Heterogeneous development of metropolitan spatial structure: Evidence from commuting patterns in English and Welsh city-regions, 1981-2001

In the contemporary literature on urban systems, it is often suggested that the conceptualization of urban systems as monocentric spatial entities has become increasingly problematic. However, by analyzing employment and commuting patterns in English and Welsh city-regions between 1981 and 2001, it can be shown that not all city-regions are experiencing a shift toward a polycentric spatial structure. Although most city-regions in Southeast England and the Midlands are becoming more polycentric, the spatial structures of many city-regions in the North have not shown significant change. In fact, some are becoming more monocentric. In addition, polycentricity takes different forms, which indicates that the development of metropolitan spatial structure can be characterized as a heterogeneous spatial process.     

Politics and scale: some implications for environmental governance

This essay explores themes related to differences of scale and the challenge of environmental governance. It argues that scale issues are always important in politics, but that the density of physical and social scales implicated in the constitution and resolution of environmental problems is particularly notable. It discusses recent changes in governmental approaches to managing environmental burdens in the developed countries, and considers the implications of scale-complexities for the future of environmental governance.     

Adelaide's aged population: Changing spatial patterns and their policy implications

Abstract

The number of older persons living in Adelaide's middle and inner suburbs increased significantly between 1971 and 1981. Siumultaneously, many inner suburbs experienced a decline in the number of older residents, though old people continued to make up a large proportion of their total populations and the inner areas commanded a disproportionate share of resources for the aged. This paper examines, with the aid of two local case studies, the nature and causes of these changes, and analyses their policy implications.     

The spatial impact of train stations on small and medium-sized European cities and their contemporary urban design challenges

ABSTRACT

After a decade marked by the renewal of grand European high-speed railway stations, today, a second wave of station renewal is at hand. This paper argues the importance of the train station in the historical development of smaller cities. Based on comparative research of recent best practices, the contemporary urban design challenges of smaller and medium-sized stations are explored. The paper concludes that the station is no longer shaped as a monolithic, architectural cathedral, as for the grand stations, but interweaves the world of the passer-by with that of the local inhabitant as a system of public infrastructure and facilities.     

Perceptions of status and TMO workgroup cooperation: implications for project governance

Achieving and sustaining the cooperation of individuals with their temporary multi-organization (TMO) workgroups is, arguably, one of the most enduring challenges facing the construction sector. A mediational model connecting pride and self-respect to each of four dimensions of cooperative behaviour—in-role, compliance, extra-role, and deference—is tested in a survey sample of 140 construction professionals in Hong Kong. Bootstrap tests of the indirect effect of pride on cooperative behaviour suggest that self-respect fully mediates the influence of pride on in-role behaviour and compliance behaviour, and partially mediates the influence of pride on extra-role behaviour. The results also suggest that pride has no effect on deference behaviour. While needing corroboration by future research, the findings suggest that viable strategies designed to foster pride and self-respect could engender and sustain cooperation in construction TMO workgroups, and support ongoing efforts to reform construction. The bootstrapping procedures for testing intervening variable models are elaborated in the hope that this will encourage more process analysis research in construction.     

Regional growth and spatial spillovers: Evidence from an SpVAR for the Spanish regions

This paper provides a spatial vector autoregressive (SpVAR) analysis of growth spillovers for the Spanish regions over the period 1965–2003. First, a spatial Granger causality analysis is performed that indicates the relevant impact of spatial spillover effects across regions in Spain. Second, the empirical research offers a contribution in the context of the SpVAR modelling estimating the push‐in (from the neighbours to the region) and push‐out (from the region to its neighbours) effects of growth spillovers within a regional economic system. Finally, the proposed methodology reveals empirical evidence about both the short‐run and long‐term regional growth adjustment processes in space and time. The results for the Spanish regional panel data suggest the existence of strong spatiotemporal regional spillovers of growth output. This has important implications for the choice of regional policy goals and regional policy instruments.     

Utility governance,incentives, and performance: Evidence from India's urban water sector

In developing countries, managing trade-offs between socioeconomic and environmental objectives in water utilities is challenging. The Indian water sector suffers from financial losses, lack of access, and poor service quality. We use a stochastic frontier analysis approach to study 304 urban water supply services during 2010–2015. We examine the role of socioeconomic and environmental aspects. Results indicate that water supply exhibits significant inefficiencies and, thus, scope for improvement. Measures to reduce non-revenue water, increase water quality, and improve cost recovery and bill collection, may help induce efficiency. Results also indicate that increasing water supply hours would improve service performance.     

Self-organisation in urban spatial planning: evidence from the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area,Ghana

There is growing interest among spatial planners to see spontaneous civic initiatives supporting urban development. The occurrence of self-organisation in two informal settlements in Greater Accra Metropolitan Area, Ghana is considered. The system theories of self-organisation (dissipative structures, synegertics and autopoietic) and actor-network theory were used to analyse the two cases. The findings indicate that actors in these informal settlements are triggered by certain contextual factors to undertake initiatives for their own survival and sustenance. At the regional level, these settlements jointly form patterns relating to self-organisation. We conclude that since self-organisation is context specific, planning rules should be reconstructed to guide actions of the various actors in the urban system.     

Effects of dynamic and spatial externalities on local growth: Evidence from Brazil

This paper analyses the impact of economic externalities on the local growth emphasizing the industrial, geographic, and temporal scope of agglomeration economies. Thus, we estimated a spatial dynamic panel model using GMM associated with the use of data at different levels of sectoral aggregation. Estimation takes into account the endogeneity of agglomeration economies. Our database consists of 558 Brazilian regions for 1995–2015. The main results suggest that while externalities act in a local dimension they also have a regional scale. These externalities are determined by their temporal trajectory. The effects of agglomeration economies on local growth are sensitive to the choice of sectoral aggregation. Local growth exhibits positive specialization effects and negative diversity effects. However, greater industrial diversity of neighbouring regions has a positive impact on local growth.     

Multiscalar governance and institutional change: critical junctures in European spatial planning

ABSTRACT

Change of major social institutions sometimes takes place during relatively compressed periods in which previously relatively stable institutions are transformed. Historical institutionalism and comparative historical analysis refer to these turning points as critical junctures, and have developed a valuable set of conceptual frames and research methods for their systematic and comparative study. A core idea of the critical junctures approach is that periods of significant institutional change often result in distinct outcomes in different cases, and sometimes produce enduring consequences in the form of subsequent pathways of institutional development. If this is so, then careful analysis of the dynamics of such change processes, the factors that enable change and those that shape outcomes in each case are important projects for planning history. This essay draws on recent research on permissive and productive conditions of institutional change, the fractal-like quality of multi-scalar institutional change, comparative sequential analysis, process-tracing, and counterfactual analysis in developing an analysis of the broader significance of the European spatial planning policies examined in the papers included in this special issue. A final section considers some of the distinctive characteristics of critical junctures at urban and regional scales compared to those at national or transnational scales in the light of these cases.     

Time-frequency domain causality of prime building cost and macroeconomic indicators in Ghana: implications for project selection

According to the Ghana Statistical Service, construction activity generated US$3.8 billion in 2014, representing about 12.7% of nominal GDP. A key factor that most investors in the construction sector consider in project selection is cost which has escalated over the years. Therefore, we examine the co-movements and causality in the time and frequency domains between the prime building cost index (PBCI) and its disaggregates on one hand and inflation and exchange rate on the other hand in Ghana. The findings revealed that the degree of co-movement between PBCI and inflation was significant at the 5% level and occurred over the long-run, indicating that construction cost drives inflation. The degree of co-movement between the prime build cost index and exchange rate occurred within the short term. These co-movements have policy implications for substituting inflation and exchange rates in project costing by investors in Ghana. The co-movement between the PBCI and inflation in the medium to higher frequencies suggests that inflation risk-averse investors should consider short-term projects. Again, the short to medium frequency co-movements between the PBCI and exchange rate indicates that investors should consider exchange rate risk in long-term projects.     

State cigarette taxes and health expenditures: Evidence from dynamic spatial lag panel models

This study explores the relationship between state cigarette taxes and state expenditures on health and hospitals. We address two major sources of endogeneity from (i) the relationship between tax rates and expenditure decisions and (ii) spatial dependence in expenditure policies by using tobacco production as an instrument for cigarette tax rates and through a dynamic spatial Durbin model. We estimate the cigarette tax rate expenditure elasticity to be 0.03 (SR) and 0.87 (LR) for state health spending and 0.05 (SR) and 0.79 (LR) for state hospital spending. Increases in cigarette taxes did not reduce state spending on health over this period.     

Historical and current spatial differences in female labour force participation: Evidence from Germany

Female labour force participation (FLFP) increased significantly in the 20th century. Nevertheless, there are persisting spatial differences in FLFP. Using data from Germany, this paper demonstrates that regional differences in the degree of industrialization in the 1920s explain spatial variation in FLFP at that time and almost 100 years later. The latter finding is not explained by persisting industry structures. Additionally, there is evidence that regions with historically high FLFP have a higher social acceptance of working women. Together these results suggest that policies to increase FLFP should account for the historical context of each region.     

Market and regulatory factors influencing smart-grid investment in Europe: Evidence from pilot projects and implications for reform

Electricity distribution system operators (DSOs) are expected to invest heavily in system innovation in the form of smart grids (SG) in order to help achieve energy policy goals. In this context, regulatory reforms to spur DSOs investments are considered a policy priority. Based on a review of the European regulatory status and using a dataset of 459 innovative SG projects, this study focuses on market and regulatory factors and performs a series of statistical tests to investigate how the different factor levels affecting SG investments in Europe. The results show that (1) lower market concentration in the electricity distribution sector (2) the use of incentive-based regulatory schemes; and (3) the adoption of innovation-stimulus mechanisms are key enablers of SG investments.     

Investigating how board gender diversity affects environmental,social and governance performance: Evidence from the utilities sector

This study investigates the effect of board gender diversity (BGD) on environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. This study considers the utilities sector as it has contributed more to Agenda 2030 than the non-environmental sectors. Specifically, the sample includes 53 utility firms from 15 European Union countries. The data is extracted from the Bloomberg database from 2011 to 2021. We apply the ordinary least squares technique and find that BGD positively influences ESG performance; this effect becomes stronger in the presence of at least three female board members. This study provides implications for practitioners and stakeholders of utility firms.     

The moderating role of governance environment on the relationship between risk allocation and private investment in PPP markets: Evidence from developing countries

PPPs have become a popular way to supply infrastructure around the world. However, compared with developed countries, most developing countries have failed to attract private investment over the past years. Risk allocation and governance environment (e.g., the extent of public participation, the level of political stability, the quality of public services, the ability of regulations, abiding the law, and the extent of corruption) may be important factors. To test the hypotheses, using about 4560 PPP projects in 138 developing countries from 2002 to 2015, this paper applies the Tobit regression model to investigate the interaction effect of governance environment and risk assumed by private partners on private investment. Results indicate that private partners assume that less risk can attract more private investment, and that a higher level of governance (control of corruption, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, and rule of law) reduces the negative influence of risk assumed by private partners on private investments.     

Planning for population ageing: implications of local demographic,spatial and fiscal differences

Population ageing is a global phenomenon with local implications. This article investigates local demographic, spatial and fiscal differences that define the planning context for population ageing. The study is based on a comprehensive analysis of population ageing in local government areas in New South Wales, Australia and related issues in the literature. Local councils are shown to be in disparate positions to address population ageing. An international need to examine this demographic transition at the local level is demonstrated. Study findings indicate that planning for population ageing relies on adequate knowledge of the discrete and extensive local differences that exist. Significantly, there is an immediate requirement to formulate policy responses, given the speed and level of this demographic change over the next decade and beyond. Wide-ranging approaches are essential to accord with the local differences discussed here.     

Dynamics of transboundary governance and management of small scale fisheries on Lake Kariba: implications for sustainable use

Lake Kariba and its fisheries are international resources shared by Zambia and Zimbabwe. Despite efforts to harmonize the regulatory system, there are still conflicting approaches of managing the fisheries resources. The paper discusses the divergent approaches and their relation to the sustainable use of the small-scale gill net fishery. Zimbabwe appears to focus on sustainability of the fisheries, and Zambia on maximizing employment opportunities from the fishery. The paper shows that uncoordinated management of the fishery at international level leads to weak local level institutions for managing the fishery.