Urbanization and spatial planning in an international perspective

This contribution compares Germany, France, and the United Kingdom with the Netherlands on a number of issues. The focus is on (a) processes of urbanization and (b) urban policies (broadly defined in an economic, social, and ecological sense). These issues are seen in relation to national spatial planning. The authors combine the findings of this comparative analysis with the results of previous research by one of the authors. At the end, they draw some conclusions and make recommendations for the next (Fifth) Report on Physical Planning in the Netherlands. Ton Kreukels is professor of Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Geographical Sciences at Utrecht University. From 1986 to 1992, he was also a member of the Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy. Then, and especially in this last position, his research was focused on a study of the four big cities and city regions in the Netherlands: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht. From 1992 up to the present, he has been involved in a comparative study of urban regions in Europe, including those of the Netherlands. Egge-Jan Pollé is a human geographer from Utrecht University. In 1996, while a junior-researcher at Utrecht University, he worked together with the first author on the study about Germany, France, and the United Kingdom that is reported in this article. That study was commissioned by the Netherlands National Spatial Planning Agency.     

Planning for play: seventy years of ineffective public policy? The example of Glasgow,Scotland

This paper looks at the planning and provision of outdoor play spaces for children over a seventy-year period since the Second World War. Using Glasgow as a case study, the paper examines whether and how research on families and children living in flats has been used to inform national and local planning policies in this area, and in turn how well policy is converted into practice and provision on the ground. The paper considers these issues in four time periods: the period of post-war reconstruction from the late 1940s to the early 1970s, when large amounts of social housing was built; the period of decline and residualization of social housing in the 1970s and 1980s; the 1990s and 2000s when several attempts were made to regenerate social housing estates; and the last five years, during which time the Scottish Government has developed a number of policies concerning children’s health and physical activity. Planning policy in Glasgow appears to have been ineffective across several decades. Issues such as a weak link between research and policy recommendations, unresolved tensions between a number of policy options, and a lack of political priority afforded to the needs to children are identified as contributory factors.     

Tracking Our Footsteps

Abstract

Problem, research strategy, and findings: We conduct a systematic reading of all articles published in the past 30?years in three U.S.-based general planning journals, Journal of the American Planning Association (JAPA), Journal of Planning Education and Research (JPER), and Journal of Planning Literature (JPL), using latent Dirichlet allocation, a text mining technique. We find that certain research themes remain important in the past 3 decades, such as planning process, planning methods, and land use/growth management, whereas others have lost their prominent status, such as planning theory and planning education. New fields such as food systems have emerged during the study period. Editorial regimes appear to be associated with theme dynamics.

Takeaway for practice: In this study we demonstrate a text mining method to effectively summarize a large amount of text data and track planning researchers’ footsteps in the study of planning issues reflected from published research articles. We identify past and emerging research trends in the studied journals that can help scholars situate their work in the literature and practitioners find collaboration opportunities. It also helps professional associations such as the American Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) and the APA open up new conference tracks and/or specialization groups/divisions so they can reflect the ever-changing interests of their memberships in a timely manner.     

Regional economic integration and the evolution of disparities

This paper provides an overview of the evolution of interregional disparities in Europe and in the United States in recent decades, considering also the changes that economic integration over the 1990s and beyond may bring. The assumptions of the existing paradigms on differential regional change are placed in perspective, by relating them to past and ongoing changes in interregional disparities. Data on the European (EC) and United States cases are analyzed, providing insights into past performance and into its possible causes. A final section then discusses the characteristics of regional inversion processes, and their potential for reducing interregional disparities as economic integration advances. These macro-level characteristics are related to micro-level processes in which innovation (technological, organizational, institutional) plays a central role, allowing less developed regions to bypass a rigid or static domestic spatial division of labor through the inversion process.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 4th World Congress of the RSAI, Palma de Mallorca, Spain, May 1992.     

City make‐overs: The place marketing of melbourne during the kennett years, 1992–99

Abstract

Over the past two decades, the emergence of a new global economic order has triggered an intensification of competition between cities for footloose investment capital and tourism. Some have proven to be more successful than others at this form of civic boosterism through the adoption of place promotion and place marketing. Unfortunately, most research on this contemporary urban phenomenon has focused on Northern Europe and the United States, not Australia. To redress this imbalance, this paper examines why intercity competition has intensified, outlining the main features of place promotion and marketing and then examining how the Kennett Coalition government place‐marketed Melbourne and Victoria within the Asia‐Pacific Rim region. It attempts to assess whether the place marketing campaign succeeded and highlights a number of limitations with this mode of urban analysis.     

Procedural cleanup technique for determination of phthalate esters in an aquatic environment

Part 1 (in the previous issue of the journal) dealt with energy from marine algal forms, while part 2 is concerned with their economics and environment. Aquaculture has become well implanted, particularly in Asia where it has led to economic success. It has gained a good foothold in Europe, while lagging behind in the United States. Algae can, apparently, play a larger role in industrial and energy needs. There is, however, another aspect of algae culture and utilization: environmental concern has been voiced, motivated by both cultivation and natural proliferation.     

EXAMINING CHANGES IN LONG‐TERM NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSING VACANCY DURING THE 2011 TO 2014 U.S. NATIONAL RECOVERY

High levels of neighborhood housing vacancy—especially periods exceeding more than several months—have long been a concern to community developers and policymakers in the United States. During the foreclosure crisis, such concerns became more pronounced, exemplified by the adoption of three legislated rounds of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program from 2008 to 2011. Despite such concern, what we know about longer term neighborhood housing vacancy has been limited, in part by a lack of good data. This article utilizes data from the U.S. Postal Service to explore changes in vacancy over a critical period of broader housing market recovery. It identifies the extent to which neighborhood characteristics predict changes in long‐term vacancy from 2011 to 2014 for the 50 largest metropolitan areas. High neighborhood vacancy rates persisted in some neighborhoods during this period, and these tended to be high‐poverty neighborhoods. Neighborhoods with more Hispanic and Asian residents experienced larger declines in long‐term vacancy. However, poorer neighborhoods lagged significantly. If a neighborhood had a poverty rate that was one standard deviation above—and a median income that was one standard deviation below—an otherwise comparable neighborhood, it was expected to see 13% more vacancies at the end of the period.     

Good segregation,bad segregation

Much of the literature on segregation is underlain by an implicit model which argues that groups start highly segregated in inner city locations and disperse over time. Parallel and related to this spatial pattern is the social process of assimilation. Groups start highly segregated and unassimilated and become dispersed and assimilated over time. The paper argues that there is a critical distinction between the black American ghetto and other forms of segregation. The ghetto is not part of a continuum of spatial distributions which begins in the inner city and ends in the suburbs three generations later; it is an end in itself. The black ghetto is different in kind from other forms of segregation. Nearly all of its members are black and nearly all the black population in American cities is in such locations. African American segregation has been almost continuously high during the twentieth century and has not diminished with socio-economic improvement. Ethnic enclaves of the Irish, Poles or other ethnicities in the USA never achieved such homogeneous concentrations. Thus representing European concentrations as having evolved from a past distribution, which was akin to the present black ghetto, falsifies the European past and mistakes the current dilute levels of European concentration as representing the black future. On the other hand, the equation of spatial segregation with levels of social assimilation, is largely supported. The process of assimilation, like the sequence of spatial segregation, is neither inevitable nor unidirectional.     

FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS ABOUT REGIONAL POLICY IN EASTERN EUROPE

ABSTRACT Due to the similarities in their conditions several general trends manifested themselves in the regional development processes of East European countries. The basis for these trends was given by the relatively low level of economic development and infrastructural supply and by the extensive industrialisation policy and economic development after World War II. Regional structure of economy and society was fundamentally transformed during the period of extensive development; on the other hand the objectives of regional policy were also similar at the beginning of the intensive period. Hungarian regional policy corresponds to the general efforts in Eastern Europe, while at the same time it also has certain differences because of the special character of its economic management system.     

The Netherlands and Florida: Two Growth Management Strategies

Planning in Europe and the United States uses very different points of departure to address similar spatial goals. More specifically, the strategies employed to curb or prevent urban sprawl by the Netherlands and Florida, both considered in their respective contexts to have highly developed planning systems, are very different. In order to compare the planning systems of the two states, this study employs the concept of 'planning doctrine' as a base of analysis. The concept sheds light on the composition, character, potentials and shortcomings of both systems. Moreover, it provides a framework by which to assess the development of planning style in both systems.     

国际接轨后建筑业模板质量标准的发展趋势及案例分析

加入WTO后 ,我国建筑业界对于混凝土的模板的质量标准已将会随着国际上的发展而有所变化。本文介绍了以色列的新的模板标准IS90 4 ,并分析了美国 ,欧洲和澳大利亚的标准及类似文件 ,对当前的模板材料的发展趋势 ,结合现实进行了预测 ,为我国的标准制定奠定了基础。     

Planning Education in The Environment Of Poverty: Training Resident Planners in Bedford-Stuyvesant

Some of the difficulties in achieving planning goals stem from the tendency in planning to maintain the status quo. Planning philosophy must be redefined and must provide a new concept of planning education to include: recognizing the political influence on planning education; overcoming inadequate internship periods for students; encouraging recruitment of members of client groups into the professional schools; sponsoring and supporting training of ghetto residents as para-professionals; and making it possible for ghetto residents to share in the processes of problem definition, goal formulation, and program implementation. This new concept was the basis for the community-based planning education program for residents of the Bedford-Stuyvesant area in Brooklyn.     

Capitalism,Socialism, and Urban Transportation Policies and Travel Behavior in the East and West

Urban transportation systems in the Soviet Union, Europe, and North America are very different. The dominance of public transport in the Soviet Union contrasts strikingly with the almost exclusive reliance on the automobile in the United States. European countries lie between these two extremes, with the capitalist countries of Western Europe much less auto-oriented than the United States, but more auto-oriented than the socialist countries of Eastern Europe. Although some of this variation can be attributed to differences among countries in per capita income and resource availability, much of the variation is due to public policy. Governments in virtually all countries have expressed their preferences in urban transportation by differentially subsidizing and taxing the various modes of transportation, and also by promoting or discouraging the types of land use and urban development that depend on and foster alternative transportation systems. Socialist governments have strongly supported public transport. By contrast, the more market-oriented a country's economy, the more it has neglected public transport, and instead subsidized highway construction, auto use, and suburbanization.     

Rhizomorphics of Race and Space

Abstract

This article discusses the slave-holding forts and castles erected on the coast of West Africa between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries, and argues for their centrality in conceptualizing race as a maker and marker of modern, transnational American identity. It reconfigures Paul Gilroy's notion of “fractal” and “rhizomorphic” structure of the Black Atlantic to cast the castles as a collective architectural monument to centuries-long cultural exchanges between Europe, Africa, and the Americas. By linking these sites to recent “roots” tourism, it also demonstrates their continued vitality to mapping the history and theory of African diasporic spaces in the United States.     

From Local to Global: One Hundred Years of Neighborhood Planning

Problem: Over the past 100 years, city planners have used neighborhood planning to address a variety of vexing social problems such as community disintegration, economic marginalization, and environmental degradation. To date, there has been no comprehensive review and critique of these planning initiatives and how they have influenced the profession.

Purpose: This article traces the history of neighborhood planning in the United States to learn from past experience and to identify its contributions to the planning profession.

Methods: I review the literature on the various forms of neighborhood planning, which I define as planning initiatives that focus on altering the physical environment of one or more neighborhoods in pursuit of larger social objectives.

Results and conclusions: Each of the six forms of neighborhood planning discussed in this article has made important contributions to the planning profession. Perry's neighborhood unit formula provided planners with a template for good neighborhood design and introduced the idea that neighborhood design could affect the sense of community. Urban renewal taught the profession about the limits of physical solutions to social problems, the precious nature of neighborhood social networks and the importance of involving citizens. The community action programs created a new norm for citizen participation and showed its limits, as well as introducing truly comprehensive redevelopment planning. Community economic development showed that some planning and implementation activities can be successfully delegated to community-based organizations. Municipal neighborhood planning provided a mechanism for ongoing citizen involvement. The most recent forms of neighborhood planning create neighborhoods that encourage walking, use of mass transit, social interaction, and a sense of community.

Takeaway for practice: Neighborhood planning programs have made a number of important contributions to the planning profession, including focusing attention on how neighborhood design influences urban livability and social behaviors, institutionalizing citizen participation in plan making, and going beyond physical development to address social, economic, political, and environmental issues. Neighborhood planning is currently more important than ever, as it now addresses global issues such as energy conservation and greenhouse gas emissions in addition to its historic focus on social equity issues such as poverty and social alienation.

Research support: None.     

Helping families move: Relocation counseling for housing-voucher recipients

As the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) shifts its emphasis from project-based subsidies to housing vouchers, a key question is the amount of relocation help that should be provided to voucher recipients. To address these and related issues, this article examines the use of and influence of relocation counseling at four distressed federally subsidized housing developments (in Baltimore, Maryland; Newport News, Virginia; Kansas City, Missouri; and San Francisco, California) where families were provided with vouchers and relocation counseling in order to expedite moves into the private housing market. Both qualitative and quantitative analysis techniques were used to examine the different approaches to relocation counseling provided by four types of providers: 1) community-based non-profit housing agencies; 2) a private company and its subcontractor, an out-of-town consultant specializing in relocation counseling; 3) a state housing agency; and 4) the on-site housing management company. Underutilization of relocation counseling was a problem: only two-fifths of the sample reported using relocation services. Middle-aged tenants and those at the Baltimore site were most likely to take advantage of the services; those living in overcrowded units were least likely. Programs need to be developed to increase participation rates while recognizing that tenant involvement must remain voluntary in nature at such sites. Although there was some evidence that the more intensive relocation counseling provided in Newport News opened up more housing options for residents, in general the counseling had limited impact. Those who used relocation counseling did not consider more housing options than others, nor were they more likely to focus their housing search on distant neighborhoods. Furthermore, residents depended on friends and relatives, rather than relocation counselors, to learn about their new home. Even though many respondents made short-distance moves (especially in Baltimore and Kansas City), they usually were able to improve their housing and neighborhood conditions. These findings suggest that it may be unreasonable to expect families-particularly those relying on public transportation—to relocate to new and unfamiliar neighborhoods without support, or without intensive counseling, encouraging them to do so. Spatial deconcentration may not always be an appropriate goal for all voucher recipients. David P. Varady co-principal investigator, Professor of Planning is Professor of Planning at the University of Cincinnati. Professor Varady has written widely about community conservation and housing policy, both in the United States and the United Kingdom. His most recent book, co-edited with Wolfgang F.E. Preiser and Francis P. Russell,New Directions in Urban Public Housing, was published by the Center for Urban Policy Research, Fall, 1988. Carole C. Walker co-principal investigator, is Assistant Director of the Center for Urban Policy Research at Rutgers University. In her years at the Center, she has studied a broad range of public policy issues, including program evaluation, affordable housing,subdivision regulations, and land use development. She is the author of numerous research studies and co-author with David Listokin ofThe Subdivision and Site Plan Handbook. Kirk McClure investigator, is an Associate Professor with the Graduate Program in Urban Planning at the University of Kansas. His teaching and research interests are in the areas of housing and community development. He has recently completed research evaluating the ten-year performance of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program and is now engaged in an examination of the secondary mortgage market as an aid to affordable housing. Janet Smith-Heimer, investigator, is the founding principal of Bay Area Economics (BAE), a national consulting firm specializing in urban and real estate economics. She has been actively engaged in urban development since 1978 and has developed expertise in affordable housing, economic development, and military base closure. Sherry Larkins research assistant, is a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at Rutgers University. Her areas of interest are race relations, urban sociology, and substance abuse.     

In Memory of Aldo Rossi 1931–1997

Abstract

This article examines the use of construction as a means of protest, particularly as it relates to the established symbolic imagery of traditional civic architecture and urbanism. The iconography of cities is divided. While the idealized image of official America symbolizes the aspirations of society, the image of the ghetto represents the failure of society. This article studies two projects which manipulate these images. The projects were built not by architects but by activists for various causes who coopted architecture as a tool for political demonstration. Their position outside of conventional architectural practice allowed them to challenge the habits of that practice. While the constructions were intended to protest specific social issues, they may also be viewed as general indictments of conventional urbanism and architectural representation.     

BOOK NOTES

Zukin, S. Landscapes of Power from Detroit to Disney World. Hart, J. F. (Ed.). Our Changing Times. Huffman, E. D. Blauw, W., and Saltman, J. (Eds.). Urban Housing Segregation of Minorities in Western Europe and the United States.     

Computer-Aided Pre- and Post-Earthquake Assessment of Buildings Involving Database Compilation, GIS Visualization, and Mobile Data Transmission

Abstract:   The aim of this article is to present a computer-aided comprehensive strategy for the rapid visual inspection of buildings and the optimal prioritization of strengthening and remedial actions that are necessary prior to, and after, a major earthquake event, respectively. Based on the visual screening procedures used in the United States and past experience in seismic assessment of buildings in Greece and Turkey (the two countries with the highest seismic risk in Europe), a building inventory is first compiled; then a vulnerability ranking procedure that is specifically tailored to the prevailing construction practice in Southeast Europe is implemented into a multi-functional, georeferenced computer tool, that accommodates the management, evaluation, processing and archiving of the data stock gathered during the pre- and post-earthquake assessment process, and the visualization of its spatial distribution. The methodology proposed and the computer system developed is then applied to the city of Düzce, Turkey, a city strongly damaged during the devastating 1999 earthquake.