Co-working Spaces in Milan: Location Patterns and Urban Effects

ABSTRACT

The present paper investigates the location patterns and the effects co-working spaces generate on the urban context, issues that have been neglected by the existing literature. The focus is on Milan, the core of the Italian knowledge-based, creative, digital, and sharing economy, and the city hosting the largest number of co-working spaces in Italy. The paper addresses three main questions: (1) Where are the main locations of co-working spaces in Milan? (2) Are there any transformative effects of co-working spaces, respectively at the urban scale and at the very local scale? (3) What are their impacts in terms of spatial transformation and in terms of innovation in practices (for instance, work, leisure, or culture)? Desk research showed that location patterns of co-working spaces resemble those of service industries in urban areas, with a propinquity to the so-called “creative clusters.” Field research shed light on urban effects, such as the participation of workers in co-working spaces in local community initiatives, their contribution to urban revitalization trends, and micro-scale physical transformations. The paper, therefore, helps to fill the gap in the literature about the location patterns of these new working spaces and their urban effects at different scales, both in terms of urban spaces and practices.     

Urban Space Production in Transition: The Cases of the New Urban Areas of Hanoi

In recent decades, hundreds of master-planned new urban areas (NUAs) have developed on the urban fringes of expanding cities in Vietnam. They are promoted as a new urban planning concept in the post-reform policies. This article discusses the NUAs' planning concepts based on qualitative case studies of four NUAs in Hanoi, and on an examination of the 1990–2000 urban policies. It sheds light on transitional planning and urban space production processes in Vietnam and discusses urban quality in a rapidly urbanising Asian context. The article argues that NUAs are products of a hybrid, transitional system in which local government and the public sector form an alliance with the private sector to serve private interests in urban development. At the same time, NUAs are hybrid products of government-led, entrepreneur-driven planning and self-organising space production by the residents. The self-organising space production activities contribute to the urban quality of these new urban spaces, while the production of privatised, commodified spaces by corporate actors poses a threat to community life.     

Urban Design,Public Space and the Dynamics of Creative Milieux: A Photographic Approach to Bairro Alto (Lisbon), Gràcia (Barcelona) and Vila Madalena (São Paulo)

Drawing on some results of a broader research project, this paper aims to discuss the relation between urban design and creative dynamics in cultural districts. Appropriation and production of public spaces in three ‘creative quarters’ are analyzed, through a photographic approach, covering material aspects, human appropriation and symbolic dimensions in these areas. Discussing the boundaries of public spaces and their relevance for creative activity (through the conviviality and sociability they promote), it is argued that urban design characteristics and specific place morphologies significantly influence the appropriation of these areas and the development of specific creative dynamics.     

Emerging Workplaces in Post-Functionalist Cities

ABSTRACT

This paper explores new types of workplaces that are emerging due to the growing flexibility in work arrangements and the use of information and communication technologies. In addition to home and office, third places, such as libraries and coffee shops, are increasingly used as temporary workplaces. Moreover, there is a proliferation of co-working spaces that are designed as temporary working locations. Thus, the boundaries between traditional urban functions have become blurred; different functions co-exist in the same spaces, and new functionalities emerge as people take spaces into new uses. We may call our cities “post-functionalist,” ones that are no longer based only on predetermined and designed functions. However, there has been little research on the spatial characteristics of these new workplaces as well as on the social features within these places. These phenomena have been empirically studied through observational studies, interviews, and spatial analyses of three such sites: Café Köket, Meetingpoint, and Helsinki Think Company in the city center of Helsinki. The results reveal new forms of appropriation of public and semi-public spaces for working purposes that have not yet been analyzed in the context of existing urban policies and practices. The findings provide input for future visions and the planning of new workplaces.     

Italian planning in the later 19th century: The Milan example

The last two decades of the 19th century mark a crucial transition in the town‐planning history of Milan, as in many other European cities. This period left its mark on the urban structure; the parts of the city created under the 1880s plan have the clearest street plan, and the most coherent building typology. However, the significance of the work carried out in that period also relates to the progress of town‐planning practice, the relationship between development practice and planning style, the role of urban rent in the process of capitalist accumulation, and the relationship of public and private capital.     

中国市场经济下居住空间的生产:转型与挑战

中国30年的市场经济改革使城市空间的产生、空间的意义以及相关的社会关系发生了深刻的变化。从列斐伏尔关于"空间的生产"的基本理论出发,对中国住宅在市场改革前后的生产方式进行比较分析后指出:目前城市居住空间的生产已经从计划经济时期以社会平均分配方式转变为由房地产主导的商品生产的过程。通过对房地产开发空间的主要策略进行剖析,指出市场经济下的居住空间生产过程实际上带来了由私人资本扩张所引发的对城市公共空间资源和公共空间价值的侵占、转化,以及社会关系转变的危机。利用西方相关理论分析指出居住空间生产关系的变化及其所引发的问题,在市场经济中重新奠定作为公共干预政策的价值定位已成为城市规划控制的必然需求。     

Increasing the urban mix through vertical allocations: Public floorspace in mixed use development

The shortage of available land in densified metropolitan cities demands maximizing its utility. Public authorities are required to find creative solutions to satisfy the growing demand for the supply of public space. The allocation of public services in privately owned buildings constitutes one instrument to answer these challenges. This paper introduces this tool by looking at the phenomenon of Vertical Allocations; specifically we examine how municipalities in Israel appropriate floorspace in newly built multi-purpose structures, which are privately owned. While designating these floors for public use, such as schools and kindergartens, municipal bodies assume responsibility for these new public resources. We identified and analyzed 58 projects inclusive of floorspace allocations for public uses. Following, we conducted over 25 interviews with key Israeli practitioners. We find that the allocation of public floorspace goes hand-in-hand with the trend of high-rise construction, and is promoted mainly in core metropolitan areas where land is scarce, and land values are usually much higher than in non-core peripheral areas. The most common public use allocated is for educational services. We find that the floorspace allocated for public needs consistently constitutes but a fraction of the total floorspace allocated for use by private owners. In Addition, Vertical Allocation of public floorspace presents special challenges, among which are uncertainty and challenges from joint ownership; too flexible or unknown future public functions; potential friction and nuisances due to proximity of uses; disagreement over construction costs and complexity of management within mixed-use buildings. Given rapid population growth, scarcity of land, and other challenges surrounding Israel's implementation of Vertical Allocations, the Israeli experience with this type of mixed use can serve as a teaching model and a test case for the rest of the world.     

The role of the private actor in cultural regeneration: Hybridizing cultural heritage with creativity in the city

Building on the most relevant literature on cultural regeneration and creative cities, this paper provides an integrated framework to investigate the factors exploited by private actors to stimulate the hybridization of urban cultural heritage with creativity and the strategies adopted to engage stakeholders in bottom-up cultural regeneration processes. Two recent Italian cases of cultural regeneration driven by private actors, which exemplify two sharply contrasting urban extremes, have been chosen to validate this integrated theoretical framework of cultural regeneration in the city. Both have been recognized nationally and internationally as examples of best practice: IlCartastorie Museum in Naples and the Farm Cultural Park, Favara. Our results show that private actors mainly draw upon the innovative thinking of the creative class and innovative approaches to stimulate cultural regeneration. The evolutionary processes, and the resulting models of cultural regeneration, are shaped by the visions of these private actors, which are, in turn, influenced by specific urban conditions. In Naples' highly touristic inner city, the managerial innovation of the IlCartastorie Museum is fostered by the Foundation's pro-tourism growth strategy aimed at increasing both social inclusion and the organizational value of the actual museum. In Sicily, Favara's socio-economic marginalization means that its transformation into a creative city has to be supported by a strategy conducive to social inclusion and sustainability, which conjoins the explicit strategy of the private actor with an implicit emerging community strategy. Preliminary managerial recommendations and suggestions for effective private engagement and community involvement in cultural regeneration and creative city building are given.     

Knowledge Structures of City Innovation Systems: Singapore and Hong Kong

Cities are naturally the center of attention when innovation and its geography are discussed. This paper seeks to elucidate the knowledge structures of the city innovation systems of Hong Kong and Singapore, and shed light on the performance of knowledge production, networks, and features in accordance with: (1) patent portfolios and fields of technology; (2) the patent landscape; and (3) the correlation map between fields and entities that produce patents. Findings indicate that private firms dominate the patenting landscape for the selected economies. Scientific activities performed by universities and public research institutions are converging with technological knowledge performed by firms. Hong Kong and Singapore sought to attain a co-evolution process for science-based industrial development.     

Canberra: Myth versus reality

Abstract

Since the onset of the recession in 1976 the Canberra urban economy has undergone radical change. This paper analyses this change in five interrelated areas: demographic structure, socio-economic ‘well-being’, housing availability, public investment and private investment. Government policies and an inadequate planning response have exacerbated the recessionary impacts. Selected planning responses are discussed with a view to further debate.     

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.     

Guerrillas in the [Urban] Midst: Developing and Using Creative Research Methods—Guerrilla Research Tactics

Abstract

This paper explores what we are calling “Guerrilla Research Tactics” (GRT): research methods that exploit emerging mobile and cloud-based digital technologies. We examine some case studies in the use of this technology to generate research data directly from the physical fabric and the people of the city. We argue that GRT is a new and novel way of engaging public participation in urban, place-based research because it facilitates the co-creation of knowledge, with city inhabitants, “on the fly.” This paper discusses the potential of these new research techniques and what they have to offer researchers operating in the creative disciplines and beyond. This work builds on and extends Gauntlett's “new creative methods” (2007) and contributes to the existing body of literature addressing creative and interactive approaches to data collection.     

迁入者与创意街区的社会建构——基于一种绅士化的视角

面向新经济时代,大城市的经济复兴、都市更新和城市转型表现出与创意产业的紧密关联。创意产业的发展使得城市传统空间被重新利用,形成一种空间转换。在创意街区的社会建构过程中,迁入者引发内城的社会分化与文化重塑,导致文化价值的生产和消费转换创造出新的社会空间意义。城市绅士化使得迁入者通过对内城空间的再发现,一方面提升了传统空间的文化与社会价值,使得空间增值,另一方面更多经济资源的导入,使得市场与商业力量最终驱逐了创意与艺术,导致创意人群的疏离、创意街区的异化和创意城市的发展悖论。     

文化产业政策对北京城市发展的影响分析

文章首先通过相关数据的分析,梳理了文化产业政策对北京城市发展的影响,包括统计口径调整以确立新的城市支柱产业、促进文化创意产业和文化创意产业聚集区的发展、城市创新环境的培育等.然后,文章在分析北京未来文化建设的主要影响因素的基础上,探讨了相应的政策应对途径,提出要重视产业政策的有效性、空间资源的有效利用和合理分布,以及自下而上文化发展途径的培育.     

Towards Post-Anthropocentric Cities: Reconceptualizing Smart Cities to Evade Urban Ecocide

ABSTRACT

This short piece acts as a coda to this journal’s special issue on “Smart Cities and Innovative Technologies.” First, it provides a retrospective view of the origins of the smart city concept. The paper, secondly, presents the most recent perspectives on the new interpretations of the smart city notion. It then provides a commentary on the potential directions for a better reconceptualization of smart cities to evade a most likely urban ecocide. Lastly, the short communication concludes by asking two critical questions: (a) Will urban scholars, planners, designers, and activists be able to convince urban policymakers and the general public of the need for a post-anthropocentric urban turnaround? (b) How do the public, private, and academic sectors along with communities pave the way for post-anthropocentric cities and more-than-human futures?     

Production of Edibles and Use of Garden Waste in Domestic Gardens of a Middle-Class Suburb in Cape Town,South Africa

ABSTRACT

An under-investigated impact of urbanisation is the decrease in green spaces like domestic gardens, which does not bode well for urban sustainability. To this end, research was conducted in a suburb of Cape Town, South Africa to ascertain the degree to which residents use their garden spaces for the cultivation of edibles and to establish their management practices regarding garden waste. A mixed-methods approach determined that potential gardening space occupied, on average, about two-thirds of the area of residential plots. However, the 129 selected respondents were cultivating lawns, not food. Where the cultivation of edibles did occur, it was predominantly fruit with minimal vegetable production. The residents of the middle-class suburb had a penchant for using private gardening services who disposed of the garden waste elsewhere. Some home-composting activities were recorded. A municipal-driven composting programme will provide the impetus for increasing the rate of home composting. The study established that food production in the middle-class suburb has the potential to contribute to sustainable urban green spaces through increased home-garden cultivation. However, on-site techniques of disposing with garden waste must be promoted.     

国有建筑企业项目管理的改革与发展

通过国有建筑企业改革的种种困难,提出将建筑企业“包产到户”,并举例分析将人工、材料、机械、现场经费和临时设施费分别提出私人承包的各种设想。提出“国有企业内部私有化”的理念,建立新型的国企员工自己的私有化项目公司,作为国有建筑企业的一种大胆创新的设想。     

城市安全规划研究综述

当前,城市安全受到广泛关注.笔者综述了国内外城市安全规划研究的情况;介绍"安全城市"的不同定义,防抗治安性犯罪、恐怖袭击、战争空袭等城市防卫和城市防灾研究状况,以及研究发展动态,尤其是城市防卫和防灾的整合规划研究;并介绍了社区安全建设和城市安全规划研究中新技术应用动态,揭示了我国城市安全规划研究的最新动态.     

Collective benefits of an urban transformation: Restoring the Navigli in Milan

The aim of this paper is to assess the collective benefits for the metropolitan city of Milan arising from the project to restore the Navigli, the ancient urban canals flowing underground for a large part.In this paper two of the most important impacts of this urban transformation, mostly of intangible nature, are considered. On the one hand, the improvement of urban and environmental quality has been estimated through the hedonic price methodology, considering expected price changes both in the residential as well as in the commercial real estate markets; on the other hand, a multiplier effect on infrastructure investment, generating an increase in final income, has been calculated using Input–Output Tables. Empirical results confirm the collective net advantage of the urban transformation.     

City profile: Medellin

After being known as the ‘murder capital of the world’ in the 1990s, Medellin has pioneered innovative forms of city planning and management and was acclaimed the most innovative city in the world by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) in 2013. Hosting the World Urban Forum in 2014 allowed it to showcase its approach, key elements of which have been: creation of innovative transport infrastructure linking poorer peripheral districts to the city centre; culture-led regeneration; strong support of local development from the local business sector; and a successful municipally-owned utilities company. However, the city is spreading outwards without services and employment being provided; new low-income developments are replicating high-rise models which failed worldwide; there is limited intervention in the existing informal areas, many being in highly vulnerable locations where the level of risk is likely to increase with climate change; development has little regard for topography, ecological and environmental considerations; investment in accessible and good quality public space is restricted to some areas; the quality of the public realm does not always support health and wellbeing of the ageing population. This paper explores the institutional and socio-economic context in which Medellín has achieved the internationally recognized status of an ‘innovative city’. It questions to what extent social equity, environmental sustainability and citizen empowerment have been promoted as per the ULI claims when it conferred the prize. The paper queries the extent to which ‘urban innovation’ is happening in Medellín, which has considerable implications given its recently found role as a ‘model’ city in Latin America and beyond.