Neighbourhood Committees and Community Service Delivery In China

Abstract

In recent years, major environmental and planning issues have served to mobilise local communities and raise political consciousness. In response, many government authorities have embarked on pursuing policies aimed at decentralising certain services in order to increase community consultation. With this in mind, the author reports on the use of neighbourhood committees for local service delivery in Chinese cities. Following a discussion of the meaning of a neighbourhood in China, the author outlines the role and organisation of a neighbourhood committee in the City of Tianjin, and then discusses its possible relevance for local government administration in Australia.     

Developing local government policy and processes for community consultation and participation

This paper documents the development of a local government community consultation and capacity building vision and strategy. A central argument is that traditional government perspectives on community consultation must be reconsidered to include greater opportunities for informed community participation in planning and decision making processes for a sustainable community.     

Towards democratic planning? Negotiating change in St Kilda,Melbourne

Are planners ‘dealmakers’ caught up in selling urban areas to the highest bidder, or are they negotiators concerned to maintain democratic planning and social diversity in areas that are subject to gentrification? This paper explores this question through the example of two sites in St Kilda, Melbourne. The sites highlight planning strategies used at the local government level by planners who are attempting to negotiate change and to maintain the social and cultural diversity of the area. The first example illustrates the processes of ‘democratic planning’ where planners question what is ‘legitimate’ and draw on discourses of local need. The second example illustrates the problems of co‐opting local culture within a process of democratic planning that is based on community consultation. Together, the examples illustrate the need for tighter local government policies, including stricter policies about the use of developer contributions, and a closer and more critical focus on the term ‘community consultation’, if democratic planning is to be achieved.     

Urban Renewal and Public Participation in Sydney: Unpacking Social Media Strategies and Use for Contesting Consensus

ABSTRACT

This paper explores how the politics of contestation and resistance attempted to influence a government initiated urban renewal project. The declaration of the site as state significant and the subsequent formal consultation activities are positioned as post-political efforts by planning and development agencies to limit antagonistic politics and secure consensus. However, conflict appeared through a community group who opposed the planning process and its intended outcomes. Central to this resistance was the use of a symposium, main-stream and social media, Twitter in particular. This paper provides a post-political analysis to provide insights into resistance strategies mobilised bycommunity groups.     

Ecologically sustainable local area planning: A framework to enhance integration of community workers and environmental planners

Recent case study research in local government authorities in northern Australia illustrated that ecological sustainability in land use planning is difficult to address while community work and environmental planning, as central ecological sustainability components, are marginalised in the planning process. Emanating from that study, the framework proposed in this paper advocates a planning approach that is inclusive, participatory and discursive and recognises the diverse knowledge and skills of all local government practitioners.     

Community Transport in Sydney: A Response to Inequity and Disadvantage in Public Transport

Abstract

This paper considers the development of community transport in Sydney and possible directions for its furture. It outlines the basis on which the community transport movement has developed and argues that the conditions which have given rise to a community transport movement are likely to be exacerbated in the future.     

Value for Money and Risk in Public–Private Partnerships

Problem, research strategy, and findings: Delivering improved public services at lower cost, also known formally as value for money (VfM), is often the main rationale for procuring large infrastructure projects through public–private partnerships (PPPs). However, it is unclear whether the ex ante assessments of PPPs account for key planning concerns, including limitations on community consultation, contractual lock-ins that curtail public flexibility to make future plans, and a political preference for PPPs that may influence the way that projects are structured and evaluated. This set of questions is examined for 28 infrastructure PPPs delivered in Ontario, Canada, and interviews with18 senior political, government, and private-sector participants in the province's PPP industry. We find that transferring of construction risks from government to the private-sector partners drives VfM results, and may overvalue the extent to which planning related risks can be transferred.

Takeaway for practice: PPP contract structures should permit more transparency during the project planning process and preserve the flexibility of governments to control key planning tasks such as user fees, service coordination and facility expansion. Strategies might include: the unbundling of construction and operation phases of the PPP in all but the most unique situations, the use of competitive dialogue tendering to deepen public–private collaboration earlier in the planning process, and the inclusion of contract rebalancing terms to better share rather than transfer project risks.

Research support: This research was funded through a Standard Research Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Application Number: 110998).     

School Siting

Problem: The United States is embarking on an unprecedented era of school construction even as debate continues over where schools should be located and how much land they should occupy.

Purpose: My three goals for this study were to trace the evolution of school siting standards, to explain the factors currently influencing school facility location decisions, and to identify what local and regional planners could contribute to school siting decisions.

Methods: I reviewed the land use planning and educational facilities literatures on school siting and conducted in-depth interviews with school facility planners from 10 counties in Maryland and northern Virginia to assess their perspectives on the school planning process.

Results and conclusions: I discovered that different groups use very different definitions of community school. Smart growth proponents advocate community schools that are small and intimately linked to neighborhoods, while school facility planners expect community schools to meet the needs of entire localities. I recommend that individual communities consider the tradeoffs associated with different school sizes and make choices that meet local preferences for locations within walking distance of students, potential for sports fields, school design, and connections to neighborhoods. State school construction and siting policies should support flexibility for localities.

Takeaway for practice: Local and regional planners should work with school facility planners to conduct exercises and charettes to help each community determine how to realize its own vision of community schools.

Research support: The School of Architecture at the University of Virginia and the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill supported this research.     

Community attachment among residents living in public and commodity housing in China

Abstract

Since China’s housing reform, increasing attention has been paid to public housing. While the quantity of public housing units is increasing, residents’ attachment to the community remains underexplored. This study evaluates the social dimension of public housing from the perspective of community attachment in Guangzhou, China. We use a mixed methods approach to examine what factors influence community attachment in both public and commodity housing communities. We first analyse quantitative data (N?=?344) collected from four public housing and commodity housing communities in Guangzhou using confirmatory factor analysis, hierarchical regression, and moderation analysis. Results show that housing type has no significant effect on community attachment. Housing type moderates the relationship between community ties, perceived public services, and community attachment, whereas community ties and perceived public services are positively associated with community attachment only for commodity housing residents. Qualitative data from 21 semi-structured interviews are then used to explain the quantitative results. Our findings support the rationality of the public housing strategy in China from the perspective of community attachment. We also argue that community attachment must be analysed in a contextualized approach.     

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.     

Community Plan Making in the Face of Ethnic Conflict in Israel: Lessons for Collaborative Planning Processes

Problem, research strategy, and findings: I focus on community plan making in Israel in the face of ethnic conflict, examining ways in which community-level planning processes are embedded into larger decision systems and how attention to multiscale, institutional linkages and parallel processes can determine the success of collaborative planning efforts. I present a community development case about a dispute over a local Bedouin land claim in a Jewish community in northern Israel, mediated over more than a decade. My research is based on a longitudinal 12-year case study of this planning dispute. There were three phases to the plan making: facilitated strategic plan development, facilitated collaborative decision making, and direct negotiations. Community planning is inevitably a lengthy endeavor, embedded in concentric decision contexts. The first 10 years of the dispute were devoted to achieving shared agreements among community members at the table, ignoring the interfacing and partnerships with state, national, or other nonlocal stakeholders. Only in the last two years did the community finally forge these relationships and reach an understanding of the impacts that parallel processes (occurring outside of the community) would have on the local dispute, leading to a community plan and resolution.

Takeaway for practice: Community planning agendas must consider the interests of all relevant stakeholders, paying attention to multiscale, nonlocal players. Planners need to maintain and understand the links to and knowledge of other ongoing planning processes to understand how they might affect the community plan-making process at hand. Ethnic conflict cannot be ignored. Continuing with the business of community planning in the face of ethnic conflict in some ways helps minimize the importance of the ethnic dispute.     

Homo Economicus in a Big Society: Understanding Middle-class Activism and NIMBYism towards New Housing Developments

Abstract

Problems of housing supply and affordability in England have long been recognized by policy-makers. A key barrier to supply is seen to be community activism by so-called not-in-my-back-yard activists (NIMBYs). The localism policy agenda, or devolving decision-making down to the local level, is central to how the UK coalition government seek to overcome this opposition. This conceives NIMBYism as a demonstration of homo economicus – of the rationality of economic beings seeking to maximize their utility. In this view, residents would not accept large urban extensions in suburban areas because they took on localized costs with no obvious benefits, unless incentivised appropriately. In this paper, we use analysis of British Social Attitudes Survey data as well as the results of the first review of middle-class activism in relation to public services to identify the likelihood of residents being incentivized by this version of localism to accept new housing. We conclude that the evidence on the individual and collective attitudes suggests that it is unlikely that localism will deliver new housing. Importantly, the political power of affluent and professional groups means they can ensure that their opposition is heard, particularly in the neighbourhood plans delivered through localism. The paper argues that planning for housing needs to understand communities as homo democraticus – as actively engaged in negotiating between complex interests with respect to support for new housing.     

From Geddes’ city museum to Farrell’s urban room: past,present, and future at the Newcastle City Futures exhibition

ABSTRACT

Genuine engagement about how best to achieve liveable urban futures should be part of planning’s raison-d’etre but it has a chequered history of delivery. Exhibitions harnessing the communicative power of mixed media and linked to a progressive and responsive programme of focused discussion and debate remain relevant to community consultation and civic engagement. Terry Farrell’s concept of the ‘urban room’ to involve citizens in engaging with the past, present, and future of towns and cities offers a contemporary refreshment of the approach propounded by Patrick Geddes from the early 1900s. The possibilities of creating novel and compelling opportunities for civic discourse in this guise are explored in this review article though the Newcastle City Futures pop-up exhibition and events held in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK in 2014. This event carries lessons for imagining how planners, developers, governments, and community groups may come together to critically and creatively forge future propositions for the urban condition.     

The Evolution of the Federal Role in Supporting Community Recovery After U.S. Disasters

Problem, research strategy, and findings: The process of long-term recovery, if done well, can minimize post-disaster disruption, address problems that existed before the disaster struck, and improve the future resilience of a community. The U.S. government, however, historically has lacked a systematic approach to supporting community recovery. This study describes the history of federal policies for supporting community recovery after disasters, with particular attention to the roles of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). We conclude by considering the new National Disaster Recovery Framework (NDRF). This historical review suggests that the federal government needs to emphasize the following: providing resources for community recovery planning; facilitating increased flows of information after disasters; streamlining FEMA assistance to public agencies; explicitly working to reduce the barriers between FEMA and HUD; and incorporating equity into recovery policies. Recovery policies also need to include incentives to achieve substantive goals of rebuilding in a way that is sustainable, equitable, cost-effective, and timely, and that reduces the chances of future disasters.

Takeaway for practice: Local community planners can draw several lessons from this historical account. First, they should become aware of the various post-disaster programs now, before disaster strikes. Second, knowledge of post-disaster policies and programs will enable planners to use them creatively and effectively if disaster strikes. Third, in the midst of reconstruction, planners need to continually seek opportunities to promote betterment and resilience to natural hazards.     

Evaluation of Networks of Plans and Vulnerability to Hazards and Climate Change: A Resilience Scorecard

Problem, research strategy, and findings: Land use planning is key to mitigating natural hazards and the effects of climate change. Communities adopt multiple plans that directly and indirectly address hazard mitigation; the integration of local plans can significantly affect future community vulnerability to hazards. We develop a resilience scorecard to assess the degree to which the network of local plans targets areas most prone to hazards and then evaluate the coordination of local plans and test it in Washington (NC), a community vulnerable to coastal floods and projected sea-level rise. We find that local plans are not fully consistent and do not always address the areas in a community most vulnerable to floods or sea level risks; moreover, some plans actually increase physical and social vulnerability to hazards. While these results indicate the validity of a resiliency scorecard, we were forced to use a narrow range of vulnerability indicators; better data would improve the process.

Takeaway for practice: Planners can assume a crucial role in improving planning for hazards by using the scorecard to identify conflicts among local plans, assessing whether local plans target areas most vulnerable to specific hazards. Planners can inform the public and decision makers about missed opportunities to improve local hazard mitigation planning. To support such important efforts, the U.S. Federal -Emergency Management Agency and other federal agencies should consider developing additional databases that are widely applicable and available.     

Index to Volume XIX

Problem, research strategy, and findings: Advocates of community benefits agreements (CBAs) between coalitions of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and real estate developers contend that CBAs promote public accountability and responsiveness to community concerns. This study assesses the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment District (LASED) CBA, which scholars and practitioners have described as a model for such agreements. I assess compliance with key provisions of the agreement related to jobs, affordable housing, and parks and recreational facilities. I also assess whether compliance with these provisions has yielded benefits beyond those required under existing laws and regulations. I find that the parties to the agreement have technically complied with many, although arguably not all, of its provisions. But some of the provisions in the CBA are not legally binding, other provisions overlap with requirements that the developer would have had to satisfy even without the CBA, and some reports required by the CBA are unavailable. As a result, outcomes such as living wage jobs and funding for affordable housing units are not clearly attributable to the CBA; other outcomes, such as targeted hiring, are unknown due to a lack of relevant information.

Takeaway for practice: Although CBAs may not fulfill all the claims that advocates make on their behalf, they can play important roles in community development by directing public and private spending to underserved neighborhoods. But collecting and verifying the relevant data may be challenging, even if reporting requirements are clearly spelled out in the CBA. As the complexity of a CBA increases, so do the challenges of assessing outcomes and assigning responsibility for those outcomes.     

Using strategic management practices to promote participatory democracy in Australian local government

Abstract

Strategic management was introduced as a critical component of Australian local government reform during the 1990s. In addition to encouraging efficiency and effectiveness of operation, it was also intended to promote participatory democracy within local authorities. The paper explores the extent to which this objective has been achieved through an analysis of twenty‐five New South Wales municipalities. Discussion concludes that while strategic management has enhanced community involvement in local governance, it cannot be a substitute for traditional democratic processes.     

Co-designing platform collectivism

ABSTRACT

We report a codesign effort to envision a community water quality data platform with local stakeholders. We employed interviews, field observations, and hackathons through a 9-month study (ongoing). This codesign effort helps to distinguish our proposal of platform collectivism, in which local resources and stakeholders become more visible, accessible, and engaged with one another through the development and use of a community-based open data platform. In addition, we synthesize key insights for codesign. In our project, local stakeholders have an significant stake in the research and design work. They pose research questions, set goals, and establish parameters for collaboration with us.     

Transformative actions on communities and landscapes: the case of Kaldabruna village

ABSTRACT

The dynamic relationship of people to landscapes changes according to the context; as regimes change the balance of power shifts, resulting in different values arising where landscapes are perceived in different ways and new landscape uses examined. Changing landscapes can bring a restoration of hope to a place. This paper examines the role that an evolving landscape, both physically and culturally, in a small, rural Latvian community played in the formation of a revitalised landscape identity. By combining new and old traditions, self-esteem rose and in turn contributed to further changes to the landscape with influence rippling outwards to neighbouring areas. We have used observation, workshops and ongoing dialogue as data collection methods at the site. We draw on historical and individual narratives to tell the story of the landscape and then draw some conclusions regarding the transformative actions upon the communities and the landscape.     

Community Power,Public Policy Initiatives and the Management of Growth in Brisbane

Abstract

Partly in response to rapid population growth in south-east Queensland and a growing imbalance in demographic patterns between Brisbane City and surrounding shires, there is renewed activity in planning for the region by all levels of government. The Brisbane City Council, in 1990, engaged a consultant to produce its first large scale strategy plan for the city, and the State government, in 1991, established a regional planning advisory group to undertake a similar planning exercise for the south-east region. Moreover, it is anticipated that federal programs such as ‘Building Better Cities’ will provide financial support to the region for improved transport systems, urban renewal and infrastructure development.

The urban sociologist, Harvey Molotch (1976, 1987) has challenged the normative conception of planning as a rational activity by incorporating into his analysis the notion of power, in particular, a form of community power which he has called ‘the growth machine’. While a growth coalition of interests can be discerned in Brisbane, the extent to which they have influence in planning decisions needs to be measured against political influences such as the structure of government in Australia and the nature of intergovernmental relations, as well as the politics of party.