LISTENING TO THE CITY: CITIZEN SURVEYS

Policymakers are hard pressed to find out what citizens feel and think about their cities and their urban services and costs. During the last decade there has been much advocacy and some application of the use of citizen surveys to capture the “pulse” of the city. This article describes and analyzes a timely and important ten-year effort in one city to use citizen surveys for urban policymaking. Answers are given to questions such as: When were the surveys started? Who requested them? How are they conducted? What did the citizens say? How have the findings been utilized? What has been the impact upon public policy? What are some of the practices which have contributed to important public policy impact? Should other cities utilize citizen surveys for policymaking?     

COMPARING ALTERNATIVE SERVICE DELIVERY MODES: Municipal Enterprises Require Special Consideration

ABSTRACT: An increasingly constrained fiscal environment and unrelenting citizen demands for services have cities searching for new ways to provide many needed services. Municipal enterprises require special consideration because they provide many advantages for cities. However, because they are separate municipal funds, an understanding of commonly used fund transfer mechanisms, such as payments in lieu of taxes or services in kind, is essential to making valid service provision comparisons. This study uses examples from a recent national survey of cities to explain and illustrate various means used by municipal enterprises to transfer revenue to, and from, other municipal funds. It also provides examples of how accurately accounting for the resultant revenue can significantly alter the results of the comparison process for five commonly used utility enterprises.     

MoRPh: a citizen science tool for monitoring and appraising physical habitat changes in rivers

The MoRPh survey is designed to enable citizen scientists to monitor physical habitat mosaics and human pressures within short (up to 40 m) river reaches called modules. MoRPh underpins a multiscale Modular River Survey, providing local information, which when collected across 10 contiguous modules, delivers a MultiMoRPh river sub‐reach survey up to 400 m in length. This, in turn, contributes to a HydroMoRPh assessment of reaches extending to tens of kilometres of river length, based on secondary data sources. A 6‐month trial on chalk streams, demonstrates that indices calculated from MoRPh surveys can detect notable differences in hydraulic, sediment, physical and vegetation habitat characteristics across this single river type. Further tests will evaluate applicability to other river types and ability to detect temporal changes. Development of aggregate indices for MultiMoRPh sub‐reaches will aid interpretation of contemporary morphological dynamics, complementing longer term changes extracted at the reach scale by a HydroMoRPh analysis.     

THE USE OF PARTICIPATIVE MECHANISMS BY LARGE US CITIES

ABSTRACT: This paper presents an empirical examination of the mechanisms by which cities attempt to increase citizen participation in municipal government. The incidence of four types of citizen mechanisms, open government, information gathering, neighborhood environment, and coproduction, is assessed in US cities of population greater than 100,000. Patterns of citizen participation are probed and an overall ranking of cities in terms of the participative environment they foster is developed. The existence of a participative environment is found to be associated with city efforts to attract or retain middle class residents. The theoretical meaning of this relation is explored.     

Public participation in the Geoweb era: Defining a typology for geo-participation in local governments

Advancements in citizen sensing and geospatial big data have enabled new opportunities for government-citizen interactions and have played important roles in developing smart(er) cities. In addition to city governments and citizens actively using maps to communicate spatial planning issues, the increasing capabilities of citizens generating spatial data either actively or passively allow city governments to collect local spatial knowledge with unprecedented breadth at finer spatiotemporal resolutions. New methods for citizens collaborating with city governments are also emerging to enhance citizen engagement and to spur social innovation. By synthesizing recent advancements in geo-enabled citizen participation, this paper proposed a new typology for classifying and characterizing concepts and practices related to geospatial technology-mediated public participation in local governments (e.g. city and municipal governments). Practical examples are used to illustrate how new dynamics between local governments and citizens are formed, new methods of collecting local spatial knowledge are enabled, and new opportunities for improving the openness and operational efficiency of local governments have emerged. The proposed conceptualization and examples give rise to emerging needs of advancing geo-participation by developing geospatial methods and infrastructure and by investigating the social and spatial implications of geo-participation.     

面向绿色基础设施的城市信息学：纽约市行道树数据收集、分析与公众科学的综合研究

越来越多的时空数据使得对复杂的城市系统进行细致深入的调查研究成为可能。尽管已有对城市环境中人居活动的时空特征的充分调查研究,但城市景观的时空复杂性仍未得到充分探索。介绍了纽约市行道树普查项目的起因、经过和其产生的影响,包括数据收集、整合和分析的方法,以及公众科学将城市管理与社区参与联系起来的多种途径。针对当前技术存在的局限,提出一种人工主导、计算机执行的,可应用于城市林业数据收集和信息管理的集成方法。并借鉴美国纽约及其他城市的相关经验,对当前中国城市林业的发展状况进行了研究。这种人机结合的数据采集方法,对实现城市中自然、科技和人的紧密联系具有重要意义和价值。     

An evaluation of three biometeorological indices for human thermal comfort in urban outdoor areas under real climatic conditions

Three biometeorological indices were examined in terms of their potential to describe the actual thermal sensation as this is experienced by humans at areas with different climatological characteristics. The thermal comfort scales, as derived from using Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET), the Temperature-Humidity Index (THI) and the wind chill index (K), were compared to Actual thermal Sensation Votes (ASV) data as expressed on a 5-point scale. These data were collected by surveys that covered all four seasons of the year and were conducted in seven European cities (Athens, Thessaloniki, Milan, Fribourg, Cambridge, Sheffield and Kassel). Results show that, for any given ASV class, the corresponding classes calculated according to PET, THI and K, present a strong correlation with the climatic mean temperature of the survey site, which in turn leads to misclassification of the thermal sensation. Accordingly, an effort was made to apply an adjustment to the indices based on climatic mean temperature. Only small improvements were observed on the performance of the indices.     

City Without Choice: Urban Food Insecurity in Msunduzi,South Africa

The official moniker of the city of Msunduzi in Kwazulu-Natal is “city of choice.” The economic revival of Msunduzi over the past decade has been driven by the influx of capital to a city that claims to offer significant advantages to the investor. This paper examines whether this marketing ploy has enlarged the choices of the poorer residents of the city, with particular regard to their food security. Using data from the 2008–2009 African Food Security Urban Network (AFSUN) baseline survey, the paper shows that Msunduzi’s residents experience higher levels of food insecurity than like neighbourhoods in Cape Town and Johannesburg and many other cities in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. Unlike a number of these cities, the food sourcing strategies of households are severely constrained. Urban agriculture and rural–urban food transfers are limited, and the informal food economy is much less significant than elsewhere. The control of the urban food system largely rests in the hands of supermarkets whose location and pricing policies put quality food outside the reach of most poor households. Although many are forced to buy supermarket food, through lack of choice, food shortages and a lack of dietary diversity are endemic. Worst off are female-headed households whose levels of unemployment are higher than average and whose incomes are lower than average.     

Capturing citizen voice online: Enabling smart participatory local government

Social media and online communication have changed the way citizens engage in all aspects of lives from shopping and education, to how communities are planned and developed. It is no longer one-way or two- way communication. Instead, via networked all-to-all communication channels, our citizens engage on urban issues in a complex and more connected way than ever before. So government needs new ways to listen to its citizens. The paper comprises three components. Firstly, we build on the growing discussions in the literature focused on smart cities, on one hand, and social media research, on the other, to capture the diversity of citizen voices and better inform decision-making. Secondly, with the support of the Australian Federal Government and in collaboration with the local government partners, we collect citizen voices from Twitter on selected urban projects. Thirdly, we present preliminary findings in terms of quantity and quality of publicly available online data representing citizen concerns on the urban matters. By analyzing the sentiments of the citizen voices captured online, clustering them into topic areas, and then reevaluating citizen's sentiments within each cluster, we elaborate the scope and value of technologically-enabled opportunities in terms of enabling participatory local government decision making processes.     

基于结构方程模型的被动式住宅业主满意度研究

基于业主角度,识别出被动式住宅业主满意度影响因素,设置潜变量与观测变量,构建被动式住宅业主满意度结构方程模型。采用问卷调查法对哈尔滨、大连、沈阳等多个城市被动式住宅的业主满意度进行调查数据收集,通过与实际调研数据的拟合对所建模型进行检验,依据检验结果对满意度模型进行调整,得出影响被动式住宅业主满意度的关键因素及关键影响路径,为提升被动式住宅业主满意度提供理论参考。     

Citizen Participation

A major strength of planning in Philadelphia has been the strong support of citizen leadership. Businessmen, neighborhood leaders, professional persons-all levels of citizen leadership are interested and to some degree participate in the planning process. All major planning proposals, including the new Comprehensive Plan, the zoning ordinance, and even the six-year Capital Program now receive an intensive citizen review that few cities provide.     

FISCAL STRESS,COMPETING VALUES AND MUNICIPAL GOVERNANCE: WHAT FATE BEFELL AFFIRMATIVE ACTION IN MUNICIPAL POLICE DEPARTMENTS?

The late 1970s and early 1980s represent a difficult period for affirmative action programs in American cities. Given a new, conservative political environment symbolized by the re-election of Ronald Reagan and the advent of serious fiscal constraints facing many cities, is it reasonable to expect continuing progress toward representative workforces in municipal governments? This article investigates this question using data gathered from repeated surveys of over 250 municipal police departments in major U.S. cities over the period 1981 to 1984. Findings observed suggest that although minorities made sufficient gains in these years to constitute a firm foothold for future progress, women are likely to have a long and difficult road ahead with respect to their full incorporation into municipal law enforcement.     

济南市城镇既有房屋建筑抗震性能普查工作的实施及应用

对早期和现行的有关房屋建筑抗震技术规范、标准和法规制度进行归纳分析,并搜集了济南市勘察测绘研究院完成的岩土工程勘察项目,对房屋建筑抗震性能普查外业、数据整理、数据验收和检查提出了注意要点,确保普查的数据成果覆盖全面、准确、翔实,为济南市以及其他地区城镇既有房屋建筑抗震性能普查工作提供参考依据.     

Service Quality Variation Across Urban Space: First Steps Toward a Model of Citizen Satisfaction

There is currently a strong focus on alternative service delivery models and improved government service in the urban and public administration fields. A key aspect of this has been the institutionalization of performance measurement and benchmarking as core tools necessary to reinvent government and make agencies run like businesses. However, the focus on performance measurement has been limited to evaluations of inputs and outputs. Advocates have not successfully tackled the more difficult challenge of integrating good internal measures with service outcomes, which can best be measured by soliciting feedback from the customer through citizen surveys. In this article, we examine 96 neighborhoods across 12 cities and counties and find significant variation in the distribution of service satisfaction outcomes. We argue that such neighborhood– level feedback is useful and illustrates the importance to administrators of disaggregating traditional performance measures to the same neighborhood level to target scare resources more effectively where needed.     

Relationship between quality of building maintenance management services for indoor environmental quality and occupant satisfaction

Two surveys were carried out to investigate the correlation between building maintenance management services for indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and occupant satisfaction. Each maintenance management organization manager was surveyed using the Evaluation Index of Maintenance Management Service Quality, created by Akira Takakusagi. Seven office buildings in Seoul, Korea were investigated in the first survey, and two buildings from the first survey were selected for analysis in the second survey. One is a building with good maintenance management services but low occupant satisfaction, and the other is an office building with low maintenance management services but high occupant satisfaction.     

CITIZEN RESPONSE TO PROPOSALS FOR METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENTAL INTEGRATION: TOWARD A CONCEPTUAL MODEL

Past studies have attempted to identify the correlates of citizen response to proposals for governmental integration. The inconsistency of the findings of such research indicates the need to formulate a general conceptual model in order to assess the interrelationships among the variables previously considered and to estimate the adequacy of current efforts in order to explain response to governmental integration proposals. Such a general model is formulated and tested using survey data. The inadequacy of the general model used in explaining citizen responses to a proposed type of governmental integration, city-county consolidation, by respondents living in unincorporated areas adjacent to the City of Atlanta, suggests the need for development and inclusion of explanatory variables designed to represent contextual variations specific to a particular metropolitan setting.     

Architectural quality of the productive fa(c)ades integrating photovoltaic and vertical farming systems: Survey among experts in Singapore

Buildings could play a critical role in energy and food production while making high-density cities more resilient. Productive façades (PFs), as flexible and multi-functional systems integrating photovoltaic (PV) and vertical farming (VF) systems, could contribute to transforming buildings and communities from consumers to producers. This study analyses the architectural quality of the developed PF concept drawing on the findings of a web-survey conducted among experts – building professionals in Singapore. The developed design variants are compared with regards to key design aspects such as façade aesthetics, view from the inside, materialisation, ease of operation, functionality and overall architectural quality. The study also compares and discusses the results of the web-survey with the results of a previously conducted door-to-door survey among the potential users – residents of the Housing &; Development Board (HDB) blocks. The findings confirm an overall acceptance of the PF concept and reveal a need for synergetic collaboration between architects/designers and other building professionals. Based on the defined PF design framework and the results of the two surveys, a series of recommendations and improved PF prototypes are proposed for further assessment and implementation in order to foster their scalability from buildings into communities and cities.     

CITIZEN PARTICIPATION AND URBAN ADMINISTRATION: FROM ENEMIES TO ALLIES?

For more than a decade citizen participation and urban administration have been viewed as opposing camps in the city. This essay argues that their traditional enmity may be eroding, to be replaced by an alliance. The essay first traces the history of citizen participation, and then explains how the recent evolution of urban administrators, and citizen groups may have caused both to see increasing advantages in cooperation over confrontation. The essay briefly considers those advantages, as well as some disadvantages, before concluding with a survey of the other symposium articles.     

Urban Heat Management and the Legacy of Redlining

Abstract

Problem, research strategy, and findings: Historical patterns of discrimination and disinvestment have shaped the current landscape of vulnerability to heat in U.S. cities but are not explicitly considered by heat mitigation planning efforts. Drawing upon the equity planning framework and developing a broader conceptualization of what equity means can enhance urban heat management. Here I ask whether areas in Baltimore (MD), Dallas (TX), and Kansas City (MO) targeted for disinvestment in the past through practices like redlining are now more exposed to heat. I compare estimates of land surface temperature (LST) derived from satellite imagery across the four-category rating system used to guide lending practices in cities around the United States, summarize the demographic characteristics of current residents within each of these historical designations using U.S. Census data, and discuss the connection between systematic disinvestment and exposure to heat. LST and air temperatures are not equivalent, which makes it difficult to reconcile existing research on the human health impacts of heat exposure that rely on a sparse network of air temperature monitoring stations with more granular LST data. Areas of these cities that were targeted for systematic disinvestment in the past have higher mean land surface temperatures than those that received more favorable ratings. Poor and minority residents are also overrepresented in formerly redlined areas in each of the three study cities.

Takeaway for practice: By examining areas that have experienced sustained disinvestment, cities may be able to more quickly narrow the focus of heat mitigation planning efforts while furthering social equity. Efforts to mitigate the negative impacts of rising temperatures in U.S. cities must be tailored to the local climate, built environment, and sociodemographic history. Finally, geospatial data sets that document historical policies are useful for centering and redressing current inequalities when viewed through an equity planning lens.