Using visual assessment as a foundation for greenway planning in the St. Lawrence River Valley

The growth of the ‘greenway’ as a fundamental planning concept has provided guidance for many communities locally and around the world. In the St. Lawrence River Valley, the idea is providing a common physical and cultural reference for the management of landscapes in communities along a 100 mile international corridor. Over the past 10 years, the College of Environmental Science and Forestry of the State University of New York has worked with the St. Lawrence-Eastern Ontario Commission to examine the unique visual and scenic resources of the region as the foundation for establishing a greenway tracing the St. Lawrence River. Although the idea of a greenway in the St. Lawrence River Valley is not new or unusual, the inventory and assessment of visual or scenic linear resources as a foundation is a departure from typical practice, and an experiment in defensible and rational planning. As a major summer tourism destination, the region is well aware of the critical value of its scenic resources. In our effort to identify and assess various vital resources for planning, we found an indicator in the visual nature of the landscape—both as a resource in and of itself, and as a reflection of the underlying values held by local communities for natural and cultural resources. This paper describes, as a case study, the process used to identify and assess visual and scenic resources in the region, and the use of the resulting database to initiate delineation of the proposed greenway. A discussion of the rationale and significance of the method is presented, including comments on the direction and progress in the region today.     

Cultural landscapes and landscape ecology in contemporary greenway planning, design and management: a case study

The Appalachian Trail traverses 3300 km (2050 miles) of the Appalachian Mountains from Maine to Georgia in the eastern USA. Except for the Cumberland Valley (the Great Valley of the Ridge and Valley region of the Appalachian Mountains) in Pennsylvania, and a few other valley crossings, the Trail passes primarily along forested ridges. The Cumberland Valley is the longest valley crossing of the Trail—26 km (16 miles) of intensively cultivated prime farmland undergoing residential and commercial development. To secure public ownership of the Trail through this urbanizing landscape, the US Department of the Interior, through the National Park Service, acquired a 600 ha (1500 acre) corridor through the Cumberland Valley to be managed and maintained by the volunteers of the Appalachian Trail Conference. This study was developed by a project team from the Department of Landscape Architecture of The Pennsylvania State University, for the Appalachian Trail Conference, as a set of planning, design, and management recommendations for the newly acquired trail corridor. The method of study involves developing (1) an understanding of the Trail, its history, and its users; (2) a general understanding of the natural and cultural conditions of the region; (3) a more specific inventory, analysis, and assessment of the natural and cultural elements of the trail corridor. This process reveals a corridor landscape containing the interpretable evidence of 250 years of agrarian landscape history and a diverse set of physical environments and biotic communities that have been fragmented by that land use.The two central ideas explored in this paper that underlie the planning and design of the Trail greenway across the Cumberland Valley are, first, the conservation and interpretation of the cultural landscape, and, second, the reduction of habitat fragmentation and enhancement of biological diversity. The product of the planning and design of the corridor land is a set of recommendations intended to direct future actions within the valley corridor. The cultural landscape recommendations focus on maintaining the fabric and interrelationships of the cultural landscape by including a complete representation of both the structural and biotic cultural resources. The ecological recommendations focus on protection of existing natural resources, establishment of forest habitat linkages, and restoration of native plant communities. Finally, two examples of the corridor planning, design, and management study are presented as a case study in greenway planning and design in response to cultural landscape conservation and landscape ecology.     

The diversification of urbanisation: New challenges for New Zealand planning

Analysis of recent census data shows that the historical population drift to the north and the dominance of Auckland no longer explain urban differentiation in New Zealand. Growth in “sunbelt” communities and exurban areas is changing the shape of settlement. These parallel trends require new research and will demand novel responses from planners.     

The diversification of urbanisation: New challenges for New Zealand planning

Analysis of recent census data shows that the historical population drift to the north and the dominance of Auckland no longer explain urban differentiation in New Zealand. Growth in “sunbelt” communities and exurban areas is changing the shape of settlement. These parallel trends require new research and will demand novel responses from planners.     

土地利用规划与生物多样性--《针对英格兰东南部地区规划和发展部门的生物多样性指南》评介

介绍了<针对英格兰东南部地区规划和发展部门的生物多样性指南>的内容框架,指出了该指南的若干特点,包括:明确地提出了规划系统对生物多样性起着积极的影响;明确提出了一系列重要的英格兰东南部地区土地使用规划的生物多样性原则;明确提出了通过规划系统达到生物多样性行动规划目标的关键.在以上基础上,对该指南进行了初步的评价,并结合于2002年12月发布的<建设部关于加强城市生物多样性保护工作的通知>,进行了相关问题的讨论.     

全球导航卫星系统GNSS最新进展及带来的机遇和挑战

简单阐述了全球导航卫星系统GNSS建设的最新进展,包括GPS现代化、GLONASS恢复、GALILED系统和COMPASS/BD-2系统的建设。各国卫星导航定位系统的激烈竞争必将使GNSS发展面临新的机遇和挑战,本文基于目前GNSS导航卫星系统的建设内容,针对当前卫星导航定位技术领域所面临的完备性监测、多模卫星组合和中国COMPASS系统等涉及的数据处理问题进行了分析。     

New challenges in the field of spatial planning: landscapes

The European Landscape Convention (ELC) highlights the landscape as an holistic concept, which is important for individual and social well being and for quality of life. Landscape questions tend today to fall between the responsibilities of different sectors of society. The implications of the Convention for giving 'landscape' a higher status in spatial planning are discussed. Important challenges for planning that need to be focused from a landscape approach are discussed: the growing urbanization; the development and new roles of the urban fringe areas; new infrastructure landscapes; the mental landscapes of tomorrow; an holistic approach to landscape ecological planning and environmental policies and the need for co-ordination of European planning issues that concern landscapes. Planning for good landscape qualities is not a new issue; many landscape architects and landscape planners have worked in the spirit of the ELC for decades. The importance of educating landscape architects and planners with an holistic approach is particularly addressed. Efforts for a more integrated landscape education, such as the European network LE:NOTRE, already exist and contribute to the implementation of the ELC.     

Regional Housing Figures in England: Policy,Politics and Ownership

This paper critiques the process of arriving at housing allocation figures for development planning in England, focusing upon regional debates. It considers the balance struck between policy (national) considerations and (local) political priorities, illustrated through two case studies: the East of England (and RPG14) and the English North West (and RPG13). These particular regions exemplify the dual poles of current planning policy in relation to housing provision: avoiding over-supply in the north of England and delivering managed growth in the south. The paper concludes by looking at ‘ownership’ of regional and county figures, at the excesses of central intervention, and at how such interventions run contrary to government's own philosophy for planning for housing in England.     

Urban landscapes and the cultural politics of territorial control in Anglo-Norman England

It is examined how urban landscapes were physically shaped to meet the changing needs and desires of aristocratic elites during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Using case studies within the context of Anglo-Norman England, it is argued that newly-created towns were designed to help aristocratic lords establish and retain their political control along the frontier of the Norman kingdom, and that the forms of these towns embody the cultural processes of this territorial expansion. The first part of the paper places Norman England in the context of an expanding high medieval Europe and considers the idea of an 'urban renaissance' as part of this expansion. Following this, some of the problems in representing, or mapping, medieval urban landscapes are discussed. The rest of the paper is devoted to morphological studies of three Norman 'new towns', Alnwick, Bridgnorth and Ludlow, in order to show how the production of these urban landscapes was related to wider socio-political changes effected under the authority of an aristocratic hegemony. The selection of these three towns also provides an opportunity to review previous attempts at understanding their medieval designs.     

Defining coherence for landscape planning and management: a regional landscape strategy for North West England

The range of environmental activity in the North West of England is as diverse as its landscapes. These embrace some of the finest, but also some of the most degraded, landscapes in the UK; to date however, there has been no overall co‐ordination of initiatives aimed at their protection and rehabilitation. The emergence of regional planning guidance, a regional economic strategy and the agenda of sustainable development demands a more integrative, strategic approach to environmental action. This paper details the development of a regional landscape strategy which seeks to provide the connection between action at the regional and the neighbourhood levels through the co‐ordination, reinforcement and innovation of environmental activity. The regional landscape strategy provides a focus around which the interests of public, private and voluntary bodies can coalesce and a medium for the articulation of policy aspirations relating to the sustainable planning and management of landscapes.     

Defining coherence for landscape planning and management: a regional landscape strategy for North West England

The range of environmental activity in the North West of England is as diverse as its landscapes. These embrace some of the finest, but also some of the most degraded, landscapes in the UK; to date however, there has been no overall co-ordination of initiatives aimed at their protection and rehabilitation. The emergence of regional planning guidance, a regional economic strategy and the agenda of sustainable development demands a more integrative, strategic approach to environmental action. This paper details the development of a regional landscape strategy which seeks to provide the connection between action at the regional and the neighbourhood levels through the co-ordination, reinforcement and innovation of environmental activity. The regional landscape strategy provides a focus around which the interests of public, private and voluntary bodies can coalesce and a medium for the articulation of policy aspirations relating to the sustainable planning and management of landscapes.     

英格兰和威尔士的水务监管体系

介绍了英格兰和威尔士的水务私有化发展状况，及与之配套的水务监管架构、监管职能、价格帽激励机制以及全面绩效评价体系的概况。     

英格兰保障性住房的发展及其对中国的启示

回顾二战以来英格兰保障性住房①的发展历史,总结了当前英格兰保障性住房的定位、类型、受益人群、供应机制以及空间绩效调控。结合英格兰的经验和我国的具体情况,从宏观、中观、微观三个层面对我国保障性住房发展提出启示:政府必须而且能够在保障性住房供给上发挥积极的作用;进一步完善、细化保障性住房的供应类型和监管机制;加强特大、大城市的保障性住房建设,注重空间绩效调控。     

Physical environmental modeling, visualization and query for supporting landscape planning decisions

Landscape planners need to make decisions about the best possible mix of landuses and their spatial arrangement in the landscape based on accurate, detailed, diverse and spatially explicit information. Traditionally, static, map-based land classifications have been used to support landscape planning decisions. However, land classifications have lacked the flexibility and adaptability necessary for planning in complex landscapes with competing demands. With the increasing availability of spatial databases, physical environmental models, visualization techniques and the analytical capabilities of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), more effective decision support systems can be developed for landscape planning. This paper discusses the assembly of a multivariate spatial database of biologically significant physical environmental parameters (e.g. mean annual rainfall, minimum temperature, soil wetness) using environmental modeling techniques, and the visualization and interactive query of this database in landscape planning. Spatially distributed data layers of 21 parameters including climatic, soil, and hydrological parameters, are modeled on both the topographic and regional scale using physical environmental models linked to a GIS. Principal component analysis (PCA) is used to reduce the correlated data to five principal components (PCs) that capture over 91% of the physical environmental variation in the study area. The first three PCs were imported as bands of a 24-bit color image that enables the integrated multi-dimensional visualization of more than 83% of the environmental variation in the region. A prototype spatial decision support system called SimilarAreas was developed to provide an example of one type of interactive analysis useful in landscape planning that is possible with the database. SimilarAreas uses the concept of the environmental envelope [H.A. Nix, A biogeographic analysis of the Australian elapid snakes, in: R. Longmore (Ed.), Atlas of Elapid Snakes, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1986, pp. 4–15] of sites that have been interactively specified by the user and identifies other geographical areas with statistically similar environments to those specified using the environmental database. The system enables landscape planners to pose general queries like “Show me all areas with environments similar to these.” Specific application examples of SimilarAreas are provided in viticulture site planning and habitat restoration although potential applications of the modeling, visualization and query techniques described in this paper are much more diverse.     

结合城市设计编制控制性详细规划--湖州仁皇山新区规划编制与实施的跟踪分析

在城市设计成果的基础上编制控制性详细规划,可将城市设计的意图以控制性详细规划的形式予以明确和落实,使分区规划阶段的城市设计理念和原则性导引变成更具体和可操作性强的详细规定、开发强度指标和地块土地收益控制。在实践中采用这途径编制的规划发挥了比常规规划更具指导性和操作性的作用。     

Learning alliance methodology: Contributions and challenges for multicultural planning in health service provision: A case study in Kent,UK

This article examines contributions and challenges of learning alliance methodology to multicultural planning in health provision services in an urban context. A learning alliance was implemented to target health needs of different ethno-racial groups through an action research project in Swale, Kent, UK. We argue that a learning alliance is an innovative methodology that can contribute to multicultural planning by (1) promoting the involvement of new planning stakeholders and the institutionalization of learning alliance outcomes, (2) ensuring capacity-building strategies, (3) emphasizing documentation and dissemination as innovative practices, and (4) strengthening the network capacity of a community. Critical reflections are presented here as a constructive view to improve both the learning alliance methodology and multicultural planning. The article contributes to debates on public service delivery in the context of discussions about multiculturalism, health and planning.     

新农村建设规划及其特色研究——汉寿县村庄布局规划设计

该文指出当前我国农村建设中存在的主要问题、矛盾,提出“走有中国特色的新农村建设规划之路”,以汉寿县村庄布局规划设计为实例进行说明。     

人文社区绿色之城——济南田园新城规划

济南田园新城是面向普通收入群体开发建设的大型居住社区,文章基于居住群体需求以及大型住区特性,反思传统住区规划建设模式和现实问题,提出居住区规划应融入社区规划理念,充分考虑社会性,强调住区持久发展活力,倡导大型住区的开放性和复合化,创新规划设计手段,创造繁荣、宜居、可持续的人文绿色社区。     

论新城市时代城市规划制度与管理创新

新城市时代城市规划管理的主要趋向是依法管理。法治化的根本保障是“破”与“立”相结合的制度创新,树立全新的城市规划管理思路,建立覆盖整个规划区的管理网络,合理划分权责,在规划行政审批制度、工作运转流程制度等领域进行城市规划管理制度的创新。