Do small municipalities imitate larger ones? Diffusion of water privatization policies

Studies on local services privatization have traditionally focused on factors such as pragmatic, ideological and political issues, with little attention paid to the option of policy diffusion processes. The main contribution of this paper consists of introducing the possibility that local policymakers can be influenced by policy adopted by other local governments. The presence of a policy diffusion process, which explains part of the decision to privatize, is expected. Three new variables, not considered in previous studies, are introduced in order to test three hypotheses of policy diffusion. In doing so, data from 755 municipalities in Andalusia (southern Spain) for the period 1995–2013 are used. For data analysis a Logit Multilevel Model is applied. Results confirm the importance of the mechanisms of policy diffusion when adopting privatization policies.     

Riparian anomie: Reflections on the Los Angeles River

This paper explores the highly urbanized landscape of the Los Angeles River. Direct encounters with the contemporary river are combined with an historical exploration of some of the developments associated with its transformation into a 51-mile concrete drainage channel. It is suggested that the current landscape of the Los Angeles River not only reveals much about the complex relations between nature and culture in southern California but also illustrates how the contemporary city is marked by a schism between technical conceptions of water control and new attempts to combine river management with wider social and ecological objectives.     

Riparian anomie: Reflections on the Los Angeles River

This paper explores the highly urbanized landscape of the Los Angeles River. Direct encounters with the contemporary river are combined with an historical exploration of some of the developments associated with its transformation into a 51-mile concrete drainage channel. It is suggested that the current landscape of the Los Angeles River not only reveals much about the complex relations between nature and culture in southern California but also illustrates how the contemporary city is marked by a schism between technical conceptions of water control and new attempts to combine river management with wider social and ecological objectives.     

Reprint of “The production of segregated urban landscapes: A critical analysis of gated communities in Sofia”

Gated communities represent a rather new trend in housing in Sofia. Besides very few secluded and privately governed neighbourhoods of the nomenclature they were little known in Bulgaria before 1989. This has changed profoundly over the last 15 years. Indeed, similar to other Central and Eastern European cities (CEE) one can speak of a boom in closed-type settlements in Sofia and its outskirts with approximately 50–60 newly constructed gated and guarded housing estates which in some cases accommodate several hundred inhabitants. While this growth of enclosed high-income neighbourhoods has mostly been studied in terms of architectural design, representation, residential structure and behaviour as well as public–private dichotomy little attention has been paid to the politico-economic processes underlying this radical restructuring of urban space in Central and Eastern Europe. Additionally the role of the key stakeholders (local business people, international developers, public authorities) has hardly been questioned. Therefore, this article tries to uncover the interplay of different stakeholders that have shaped this production of space. By applying a relational approach the article attempts to elaborate on why, by whom and by what kind of practices gated communities are produced and how they function. Beyond that the article also takes a closer look at the neo-liberal urban policy environment that has influenced the rise in gated communities. The article aims not only to extend the research by adding just another case study, but rather to provide a critical reading of gated communities in Central and Eastern Europe. Furthermore by discussing three examples of gated communities in Sofia, each representing a specific type with its specific causalities and socio-spatial outcomes, the article will also highlight what we can learn from our post-socialist Bulgarian case regarding gated communities in general.     

Zoning Los Angeles: a brief history of four regimes

This article explains how, through tools of land-use regulation, several groups of actors became particularly adept at shaping the form of Los Angeles and to what ends. Land-use regulation in Los Angeles, this article argues, represents the outcomes of battles pitting one political group against another, quite in disregard of the common purpose this regulation is intended to serve, with the most powerful usually winning at the expense of others. In Los Angeles, there have been distinct winners and losers, and these winners and losers have varied over time. In Los Angeles, there seem to be four distinct regimes characterizing the historical politics of land use. Rampant speculation defined the first, lasting from the advent of zoning in Los Angeles in 1921 into the Depression, government-sponsored big real estate the second, lasting from the Depression until the 1960s, and anti-growth advocates the third, lasting from the 1960s until 2000, with the fourth forming over the last decade and characterized by a balance between allied housing and development interests and anti-growth advocates. This article documents the rise and fall of these regimes and summarizes their varying impacts on the city.     

“洛杉矶模式”的成因分析

20世纪70年代以来,美国城市化进程中出现了新趋势——多中心格局大都市区显著增长。洛杉矶因其独特的发展历程成为多中心大都市区的典型代表,因此部分美国学者称其为“洛杉矶模式”。该模式的形成与交通工具的变革、联邦高速公路计划、地方政府的政策导向等因素密不可分。     

The Streets of Los Angeles: Power and the Infrastructure Landscape

The following paper deals with the relation between infrastructure and power. Against the background of social processes of postmodernisation, the development of the road infrastructure of Los Angeles will be analysed. Heinrich Popitz’s theory of power, which distinguishes between power of action (Aktionsmacht), instrumental (instrumentelle), authoritative (authoritative) and data establishing power (Daten setzende Macht), serves as a basis for the analysis of power. It will be shown that mass mobilisation is connected with all four types of power. Authoritative power as unquestioned imperative of the organisation of everyday life with the help of cars, and data establishing power of the general orientation of transportation to road traffic, play a central role. The paper shows the historical development of different aspects of the power definition of infrastructure, especially viewed in the context of the reduction of contingency through the loss of importance of alternative modes of transport.     

Toward a Richer Picture of the Mobility Needs of Older Americans

Problem, research strategy, and findings: People older than 65 are the most rapidly growing segment of the U.S. population, yet our cities and transportation systems are not age friendly. Low-income, minority, older adults residing in inner-city neighborhoods are largely transit dependent, rely significantly on walking for transportation, and thus have particular mobility needs. We used a mixed-methods approach that drew information from the California Household Travel Survey but also from direct interaction (through focus groups, interviews, and neighborhood walking audits) with 81 low-income, inner city–living older adults to understand their travel patterns and mobility challenges and needs. We find that despite some positive mobility indicators in the inner city (mixed-use environment, frequent bus service, and short travel distances), these elders face significant mobility challenges because of a deteriorated built environment, heavy traffic, homelessness, and crime. A limitation of this research is that the small sample did not allow the study of possible gender or race/ethnicity differentiation in the travel patterns and needs of older adults.

Takeaway for practice: Planners should not rely only on information from the census and other aggregate data sources to understand the mobility needs of older adults but should complement this information with direct interaction with the communities for which they are planning. Although some social problems limiting the mobility of older adults are difficult to tackle, environmental and streetscape improvements can significantly enhance their mobility.     

景观水文视角下的城市河流生态修复——以洛杉矶河复兴为例

河流生态系统退化问题近几十年来受到全球广泛关注,城市河流复兴运动自20世纪90年代起全面展开。河流生态修复离不开流域景观水文的恢复,引入功能流量概念恢复河流关键生态过程,是城市现实挑战下河流生态修复的最佳途径。针对中国河流修复中对河流生态系统整体结构和功能的研究和实践均很匮乏的现状,以几乎完全渠化的美国加利福尼亚州洛杉矶河为例,解析其过去20余年间3项主要复兴规划和研究成果,重点讨论与河流生态系统修复,尤其是水文恢复直接相关的规划与研究内容,包括河道防洪保障、区域生态系统构建、具体生态恢复策略以及远期生态流量研究等,并为中国(尤其是北方干旱地区)城市河流的生态修复工作提供有关规划尺度、技术支持及协调管理机制3方面的借鉴经验。     

Guarding the Neighbourhood: The New Landscape of Control in Malaysia

While securitised enclaves have become a global phenomenon, case studies of particular nations reveal the unique interplay between local conditions and international influences. This article presents the first major empirical study of gated developments in Malaysia. We found two types of enclosures being produced in urban Malaysia. Market-produced gated communities, attracting affluent households to live within elegant walls, dominate new growth areas in major cities. Guarded neighbourhoods are a post-market product: that is they result from resident-initiated actions to impose makeshift boundaries and controls in older neighbourhoods. Although concerns about safety and security permeate the national discourse around gates and guards, new structures of enclosure reinforce and reproduce shifting structures of inequality, class and ethnicity in urban Malaysia.     

Empirical methods to predict the abrasion resistance of rock aggregates

The possibility of predicting the Los Angeles (L.A.) abrasion loss from the Schmidt hammer, point load and porosity tests was investigated using 9 igneous, 11 metamorphic and 15 sedimentary rocks with L.A. values ranging from 10 to 76%. Regression analysis indicated a strong correlation (r ² = 0.72) between L.A. abrasion loss and point load and a good correlation (r ² = 0.62) between L.A. abrasion loss and Schmidt hammer value. When the samples were divided according to porosity (n < 1% and n > 1%), stronger correlations were obtained, especially for the point load index. The predictions from the Schmidt hammer results were not as good but within acceptable limits.      

Comparing deconcentrating poverty policies in the United States and the Netherlands: A critical reply to Stal and Zuberi

This paper is a critical reply to an article by Stal and Zuberi, in which they compare two policies which deconcentrate poverty in the US and the Netherlands. By drawing lessons from a renewal program in the Netherlands, they suggest several ways to help break the ‘cycle of poverty’. We distinguish at least three fundamental flaws in their argument. After discussing these flaws, we discuss renewal in Dutch cities and issues related to displacement and social networks. We conclude with a reflection on the nature of comparative urban research.     

谈历史文化名城的城市色彩规划

通过阐述城市色彩的概念及现状,提出色彩设计对城市特色塑造的重要性,并对城市色彩设计的原则与技法步骤进行了分析,以提高历史文化名城的城市色彩规划水平,可供城市规划设计者参考。     

Neoliberal urbanism restructuring the city of Ankara: Gated communities as a new life style in a suburban settlement

Development of gated communities in Turkey is associated with the neo-liberal restructuring of the economy towards urban-focused economic strategy-making, the rise of new urban consumer groups, and the diversion of capital to assist markets and property development with state taking an active role in securing markets and defining the elements of place-marketing via a socio-spatial and -economic reorganization of metropolitan space. The case study held in Beysukent, Ankara reveals this structure where the combination of the interests and actions of the state, local governments, real estate developers, the media, and consumers suggest that prevailing structural conditions assure the future proliferation of gated communities. Gated communities in Turkey provide one example in clubbing together for increased individual benefits with the aim of protecting an élite local lifestyle as a consumer practice with the main objective of revaluing prime urban land. This can be achieved through a planning environment in which planning follows demand and plan conditions are determined according to the area to be invested in, increased demand expectation being decisive. Thus this study demonstrates how patterns of neo-liberal urbanism have collaborated to transform a suburban area with elements of élite consumption patterns, gated communities being the primary factor in the transformation of the area.     

A spirit of urban capitalism: market cities,people cities,and cultural justifications

ABSTRACT

Diverse urban theories discuss how economic processes shape conceptions of a city, but less research focuses on how pragmatic situations of urban life contribute to the characterisation of cities. We argue that pragmatic justifications reify socially constructed meanings of cities by creating a ‘spirit of urban capitalism.’ This framework conceives of two spirits: the market city, which aligns with neoliberal assumptions, and the people city, which foregrounds a resident-focused model. Using case studies of Copenhagen and Houston, we showcase how these conceptions of cities are justified by elites and residents, and thereby build empirical scaffolding connecting urban economies and cultures.     

现代城市景观设计的植物造景

针对现代城市迅速发展出现的种种问题,通过介绍植物造景的概念、原则及现代城市景观设计中的植物造景特色,提出了植物造景的布局要求及存在的一些问题,指出城市的植物造景是一个很好的改善城市环境的方法.     

Border cities: Out of the shadow

Being in the sphere of influence of other cities can have benefits as it allows cities to “borrow size,” but this can also lead to competition effects known as “agglomeration shadows.” This paper examines how these patterns of borrowing and shadowing differ from domestic settings when there is a national border between the cities. We find that borders moderate the normal regularities of a settlement system. Particularly, there is no shadow effect cast by larger cities across borders; borders protect. Cross-border market integration benefits especially similar-sized border cities. Given these unique advantages, it is time for border cities to step out of the shadows.     

Electricity consumers under the state and the private sector: comparing the price performance of the French and UK electricity industries 1990–2000

Particularly because a preoccupation with process has tended to dominate the debate about electricity privatisation and liberalisation, this paper focuses on price outcomes by comparing the relative price performance of the French and UK electricity industries between 1990 and 2000. The main conclusion is that in 1990 the state-owned French electricity industry was performing better for most consumers than the state-owned UK industry, and a decade later it was still doing so with respect to the privately-owned UK industry. While this conclusion could be qualified by saying that, heavily prompted or assisted by the Regulator, the UK privately-owned industry has shown itself capable of achieving faster reductions in prices to close the gap between itself and the French, this achievement has been concentrated in the industrial market and even there the very significant gains were mainly restricted to the very largest consumers. In the context of the European Union the UK is shown to have performed relatively poorly for the smallest domestic consumers and, while both countries did much better in the rankings of industrial prices, they were still a long way behind the top performers.     

Canonical ridge correlation of mechanical and engineering index properties

Mechanical properties of rocks are known to be correlated by their engineering index properties. However, the interactions between these properties are quite complex. In this article, the associations between mechanical and hardness properties and also between mechanical and abrasion properties of samples collected from an andesite quarry are studied by using canonical ridge technique. Mechanical properties included uniaxial compressive strength, tensile strength and modulus of elasticity, while index properties consist of Shore scleroscope hardness, Schmidt hammer hardness, cone indenter hardness, Bohme surface abrasion, Los Angeles abrasion with 100 and 500 revolutions. It was found that in a multivariate setting the relationship between mechanical and abrasion properties is stronger than the relationship between mechanical and hardness properties.     

体验式消费的开放空间与城市环境的互动

通过对大型Shopping Mall,商业综合体以及步行街等这几种体验式消费商业空间的分析,指出了在结合城市环境的条件下商业空间的设计策略,以满足体验式消费对建筑空间多样化、开放化、暖昧性、模糊性、不确定性及复合性的要求。