Ambivalence in place attachment: the lived experiences of residents in danwei communities facing demolition in Shenyang,China

Abstract

This article focuses on the influence of state-led urban redevelopment on the place attachment of deprived and old homeowners living in danwei communities that are facing demolition in Shenyang, China. It investigates lived experiences through in-depth interviews with homeowners in the context of the pre-demolition phase, i.e. an inevitable prospect of having to move out. The article reveals how these homeowners cleverly mobilize local resources, such as strong social bonds, low living costs, flexibility on space use and good neighbourhood location to cope with their life constraints, which is translated into their strong neighbourhood attachment. However, various forms of neighbourhood decline have decreased their quality of life. Meanwhile, they soon have to move due to the impending demolition of their neighbourhood. State-led urban redevelopment, therefore, confronts those deprived residents with a dilemma concerning their strong neighbourhood dependence and their desire for better living conditions. The impending neighbourhood demolition uncovers accumulated social issues in danwei communities in the context of market reforms and institutional changes in current China, such as the emergence of deprived social groups and their struggles for better housing.     

Individual differences in the neighbourhood level determinants of residential satisfaction

Abstract

Residential satisfaction is a key variable in understanding residential mobility. Many researchers have studied the individual level and neighbourhood level determinants of satisfaction, however, very few have studied which neighbourhood characteristics affect satisfaction for whom. In this paper, ordered logit models are estimated, explaining satisfaction from neighbourhood characteristics, personal characteristics and interactions. These interactions test whether neighbourhood characteristics have similar effects on satisfaction for all individuals, or whether individual characteristics affect the size and direction of these effects. Satisfaction is found to be less affected by the share of ethnic minorities for ethnic minorities than for natives, because minorities are more satisfied in neighbourhoods with higher shares of their own ethnic group. Neighbourhood characteristics are found to have a stronger effect on satisfaction for owner-occupiers and parents with children than for others, however the impact of neighbourhood ethnic composition does not vary with tenure or household type.     

Coveting your neighbour’s house: understanding the positional nature of residential satisfaction

Abstract

Do the characteristics of our neighbour’s house affect how we view our own home? In this paper, I examine the importance of local comparisons in housing assessments by testing whether the size of one’s home relative to others in their neighbourhood influences their housing satisfaction. I use a unique feature of the 1993 American Housing Survey, in which the US Census Bureau randomly surveyed 988 housing units around the country and a cluster of approximately 10 of their nearest neighbours. I use these data to test whether a unit’s relative size in its neighbourhood influences the occupant’s housing satisfaction while controlling for a series of occupant and unit characteristics. I find evidence that relative position matters. Those living in comparatively small houses are more likely to express dissatisfaction with their home than people living in units that are large relative to other houses in their neighbourhood cluster.     

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.     

Housing activism in urban China: the quest for autonomy in neighbourhood governance

Abstract

The creation of a neoliberal housing regime triggered extensive housing activism during the last decade by middle class homeowners who were protecting their rights to their neighbourhood. Yet such actions also signify the quest for autonomy from the ubiquitous control of the local state as the vanguard of political power hegemony at the grassroots level. Yet there is evidence of an escalation in “non-peaceful” actions in the richest cities in China despite the tight control of the authoritarian state. With data taken from official documents and interviews as well as from news reports about neighbourhood disputes in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, this article gives an analytic account of the disputes and actions of homeowners in residential neighbourhoods while making their claims as well as on the strategies used by the local state in controlling the homeowners' associations. The article is able to enrich our understanding of housing activism in a non-democratic regime.     

Supporting or dragging? effects of neighbourhood social ties on social integration of rural-to-urban migrants in China

Abstract

Urban scholars have debated the complex effects of neighbourhood-based social ties on the economic and social integration of marginalized populations in the mainstream urban society. Studies of migrant populations in China have noted the existence of strong neighbourhood ties and solidarity in migrant communities, but few have examined whether strong neighbourhood cohesion enhances or hinders broader social integration of rural migrants. This article investigates the extent to which different types of social ties in the neighbourhood, as opposed to more social networks developed at the city level, predict more frequent intergroup interaction and stronger place attachment among rural migrants in Chinese cities. Statistical analysis, using data from a twelve-city migrant survey, reveals that, while the diversity of social networks does matter, the neighbourhood is a territorial anchor supporting, rather than dragging, the urban social integration of rural migrants. The findings highlight the importance of neighbourhood in China’s inclusive urbanization strategy and potential conflicts in recent deprived neighbourhood redevelopment programs.     

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.     

Developing local government policy and processes for community consultation and participation

Abstract

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.     

Deregulated private renting: A decade of change in Scotland

Efforts to stimulate reinvestment in the private rented sector in Britain began in the late 1980s. It suited the Conservative government to label these changes as ‘deregulation’ although they were more complex than this term implies. This article provides evidence of the impacts of the changes in Scotland. It emphasizes the need to examine the impacts on different groups within the private rented sector. In particular, deregulation tended to favour those able to pay market rents, while increased restrictions on housing benefits meant that the ability of low-income households to afford private rented accommodation was reduced. Other groups, such as those in tied accommodation or on regulated tenancies, were largely unaffetted by the changes. In response to deregulation, there has been a significant increase in the flow of lets at the upper end of the market (self-contained flats and houses) while rents for this type of accommodation have barely risen. At the lower end of the market (shared accommodation), the flow of lets has increased only marginally or not at all. Landlords also appear to have become more reluctant to house low-income tenants. The article uses a database compiled from advertisements for private rented accommodation appearing in newspapers and property guides in the period 1987 to 1996. Nick Bailey is a Research Fellow in the Department of Urban Studies at the University of Glasgow. His main research interests include: housing and urban policy, particularly housing renewal, neighbourhood regeneration and the private housing market; urban economic and social change; and local economic development policies.     

Housing Recovery Lessons From Chile

Problem, research strategy and findings: The 8.8 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck south-central Chile on February 27, 2010, affected 75% of the country's population and damaged or destroyed 370,000 housing units (about 10% of the housing in six regions). Within six months, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development published a plan to repair or rebuild 220,000 units of low- and middle-income housing with government assistance within four years. By February 2014, 94% of the housing was complete. The successful rebuilding effort had strong leadership at the national and local levels and used existing programs and institutions. The management staff adapted programs over time to meet the needs of local conditions. When compared with housing recovery programs in other countries, Chile's program stands out, combining national government management with local citizen input. The reconstruction plan also included updated zoning plans, road and infrastructure improvements, heritage recovery, and new master plans for affected cities. Going forward, the earthquake created an opportunity for Chile to use the recovery planning to expand national urban policy and to develop a framework for citizen participation at the local level.

Takeaway for practice: Successful planning in disaster recovery involves strong government leadership and coordination together with the engagement of local government and the participation of citizens.     

Housing need assessments in San Francisco,Vancouver, and Melbourne: normative science or neoliberal alchemy?

Abstract

Governments in much of the Global North have responded to dramatic increases in house prices and rents by setting supply-side targets for new housing in regional and local plans, based on calculations of need. We apply social constructionism to assess widely divergent needs assessments underlying housing strategies in San Francisco, US; Vancouver, Canada; and Melbourne, Australia. In San Francisco, authorities use an approach required by the state government that ignores overcrowding and other ‘invisible’ criteria. In Vancouver, authorities have taken an ambitious approach that goes beyond a minimum quantum of affordable housing to discuss limits to market production. In Melbourne, the state government has chosen to ignore its own commissioned needs assessment to de-prioritize concerns around affordable housing shortages. We conclude by recommending that planners apply greater rigor in housing needs assessments, that can inform public debates around more equitable housing policy.     

Citizen vs. customer: Different approaches to public participation in service delivery in Cape Town

Conclusion The neo-liberal shift in how public authorities shape the subject at the local level must be contextualized as part of the structural transformations of local government in decentralizing its core responsibilities for the provision of collectively consumed goods to a more-market-oriented interpretation of being a service enabler. This global trend certainly influenced South African debates during the transition period on the vital role of local government in rebuilding a deeply- divided society while simultaneously entering the global economy. We have reviewed the outcomes of these macroeconomic and social tensions on the development agendas of the City of Cape Town. The post-apartheid South African state was deeply committed to democratization, as illustrated through an extensive set of pieces of legislation designed to incorporate public participation in service delivery. In this article, we have shown how local government has grappled with implementing procedural equity through the notion of Developmental Local Government. We have reviewed the institutional limitations to implementing public participation mechanisms that were part of the goals of DLG, such as the RDP and IDP fora. We then illustrated two competing visions of development within local government and how these visions shaped the practice of service delivery in the city. The MSD prioritized efficiency in service delivery and in doing so shaped the subject as a customer. Alternatively, COMDEV prioritized equity and in doing so shaped the subject as a citizen. These different approaches to service delivery significantly shape the development trajectory of low-income communities. Ahmedi Vawda is in national government as Deputy Director General of Housing.     

Neighbourhood ties and employment: a test of different hypotheses across neighbourhoods

Abstract

This study examines to which extent neighbourhood ties relate to employment status for the less-well educated inhabitants of 71 neighbourhoods in the Dutch city of Rotterdam. Previous research has produced different expectations as to whether having contact with neighbours is either positively or negatively related to being employed and how this relation differs across neighbourhoods. Two waves from the Neighbourhood Profile survey (N?=?8507) were used, which included measures of the contact frequency with neighbours and their willingness to help. We find that for the less-well educated neighbourhood ties have a modest negative relation to employment. Moreover, this relation does not vary across neighbourhoods with different socioeconomic statuses, with the exception of part-time working men. Our research implies that neighbourhood ties in mixed neighbourhoods do not positively relate to employment for the less-well educated, thereby questioning policy assumptions about ‘social mix’. Contributions to the field of neighbourhood studies are made by employing measures of the social networks mechanism and taking into account the conditionality of effects across neighbourhoods.     

Local Land Use Planning Responses to Hydraulic Fracturing

Problem, research strategy, and findings: The practice of horizontal high-volume hydraulic fracturing (fracking) has become widespread in many areas of the United States, yet the regulatory landscape for local governments is highly variable and legally uncertain. We do not have a clear idea of what fracking-related policies local governments are adopting, nor how factors such as local government capacity influence policy adoption. We survey 140 local government officials in shale gas drilling areas in four states: Colorado, Louisiana, North Dakota, and Pennsylvania. We first identify the most common policies local governments use to address fracking and investigate the influence of different types of local capacity on adoption of policies to address fracking. We find that although most communities have not adopted many fracking regulations, higher-capacity communities and those who have experienced a fracking-related accident are more likely to adopt stricter regulations. Local officials are concerned that they lack capacity to address fracking. Our survey asks whether a respondent community did not adopt a policy for legal reasons or other reasons, but did not delve into what those other reasons for non-adoption might be. Our response rate for Louisiana was very low.

Takeaway for practice: Local governments appear to have at least some legal room to adopt fracking policy, yet most have not done so proactively. Investing in capacity building in the form of technical assistance or training for local officials would help communities decide how they wish to address fracking from a policy standpoint without waiting for the catalyst of a fracking-related industrial accident.     

Barriers to GIS Use in Planning

Problem: Despite the widespread availability of geographic information systems (GIS) in local government, there is some evidence that the potential of GIS as a planning tool is not being fully exploited. While obstacles to GIS implementation in local government have been investigated, most of these investigations are either dated or do not focus on planning applications.

Purpose: We aim to add to the limited literature on the current barriers hindering GIS use in public planning agencies. We also offer some insights into how to mitigate these barriers and help planning agencies move beyond using GIS simply for routine tasks of data access and mapmaking.

Methods: We analyzed responses to a 2007 web-based survey of 265 practitioners in Wisconsin's public planning agencies and follow-up interviews with 20 practitioners we conducted in 2008.

Results and conclusions: Planning departments still face a range of technological, organizational, and institutional barriers in using GIS. Training, funding, and data issues appear to be the most significant barriers preventing greater use of GIS for planning purposes, suggesting that organizational and institutional issues are more pertinent than technological barriers. Our literature review indicates that the barriers to GIS use in local government are similar to those of the past, but not identical. Furthermore, our observations indicate that, in general, practitioners are not aware of the full potential of GIS and planning support systems (PSS).

Takeaway for practice: Increased funding alone is not likely to move a planning agency beyond routine applications of GIS. Improved access to training that is geared toward the planning process and planning applications may help alleviate many barriers planners face in using GIS in general and in incorporating more sophisticated GIS functions in their work.

Research support: This work was supported in part by the Consortium for Rural Geospatial Innovations, funded by the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Services of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and in part by the University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the University of Wisconsin–Extension.     

Renewal of housing from the 1940s and 1950s from the tenants’ point of view

Taking the ideal of free play in a creative environment as a point of departure, the author examines how this ideal is met in Swedish homes and neighbourhoods. Children's indoor and outdoor activities are described as well as general environmental qualities in different types of housing developments. Housing requirements, neighbourhood improvement programmes and planning practice are outlined. Differences in housing conditions and play patterns according to class are pointed out. The conclusion is that rather than growing up in creative environments, children live on adult premises, meaning environments that are formed and designed according to adult concepts of use, form and content of space. Finally, some ways out of this dilemma are pointed at.     

Housing the very poor or the young? Implications of the changing public housing policy in South Korea

Abstract

This paper discusses the reorganization of the roles of the national and local governments in public housing policy alongside decentralization, with particular reference to South Korea. Focusing on policy changes over the past decade, it reveals that rather than retrenchment amid a push towards greater local autonomy, the national government has diversified and expanded its public housing policy, and is increasingly pursuing a universal approach to public housing. Through case studies of Seoul and Gyeonggi, it also shows how the two local governments have become creative suppliers of public housing that is more customized to the local context. In particular, it highlights the rising emphasis on targeting young people rather than the very poor in public housing policies, a shift that is partly a legacy of Korea’s ‘productivist’ welfare state. The paper closes by discussing the implications of this latest policy trend, especially on local–national policy coordination.     

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.     

Group Title Subdivision: The Application of the Cluster Concept to Queensland,Australia

Abstract

Economic arguments presented by the Victoria Grants Commission and the Local Government Commission to justify the restructuring of local government in Victoria are evaluated. A number of limitations are found in the economic case of the two agencies which seriously weaken the (now abandoned) case for re-drawing local government boundaries in Victoria.     

Books Received

Problem: In 1997, the State of Maryland adopted a bold new approach to growth management based on a novel instrument: priority funding areas (PFAs). PFAs contain growth by directing state spending to areas designated by local governments and reviewed by the state government. Despite widespread acclaim and subsequent imitation, little is known about whether PFAs effectively contain urban growth.

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to evaluate the adoption, implementation, and performance of PFAs in Maryland in order to provide planners and policymakers with insights into their efficacy as instruments for managing growth.

Methods: First, we describe the statutory definition and mandated role of PFAs in state funding. Then, we describe the process used to create PFAs, the resulting pattern of targeted growth areas, the relationship between PFAs and local comprehensive plans, and the extent to which PFAs altered state spending. Finally, we examine the effects of PFAs on residential development patterns.

Results and conclusions: We find that PFAs have fallen short of expectations. The criteria used to establish PFAs produced boundary configurations that vary widely and are in many cases not ideally suited to managing urban growth. Ten years after their official designation, PFAs are not well integrated in land use decision making processes in many local jurisdictions. Finally, state agencies have not altered budgetary systems to monitor and guide the spatial allocation of funds and there is little evidence that after 10 years they have had any effect on development patterns.

Takeaway for practice: Targeting state funds to promote compact growth is a conceptually sound approach to urban growth containment, as land is less likely to be developed if it is not served by public infrastructure. But, as with other planning tools, the key is effective implementation. If states want to contain growth by targeting state spending, they must change budgeting processes to ensure that funds are spent appropriately and that the level of state spending is large enough to make a difference.

Research support: None.