New urban paradigm beyond the west: investigating the regeneration of urban villages in Guangzhou,China

This paper investigates the regeneration process of four urban villages in Guangzhou, China. It finds that the institutional dichotomy of the rural and urban systems in land ownership and planning management has not only rooted the emergence and proliferation of urban villages, but also obstructed their regeneration. The core of urban village regeneration is the redistribution of interest derived from land appreciation; the current regulatory framework has difficulties in accommodating this redistribution and alternative legislation is needed. Collaboration formed by some powerful stakeholders is proved to be essential for project completion, and this partnership formation has to some extent weakened the top-down single-actor planning mechanism, which has been the routine in socialist China for decades. The study identifies the dynamics of land regeneration, suggesting that there is no single universal prescribed form of land regeneration.     

A tale of two cities: Public land ownership in Canberra and Stockholm to the early 1980s

Public ownership and development of land is a powerful means of controlling the development of an urban area, avoiding high speculative costs of land for housing and public purposes, and siphoning increases in land values that accompany urban growth into the public purse. In Stockholm and Canberra, the balance between these three objectives in the use of public land has differed over time. Control of development has become dominant in Canberra while financial objectives have continued to be important in Stockholm. Whereas public ownership and leasehold tenure of developed land have been used by Stockholm city council as a means of maintaining a public role in the land market following urban development, the Federal Government in Canberra have done this to a much smaller extent. The city of Stockholm has been an active ground landlord; the government in Canberra has been almost completely passive, using lease conditions solely as a means of controlling land use. The paper explores historical reasons for the difference between the two cities. Importantly, both the initiative and financial responsibility were taken locally in Stockholm but by the national government in relation to its national capital, Canberra.     

Land regulating economy as a policy instrument in urban China

The regulation of urban land in China has become more important as a policy instrument, suggesting that land supply may be a catalyst for urban economic growth. Based on official data on land use change for the period 2005 to 2014, an econometric model of urban GDP growth reveals lagged effects of land supply on economic growth. Land supply has a more significant effect on economic growth in prefecture-level cities than in county-level cities. City size and development stage also shape the effects of land on economic growth; in addition, land plays different roles in economic growth in eastern coastal cities and in cities in the central and western parts of China. Different land use allocations have been successfully used as a tool for fostering economic growth in urban China.     

The commodification of land and housing: the case of South Korea

The developmentalist state in South East Asia has played an important role in guiding and promoting economic growth. Although an implicit theme of much of the discourse is the role of the state in controlling the factors of production, this is not located within the decommodification/commodification debate. Proceeding from the premise that underlies much of economic theory, namely that land values at a time reflect the residual (or surplus) of economic activity that requires land as a factor input, the purpose of this paper is to assess the extent to which the Korean state has managed the commodification of urban development and the distributional effects of this process. In spite of private land ownership the state has had a major impact on the processes by which land has become commodified, using extensive land expropriation and land‐use planning powers. The Korean state used different strategies to manage trends to commodification at different times: land readjustment projects were used from the 1950s to the 1970s and Public Management Development projects were the main mechanism of urban development from the 1980s. The urban development system was feasible because of the state's extensive control over access to housing finance (decommodified money). In the mid‐1990s there was a shift towards greater private sector involvement in urban development. The distributional effects of the urban development process have been highly inequitable. Subsidised home ownership for middle‐income families has been favoured over provision of public rental housing for low‐income families, driven in major part by cash flow considerations of the developmentalist state. Further, the basis of selecting beneficiaries has been very arbitrary. The system has promoted significant land concentration and land speculation particularly by private companies, including the large chaebol (corporations).     

首都地区城乡建设用地空间格局与增长趋势——基于2000-2010年数据

新型城镇化过程中城乡建设用地的永续利用和合理扩张是社会各界关注的热点问题,也是空间规划改革的重要内容.现有的研究往往从城镇扩张、土地非农化等角度分析建设用地的整体演变规律,对于用地结构、空间特征的关注往往不够.考虑到我国特殊的城乡二元土地制度,城镇和农村建设用地扩张相对独立,需要将两者统筹起来,分析城镇、农村和工矿建设用地各自空间格局和增长趋势的特征.选取我国城镇化较为迅速的首都地区作为研究对象,以2000-2010年间的空间数据为基础,从城乡建设用地的规模分布、结构比例、增长趋势、内部结构变化等几个方面总结其演变规律,并从空间管理、内部转换、政策工具三个方面给出建议.     

An agent-based procedure with an embedded agent learning model for residential land growth simulation: The case study of Nanjing,China

The agent-based modelling (ABM) is commonly used to simulate urban land growth. A key challenge of ABM for the simulation of urban land-use dynamics in support of sustainable urban management is to understand and model how human individuals make and develop their location decisions that then shape urban land-use patterns. To investigate this issue, we focus on modelling the agent learning process in residential location decision-making process, to represent individuals' personal and interpersonal experience learning during their decision-making. We have constructed an extended reinforcement learning model to represent the human agents' learning when they make location decisions. Consequently, we propose and have developed a new agent-based procedure for residential land growth simulation that incorporates an agent learning model, an agent decision-making model, a land use conversion model, and the impacts of urban land zoning and the developers' desires. The proposed procedure was first tested by using hypothetical data. Then the model was used for a simulation of the urban residential land growth in the city of Nanjing, China. By validating the model against empirical data, the results showed that adding agent learning model contributed to the representation of the agent's adaptive location decision-making and the improvement of the model's simulation power to a certain extent. The agent-based procedure with the agent learning model embedded is applicable to studying the formulation of urban development policies and testing the responses of individuals to these policies.     

Revealing the relationship of human convergence–divergence patterns and land use: A case study on Shenzhen City,China

Understanding the relationship between human mobility and land use has been a longstanding topic in multiple disciplines, including transport geography and urban planning. Recently, urban collective mobility patterns have become a hot research direction and has been explored at an unprecedented space–time scale due to the emerging big human tracking datasets (e.g., mobile phone data). However, only a few studies have comprehensively quantified the effects of land use on human mobility patterns while considering the influence of the scale of spatial analysis units. This study attempts to reinforce this knowledge by investigating urban human convergence–divergence patterns and their relationship with land use distribution characteristics at three popular types of spatial analysis units of human mobility studies (voronoi polygons, grid cells, and traffic analysis zones) using mobile phone data. A case study on Shenzhen, China is implemented, and results indicate that eight distinct convergence–divergence patterns could be extracted to describe urban collective mobility patterns despite the use of different types of spatial analysis unit. Moreover, the scale of spatial analysis units exerts a few effects on the quantification of the influence of land use distribution on human convergence–divergence patterns, but some common characteristics could be summarized from these discrepant results. The findings can help policy makers understand urban human mobility and can serve as a guide for urban management and planning.     

Large-scale Spatial Patterns in Species Richness of Orthoptera in the Greater London Area,United Kingdom: Relationships with Land Cover

This paper explores species richness of insects of the order Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets, etc.) along spatial gradients defined using remotely sensed land cover data for an area of 5600?km² centred on the city of London. The number of species within grid-squares of a national atlas, controlled for recording effort, declined along composite multivariate spatial gradients representing landscapes with increasing dominance of arable and urban land uses, yet was uncorrelated with the area of an individual land cover representing cultivated land, and only weakly correlated with a second land cover representing urban development. Few orthopteran species reside directly within either arable crops or non-vegetated urban land covers. Thus, whilst the areas of the individual land covers are intuitively sensible (and simple) measures of agricultural and urban cover respectively, their areas do not capture ecologically relevant information about variation in the composition of the uncultivated and non-urban land cover matrices within which the species actually reside. The results illustrate the advantages of using multivariate data reduction techniques (such as the Principle Components Analysis applied here) to describe spatial gradients in the extent of agricultural and urban influence. Relatively few landscape scale studies have focused on insects and the present study illustrates a) the potential for using Orthoptera to explore issues of biodiversity in the landscape and to monitor impacts of land use via analysis of large-scale spatial patterns from national species distribution atlases combined with remotely sensed land cover, and b) the importance of selecting appropriate measures of land use which incorporate information on the complex mix of land cover types utilised by the species under investigation.     

Chieftaincy and sustainable urban land use planning in Yendi,Ghana: Towards congruence

In Ghana, chieftaincy institutions act as custodians for about 80% of the total land area, and are responsible for leasing or allocating land while official planning institutions determine and manage its use. Yet, the extent to which chieftaincy institutions impede or contribute to sustainable urban land use planning in Ghana has received limited research attention. The scholarship on urban land use planning in Ghana has instead focused largely on rapid urbanisation, limited personnel and logistical capacity of planning institutions, and mainstream political interference. This paper addresses this gap by examining the chieftaincy-land use planning nexus in the Yendi municipality, Ghana. It explores the extent to which chieftaincy institutions limit or support sustainable urban land use planning in the municipality. Household and physical surveys, expert interviews, telephone conversations, and document reviews were used. Findings indicate that while chieftaincy's role as custodian of land is central to land development, it has assumed the role of planning institutions in terms of land use determination and management. Negative perception of planning officials among residents has also overshadowed the visibility of professional planning practice in the municipality, contributing to poor land use planning. Residents continue to use chieftaincy institutions and other traditional approaches rather than formal planning agencies because the former is convenient, more effective, and yields rapid decisions. Further research is needed to explore whether land use planning under chieftaincy institutions leads to positive social and environmental outcomes.     

城市总体规划空间引导效能分析——以常熟市为例

空间引导效能历来是城市总体规划实施评估的核心内容。基于历年遥感影像数据,采用城市生长极核模型、用地调控效力指数、Logit回归和用地经济效益等定量方法,对常熟几轮城市总体规划中城市总体布局、重点地区用地增长、中心城区用地置换和乡镇撤并等空间政策的调控效力展开研究。结果表明:现实城市总体布局与规划构想存在一定偏差;建设用地扩张与土地经济效益空间不相匹配;规划调控和区位条件成为影响地块闲置率的主导因素。规划对建设用地的调控效力有所增强,但对重点镇的用地调控却出现较大偏差;中心城区工业用地的"退二进三"政策效果显著,"乡镇撤并"对城镇生活性用地的调控绩效明显,但却未能抑制工业用地的散点蔓延,"一镇多区"格局仍然存在。     

A spatial panel data analysis of China's urban land expansion, 2004–2014

Drawing upon a panel dataset on China's state-owned construction land supply at the prefecture level, this paper adopts the spatial panel data model to investigate the existence of spatial dependence in the mechanisms behind China's urban land expansion from 2004 to 2014. The empirical results show that China's urban land expansion has been mainly influenced by a quadruple process of urbanization, industrialization, globalization and decentralization. The strong existence of spatial dependence in China's urban land expansion can be reflected by the significant coefficient estimates of the spatial lags of both the dependent variable and independent variables.     

城市增长控制规划支持系统:方法、开发及应用

对城市增长起控制作用的因素(即控制要素,或限建要素)很多,各类控制要素对城市增长的控制不仅体现在控制等级方面,还包括控制用地类型、控制城市活动、控制建设高度、控制地下开发等多个方面,文章提出了考虑多种控制要素的负城市形态,并将其作为城市增长控制规划的最终载体;开发了城市增长控制规划支持系统,用于支持城市增长控制规划。该系统可系统地考虑大量的控制要素,根据各控制要素的控制导则计算城市增长控制规划方案,并具有自动输出规划方案为标准规划图则的功能,可以显著提高城市增长控制规划研究工作的效率和科学性。     

Spatiotemporal distribution characteristics and mechanism analysis of urban population density: A case of Xi'an,Shaanxi, China

The complexity of cities and their internal structure make it more and more important to study the distribution of urban population density, and big data provide some new technical means for this theme. Based on the Baidu heat map data and urban POI data in Xi'an, China, the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics and mechanism of urban population density were explored with the population density index (PDI), spatial correlation index (SCI) and ordinary least squares (OLS) models. The results suggest that the change of population density in different regions is different, and the change on working days and off days is also different; no matter on working days or off days, the urban population density distribution in different time slots shows the characteristics of agglomeration; land use has great influence on distribution of urban population density in different time slots; the purpose of residents' activities, the difference of spatial functions, and the interaction between them cause the spatiotemporal evolution of urban population density. The conclusion shows that the Baidu heat map data and POI data are of great value for studying the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics and mechanism of urban population density.     

Acknowledgement of Referees

The management of land resources, particularly the role of planning regulations, is critical in defining what land can be used in urban development – and this throws up certain key questions: How can one best manage land resources available? How can one address future urban development needs on the basis of existing land from a sustainable perspective? In this article we propose to question the extent of planning theories in the light of concrete urban development using land availability information. By using comprehensive national data we explore the case of Luxembourg, a small European country facing exacerbated pressures for metropolitanization. We use scenarios that go from a lesser to a greater degree of sustainability in order to project and articulate different configurations of land consumption based on a critical literature review (Smart Growth, New Urbanism, and transit oriented development (TOD)). We explore how modelling might be used to help inform spatial planning for urban growth. This framework is intended as an approach that would be applicable to other urban settings by using data that can be found in any typical municipal authority along with implementation in a geographical information system (GIS). The results create a tool which is useful for planning, monitoring or forecasting land consumption. The results also clearly show the limited impact of planning practices in terms of sustainability using land availability.     

Access to Land for the Urban Poor—Policy Proposals for South African Cities

The issue of land is a critical one in post-Apartheid South Africa. Growing informality and poverty in urban areas, driven to a large extent by urbanisation, necessitates greater concerted action around land use management in urban areas to ensure more equitable, environmentally and socially sustainable use of finite land resources. The operation of the urban land market has been identified as a significant obstacle preventing the urban poor from accessing affordable land. A new approach, advocated by the UK Department for International Development and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation entitled “Making Markets Work for the Poor—M4P” emerged in the 1990s. The M4P approach recognises that even successful market development will not distribute land to the poor and intervention in the land market is therefore required to promote more equitable land distribution patterns. The M4P perspective however has been accused of an obsession with economic solutions to the problem of landlessness and informality to the exclusion of other socio-political and legal remedies. The Brazilian case provides an example of a more progressive approach as it combines social policy and legal reform to regulate the use of urban land to ensure that land fulfils its “social function”. The presence of large tracts of vacant and unused land in cities is an important issue in the context of growing informality and competition for land and therefore requires urgent policy attention. The paper discusses the Brazilian case and the instruments used in that country to deal with vacant/unused land in cities. It argues that the progressive taxation of vacant land in cities could be a potentially valuable policy instrument in South African cities. Land-based fiscal instruments can be utilised by local government to manage the use of land and to access additional revenue which can be redistributed to the poor for the provision of infrastructure and services. Although these tools are not a panacea for challenges of informality and poverty in the developing world, they do have the potential to augment municipal income and to facilitate urban renewal, infill development and a more compact city. The paper argues though that these tools should be applied on a city-wide scale; part and parcel of an overall urban land reform strategy and plan for the city.     

Forging growth by governing the market in reform-era urban China

China’s accelerating urban growth over the past decade has been examined from the perspectives of state devolution or place-making initiatives. Relatively little has been written to contextualize the burgeoning urbanism in China’s reform and the resultant changing relationship between state and market. Through an investigation of fiscal and land use reforms since the mid-1990s, this paper argues that China’s gradual and partial reform has fundamentally re-engineered local states from inward-looking market actors running business to entrepreneurial market governors controlling land supply. Though this transition has triggered urban growth by levering manufacturing and real estate capital, it has also introduced constraints for future urban development by generating inter-regional tensions and making further reforms politically difficult. This paper concludes that sustainable urbanism requires a more clearly oriented and more holistic reform framework.     

A multi-scale analysis of urban form and commuting change in a small metropolitan area (1990–2000)

Issues of growth, especially the spatial nature of recent urban development and its implications for travel patterns, have received a great deal of attention. In particular, questions persist as to how the spatial distribution of workers and jobs influences commute patterns. This paper investigates changes in commuting and land use patterns using measures of jobs–housing balance, commuting efficiency and other statistics. A smaller urban area is chosen for study (Tallahassee, FL, USA)and data on its workers, jobs, and commute patterns are obtained from the Census Transportation Planning Package for 1990 and 2000. The key research questions investigated probe whether there were substantial changes in urban form and commuting over the period. A two-tiered approach is taken where change is explored at the regional and local scales using GIS, optimization procedures, and inferential statistical techniques. The results reveal the extent of the spatial changes in the study area between 1990 and 2000. Major findings included stability in urban structure over the time period, as well as a persistent strong relationship between land use and commute patterns. These results are discussed in light of their implications for other cities and for future work.     

Effects of urban planning in guiding urban growth: Evidence from Shenzhen,China

Improved understanding the effects of urban planning in guiding urban growth is conducive to the establishment of orderly spatial control systems. Few findings emphasized and systematic interpreted on the effects directly caused by urban planning. Thus, the effects of urban planning and its detailed urban functional planning, as well as different planning combinations were studied in this paper, using Shenzhen as an example. The results show that: 1) During the study period of 2000–2010, urban planning has had a conspicuous controlling effect on urban growth of the Special Economic Zone (SEZ). However, disordered growth has occurred outside the SEZ. 2) Urban planning plays a not particularly significant role in guiding urban renewal and development. The influence of residential planning on residential renewal is not significant. Commercial renewal is positively correlated with traffic accessibility and the distance from subway stations. Industrial renewal only has a significant positive correlation with industrial planning. 3) The planning combinations have played a significant positive guiding role in land development. The renewal probability of residential land equipped with rail planning is increased 19.22 times compared by itself.     

北京市中心城土地利用变化及其对 生境的影响(1992—2016)

随着城市化进程的发展,北京市中心城建设用地不断扩张,大量城市边缘区绿色空间被侵占,对城市生态环境造成极大影响。以北京市中心城1992和2016年的遥感数据作为基础数据,对其用地转换以及空间分布变化进行分析,运用In VEST模型评估土地利用变化对中心城生境的影响,获取北京中心城生境质量和生境退化的空间分布格局。研究表明:1992—2016年北京市中心城绿色空间用地绝大多数转变为建设用地,除草地面积增加外,其他绿色空间用地均有所减少;中心城高度生境和中度生境面积均缩小,一般生境面积显著增加,到2016年轻度退化生境占总面积的80.5%。在"留白增绿"的政策背景下,生境评价的结果为北京中心城绿色空间规划及城市森林建设提供了重要的参考依据。     

城市功能空间对绿地格局作用效应的 地理探测——以南京为例

深入认知城市功能空间对绿地格局的作用效应, 是促进绿地与城市空间高效协同发展的基础。基于15min 生活圈尺度单元,利用规划与国土部门土地利用数据,揭示 2004、2012、2017年南京绿地格局特征,重点对城市功能 空间的作用效应进行地理探测分析。结果表明：1)城市绿地 呈现出极化、扩散、均衡的分布特征与演变趋势;2)交通与 居住功能深刻影响了绿地发展格局,呈强作用、弱带动特点, 水域空间协同可激发绿地增长;3)城市生活服务化转型协同 强化了功能空间与绿地的互作效应,生产功能退化为绿地增长 腾挪了空间。相关规律可望深化绿地与城市功能空间的耦合理 论,为城市空间绿色生态转型发展提供依据与参考。