Financing the future of green infrastructure planning: alternatives and opportunities in the UK

With the formation of the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition government in 2010, the funding of local government in the UK changed fundamentally. Through an austerity approach to development, local planning authorities (LPAs) have been required to make significant budgetary savings, raising questions over what services are legally and morally dispensable. One service severely impacted has been green space (green infrastructure) management. In many locations, this has generated negative responses, as the proposed cuts are perceived as decreasing the liveability of urban areas. In response, LPAs are engaging in an examination of how they can manage development to more effectively fund green infrastructure provision. Such debates draw on a range of options from public, private and community funding sources, creating further complexity within LPA financing. To explore these options, this paper discusses the appropriateness of different funding mechanisms proposing a multi-option approach for the long-term management of green infrastructure.     

Strategic green infrastructure planning in Germany and the UK: a transnational evaluation of the evolution of urban greening policy and practice

The evolution of Green Infrastructure (GI) planning has varied dramatically between nations. Although a grounded set of principles are recognized globally, there is increasing variance in how these are implemented at a national and sub-national level. To investigate this the following paper presents an evaluation of how green infrastructure has been planned for in England and Germany illustrating how national policy structures facilitate variance in application. Adopting an evaluative framework linked to the identification of GI, its development and monitoring/feedback the paper questions the impacts on delivery of intersecting factors including terminology, spatial distribution and functionality on effective GI investment. This process reviews how changing policy structures have influenced the framing of green infrastructure policy, and subsequent impact this has on the delivery of green infrastructure projects.     

Tending the infrastructure commons: Ensuring the sustainability of our vital public systems

It is by now well recognized that civil infrastructure systems are essential in providing the range of services generally considered necessary to support a nation's economic well-being and quality of life. Consequently, it is of the utmost importance to government, business, and the general populace that these services are sustained over the long term by periodic replenishment of the physical systems that deliver them. This has proven challenging for several reasons. First, civil infrastructures do not all lie within the public domain. Second, infrastructures are complex systems that are vulnerable to failures or service degradations in other systems because of their interconnected and interdependent natures. Third, despite the obvious importance of reliable and resilient systems to our collective social, economic, and political well-being, it has been difficult to fund the necessary maintenance and capital improvements. Deciding what levels of reliability should be provided and who should pay for it are not simple questions to be addressed solely by service providers, customers, or government regulators. This paper will present the concept of an infrastructure commons and recommend some initial actions that the federal government could take to ensure that the national ‘public good’ aspect of civil is preserved and enhanced. These actions include the beginning of an informed and serious dialogue between the public and private sectors, building coalitions for action among stakeholders in the governance process, and exploring alternative mechanisms for ensuring dependable and sustainable resource streams.     

基于配套分级的城市新区公共设施规划研究

以安徽省无为县城东南片区为例,在建立三级公共设施配套体系的基础上,重点结合新区功能选择与居民需求调查,明确了新区公共设施级配要求,并结合新区用地布局予以空间落实,对类似地区开发建设具有一定指导意义。     

Barriers and commitment of facilities management profession to the sustainability agenda

The practice of sustainable facilities management (FM) is rapidly evolving with the increasing interest in the discourse of sustainable development. This paper examines a recent survey of the experiences of facilities managers in the rapidly growing and evolving industry in regard to the barriers and their commitment to the sustainability agenda. The survey results show that time constraints, lack of knowledge and lack of senior management commitment are the main barriers for the implementation of consistent and comprehensive sustainable FM policy and practice. The paper concludes that the diversity of the FM role and the traditional undervaluation of the contribution it makes to the success of organisations are partially responsible for lack of success in achieving sustainable facilities. The overwhelming barrier for sustainable FM practice is the lack of understanding, focus and commitment of senior executives in appreciating the opportunities, threats and need for strategic leadership and direction in driving essential change, and hence further the sustainability agenda.     

Offshore infrastructure planning using a vine copula approach for environmental conditions: an application for replacement maintenance of tidal energy infrastructure

Installation and maintenance operations of offshore assets are impacted by local environmental conditions such as wave height and period, wind speed and current velocity. These parameters are substantially of influence for the asset planning (time and costs) given the uncertainty of operational windows. In this article, a method is proposed to construct realistic time series of the aforementioned dependent conditions using a vine copulas approach. This method makes it possible to obtain a large number of realizations of these conditions at a certain location. It is shown that the operational windows remain persistent with the original limited dataset. Moreover, this method enables the incorporation of environmental uncertainties in the operational planning processes. To illustrate the value of this method, an application regarding replacement maintenance of a tidal energy infrastructure is examined. For this purpose, the maintenance activities are represented as a semi-Markov decision process. For every synthetic environmental time series, the algorithm finds the optimal set of decisions and the corresponding maintenance plans, including replacement costs and revenue losses. It is shown that the proposed method is effective in replacement maintenance decision making, while taking into account the environmental uncertainties.     

谈连云港南云台片区总体规划中的城乡统筹

基于统筹城乡发展是打破城乡二元结构、解决"三农"问题的基本途径,以连云港市南云台片区总体规划为例,分析了连云港与南云台片区的城乡统筹发展、南云台片区自身的城乡统筹发展,从而对其他城乡的协调发展提供科学的指导。     

A collaborative approach for urban underground space development toward sustainable development goals: Critical dimensions and future directions

The utilization of urban underground space (UUS) offers an effective solution to urban problems but may also negatively affect urban development. Therefore, UUS development needs better concerted guidelines to coordinate various urban systems and the multiple components of the underground world. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which should be viewed as important yardsticks for UUS development, do not explicitly mention urban underground space, although many of them are affected by both the positive and negative consequences of its development. To fill this gap, this review lays the foundations of relevant UUS concepts and uses exemplary cases to reveal that 11 out of 17 SDGs can be linked with UUS uses. These linkages also manifest that land administration, integrated planning, architectural design, and construction technology are critical dimensions for increasing the contributions of UUS to the realization of SDGs. To achieve multi-disciplinary synergies among these four critical dimensions, a collaborative approach framework based on spatial data infrastructure is required. Thus, this work provides academics and practitioners with a holistic view of sustainable UUS development.     

The potential of public participation to facilitate infrastructure decision-making: Lessons from the German and European legal planning system for electricity grid expansion

The article examines the potential role that public engagement and participative pro-cesses to play a role in effective infrastructure planning in the context of energy policies. For example, by 2050, at least 80% of Germany’s electricity has to be derived from re-newable energy sources if Germany is to meet the goals of its own energy policy. This includes the comprehensive and accelerated extension of the electricity grid. As a result of the magnitude of these changes, the German energy transition is not proceeding without debate and controversy. Public engagement is certainly no panacea for en-hanced social acceptance, yet it offers substantial potential to facilitate the energy tran-sition. The paper draws together social science and legal expertise in order to investi-gate the role of public participation in legal planning processes concerning energy infra-structures. The paper not only focuses on the extension of the German power grid, but also deals with participative policy at the European level. To this end, the paper analyzes the potential role of the German legal planning system in grid expansion and in the Eu-ropean processes of nominating Projects of Common Interest (PCI) and of drawing up the Ten Year Network Development Plan (TYNDP).     

Reducing risks to electric power infrastructure due to extreme weather events by means of spatial planning: Case studies from Slovenia

The paper concerns the potential for spatial planning to improve the reliability of electric power infrastructure. The aim is to reduce risks of electric power outages due to extreme weather events (EWE) by proper siting of installations. A method of evaluating risks due to EWE is applied in two case studies. The first considers ice storms and the damage they cause to power grids; the second considers the damage of heavy rainstorms to hydroelectric power plants (HPPs). The results are presented in the form of a risk assessment method that can be incorporated into spatial planning.     

Dealing with interrelatedness and fragmentation in road infrastructure planning: an analysis of integrated approaches throughout the planning process in the Netherlands

Planning approaches that integrate road infrastructure and other land uses are being increasingly applied. Dealing with functional interrelatedness and stakeholder fragmentation are the main reasons for this. This article conceptualizes and analyses why and how such integrated approaches can be applied effectively throughout consecutive stages of infrastructure planning. The two case studies illustrate that the concept of integration is applied for strategic as well as operational reasons, and they reveal that these reasons may alternate throughout the planning process. Effective integration is therefore dynamic: it appropriately focuses on strengthening the socio-economic perspectives of a region for the longer term, as well as on the relations between different land uses that are physically adjacent and competing for space within a smaller area. Due to fragmented institutional contexts, successfully dealing with interrelatedness requires an intense level of interaction amongst involved actors. Such “co-production” of visions and plans has two important characteristics: negotiation, and learning about each other’s goals. Ultimately the case studies also show that planning at the infrastructure–land use interface needs institutional mechanisms to guide the alterations between strategically and operationally inspired integration. Contracts with private parties, public participation, and positive conditions for learning about each other’s referential frames are examples of the institutional mechanisms encountered in this study.     

Citizens' expectations of information cities: implications for urban planning and design

The European Union has made the development of a vibrant knowledge-based economy a key policy objective, and increasingly national and local governments worldwide are seeking to harness information and communication technologies to provide government services more effectively and for the benefit of their citizenry. The paper reports on the first phase of the ongoing European Union IntelCities integrated project that seeks to integrate electronic governance of cities and urban planning. The background to the project in terms of the e-Europe Action Plan is explored and the outcome of surveys of user needs and requirements carried out in the cities of Marseilles (France), Siena and Rome (Italy), Helsinki (Finland), Leicester and Manchester (UK), and Dresden and Berlin (Germany) are explained. The outcomes identify a range of implications for digital or electronic planning in terms of increasing the efficiency in e-urban planning and the need to develop digital methodologies for widening public participation. Thus, the importance of e-skills development in new forms of e-planning for planners, developers and citizens is highlighted and shown to be important for achieving a wider e-enabled sustainable knowledge society.     

以阳泉为例谈资源型城市转型期城市规划对策

以阳泉市为例,探讨了资源型城市发展中面临的问题,并对其现状特点进行了分析,指出资源型城市转型期城市发展突出的矛盾,并提出转型期城市规划的对策,以积极推动资源型城市转型。     

The GWP-Chart: An environmental tool for guiding urban planning processes. Application to concrete sidewalks

The systematized study of urban morphology has led to the development of integrated tools based on the knowledge of the relation between physical density and urban form. These tools do help planners and decision makers; however, environmental data is rarely included in them.This paper presents the GWP-Chart, a method that combines urban planning tools with environmental data, obtained through the use of the life cycle assessment (LCA) results. In order to explain its use, three urban fabrics have been selected. According to their morphology and their ground space index (GSI) and public space ratio (PSR) values, the contribution of the sidewalk subsystem to the global impact per square meter of urban development can be quantified and communicated.The GWP-Chart is applicable to all types of urban fabrics and scales (street or square, island, fabric or district), as well as adaptable to any urban infrastructure or subsystem and can be extended to other environmental impacts. Its advantages lie in its accurateness, adaptability and ease of interpretation.     

Bringing planning to the streets: using site-specific video as a method for participatory urban planning

This article examines videographic planning visualizations and their potential to enrich the modes of communication and participation in urban planning. As a case study, the article introduces a research project conducted in the residential area of Pansio-Perno, in Turku, Finland, where a set of site-specific planning videos was made in collaboration with professional artists. A spatio-visual approach was employed to study the different sites for making the videos, including the sites of video production, the contents of the planning videos, and sites for video presentations. Residents were able to take part in the project by voting between different urban development alternatives with the help of on-site mobile technology. Presenting the results of the participation in public made the process more open, transparent, and visible to local people. Appealing planning visualizations, as well as easily accessible participation methods, are therefore proposed here as a means to improve the approachability and diversity of planning communication.     

科学规划走城乡统筹发展的城镇之路

针对目前小城镇规划发展现状,探讨了统筹城乡发展、推进城镇化建设的一系列对策,并努力加快中心镇城市化进程,从而实现城乡经济发展和城乡面貌的巨大改善,为推动社会主义新农村建设创造了条件。     

Environmental,social and economic information management for the evaluation of sustainability in urban areas: A system of indicators for Thessaloniki,Greece

The use of indicators constitutes internationally an important tool for assessing the progress achieved towards sustainable development. Measuring the sustainability in urban areas – which are crucial engines of local socio-economic development, but at the same time present concentration points of environmental decay – is a major challenge for environmental managers and decision-makers. This paper aims at the development and utilisation of a system of indicators as a dynamic tool for the management of environmental, social and economic information in order to evaluate sustainability in urban areas. In this context, guidelines for the system’s development and use are proposed, together with a suggestion for its communication among local stakeholders. An application of this system is demonstrated through a case study using the Greater Thessaloniki Area, Greece, a domain with considerable socio-economic development, which is also encountering significant environmental pressures.     

Ecological networks: A spatial concept for multi-actor planning of sustainable landscapes

In this paper, we propose the ecological network concept as a suitable basis for inserting biodiversity conservation into sustainable landscape development. For landscapes to be ecologically sustainable, the landscape structure should support those ecological processes required for the landscape to deliver biodiversity services for present and future generations. We first show that in multifunctional, human-dominated landscapes, biodiversity conservation needs a coherent large-scale spatial structure of ecosystems. Theory and empirical knowledge of ecological networks provides a framework for the design of such structures. Secondly, ecological networks can bridge the paradox between reserve conservation (fixing nature in space and time) and development, which implies change. This is because ecological networks can change structure without losing their conservation potential. Thirdly, ecological networks facilitate stakeholder decision-making on feasible biodiversity goals. They help to focus on an effective spatial scale. We conclude that extending the ecological network concept with multifunctional indicators is a promising step towards sustainable landscape development and stakeholder decision-making.     

Delivering basic infrastructure services to the urban poor: a meta-analysis of the effectiveness of bottom-up approaches

In the provision of basic infrastructure services to the urban poor, limited rigorous evidence on the most effective service delivery approaches is available. This meta-analysis synthesises the evidence on the effectiveness of bottom-up approaches that is characterized by the strong involvement of alternate service providers such as NGO's and CBO's in improving access to electricity, water supply, and sanitation services for the urban poor. Although bottom-up approaches are espoused, we find that they do not have a statistically significant effect. This trend was consistent for all dimensions of access: connectivity, affordability, adequacy, and effort and time. However, our findings also show that bottom-up approaches may be more effective in the water and sanitation sectors than in the electricity sector. When bottom-up approaches involve active participation from the community, the results are significantly positive. Our study suggests that innovations to bottom-up approaches that facilitate active community participation can be an effective way to increase access to basic services among the urban poor.