Is fear of crime splitting the sister cities? The case of Los Dos Laredos

This article describes the change in border dynamics of the Laredo–Nuevo Laredo U.S.–Mexican border during the first decade of the 21st century. While the sharing and blending of cultures has long been considered an integral part of the regional identity, publicity related to crime in Mexico and fear of the potential for spillover crime has created a significant degree of separation between the two communities that once lived as one. In terms of social construction of place, the Rio Grande boundary separating the sister cities was relatively meaningless for many years as laborers, shoppers and tourists crossed easily between the two nations. The integrated cultural bond has moved towards a coexistence favoring growth in the Laredo economy while Nuevo Laredo struggles.     

Vulnerability and fear of crime among elderly citizens: what roles do neighborhood and health play?

Research on fear of crime has often found that elderly are more afraid of crime. The present paper analyzes predictors of fear of crime among the elderly using the concept of vulnerability. With survey data from Munich, Germany, (N?=?2203; ages 55–75 years) we can assess a broad range of physical and social vulnerability dimensions including the role of one’s neighborhood. The results show that females and persons with bad health feel less safe. Education and place attachment reduce fear. Perceived neighborhood disorder increases feelings of insecurity. Also the urban design of the neighborhood is related to fear, however, the explanation for these findings are only partly due to walkability and natural surveillance. The results make clear that the elderly should not be treated as a homogenous group, vulnerability dimensions seem to be more important for fear of crime than age. Furthermore, the findings stress the neighborhood as central place for measures to fight fear of crime.     

URBAN CRIME: ITS BIG CITY DIMENSIONS

Crime is one of the most pressing problems facing America's largest cities. With one-fifth of the nation's population, the largest cities account for forty-seven percent of serious violent offenses. In some states over half of statewide criminal violence occurs in one or two cities. The problem, however, extends far beyond actual victimization, by creating an environment of fear which threatens economic and social life and entourages disinvestment and flight. Cities present widely differing crime profiles, reflecting variations in both the character and intensity of criminal activity. Newer, growing cities generally have lower violent crime rates than older, declining cities, although criminal violence is stabilizing or declining in a number of historically high crime centers. Policy initiatives are hampered by crime's concentration in older, less affluent neighborhoods of central cities and its intraracial character. Demographic and economic trends portend a diminution of violent crime, but not necessarily of criminality. Any lessening of violence and fear, however, enhances the prospects of big city revitalization.     

关中城市可持续发展策略初论

关中作为我国西部一类特殊的地理区域,在西部大开发中,城市持续发展、继承和创新,具有重要的意义.利用可持续发展理论和我国城市规划理论,分析了关中城市化过程中目前存在的突出问题和矛盾,提出城市规划应注重城市的可持续发展,探讨了城市规划中实施可持续发展的对策和建议.     

Fear of crime in gated communities and apartment buildings: a comparison of housing types and a test of theories

Dramatic increases in crime and fear of crime in Mexico have encouraged interest in research questions about the relationship of fear with new housing developments. We have seen increases in the number of gated communities and apartment buildings in Mexico City as a response to fear of crime. But there are two problems. First, it is not known if these housing options actually help control fear of crime. Second, fear of crime theories are pending further empirical testing worldwide. The end results include general misunderstanding and weak connections between theory and reality. This study shows that neither gated communities nor apartment buildings seem to provide lower levels of fear of crime when home alone. This statement was verified through non-parametric bivariate tests, ordinal logistic, and binary logistic regression analyses. Other variables held constant, fear of crime was unrelated to the type of housing. Instead, fear of crime when home alone was associated with gender, years of schooling, social marginality levels, neighborhood fear of crime levels, and the opinion on the local police.     

滨江山地城市广场设计浅析——以重庆市城市广场为例

城市广场是人们进行交往、娱乐、休闲等活动的重要场所。由于滨江山地城市特殊的地理条件,其广场的设计有别于其他平原城市。本文以滨江山地城市——重庆朝天门广场设计为例来探讨滨江山地城市广场设计的特点。     

Urban policy engagement with social sustainability in metro Vancouver

This article presents an analysis of social sustainability in comparative theoretical context and as a challenge to the post-political interpretation of sustainability in policy practice at the urban and regional scales. Metro Vancouver provides a case study for improving our understanding of the meaning of social sustainability as a framework for social policy in that it is among the handful of cities around the world currently working to define and enact social sustainability in governance terms. Results of this participant research provide evidence that some cities are politically engaging alternative development pathways using the concept of social sustainability. For sustainable development to retain its promise as an alternative policy framework for cities, social sustainability must be at the forefront.     

DOWNTOWN ORIENTATIONS: AN URBAN IDENTIFICATION APPROACH

An urban identification approach suggests that urban research and downtown revitalization efforts may benefit by considering cognitive and affective responses to place. Data collected from 735 metropolitan residents are used to explore responses to downtown Atlanta. Findings include: (1) social background, lifestyle, and familiarity variables exert modest influences on images of downtown Atlanta as a place, its people, and typical interactions; (2) downtown images and understanding the role of stranger directly and powerfully influence a sense of belonging and fear of downtown crime; and (3) a sense of belonging to downtown and fear of crime are among the strongest factors which influence evaluations of the downtown area. The findings are interpreted as strongly supporting an urban identification approach.     

Crime Prevention and the British Planning System: New Responsibilities and Older Challenges

One of the most challenging current issues in planning systems is the extent to which they are now being expected to contribute to effective crime prevention, given the importance that both politicians and the public worldwide attach to crime reduction. Recent British initiatives have opened up some of the debates surrounding this matter, and this paper examines key operational elements of these. In particular, the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, has placed a new duty upon British local planning authorities to exercise their functions with due regard both to the effect on, and the need to do all they can to prevent, crime and disorder. The government has subsequently reinforced this initiative by indicating in the Urban Policy White Paper (2000) its intention that crime prevention should become a key objective in planning. This article therefore takes as given the intention that the planning system in Britain should engage more effectively with these matters than it has done to date, noting in passing that there is extensive academic debate particularly around the concept of fear of crime, and begins to address some of the implications for the British planning system of actually doing this.     

“Danger lurks around every corner”: Fear of Crime and its Impact on Opportunities for Social Interaction in Stigmatised Australian Suburbs

This article examines some of the ways in which fear of crime impacts upon opportunities for social interaction among residents in stigmatised suburbs. As we explore in this article, neighbourhoods that are stigmatised by virtue of material disadvantage and poor reputations tend to be associated with a number of social problems, including higher rates of crime. This association with crime, our research suggests, has an impact on social interaction in these neighbourhoods. Specifically, fear of crime may make people less likely to draw on forms of social interaction which enable people to build trust through contact with their fellow residents. In developing this position, the article draws on qualitative data detailing residents' perceptions of safety in three neighbourhoods in Adelaide, South Australia, two of which are stigmatised as 'problem neighbourhoods'. The article concludes by considering the public policy implications that arise from the research.     

ASSESSING QUALITY OF PLACE: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF AMSTERDAM AND ROTTERDAM

ABSTRACT: In the wake of the success of Richard Florida in particular, concepts such as the “creative class” and “quality of place” have become growing topics of debate in urban economics and urban geography. Originally developed to assess the competitiveness of U.S. cities, quality of place was applied to a group of European countries. However, analyses of quality of place at the national level can produce only an indicative picture. The objective of this article is therefore to gain a more detailed insight into the meaning and applicability of quality of place in a context different from the one in which Florida developed his ideas. First, it focuses on what quality of place actually entails, how far it can be measured in various contexts, and the main criticisms that can be leveled against Florida's ideas. Second, it draws a comparison between competitiveness and quality of place in the two largest cities in the Netherlands, Amsterdam and Rotterdam, and discusses some of the main complications that arise from the analysis.     

THE EFFECTS OF “SELF-HELP” PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES ON CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION AND FEAR: lmplications for Crime-Prevention Policy

“Self-help” precautionary measures taken at the individual or household level are widely used by citizens to confront the problems of crime and fear. In this article, we assess the effectiveness of precautionary behavior as it varies naturally within a general population sample. Using data from a two-wave panel study of victims and nonvictims in Kentucky, and controlling for the effects of nine other “vulnerability factors” in hierarchical regression analyses, the findings were as follows: Precaution in the first year did not prevent victimization in the second year. Compared to nonvictims, victims were More likely to be victimized in the second year and were also more fearful Compared to other victims, victims who practiced high precaution after the first incident were no less likely to be revictimized and were no less fearful. From these findings, the policy of promoting precaution independently of other crime-prevention tactics would appear to be an insufficient strategy for both general and victim populations. Implications of findings for urban policies on crime prevention are discussed Co-production policies through which governments share responsibility for crime prevention with citizens (e.g., block watches) are distinguished from policies that transfer the responsibility to individual citizens (e.g., “target hardening”).     

浅析上海世博会西方发达国家馆绿色建筑理念

2010年上海世博会的西方发达国家展馆展示了当代建筑学绿色节能的发展方向,本文从绿色能源,绿色资源,绿色建造等方面阐述了这些展馆所采用的卓越的技术理念,并呼吁我国城市建设者能探索出一个系统化,最为合适合理且可持续发展的环境的理论.     

The urban sustainable development goal: Indicators,complexity and the politics of measuring cities

As part of the post-2015 United Nations sustainable development agenda, the world has its first urban sustainable development goal (USDG) “to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”. This paper provides an overview of the USDG and explores some of the difficulties around using this goal as a tool for improving cities. We argue that challenges emerge around selecting the indicators in the first place and also around the practical use of these indicators once selected. Three main practical problems of indicator use include 1) the poor availability of standardized, open and comparable data 2) the lack of strong data collection institutions at the city scale to support monitoring for the USDG and 3) “localization” - the uptake and context specific application of the goal by diverse actors in widely different cities. Adding to the complexity, the USDG conversation is taking place at the same time as the proliferation of a bewildering array of indicator systems at different scales. Prompted by technological change, debates on the “data revolution” and “smart city” also have direct bearing on the USDG. We argue that despite these many complexities and challenges, the USDG framework has the potential to encourage and guide needed reforms in our cities but only if anchored in local institutions and initiatives informed by open, inclusive and contextually sensitive data collection and monitoring.     

零能耗建筑的整合设计与实践——以清华大学O-House太阳能实验住宅为例

针对建筑、技术和工程的整合设计是可持续建筑设计的一项重要议题。城市住宅面临人口密度高、建造方法传统、建筑物理性能缺陷、系统设备老化和资源紧缺等诸多问题,且这些问题在中国大中城市尤为显著,因此,整合可持续策略与住宅建筑设计成为一项挑战。本文意在建立一个基于中国住宅市场情况、在零能耗住宅设计到建造的过程中、整合可持续策略的技术框架。O-House是中国国际太阳能十项全能竞赛的参赛作品之一,是一个面向中国住宅市场的零能耗建筑。该实例证明了建筑的组成发展模式、建筑设计和材料、建筑与可再生资源策略利用的一体化、建筑与系统设备一体化、建筑与室内家具一体化等整合设计的策略和流程。文末列举了可持续住宅设计的利用范围领域,同时指出未来发展中可能存在的优势和局限。     

Framework for capacity based sustainable design & development: towards resilient communities

The most fundamental struggle for realizing a sustainable built environment still lies in the use of non-renewable resources in its articulation. Although efforts have been taken to increase the use of sustainable materials the vast majority of the building sector still relies heavily on depletable resources. This article debates that the most fundamental contributors to sustainable development are the evaluation and incorporation of inhabitant capacities. Evaluating the available natural materials, inhabitant skills and tools could play a fundamental role in creating sustainable solutions. However, inhabitant capacity-models insufficiently cover all instrumental capacities into one model (both inhabitant and community). Therefore, this article describes: a framework for evaluating inhabitant capacities; how to map available resource capacities; how these capacities can be incorporated into sustainable housing development and planning. The framework was developed as a part of a support tool, which helps designers and engineers to evaluate inhabitant capacities. To describe the framework and support tool a rural Sub-Saharan community is used, as their capacities are relatively less complicated compared to a ‘western’ context. The article concludes that the framework shows great potential in reducing the use of unsustainable materials. Furthermore, that it could enable social sustainability by creating self-reliant and resilient communities.     

Top-down sustainable urban development? Urban governance transformation in Saudi Arabia

This paper focuses on transformation in sustainable urban governance by examining the prospect of fostering sustainable development through top-down urban governance. It takes a case study of urban development in Saudi Arabia, which had been administered through a centralized framework devoid of the environmental assessment of policies and plans. Urban planning documents made limited references to the environment. Consequently, Saudi cities have been ranked low on environmental sustainability. However, recently, due to the political imperative of addressing the problems, low oil prices, and the Arab Spring, there has been a remarkable transformation in urban governance. The planning of some of the major cities has been decentralized and some policies implemented to curb unsustainable development. This article reviews these changes to investigate how top-down approaches might still be relevant in promoting sustainable development. It concludes that there is a need to implement a framework of legislation and administrative procedures integrated with strategic environmental assessment (SEA) to ensure proper sustainable institutionalised urban governance. The findings could serve as lessons for those operating under similar political contexts especially in developing countries.     

Reading cities: Developing an urban diagnostics approach for identifying integrated urban problems with application to the city of Birmingham,UK

For policymakers, planners, urban design practitioners and city service decision-makers who endeavour to create policies and take decisions to improve the function of cities, developing an understanding of cities, and the particular city in question, is important. However, in the ever-increasing field of urban measurement and analysis, the challenges cities face are frequently presumed: crime and fear of crime, social inequality, environmental degradation, economic deterioration and disjointed governance. Although it may be that many cities share similar problems, it is unwise to assume that cities share the same challenges, to the same degree or in the same combination. And yet, diagnosing the challenges a city faces is often overlooked in preference for improving the understanding of known challenges. To address this oversight, this study evidences the need to diagnose urban challenges, introduces a novel mixed-methods approach for doing so, applies (and critiques) the approach to the city of Birmingham, UK, and proposes a set of principles for the transferability of this new urban diagnostic methodology to other cities. The paper argues that applying a rigorous, explorative, diagnostic approach to ‘reading cities’ provides confidence that all critical challenges have been identified and, crucially, identifies how they are interdependent, both of which have implications for how policymakers and decision-makers address a particular city's combination of interlinked challenges.     

节约型城市可持续发展监测评价指标体系研究

介绍了节约型城市的研究背景,探讨了节约型城市的研究现状,提出了我国节约型城市可持续发展监测评价指标体系的构建思路及基本框架,以促进我国节约型城市的建设,从而推动城市的可持续发展。     

探析历史文化名城的场所精神复兴模式 ——以陕西韩城古城城市设计为例

针对我国城市建设更新过程中出现的历史文化名城场所精神消逝现象,基于场所精神理念,提出名城场所精神复兴的可行路径.依循理论研究、问题剖析、模式建构、实例验证的逻辑路线,凝练出以历史文化为基底、特征环境为构架、地方社区为表情、地域生活为舞台的历史文化名城场所精神复兴思路.剖析陕西韩城古城在历史文脉断裂、原真空间受创、原有居...