Book Reviews

‘Mega‐events’, such as the Olympic Games, have emerged as an important tool of urban and regional renewal through their ability to justify redevelopment and enhancement, attract inward investment, promote tourism and create new images for host cities. This paper complements previous research into the urban effects of the Summer Games by focusing on the infrastructural legacy of hosting the Winter Games, 1924–2002. The discussion concentrates upon the growing intensity of the intra‐urban competition to host the event and identifies four phases in the changing infrastructural implications of staging the Games. As a component of urban and regional policy, the Winter Olympics present both major risks and clear opportunities for the effective transformation of host centres.     

“They have good intentions”. Young People's Experiences of Living in Melbourne's Peri-Urban Areas

While contemporary urban theories suggest that individuals have transcended their geographical community, evidence suggests that urban residents still feel ‘attached’ to place. In the literature, several socio-demographic characteristics are associated with place attachment. Scholars suggest physical features, such as community ‘greenspace’, may also influence place attachment. Yet research does not consider the relationship between one's objective proximity to greenspace or the objective availability of community greenspace on residents' place attachment. This study employs multi-level models and draws on police incident data, census data, two spatial data sets and survey data from over 4000 residents living across 148 state suburbs in Australia to assess the relationship between greenspace proximity and greenspace availability on place attachment. Our findings indicate that greater proportions and more accessible greenspace may not improve residents' attachment to their local community.     

The blight of beautification: Bangkok and the pursuit of class-based urban purity

‘Beautification’ is often invoked as a justification for forms of urban reorganization that threaten existing ways of life and ignore the aesthetic values and social needs of poorer residents. The case of Bangkok, dramatically exemplified by the official campaign to evict the community of Pom Mahakan, shows how little attention is paid either to the social problems that such modernist uses of ‘tradition’ are likely to cause or to the vernacular architecture that is being destroyed in the name of ‘development’ and of a harshly selective conservation regime. The future of Bangkok’s vernacular past looks decidedly bleak.     

邻里环境对居民健康的影响及其差异——基于广州市28个社区的结构方程模型

伴随着中国城市居民生活水平的提高,居民健康及其邻里环境的影响因素日益受到地理学和规划学研究关注。本文以广州市28个社区为例,利用2016年社区问卷调查数据、空间兴趣点POI、土地利用现状、全国第六次人口普查等数据,构建结构方程模型以探究居民健康的邻里影响研究,并通过多群组分析剖析不同社区邻里影响的差异。研究发现:(1)建成环境:高密度、混合型、公共交通发达的邻里会鼓励居民进行体育锻炼,并对心理健康带来积极影响;(2)社会环境:互助、信任、沟通交流以及社区参与程度较高的邻里对体育锻炼具有正向影响,并对身体健康、心理健康带来积极影响;(3)不同社区邻里影响存在差异,社会经济指数(SESI)低的社区居民体育锻炼受到建成环境影响更显著,社会经济指数(SESI)高的社区居民体育锻炼受到社会环境影响更显著。研究希望为健康社区建设提供研究基础和政策支持。     

Sport events,space and the ‘Live City’

Specially-designed, temporary festive spaces designed to accommodate spectators and visitors have become commonplace when hosting major and mega sporting events but to date they have received very little academic attention in the urban policy or planning fields. In this paper I explore the development of a ‘Live City’ concept that organisers in Glasgow operationalised during the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. Empirically, I draw on fieldwork undertaken before, during and after the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, including documentary analysis, semi-structured interviews, and observation of the four managed Live Zones operational during the event.Findings suggest that the concept of the Live City operationalised at G2014 represents a subtle, yet effective, means of further embedding capital accumulation processes in the urban setting. The Live City concept is reflective of a trend toward the staging of atmospheres as an urban policy tool. In effect, event visitors are welcomed to a fantasy city that only ever exists temporarily, staged for the benefit of others' consumption. The Live City is managed and assembled to prioritise affective atmospheres, reimagining the entire city centre as a venue to be experienced, mediated and replicated in the future when other major spectacles are attracted.     

Regenerating a coastal town through art: Dismaland and the (l)imitations of antagonistic art practice in the city

Coastal cities have increasingly welcomed initiatives for producing temporary urban art spaces to lure tourists and revitalize the local economy. This article examines the under-explored contested relationships between a major temporary art event and social (dis)engagement in the context of coastal urban regeneration. During the pop-up art event Dismaland (2015), led by the reputed graffiti artist Banksy and company, the coastal resort of Weston-super-Mare in England experienced an upsurge of international visitors. Banksy envisaged this “Bemusement Park”, situated in an abandoned lido, as an antagonist twist of Disneyland and the commercial modus operandus of theme parks. Drawing on discourse analysis of expert and public perspectives and auto-ethnographic experience, this article challenges the experienced extent of antagonistic art practice in juxtaposition to the formal discourse of creators and urban policymakers. The examination of the event's artistic, behavioral, spatial and temporal frameworks shows how it ambiguously navigated between authentic and engineered trajectories of involving its target audiences. The creators' anarchist plea for radical change was ambivalently met with appreciation of an urban art space for serious contemplation as well as a perceived lack of local community investment – the latter rendering Dismaland an urban ‘art colony’ that fostered an elitist global art market rather than urban-citizen-led participation. The in-depth case study concludes that greater attention, both in urban policy and scholarship, is needed to the implications of the production of temporary urban art spaces for immediate inclusive engagement with end users as well as sustained community development. The study particularly calls for caution in assuming inclusive community benefits of art-led regeneration as abundantly ascribed in creative city theories and urban policies.     

An Unlikely Urban Symbiosis: Urban Intensification and Neighbourhood Character in Collingwood,Vancouver

Urban intensification is a key planning strategy for all major Australian cities, but proposals for higher density buildings in established neighbourhoods are frequently opposed by local residents on the basis that they would be ‘out of character’. In this article, the opportunities for urban intensification to reinforce and enhance the existing character of a place are explored through a case study of a Vancouver neighbourhood where a proposed high-rise project was initially resisted by community members, but has subsequently been embraced by them. It is argued that in this case, through a participatory and debate-centred planning process, urban intensification and neighbourhood character became mutually dependent in an unlikely form of urban symbiosis.     

Neo-liberal or Third Way? What Planners from Glasgow,Melbourne and Toronto Say

Given the long and well-documented decline in the existence and relevance of place-dependent urban community, we explore the use of an idealised version of community of place in the marketing and implementation of a new suburban master planned estate (MPE) in Australia. In a social policy environment where strong communities of place are idealised, we find residents lack the resources or inclination to devote to the establishment of civic norms or durable social networks within the boundaries of the development and, for the most part, they are content to leave the establishment of the symbols of community to the property developer. It is the idea, rather than the reality, of community that is important, but in order to generate that idea, the developer needs to go to some lengths to create an ‘illusion’, or ‘sense’ of strong local community in the estate through marketing, the creation of nostalgic physical reminders, and selected community interventions such as cyclical events and celebrations. These all play an important role in the establishment of subjective ontological security for residents; to the benefit of both resident and developer.

     

‘Sicherheit’: examining residents’ perceptions of community safety in working-class residential areas undergoing regeneration in Limerick City,Ireland

This paper examines the perceptions of residents’ in two housing estates in Limerick, a peripheral Irish city, on how (un)safety effects their day-to-day lives and is an intrinsic element in the production and reproduction of their urban territories. In focusing on these areas which are currently ‘undergoing’ the largest urban regeneration project in the history of the Irish State, our analysis provides new insights into the intersections between regeneration processes and (un)sicherheit. Significantly, our findings demonstrate that regeneration processes, often billed as enhancing community safety, can in fact contribute to destabilising the triumvirate of safety, certainty and security.     

Landscape and the cultural politics of China’s anticipatory urbanism

China has seen a proliferation of monumental urban projects in recent years extending to lower tier cities. This paper examines the production of new urban landscapes in the Kangbashi New District of Ordos Municipality to assess the political economy and cultural logics of China’s current-day city-making programmes. The concept of ‘anticipatory urbanism’ is developed to interpret how monumentality in the built environment is aimed at foretelling new developmental futures promising to deliver power to the local state and prosperity to residents. The analysis assesses public responses to landscape transformations and discusses how speculation in the production of new city spaces generates conflict and crisis for the local state. Anticipatory urbanism is found to feed off government ambition and undermines sustainable urban growth.     

社区营造中的积极设计方法应用探究

当前我国城市发展进入存量阶段,社区更新成为城市发展的新动能,提升居民的幸福感成为社区营造的重要目标。物质空间环境的提升可以增加居民短期的愉悦,而积极心理学认为“设计”幸福应存在多样性和更多的可能性,以期对个体更长期的主观幸福感产生影响。从心理学的角度出发,首先对积极心理学相关理论进行梳理,归纳总结出影响人主观幸福感的7个因素,包括自我接纳和认同、被需要和认同、环境掌控、与他人的积极关系、机能主动、生活目标和自我价值。其次,探究积极设计的特征并对案例进行分析,在社区营造中总结出基于积极设计的干预程序,依次为共情介入、寻找可能性、设计可能性和反馈与评价。最后,根据影响人主观幸福感的因素构建积极心理干预矩阵以及提出干预策略：（1）创造平等的交往空间;（2）建立人与环境的关联;（3）创造与美好事物的关联性;（4）提供富有弹性的媒介;（5）提供一种延续性。研究成果为以提升居民主观幸福感为目的的社区营造及公共空间设计提供介入方法和实现途径。     

Impact of Mega-Events on Community Residents

The hosting of mega-events is an important driving force for the development of urban tourism. The recognition and support of local community residents are one of the most important factors in the success of mega-events. The study of the impact of mega-events on community residents is crucial to the success of the events. Taking the thesis Comparative Study on Residents' Perceptions to the Followup Impacts of the 2008 Olympics for example, this paper, from the perspective of the impact of megaevents on community residents, discussed the contribution of this thesis to Beijing and Zhangjiakou, the host city and co-host city for the 2022 Winter Olympics respectively, and the countermeasures that should be taken by event organizers.     

The Provision of Social Infrastructure in New Urban Development in Three Australian States

Improvements in the planning and provision of social infrastructure in new urban development in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney have been implemented over the last decade. The main focus of attention has been on improved ‘metropolitan coordination systems’ or ‘urban development programs’. The systems operating in the three states are examined with particular reference to the origin of the initiatives, the bureaucratic and financial arrangements which are in place, and the respective roles of local and state governments. Major issues for the future are identified, inparticular the importance of establishing standards and costings of human services, the role of local government, the significance of funding issues and the need to explore alternative sources of financing.     

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.     

用“智慧规划”助推上海智慧城市建设刍议

上海的智慧城市建设应首先从顶层设计入手,建立一套面向未来"智慧上海"的规划体系和方法。通过纽约和维也纳的智慧城市规划的分析借鉴,探讨"智慧规划"与上海城市规划编制和管理的相互关系,进而提出了"智慧规划"的构想与应关注的几个问题"。智慧规划"这一创新理念,希望能引起更多对智慧城市建设中相关规划理念、方式及方法的思考。     

Differentiated Urban Citizenship and Housing Rights: Analysing the Social Impacts of Urban Redevelopment in Globalizing Istanbul

There is growing interest in the transformation of urban citizenship and the changing right to the city of the urban poor under neoliberal restructuring of cities in the Global South. This article examines a ‘squatter settlement transformation project’ in Istanbul that is intended to contribute towards the transformation of Istanbul into a global city. The transformation projects are based on private homeownership, incorporate the urban poor into a new ‘property regime’ and allocate them differentiated access to housing in the city. Using qualitative data, this article traces the unequal outcomes of the project for its displaced residents and demonstrates the emergence of ‘differentiated urban citizenship’. This emergent urban citizenship regime in Turkish cities organizes the distribution of substantive housing rights based on social inequalities among the urban poor, and thus consolidates and perpetuates these inequalities in society.     

Cultivating the Field in the Global Hinterland: Community Building for Mass Housing in the Amazon Region

The large-scale residential settlements that have sprung up over the last decade to house migrants flocking to join Brazil's burgeoning rural industries are in urgent need of retrofitting with infrastructure and community facilities if they are to become sustainable. To this end, international urban design practice the BAÚ Collaborative has initiated the ‘Eden’ project – a participatory design process that involves state authorities, local NGOs, residents and social workers. Rainer Hehl , a cofounder of BAÚ, outlines the problem, the project, and its test-site: the mining town of Parauapebas.     

Desirable Dense Neighbourhoods: An Environmental Psychological Approach for Understanding Community Resistance to Densification

This article examines an environmental psychological approach to exploring the attitudes of urban residents towards what they consider to be a ‘desirable dense’ neighbourhood. Socio-cultural expectations of high-density developments are explored through an analysis of residents’ perceptions of what constitutes a desirable high-density environment. The article presents specific findings identifying influences on residents’ attitudes to urban densification derived from three case studies of designated transit-oriented development (TOD) areas located in the Perth Metropolitan Region. It was found that community resistance towards future higher-density developments is rooted in the current socio-cultural context of the area. Community resistance may be driven by the physical quality of developments (such as building heights, overshadowing), however, deeper concerns are allied to the uncertain social outcomes that are the product of new development. A dominant cultural characteristic such as a disinclination to socialise with diverse people is found to be a negative response to dense neighbourhoods in all the case studies. This characteristic is more evident in populations of high socio-economic status. These areas are usually close to the central business district (CBD) where many infill high-density developments have been proposed.     

Urban conservation and revalorisation of dilapidated historic quarters: The case of Nanluoguxiang in Beijing

Property-led urban redevelopment in contemporary Chinese cities often results in the demolition of many historical buildings and neighbourhoods, invoking criticisms from conservationists. In the case of Beijing, the municipal government produced a series of documents in the early 2000s to implement detailed plans to conserve 25 designated historic areas in the Old City of Beijing. This paper aims to examine the recent socio-economic and spatial changes that took place within government-designated conservation areas, and scrutinise the role of the local state and real estate capital that brought about these changes. Based on recent field visits and semi-structured interviews with local residents and business premises in a case study area, this paper puts forward two main arguments. First, Beijing’s urban conservation policies enabled the intervention of the local state to facilitate revalorisation of dilapidated historic quarters and to release dilapidated courtyard houses on the real estate market. The revalorisation was possible with the participation of a particular type of real estate capital that had interests in the aesthetic value that historic quarters and traditional courtyard houses provided. Second, the paper also argues that economic benefits generated by urban conservation, if any, were shared disproportionately among local residents, and that local residents’ lack of opportunities to ‘voice out’ further consolidated the property-led characteristic of urban conservation, which failed to pay attention to social lives.     

Towards democratic planning? Negotiating change in St Kilda,Melbourne

Are planners ‘dealmakers’ caught up in selling urban areas to the highest bidder, or are they negotiators concerned to maintain democratic planning and social diversity in areas that are subject to gentrification? This paper explores this question through the example of two sites in St Kilda, Melbourne. The sites highlight planning strategies used at the local government level by planners who are attempting to negotiate change and to maintain the social and cultural diversity of the area. The first example illustrates the processes of ‘democratic planning’ where planners question what is ‘legitimate’ and draw on discourses of local need. The second example illustrates the problems of co‐opting local culture within a process of democratic planning that is based on community consultation. Together, the examples illustrate the need for tighter local government policies, including stricter policies about the use of developer contributions, and a closer and more critical focus on the term ‘community consultation’, if democratic planning is to be achieved.