Sustainability assessment of cities: SDGs and GHG emissions

ABSTRACT

The United Nations’ (UN) sustainable development goals (SDGs), the core of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Paris Agreement, were adopted in 2015. Involvement of not only national governments but also all other stakeholders including local governments is important to promote sustainable development and to achieve the goals. The question arises, therefore, of what methods should be used to best implement and assess sustainability issues at a local level. In this light, a new version of Comprehensive Assessment System for Built Environment Efficiency (CASBEE), CASBEE for Cities, is introduced for assessing the sustainability of cities and communities around the world based on SDG indicators and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The tool allows users to understand the sustainability of cities and communities based on quality (Q) and environmental load (L) perspectives. The sustainability assessments show that cities in developed countries tend to have good grades for Q, but bad grades for L, while cities in developing countries tend to have the opposite trend. This will assist cities and communities in both developed and developing countries to understand urgent problems and to identify effective solutions for sustainable development.     

The historical development of Chinese urban morphology

China has had a long and distinctive urban experience, the existence of towns dating back to 2600 BC. This paper describes the characteristics and historical development of Chinese urban morphology. The central location of political and administrative buildings, a grid‐iron street pattern, symmetrical layout and axiality are the most important characteristics of Chinese traditional cities, reflecting the distinctive political and economic systems and cultural traditions of China. Political forces have played a key role in shaping this urban pattern. The historical development of Chinese urban morphology experienced four phases: the walled city (770 BC‐AD 906), the open city (618–1840), the colonial city (1840–1949), and the socialist city (1949–1985). The four phases provide a historical frame to analyse the development of China's urban form; each phase has its distinct characteristics and different town building philosophies, reflecting the nature of national political and economic development.     

The role of international actors in low-carbon transitions of Shenzhen's International Low Carbon City in China

This study looks into one of the most promising low carbon city planning initiatives in China, namely Shenzhen's International Low Carbon City (ILCC). First as a collaborative project between the Dutch and Chinese partners, the ILCC's international partners have expanded to include other countries, such as Germany, Italy, France, Australia and the US. This paper investigates the influence of these international actors in the development process of the ILCC and their benefits in the long run, through knowledge transfer and accumulation of resource.The paper first highlights a broad understanding of ‘low carbon city’ followed by detailed discussions on discourses of ‘low carbon city’, ‘eco-city’, and ‘low carbon eco-city’ in China. Then it provides insights on knowledge transfer in low carbon city development, and particularly the Sino-Foreign cases of China. The authors then introduce the case of study (ILCC) and highlight its visions, project planning, and partnerships. Using primary and secondary data, it then maps the ILCC's international actors and their roles, and then analyses their behaviours and impacts in the project's planning and development process. Next, the paper summarises the research findings with further updates on the case of ILCC. The authors conclude that the engagement between Chinese and international partners differ in three forms and they are (1) the type of involvement; (2) the level and timeframe of involvement; (3) the level of Influence in the project's multiple stages. The paper concludes that the role played by an international partner evolves as the project proceeds.     

Accountability and ecological sustainability challenges under NPM-based public sector-led urban development: four international comparative cases

This paper compares four different public sector-led urban development institutional arrangements within New Public Management (NPM)’s framework. The cases come from three European countries – Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands – and the Australian state of Victoria. These four jurisdictions, though distant, share much in terms of urban development processes and actors’ responsibilities within these processes, as well as legislation concerning urban development. In the comparison, emphasis is placed on addressing public accountability and ecological sustainability. Ecological sustainability is important to the public sector and urban development has a significant role in achieving more ecologically sustainable built environments. It was found out that steering the development projects is relevant to sustainability issues. Accountability needs to be addressed when forming single-purpose organizational arrangements, but the paper concludes that the examined organizations have no flaws in accountability. In examining these cases, it is assumed that all four operate in governance environments dictated by NPM’s methods, and their success is thus evaluated in that framework. There is little evidence so far of international comparative urban development research combining values and results achieved; or comparing cases from different jurisdictions.     

“混合型”经济适用房在美国大城市的实践和启示

首先以美国加州地区为背景分析了住房成本对所在地劳动力成本、城市长期繁荣、环境和其他社会领域的影响。然后试图通过波士顿和波特兰两个混合型经适房项目的实践,初步探究美国此类项目的运作策略,通过对相关案例的解读为中国的实践提供借鉴和参考。     

Potential of rainwater resources based on urban and social aspects in Colombia

The potential offered by non‐conventional water resources (rainwater) associated with high or low urban density in new housing in different rainfall zones (800–2300 mm) was studied. Ten cities in Colombia with over 250 000 inhabitants were used as a case study. The potential of substitution of tap water by rainwater according to population groups with different socioeconomic status was estimated. This study reveals the favourable conditions for rainwater harvesting in the Colombian context, and enables the linking of supply and demand issues related to local climatic and environmental sustainability in order to integrate the use of rainwater into urban housing projects. For the current consumption scenario (greater than 160 Lcd), rainwater becomes a potential replacement for mains water in urban areas with rainfall of above 1553 L/m²/year.     

Club Goods and Local Government

Problem: Private approaches to urban service provision are becoming more popular. Some argue these approaches are more efficient and more democratic than government provision because they are voluntary. While these club approaches can shift the burden of infrastructure finance to direct groups of users, they can also fragment urban service delivery and justify unevenness in service quality across the city.

Purpose: This article explores examples of club goods, that is, common interest developments (CIDS) for housing, business improvement districts (BIDs) for commercial areas, and economic development zones (EDZs) for commercial and industrial areas, and assesses their implications for local government. Emphasis is given to how clubs internalize benefits to members of the club but shed externalities onto the broader local government system. A critical governance concern is the impact on the long-term ability of local government to coordinate across disparate elements and interests in the community.

Methods: I discuss three types of clubs ranging from totally private common interest developments (home owners associations), to partially private business improvement districts, to totally public economic development zones. These club types are analyzed in terms of economic benefits, externalities, governance structure, and broader concerns with equity and sustainability.

Results and conclusions: Club good approaches to urban infrastructure delivery enhance private investment and reduce costs to cities, but they also shed externalities onto the broader city. Although these clubs are often private associations, this article shows how they are critically supported by government, beyond the property rights requirement assumed by most theorists. A further concern is that club approaches may undermine support for equity and redistribution at the broader city level.

Takeaway for practice: Local governments are under pressure to provide public goods efficiently and engage private voluntary approaches whenever possible. The efficiency and popularity of club approaches derives in part from their ability to capture the benefits of increased investment for internal benefit. However, local government managers also must manage diversity and build public support for investment to ensure equity across the urban territory. Balancing the benefits of club goods with the need for broader urban integration is a key challenge for planners and urban managers.

Research support: None.     

Built Landscapes of Metropolitan Regions: An International Typology

Problem, research strategy, and findings: Built landscapes—patterns of streets, blocks, parcels of land, buildings, and related infrastructure at the scale of an urban neighborhood or greater—are often difficult for decision makers and the public to understand, especially within the complex "collage city" of the postmodern era. Yet understanding the variety of these forms can help stakeholders make wise choices regarding how to plan and design urban regions in the future to meet goals such as livability and sustainability. Based on aerials, maps, and images available through Google and other sources, I develop a typology of built landscape forms found within 24 metropolitan regions worldwide and use GIS to map these forms and compare regions. The analysis shows that 27 basic types of built landscape make up metropolitan regions worldwide, of which nine are very common. Traditional urban types now make up a small fraction of most metropolitan areas worldwide, while suburban and exurban forms comprise the vast majority of the land area. There are noted regional differences in the mix of built landscape types.

Takeaway for practice: Each built landscape form offers challenges and opportunities for planning objectives such as livability and sustainability. It is important for planners to a) help the public and decision makers understand built landscapes and their implications; b) include landscape-scale elements, such as street patterns and networks of green infrastructure, when framing urban development alternatives; c) ensure that local codes and design guidelines enable desired forms of built landscapes and discourage those that are problematic for sustainability; and d) encourage built landscape change that promotes sustainability.     

Vernacular Culture and Urban Economic Development: Thinking Outside the (Big) Box

Problem: This article addresses the increasing homogeneity of urban commercial areas and the loss of local culture associated with this trend. It seeks to identify strategies that build effectively on vernacular culture as an asset in neighborhood development.

Purpose: We aim to identify tools that advance the cultural preservation approach to urban economic development and to describe instances in which planners and neighborhood groups have applied these tools successfully.

Methods: We completed a wide-ranging literature review to identify the characteristics of places that have employed cultural preservation approaches and conducted six case studies involving 43 interviews in five cities.

Results and conclusions: Our interviews and case studies showed us that there are at least three types of anchors in neighborhoods with strong vernacular culture: 1) markets; 2) ethnic areas and heritage sites; 3) and arts-and-culture venues and districts. Although the balance between preservation and development will be different in each place, we did cull some widely applicable lessons learned while conducting our fieldwork: a) involve residents; b) find assets in local needs; c) transfer lessons rather than replicating others' work; d) create opportunities for ownership; e) if it doesn't exist, invent it; and f) balance culture and commerce. Our analysis also suggests that a neighborhood wishing to pursue a neighborhood development strategy based on vernacular culture should have at least one of the anchors listed above and strong, community-based organizations.

Takeaway for practice: We argue that it is both possible and preferable to advance an urban economic development strategy based on the local cultural assets that exist in urban neighborhoods. Our research illustrates different paths that places have taken to advance this kind of strategy and provides several ways for local planners and policymakers to integrate the maintenance of vernacular culture into their larger economic development plans.

Research support: Our research was supported by the Fannie Mae Foundation.     

Local experiences of urban sustainability: Researching Housing Market Renewal interventions in three English neighbourhoods

Ideas and thinking about sustainability and sustainable development have permeated over the last decades into most disciplines and sectors. The area of urban studies is no exception and has generated an impressive body of literature, which aims to marry ‘sustainability’ and ‘urban development’ by grounding the many interpretations of sustainability in an urban setting. This has taken many forms and inspired a range of initiatives across the world including ‘healthy cities’, ‘urban villages’, ‘millennium communities’ and the ‘mixed communities’ movement. Moreover, urban regeneration has come under considerable scrutiny as one of the core mechanisms for delivering sustainable urban development. At the most basic level, it can be argued that all urban regeneration contributes to a certain extent to sustainable development through the recycling of derelict land and buildings, reducing demand for peripheral development and facilitating the development of more compact cities. Yet, whether urban regeneration bears an effect on urban sustainability is an underresearched area. In addition, little is known about these impacts at local level. This paper aims to extend our understanding in these areas of research. We do so, by taking a closer look at three neighbourhoods in Salford, Newcastle and Merseyside. These neighbourhoods underwent urban regeneration under the Housing Marker Renewal Programme (2003–2011), which aimed to ‘create sustainable urban areas and communities’ in the Midlands and North of England. Approximately 130 residents from the three areas were interviewed and a further 60 regeneration officials and local stakeholders consulted. The paper looks at the impact of urban regeneration on urban sustainability by examining whether interventions under the Housing Market Renewal Programme have helped urban areas and communities to become more sustainable. It also discusses impacts at local level, by probing into some of Housing Market Renewal's grounded ‘sustainability stories’ and looking at how change is perceived by local residents. Furthermore, it re-opens a window into the Housing Market Renewal Programme and documents the three neighbourhoods within the wider context of scale and intervention across the whole programme.     

When Do Plans Matter?

Abstract

Problem, research strategy, and findings: Plans often sit on the shelf and fail to promote action. This raises the question of how and when plans matter. This is especially important in sustainability planning where local governments are more likely to take actions with short-term benefits that are easy to adopt. How can planners promote more sustainability actions, especially those with longer term benefits? In this study we examine factors influencing local sustainability actions by tracking 651?U.S. local governments’ adoption of 34 sustainability actions from 2010 to 2015. We differentiate places that recently adopted a sustainability plan from those that have had a plan for a longer period and those that have never adopted a sustainability plan. We use difference-in-difference (DID) modeling to assess what effect plans have on the level of sustainability actions. We find a plan may have its greatest effect in motivating actions when it is newly created. Places that adopted a plan between 2010 and 2015 exhibited a significant increase in sustainability actions during those same years. By contrast, places that already had a plan in 2010 showed higher initial levels of sustainability actions but did not show a higher level of growth in the number of actions adopted compared with places without plans. In general, we find local governments with higher levels of sustainability actions articulate social equity goals, devote staff and budget resources to the effort, engage the public, and promote interdepartmental coordination. Local governments under Republican control enact fewer sustainability actions.

Takeaway for practice: Sustainability plans are most effective in spurring local sustainability actions when they are newly created. However, this initiation impact in motivating actions wanes over time. Promoting continued adoption of sustainability actions requires a comprehensive approach with attention to political support, public participation, social equity, interdepartmental coordination, and local capacity.     

Selection of sustainable projects for floodplain restoration and urban wastewater management at the lower Chubut River valley (Argentina)

Urban growth causes environmental degradation of extended areas at the coastal floodplain of the Chubut River (Argentina). We developed procedures to identify environmentally sustainable engineering projects for floodplain restoration and urban wastewater management. We addressed specific questions about considering basic hydrological knowledge, stakeholders’ interests and social acceptance, and evaluated scoring methods that would be consistent, non-redundant and robust to various weighting criteria. Our procedures followed the following steps: (1) identification of sustainability paradigms adapted to local contexts; (2) development of hydrological modeling and collection of expert and stakeholders’ judgment in order to formulate a wide palette of feasible project alternatives; (3) development of a set of indicators of environmental sustainability to evaluate the project alternatives and test of their self-consistency; (4) evaluation of the proposed projects by means of a hierarchical multivariate analysis, estimation of the indicator weights through multivariate analyses of the un-weighted judgment scores, and reduction of the redundancy incurred during project evaluation. Finally, we identified a small set of highly ranked project alternatives to achieve floodplain restoration and sustainable urban wastewater management in the area and tested the obtained ranks for sensitivity and robustness to eventual bias in the estimation of environmental scores. We discuss the methodological developments presented in this study and their eventual application to similar landscape and urban planning scenarios.     

Exploring the ‘Just City principles’ within two European sustainable neighbourhoods

The objective of this paper is to analyse and compare in detail the social structure of the two most acclaimed European sustainable neighbourhoods, which have had a completely different implementation approach: bottom-up urban development in Vauban (Freiburg) and top-down urban development in Western Harbour (Malmö). The goal is to uncover the unrevealed urban elements that determine social sustainability. The paper uses an innovative methodological framework - the Fainstein’s ‘Just City’ concept, which encompass several social determinants within three main pillars/principles: democracy, equity and diversity. The ‘Just City’ principles and its determinants add a new perspective to social urban manifestation encompassing ‘social justice’ and ‘local governance’ dimensions. These dimensions represent innovative research approaches in exploring urban social sustainability. Through the Just City framework, the social structure of the two representative case studies is dissected to establish the level of urban social sustainability in each urban area. The aim of the paper is to answer to the question: “Do the most acclaimed leading sustainable neighbourhoods embody democratic values, assure equality and respect (allow) diversity?”     

面向多元发展需求的城市设计项目组织 ——以汉堡—威廉斯堡国际建筑展和港口新城项目为例

结合德国汉堡组织的威廉斯堡国 际建筑展和港口新城的两个案例,本文对汉 堡近年来平衡经济增长和强化社会认同的多 重城市设计工作进行了总结。文章首先阐释了 多元合作城市设计工作模式的内涵,同时指出 西方国家城市面临经济结构调整、社会群体 多元化和全球化的挑战,满足多元人群差异 化需求的城市设计策略在地方政府的发展政 策中占据了核心地位,国际建筑展成为发掘地 方需求,推动多样性发展的重要工具。威廉 斯堡在汉堡市政府支持下,通过一系列城市设 计项目与当地居民加强沟通,鼓励社区实现差 异化发展,重视培育居民对当地的认同感,提 升环境的质量和可持续性。港口新城则在以 前港口用地进行再开发的过程中,强调功能混 合和强化城市多样性的目标,提出了较为灵活 的城市设计原则,帮助人们在开发和施工过程 中不断改进,以确保城市开发的多样性。     

Immigrant Entrepreneurship and Economic Development

Problem, research strategy, and findings: A growing number of cities, especially those outside traditional immigrant gateways, have sought to leverage immigrant resources to promote local economic development in recent years. Although some cities have explicitly included immigrant entrepreneurship as a focal area in their plans, we know little about the breadth and depth of such strategies. In this research we explore the current landscape of local small business development policies toward immigrant entrepreneurship. We conduct a detailed review of the program documents of 16 selected welcoming cities and derive 20 specific programs across five broad types: information, language, business service, financial support, and place-based approaches. Their popularity, however, varies among the case cities given the number of adoptions. For example, all 16 cities adopted information hub–related strategies, whereas only 2 considered immigrant-friendly financing programs. In comparing these policies with immigrant entrepreneurs’ needs and barriers, we find their service gaps are addressed to different extents.

Takeaway for practice: Here we provide a comprehensive analysis of current local government policies that aim at tapping into immigrants’ entrepreneurial potential for community and economic development and their adoption levels across cities. Existing policies are able to address immigrants’ information and language needs but are less targeted at developing their business skills and facilitating their access to financial capital. Place-based approaches may serve to connect immigrant-owned businesses to customers and market in the mainstream economy and thus expand their scope beyond ethnic neighborhoods. Because these programs require different levels of resources, planners and policymakers considering this agenda can assess their relative fit with local population demand in designing appropriate policies.     

China's Eco-Cities as Variegated1 Urban Sustainability: Dongtan Eco-City and Chongming Eco-Island

Proliferating environmental sustainability policy frameworks suggest that sustainability and economic competitiveness are essentially interdependent and mutually enhancing. Under these policy discourses, cities are designated as strategic geographical locales for fulfilling the green capitalist goal of reconciling the contradictions between the environment and development that have long bedeviled capitalism. While most urban sustainability agendas are crafted based on the experience of post-industrial countries, the promise of green capitalism and sustainability faces different challenges where industrial production still dominates the economy. However, research on whether and how urban sustainability policies are geographically variegated is still sparse, particularly beyond western (post)industrial capitalism. Examining the Dongtan eco-city project and the associated Chongming eco-island project in Shanghai, we interrogate how sustainability is imagined and practiced on the ground within the distinctive Chinese context. The meanings of sustainability in Dongtan and Chongming reflect the context of Chinese urbanization in the Shanghai area. Both Dongtan and Chongming seek to develop green technologies as a way to resolve the dilemma of being caught between urbanization and agriculture. This approach is also shaped by Chongming's island geography as enabling a self-sufficient development trajectory, and its desire to attract a cosmopolitan population. Through these place-specific contexts, the ecology and economy of Dongtan and Chongming become intertwined, producing and reproducing a variegated form of urban sustainability, and of “green capitalism.”     

新加坡提高保障性住房项目可持续性的策略及其启示

近年来,我国各地大规模建设保障性住房,在缓解城镇中低收入群体住房困难、拉动内需等方面做出积极贡献的同时,面临着许多可持续性堪忧的困境。作为土地资源匮乏、人口密度极高的城市国家,新加坡通过富有特色的保障性住房制度,成为世界上解决住房问题最成功的国家之一。系统总结新加坡在提高保障性住房项目社会可持续性、经济可持续性和生态可持续方面的策略,根据我国保障性住房项目现状,针对性地提出对我国的启示。     

Limitations of Technical Approaches to Transport Planning Practice in Two Cases: Social Issues as a Critical Component of Urban Projects

ABSTRACT

Technical transport models are commonly relied upon in planning practice for the development of urban rail infrastructure projects. By considering the assessment and management of social impacts in the planning and decision-making of two rail megaprojects (the North-South Metro line in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and the Parramatta Rail Link in Sydney, Australia), we found that technical approaches continued to overlook social impacts, and had an overemphasis on economic and engineering considerations. We conclude that good practice Social Impact Assessment (SIA) offers opportunities to better consider social issues as a critical component of transport projects.