing at Delft University of Technology and he is managing director of OTB Research Institute for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies. Duncan Maclennan is McTaggart professor at the Centre for Housing Research and Urban Studies, University of Glasgow, Great Britain.     

MTO: A residential relocation demonstration program in the United States

This article provides an overview of an experimental residential relocation program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development known as Moving to Opportunity (MTO), currently in operation in five U.S. cities: Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. Because families are randomly assigned to three groups, each of which receives a different bundle of housing services, MTO provides a unique opportunity to learn more about the effects of concentrated urban poverty on the outcomes of families. Yet residential relocation can be an effective anti-poverty strategy only if families successfully relocate and if their new neighborhoods translate into improved labor-market, educational, or other outcomes. We illustrate the potential as well as the limits of residential relocation policies by focusing on the relationship between the housing market and educational opportunities in the Baltimore demonstration site. Helen F. Ladd is Professor of Public Policy Studies and Economics at Duke University. Much of her current research focuses on education policy, particularly performance-based approaches to reforming schools. She is the editor ofHolding Schools Accountable: Performance-Based Reform in Education (Brookings Institution, May, 1996). She currently co-chairs a National Academy of Sciences Committee on Education Finance: Equity, Adequacy, and Productivity. Jens Ludwig is Assistant Professor of Public Policy at Georgetown University.     

Vinex policy moves into the implementation phase

National policy on urban and regional planning, as laid down in the Fourth Report on Physical Planning Extra (VINEX), is now being put into practice. The main point made in this document is that activities must be concentrated in the city regions in order to fortify the urban economic base, to economize on the consumption of land, and to restrict (increasing) car mobility in favor of public transport and bicycle tranffic. Concrete agreements pertaining to all VINEX development areas and all city regions have been signed by national, provincial, and local authorities. The agreements are based on a timetable spanning a period of ten years (1995–2005). The only thing that remains to be done is to implement the plans. However, the implementation of VINEX has been lagging far behind the production targets. In this article, we take a close look at how the national policy goals are implemented, using some examples from the field. We examine the content of the VINEX covenants and try to detect gaps in the agreements, which seem to be strictly formulated. This article demonstrates the range of attitudes among provincial and local authorities. The differences largely reflect the regional context involved. We draw attention to the influence of regionalization (and the failure to achieve it) on the pace of implementation. Furthermore, we outline the various positions of actors involved in VINEX on both the supply and the demand side Private parties, including privatized organizations that previously operated under the umbrella of government, are now directly involved and bear a sizable share of the risk. Not surprisingly, they also demand more say in how plans are carried out. Government authorities, however, remain the guardians of the collective interests that policy is meant to serve. Therefore, their role in directing the negotiations on the implementation of projects is more critical than ever before. Indeed, the role of the public sector will remain crucial for some time, since the mainstay of spatial planning until the year 2010 will be continuity. Helen Kruythoff is a human geographer working at the OTB Research Institute, for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies at the Department of Urban Development and Housing Stock Management. René Teule is a human geographer a researcher. When writing this articles he was a researcher at the OTB Research Institute for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies. He is now working at the City of The Hague.     

Swedish experiences of incentives for the protection of nature

In Sweden, the maintenance of biological diversity is considered a key element in the development towards a sustainable society. However, the link between sustainable development and biodiversity is far from clear to everybody. It is an important task to explain this link. A cornerstone of Swedish biodiversity policy is that each sector in society has a sectoral responsibility to ensure that its own activities do not cause any long-term loss of biodiversity (but instead help to maintain it). The concept of sectoral responsibility is an important feature of environmental policy in the context of developing new incentives. Besides ‘traditional’ nature conservation tools — such as the protection of sites, purchasing land and general environmental legislation — new, more market-oriented incentives have emerged during the last few years, e.g. certifications schemes in forestry and eco-labelling in agriculture. These new incentives have developed alongside political processes (parliament, government, agencies etc.) and have been formulated and negotiated by ‘market players’. Environmental NGOs, such as WWF Sweden and the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, have often taken the lead role in this process. Another feature of these incentives is that they not only apply to products but also to production; an example of this is in forestry where not just the wood but also forest management are in focus. The national agri-environmental programmes, within the context of the European Union's subsidy programme for environmental measures in agriculture, provide a powerful tool for conserving and enhancing biodiversity. In Sweden at least, there is nowadays complete acceptance for the basic view that it is both desirable and necessary to pay the farmers for their ‘production’ of common benefits such as biodiversity in well-managed pastures and meadows. Market-oriented incentives, such as eco-labelling and certification schemes, have an important role to play and should complement other, more traditional tools such as general environmental legislation and protection of sites.     

Telling stories: the role of narratives in rental housing policy change in New Zealand

Abstract

This paper examines the emergence of the regulation of housing conditions in the private rental sector as a policy issue in New Zealand using an analysis of narratives in media, advocacy and political texts. Narratives are evident in public discourse and are the stories told by interest groups to identify and cast a problem as a policy issue in a way analogous to the beliefs of the speaker. This case study shows that while the narratives used by advocates for policy change were effective in raising the issue, they were ineffective in overcoming a counter-narrative of excessive regulation by the government and concerns of possible rent rises. This opposition to regulation of the private sector by a right-leaning government needs to be more effectively countered by more powerful intersecting narratives, if evidence on the relationship between housing, health and safety is to become the basis for effectively implemented government policy.     

营建新农村——贵州"新镇山绿色住宅示范工程"实践

2006年3月,由天津大学建筑学院和德国柏林工业大学建筑系派出的两个课题组,在贵州省进行了一项国家"十五"科技攻关项目--新镇山绿色住宅示范工程.该文阐述了整个设计到实施的过程,着重说明了营造实践中的得失,并进行了总结.     

Why Parents Drive Children to School: Implications for Safe Routes to School Programs

Problem: Rates of walking and bicycling to school have declined sharply in recent decades, and federal and state governments have committed funds to reverse these trends. To increase rates of walking and biking to school will require understanding why many parents choose to drive their children to school and how well existing programs, like Safe Routes to School, work.

Purpose: We aimed to understand why many parents choose to drive their children even short distances to school, and what implications this has for programs to increase walking and biking to school.

Methods: We used data from a telephone survey to explore why parents drive their children to school.

Results and conclusions: We found that 75% of parents driving their children less than 2 miles to school said they did this for convenience and to save time. Nearly half of parents driving their children less than 2 miles did not allow their child to walk to school without adult supervision. Accompanying a child on a walk to school greatly increases the time the household devotes to such a trip. Few Safe Routes to School programs effectively address issues of parental convenience and time constraints.

Takeaway for practice: Safe Routes to School programs should take parental convenience and time constraints into account by providing ways children can walk to school supervised by someone other than the parent, such as by using walking school buses. To be effective, such programs need institutional support. Schools should take a multimodal approach to pupil transportation.

Research support: This research was funded by the Active Living Research program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the U.S. and California Departments of Transportation through the University of California Transportation Center.