Public space and the challenge of urban transformation in cities of emerging economies: Jeddah case study

Urban planning, design guidelines and new management practices have radically transformed public spaces in many countries. With fresh development decisions, urban spaces change spatially. This may improve places, increasing prosperity and extending expectations of modernization in many cities. However, widespread public disillusion and failures to produce environments reflecting local values can collectively shape public areas. This article contributes to debate about dynamism in such spaces. It explores how modernist approaches to planning and design alongside fractures in management practices in emerging cities have shaped the quality urban space. We use Jeddah as a radically re-planned city in a rapidly developing economy, but one where largely unusable public spaces have failed to meet people's everyday needs and aspirations. Our investigation – based on extensive literature reviews, documentary analyses, morphological survey, photographic and qualitative surveys – provides a better understanding of the role of a proactive urban design for promoting environmental quality. This helps resolve the multiple challenges confronting public space provision.     

Scaling-down and scaling-up processes of territorial governance: cities and regions facing institutional reform and planning challenges

The process of territorial governance rescaling now ongoing in European countries concerns not only the devolution of competencies from central states to regional politico-administrative levels (towards federalism) but also a new role of institutions, agencies and companies operating in well-defined sectors. A complex – downward and upward – transfer of competencies, powers and resources is taking place. In particular, cities belong to specific territories, but are increasingly involved in large-scale processes as far as services and infrastructure construction and management are concerned, as well as economic and cooperation initiatives. This often requires the creation of regional or upper-scale agencies and companies.

The article focuses – within an analytical framework concerning the dynamics of regions and cities in the European space – on three cities in Northern Italy (Bolzano-Bozen, Trento and Verona) undergoing contradictory trends towards federalism, on the one hand, and policy integration at variable scales on specific issues – in a multi-level governance perspective – on the other hand. Finally, the role of strategic, spatial and urban planning processes and tools are analysed, drawing some conclusions of general interest.     

The effects of changes to the post-socialist urban planning framework on public open spaces in multi-story housing areas: A view from Nis,Serbia

This study considers how changes to the post-socialist urban planning framework have affected the treatment of public open space in the transformation of existing mass-housing areas and newly developed multi-story housing areas for the city of Nis, Serbia. The study focuses on quantitative and qualitative changes as well as the physical characteristics of public open spaces, evaluating environmental comfort, safety, accessibility, privacy and intensity of social interactions. The investigation is based on a comparative analysis of three case studies in Nis, which are representative of different developmental, institutional and planning periods. The research indicates a regressive approach in the planning for and treatment of public open space. It also suggests that within the limited economic capacity of local authorities, investors and buyers, the market-oriented post-socialist urban planning framework can lead to spatial and functional fragmentation in housing areas and the degradation or disappearance of not only the public spaces but of open spaces in general.     

精明收缩理念下城市空置问题的规划响应与启示——基于德国、美国和日本的比较

受金融危机冲击与产业经济转型的影响,我国部分城市出现了以人口减少为标志的城市收缩现象。如何处理和应对由于城市收缩引发的空置问题是当前空间规划和城市治理值得研究的课题。精明收缩提倡的"更小的用地范围内、更少的人口规模"的规划理念已经引起学界的广泛关注,但由于制度背景和规划文化的差异,不同国家所采取的政策态度与应对策略存在显著区别。本文通过梳理德国、美国和日本典型收缩城市形成的背景与动因,结合关键时间节点,分析这三个国家在应对城市空置问题的态度和演变,重点讨论不同政治文化背景下政府、社会组织、市场、公众等角色的作用。本研究有助于厘清精明收缩理念在我国城市规划领域的适用性,并为我国城市如何合理应对人口收缩下的城市空置问题提供经验启示。     

转型时期城市空间的发展特征研究——以郑州为例

城市随社会的发展而转型,研究现阶段中国城市的转型问题具有重要的实际意义。论文以郑州为例指出城市转型主要表现在城市性质与空间结构的变化上。城市空间变革受政治、经济、社会、城市规划等多种动力因素影响。当前中国城市转型期的空间发展具有本身的特征。     

The governance of urban shrinkage in cities of post-socialist Europe: policies,strategies and actors

This paper presents results of an international comparative research project ‘Smart governance of shrinking cities in a European context’. In recent years, many European cities have experienced urban shrinkage (population decline). Whereas there has been a wealth of research into the governance of growing cities, little consideration has been given to the governance of and policy responses to shrinking cities, particularly in relation to the declining cities of post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe. The aim of this paper is to compare the governance responses to shrinkage in different national contexts and assess the policy responses applied. This is done through the comparison of case studies examining the governance of shrinkage in Leipzig (Germany), Bytom (Poland), Ostrava (Czechia) and Timisoara (Romania). Two different strategies have been identified. First, Leipzig – due to its inclusion in the (former Western) German welfare state – followed a reasonably holistic strategy implemented by strong public actors focused not only on economic growth, but also on tackling issues of falling housing demand and the need to strengthen the attractivity of city centre. Second, in Ostrava, Bytom and Timisoara strategies have been inspired by neoliberal thinking, denying the important role of public sector city planning and ignoring the fact of shrinkage. In these cities, the main reply to shrinkage has been to seek economic development through the attraction of private investment (especially FDI) into the cities and using pragmatically any EU structural funding.     

Liveable Cities in Japan: Population Ageing and Decline as Vectors of Change

The challenge of creating liveable cities is emerging as a major policy priority around the world. Globalization, the emerging network society, increasing mobility, and the environmental, economic, health and social imperatives to create more sustainable and liveable cities have combined to increase pressures, primarily on local governments and actors to reinvigorate urban governance, urban planning and urban design. One essential aspect of this project is the improvement and vitalization of urban spaces. In this regard, Japan has significant challenges, stemming from its distinctive history of urban space management, its low proportion of public space in cities, and its aging and imminently shrinking population. At the same time, however, Japan has important opportunities and strengths stemming from its legacies of urban built form, the exceptional vigour of its place-based communities, and its rapidly aging and imminently shrinking population. This paper explores some of the opportunities and challenges facing attempts to build more liveable cities in Japan.     

The Film Industry and South African Urban Change

Internationally there has been considerable discussion on the role that creative industries play as a strategy by which post-Fordist cities can revive stagnant urban economies. Among those sectors of the economy that form part of the creative industries, the filming sector counts as one. On the whole, these debates have been conducted with reference to the post-industrial cities of the north. Little attention has been placed on the role of the filming sector in the developing south generally, its spatial distribution, and its relationship to other economic and social geographies in those urban places. The paper provides a spatial analysis of the filming industry in urban South Africa and relates it to general economic and social geographies in two South African cities that have identified the filming industry as a key development strategy. In addition, an agenda for future research, in particular pertaining to urban South Africa is outlined. It is concluded that there is a broader urban planning and geography project at hand. Questions need to be asked about how the filming industry interacts with other government programmes and the ongoing transformation of physical and symbolic spaces in urban South Africa.     

城市转型规划与机制：国际经验思考

本文从城市转型的背景出发,将转型城市分为全球城市和工业城市两类。通过梳理作为全球城市代表案例的东京、伦敦和纽约,作为工业城市代表案例的曼彻斯特、匹兹堡、多特蒙德和埃森,文章剖析了两类城市经济结构、社会结构和空间结构的转型特点。文章进而分析了案例城市在转型中的功能定位、空间规划和实施策略,并总结了规划在城市转型中的作用。     

Ghettoization or gentrification? Post-socialist scenarios for Budapest

During the communist period, the guarantee of cheap housing and job security constituted the cornerstone of the communist welfare state in East European countries. But a decreasing social security and an increasing social polarization were the outcome of the 1989/90 transition. This paper highlights some of the effects of the political and economic transformation on urban societies in Eastern Europe, using Budapest as a case study. The emerging social inequalities are discussed in detail, along with the growing concentration of poverty. These processes have also had direct impacts on the social differentiation of urban neighbourhoods, creating new dimensions of urban segregation. In this respect, Budapest represents a unique case among East European cities, containing a considerable number of people belonging to the Gypsy population. Presently, we can observe very upward and down-ward processes in different inner-city neighbourhoods of Budapest. Some areas show clear signs of ghettoization, while others are clearly moving in an upward direction in terms of income and social status. Zoltán Kovács is a senior research fellow at the Geographical Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and reader in geography at the University of Budapest. He is specialized in urban and political geography. His major field of interest includes the social and political consequences of post-communist transition and the transformation of East European cities with special attention to the transformation of the housing market.     

“十四五”时期发展新趋势与国土空间规划应对

"十四五"时期,我国将进入经济转型和制度革新的新时代。国土空间规划作为国家的重要政策调控工具,将有力地支撑国家的转型发展。本文认为,新时期社会经济发展的趋势有经济发展进入新常态、城镇化发展进入新阶段和生态文明建设进入新时代。在此背景下,高质量发展成为各项工作的出发点,国土空间规划应在优化配置供给侧要素、服务新旧动能转换和实现全要素管理自然资源等三个方面落实高质量发展的目标。新时期国土空间规划关注的重点应包括城乡空间发展、城市品质提升和生态文明建设等。     

A systematic review of gated communities and the challenge of urban transformation in African cities

Globalization and the spread of neo-liberal models of urban restructuring have resulted in the rise in gated communities worldwide, including in Africa. The on-going scholarly debate revolves around the drivers of gated communities, their impacts and implications on the planning and management of cities. To contribute to and advance scholarly debate on gated communities and the challenge of urban transformation, we used standard systematic procedures to synthesize findings from 31 peer reviewed journal articles from 1990 to 2020, that examine the phenomenon of gated communities in African cities. Despite the differences in study settings, key findings emerge from gated community studies in Africa. Majority of the reviewed studies attribute the emergence of gated communities to the rise in crime and the search for good quality living environment. Globalization also plays an important role in facilitating new market-oriented gated communities. The globalization of lifestyles of the urban elite has also found expression in African cities. Reviewed studies are critical of gated communities for promoting spatial fragmentation, privatization of public space and local governance and for propagating socio-economic inequality and urban segregation. These issues have implications for the planning and management of cities; in terms of balancing between the need for secure neighbourhoods and promoting inclusive urban societies. The systematic review makes a case for re-thinking urban models that inform the production of new urban spaces; with a view to balance between private capital interests and the need for spatial justice.

     

创新经济驱动下的老城复兴规划方法探讨——基于纽约布鲁克林科技三角区的规划实践

随着知识经济时代的到来,创新型经济成为推动城市发展的重要力量,如何借助创新经济来推动老城区的转型与复兴,是城市更新规划中的一个热点问题。创新经济作用下的老城复兴规划通过物质空间与社会制度的协同策略来推动老城区向“创新城区”转型,布鲁克林科技三角区战略规划是具有代表性的案例。本文通过系统性地分析解读该规划的背景、目标和策略,探讨老城区经济再生、空间重构和社会网络改善的策略和机制,总结创新经济驱动下老城复兴规划的基本方法,并对我国城市规划实践提出借鉴参考的建议。     

迁入者与创意街区的社会建构——基于一种绅士化的视角

面向新经济时代,大城市的经济复兴、都市更新和城市转型表现出与创意产业的紧密关联。创意产业的发展使得城市传统空间被重新利用,形成一种空间转换。在创意街区的社会建构过程中,迁入者引发内城的社会分化与文化重塑,导致文化价值的生产和消费转换创造出新的社会空间意义。城市绅士化使得迁入者通过对内城空间的再发现,一方面提升了传统空间的文化与社会价值,使得空间增值,另一方面更多经济资源的导入,使得市场与商业力量最终驱逐了创意与艺术,导致创意人群的疏离、创意街区的异化和创意城市的发展悖论。     

Concept and Method of Asset-Based Community Development Planning: A Case Study on Minlecun Community in Chongqing’s Yuzhong District

With the transformation of the Chinese economy from an extensive growth to intensive development, city development is also gradually turning from incremental construction to stock management. Community, as a basic unit of human settlements, is an important platform to build and improve the social governance capability. In 2013, Shiyoulu Jiedao Offi ce of Yuzhong District led the 1st urban community development planning, which was a milestone of Chongqing’s city regeneration and governance innovation. This paper focuses on two key issues: how to understand the community values and make the community development planning based on the above, and how to integrate with the local forces so that the community development planning can be integrated into the action plan. Combined with the practice of Minlecun Community Development Planning, using the concept of asset-based community development, a comprehensive survey is conducted on community assets(including three aspects of physical, human, and social capital), and a community comprehensive planning strategy is formulated which covers two parts: the optimization of community spaces and the upgrading of community governance. The paper explores the local-based community planning theories and methods from such aspects as value attitude, public participation, role transformation of urban planners, and others.     

Promoting the Transformation of Government Function for Achieving the Coordinated Urban-Rural Development of Resources and Environment: Practice of “MultiPlan Integration” in Xiamen

This paper analyzes the main problems in China's urban planning and construction, including conf licts among various spatial plans, the lack of a unified spatial planning management system, the inefficiency of examination and approval administration, and the social contradictions caused by unclear information. It articulates the significance of multi-plan integration from the viewpoints of implementing the national strategies issued by the central government, meeting the underlying demand of development transition of cities, and promoting the modernization of a city governance system and city governance capacity, etc. It introduces in detail the practice of multi-plan integration in Xiamen, which takes the urban development strategies in consensus as the top-level design, establishes a spatial planning system through the "strict control based on one blueprint" and the "coordinated management on one platform," promotes the transformation of the government function via reforming the examination and approval administration system, and builds up a guarantee mechanism through the direct inspection by the top leader of the government and the joint efforts from the top to the bottom. It finally summarizes the effects of the practice of multi-plan integration in Xiamen and proposes some suggestions on further completing the spatial planning system, improving the examination and approval administration system, and accelerating the transformation of the government function, etc., in hope of serving as a reference for other Chinese cities.     

疫情背景下的人居环境规划与设计学术笔谈

摘要　2020 年伊始爆发的新冠肺炎疫情,冲击了全球范围内的社会、经济等众多领域。围绕“疫情背景下的人居环境规划与设计”主题, 邀请了王世福、黄建中、张天尧等多位专家学者笔谈。王世福通过对我国人居环境的短板和治理盲区的反思,从宏观的城市到微观的社 区,有针对性地提出了韧性城市建设的相关内容,包括：将健康影响评估纳入城市规划、建设与管理全过程;加强综合防灾专项规划的 公共健康韧性;提升城市公共空间应急响应能力;提高公共设施空间通用性和稳健性;提升韧性社区的应急治理能力等。魏成以疫情下 新型基础设施建设的需求出发,探讨将大数据、云计算、人工智能、物联网等为主的“新基建”,积极纳入城乡规划与人居环境建设之中, 以期改善和提质设施供给与防灾减灾的智能化应用,并推动多方协作、多元互动的创新治理决策平台的形成。袁媛对在疫情中如何有效 提高城市医疗设施的应急能力,提出规划构建合理的基层医疗分区,梳理医疗设施配置模式在医疗分区内选择基础条件优良的街镇一级 医疗设施作为传染病初级分诊点,以及培育居民分诊就医习惯,提升城市在公共卫生事件冲击下的韧性等建议。单卓然基于线下零售服 务空间组织的“规模收缩、多心扁平、均衡分散化”过程,正在超常规加速,而且可能难以逆转的趋势,反观我国大城市空间治理中现 行的线下零售空间组织政策,提出四点建议,包括：“定点造极”转型“动态组网”,有限公共资源优先向市边缘区、区边缘街道投放; 研究优化零售商业网点规划配建标准;增强评估零售商业用地调规效应;搭建城市“一张网”零售服务动态监测平台。向科围绕公共空 间与私人空间、物理空间与虚拟空间等展开辩证的讨论,通过对疫情期间,物理性公共空间与虚拟公共空间的变化的研究,指出在快速 变迁和不断拓展的现实中,需要反复思考公共空间公共性的立场,从而构建新的公共空间结构、内容和形式。黄建中从社区角度的疫前、 疫中、疫后三个阶段,分析城市规划和治理工作之间相对脱节的问题,重点指出需要增加对基层单元的社区治理;后疫情时期,社区生 活圈应该是衔接空间与社会治理平台的重要单元。张天尧认为社区是卫生防疫等基本单元,作为基层区域性共同体,在公共卫生危机应 对中发挥着关键作用。针对健康社区治理的制度构建,从制度保障、协作网络、支撑系统三个方面提出了推动健康社区治理的建议。     

Feasibility tools for urban animal husbandry in cities: case of greater Cairo

Productive urban landscape is a design concept integrating food growing and animal raising into the design of cities through public and private open spaces in an attempt to support local economic development. This research focuses on farm animals’ husbandry in cities as a type of local food production. Debates about governance tools for sustaining such economic sector arise frequently especially in Egypt, as one of the developing countries, striving to maintain urban quality of life, satisfy the community needs, and compensate the food prices’ increment. Accordingly, field questionnaires for residents of two rapidly expanding informal areas in Cairo (Zabaleen area in Agouza city) and (Masaken Osman in 6th of October city), together with questionnaires for experts and officials who are working in Urban Upgrading Units and those with experiences in the field of upgrading informal settlements were performed. This research thus aims at studying the feasibility and integration of such economic activities informally developing in unplanned areas in Egypt, as ‘new ruralism’, within the strategic and action planning of low-income and informal areas in a legalized regulatory system to tackle their challenges and enhance their economic role. Further, this research ends up with deducing specific values for prioritizing the types of governmental support (financial, space facilitations, social, and medical), as proposed by officials and residents representing the main incorporated stakeholders. This article also highlighted the unwillingness and the on-purpose ignorance of officials to sustain animal husbandry in cities, constituting a challenge that needs to be tackled in all developing countries not only in Egypt.     

城市规划范式的转型:发展规划

城市可持续发展的宏观目标是实现高效率的城市经济、公平公正的城市社会、节能生态的城市环境。为塑造可持续发展的城市,城市规划必须具备推动和监管城市发展的两大功能。兼具两大功能的城市规划范式即为发展规划,具体内容包括统筹城市社会、经济、空间的战略发展,积极塑造与经济和社会相对应的城市空间;强化区划的法定地位,保护产权。此城市规划范式的转型,将能弥补传统城市规划擅于控制而不具备积极发展功能的缺陷。