PLANNERS’ ROLE IN CREATING FAMILY‐FRIENDLY COMMUNITIES: ACTION,PARTICIPATION AND RESISTANCE

A national survey of planners conducted with the American Planning Association in 2008 assesses planners’ attitudes about barriers and opportunities to creating more family‐friendly cities. The survey measured the extent to which planners promote the interests of families in zoning, housing, child care, transportation, recreation, urban design. and public participation. Regression analysis shows that communities that have more action on the ground in support of families (e.g., affordable housing, child care, walkable streets) also engage families more in the planning process and include needs of families in site planning and zoning. Action can lead to community resistance, but resistance is lower in cities that have more positive attitudes about families with children. Resistance is higher in communities that are ignorant about how to address family needs, and in communities that specify family‐friendly goals in their comprehensive plans. This research suggests the key to real action is family participation and addressing family needs in site planning and zoning.     

Zoning and the Nouveau Poor

The nouveau poor, women heading households, who have experienced a dramatic shift from middle income to low income status due to divorce, widowhood, or abandonment, and who own their own homes in America's suburban and small towns constitute a demographic group whose housing opportunities are limited by certain restrictive zoning practices.

Outmoded regulations, such as those with restrictive definitions of family and age-restrictive zoning regulations and covenants, deny these families the opportunity to enter into housesharing arrangements or to divide their homes into principal and accessory units. Because of these policies, nouveau poor families may find that they cannot continue to live in the communities that they had sought out as ideal places for raising their children. Although restrictive zoning regulations have generally been upheld by the courts, they have at times been successfully attacked. An understanding of the court decisions and their public policy implications will provide guidance for land use officials so they can respond to the housing needs of the nouveau poor.     

基于科学发展观的区域空间管治策略探讨——以广州从化市为例

由于缺乏深入的分区政策设计与充实的政策内涵,现行管治政策无法完全适应从化市自上而下和自下而上的双重发展诉求。为了实现经济社会发展与资源生态环境保护的双赢,从化市需要以科学发展观为指导,树立区域经济协调发展观念,强调经济发展对可持续发展的重要性,完善经济发展衡量标准和政绩考核机制,以此指导区域空间管治政策的编制与实施。     

Federal Policies to Increase the Mobility of the Elderly and the Handicapped

This article analyzes federal transportation programs and policies aimed at improving the mobility of the elderly and the handicapped. Major transportation programs are found both in the social and human service network and in the transportation planning community. The article considers the actual funding approaches and policy requirements of both sets of programs and identifies the conflicts between program areas and internal to the transportation service community.

The article concludes that although much responsibility may be returned to the states, the federal government will still have a strong role to play. The U.S. Department of Transportation's conflicting policy stances have sent very mixed messages to the social service network about the amount of responsibility transit systems must accept for the transportation needs of clients, especially specific groups like the non-handicapped elderly or the mentally retarded. Therefore DOT must clarify its program and policy directives in order to end the confusion and to allow cooperative and coordinated efforts involving the funds and resources of both program arenas. The social and human service network must act in a positive manner at both the national and state levels to ensure that local agencies receiving transportation funds become involved in cooperative endeavors with other agencies and with transit systems at the local level.     

漳州社区养老公共空间改造设计

随着社会的发展,传统家庭养老模式已不能完全适应现代家庭需求。然而,现阶段社会机构养老设施严重不足,供需矛盾突出,社区养老已成为我国现实可行的养老模式之一。在已建成的社区,大部分缺乏养老设施,或养老设施无法满足现实养老需要。该文通过对漳州市区既有社区的实际调研,分析和总结这些典型社区养老公共空间存在的问题,利用现有社区空间资源结合老年人的需求提出了相应的改造策略。     

Means and Ends. Why Child Support Money is not Used to Meet Housing Costs

In Australia, as in other jurisdictions, recent legislation and policy addressing child support was introduced as a response to child poverty in single-parent families. However, there has been very little research conducted on the question of how child support money is used by sole parents. This paper extends current knowledge by exploring how— and indeed, if—child support money is a useful resource in meeting the housing needs of the children of separated parents. The study reports on the findings arising out of in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 33 parents who received child support money. The impact of child support is often limited by three factors: the amounts paid, the circumstances of its payment (and in particular, unreliable payments), and the values guiding its allocation. The paper argues that ultimately, the benefits of child support are constrained because it is a privatised response to gendered, structural inequalities in housing, care and income following separation and divorce.     

THE NEW PRIVATISM,FEDERALISM, AND THE FUTURE OF URBAN GOVERNANCE: NATIONAL URBAN POLICY IN THE 1980s

Two policies of the Reagan administration threaten the traditional role of cities both as basic elements in the nation's governing structure and as socio-economic communities. The long-standing belief that an important criterion for judging both public and private action is its contribution to the welfare of the city has been abandoned. Under what may be called the New Privatism the existence or creation of any community is now primarily justified by its capacity to serve the locational needs of private firms in a technology-driven national market. To continue Federal development aid to economically declining cities would contribute to inefficiency in the national spatial economy and cannot be justified. The Reagan version of the New Federalism calls for devolving greater power to the state and local levels. For cities, the opposite effect is more likely. The ending or reduction of most federal programs relating to cities and their residents has put many cities in a double bind. They must choose between using scarce local resources to compete with other communities to lure or hold job-generating firms and attempting to meet the needs of large numbers of their citizens who formerly received federal social and welfare aid. Further, much of the national money which is still available for economic development and social needs is now administered by state governments under block grants. States have seldom been responsive to such needs in urban areas. If our assessment of the negative effects of these policies on the viability of cities as governing units is correct, then the question that must be addressed is: what is to replace local government as the primary means for citizens to act collectively below the state level?     

The anti-apartment movement in the U.S. and the role of land use regulations in creating housing segregation

In the U.S., typically, poor and minority households are concentrated in central cities, which are ringed by middle class suburbs which contain a majority of the population of the metropolitan area. The resulting segregation is largely the outcome of public policy and institutional arrangements, rather than the excesses of a free market. Land use regulations have played a central role in creating segregation among the types of housing that are affordable to different income groups. Single family only zoning is a central institution in suburban areas; often multifamily housing is limited to a very tiny portion of the land zoned for housing. Land use policies regarding housing are formulated on a municipal level, in which states have only a minimal role and the federal government has no role. Decentralization of revenue sources and fiscal support for local services, including education, provides incentives for local zoning policies which exclude groups which are viewed as more costly to service, while decentralization of zoning powers make these policies possible. This article describes 1) the basic contours of the housing stock and population distribution in metropolitan areas, 2) the evolution of the single family only policy, and 3) recent efforts to counteract housing segregation patterns, which have had little success. Kenneth K. Baar is a attorney in the Berkeley, California and has a Ph.D. in urban planning. From 1991 to 1993, he was a Fulbright professor at the Budapest University of Economic Sciences. In 1994–95 he was visiting professor in the Urban Planning Department at Columbia University in New York City.     

LAND USE,LOCAL CONTROL,AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: The Child Care Example

ABSTRACT: This paper argues that local land use planning needs to take its share of responsibility for social change in the community. Implicit in granting zoning powers to municipalities by the individual states is a mandate to use those powers in a socially responsible way. In those situations in which communities do not do so, many states are stepping in and responding to the needs of a growing constituency of people who feel that local land use planning is violating, not protecting, their rights to live in the community. Using child care as an example, this paper explores the growing use of state preemption of local control to achieve a socioland use purpose.     

CHALLENGING THE THIRD SECTOR HOUSING APPROACH: The Impact of Federal Policies (1980–1996)

ABSTRACT: Recent third sector housing research contends that community-based housing organizations can successfully balance social and financial objectives by simultaneously involving and building communities while developing and managing long-term affordable housing. This article analyzes the impact of the federal housing policies of the 1980s and 1990s on the ability of community-based housing organizations to meet this “double bottom line” (Bratt et al, 1994). It builds upon Salomon's (1989; 1993) thesis that an increased commercialization and marketization of the nonprofit sector occurred in response to the post-1980 federal social policies by arguing further that such a commercialization threatens the nonprofits' ability to prioritize standards of participation, neighborhood control, community building, and long-term affordability. I argue that federal housing policies need to be more closely allied with these standards in order to ensure their long-term viability.     

Does public ownership of utilities matter for local government water policies?

What differentiates local governments that implement water policies on equity and the environment? Analyzing a 2015 national survey of 1,897 U.S. municipalities, we find municipalities that own their water utilities are more likely to report policies to protect low-income residents from disconnection and implement water resource management. Respondents from 8% of municipalities report protecting residents from disconnection. State economic regulation of municipally owned utilities and Democrat-majority municipal governments are positively associated with local policies to protect low-income households from shutoffs but bear no association with resource management. Both municipal ownership of utilities and state economic regulation may play a role in meeting certain local water policy goals.     

我国建筑学及相关领域养老居住模式综述研究

该文以国内养老研究的检索文献为资料源,从宏观的社会发展层面、中观的城市规划层面以及微观的建筑设计层面,就国内应对老龄化社会的相关研究进展及现存问题进行汇总与剖析,基于对文献的研究和对国家政策的解读,从生态化节能导向下的绿色养老住区,智能化技术支撑下的智慧社区,多元化服务需求下的医养融合,社会化交往背景下的多代居及多代互助社区,提炼出养老居住模式未来的发展动向并给予建设策略,以期为今后养老建设的发展研究提供帮助。     

Housing Homeless People: Local Mobilization of Federal Resources to Fight NIMBYism

Local sentiments are rarely favorable to human service facilities. City governments and neighborhood organizations frequently utilize zoning restrictions to exclude various community facilities, including services and housing for homeless people. This exclusionary phenomenon is commonly referred to as “not‐in‐my‐backyard” or “NIMBYism.” The power of NIMBYism is grounded in the local autonomy afforded municipalities concerning land use policies. However, recent cases suggest that the tradition of local authority over certain types of land uses is being reexamined and, even more frequently, challenged at the extra‐local level. Given this trend, the purpose of this article is to question the assumption that local government will be able to preserve their authority over housing for homeless people. Using a case study of a local zoning battle over a proposed housing development for homeless people, the author argues that recent changes in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s governance over Fair Housing Law enforcement and administration of Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance funding, coupled with the agency’s more aggressive position on housing discrimination, may already have changed the balance of power on this issue. By examining the process by which a non‐profit organization in Albany, New York, was able to reach a settlement with the city concerning a zoning denial by mobilizing federal resources, the author attempts to highlight a possible emerging federal role in facilitating local mobilization against NIMBYism as it applies to housing for homeless individuals.     

Are Public Policies Needed to Level the Playing Field Between Cities And Teams?

The owners of professional sports franchises, once minor players in the manipulation of locational choices to receive subsidies, now routinely anticipate substantial incentive packages from the public sector. Teams demand and receive subsidies because many communities want teams and the leagues dictate the supply of franchises. Periodic disdain over these subsidies and resentment from communities that have lost teams has not produced public policies to balance the interests of team owners and cities. Ironically, the federal laws that have been passed have enhanced the economic power of the leagues. This article explores the impact of the cartel structure of professional team sports and a justification for changing the existing laws. Two different strategies are discussed designed to end the sports subsidy game and thwart the incentives that convince some teams to move from one area to another.     

Poverty Penalty in Urban Water Market in Ghana

Public water companies in many countries in the global south struggle to meet the water needs of their growing urban populations, especially the urban poor. Consequently, the urban poor receive the worse form of water services mostly from unregulated water vendors and pay poverty penalty. Formalising the informal water vendors has only been mentioned in pro-poor water policies, but the reality only reveals policy rhetoric. This paper investigates the persistence of poverty penalty associated with water supply to the urban poor in Ghana from unregulated water vendors. The data used in the study were gathered through interviews with 78 water vendors (i.e. 53 fixed-point vendors and 25 mobile vendors) who were selected from two water-stressed poor urban communities and one poor urban settlement with water supply from the state utility provider. The results indicate that informal water vendors play a very important role in meeting the water needs of the urban poor. However, it was observed that the urban poor households paid a high-poverty premium for relying on these unregulated water vendors for their water needs. The paper concludes that a viable pro-poor water policy must strive to practically integrate the independent small-scale water providers in the urban water market in order to make an impact. Policy tools that can be used to integrate the private vendors into the urban water market and minimise the poverty penalty have been considered in the paper.     

Optimal pricing of public utility service when consumers and producers are spatially diffuse

The demand for public utility services varies temporally as well as spatially. The analysis of the problem of meeting these spatial and temporal variations in system load with optimum plant capacity within the framework of a price determination structure is the objective of this paper. By relying on a mathematical programming model with the objective of maximizing social welfare, the general principles of optimal pricing are derived. No simple cost-based solution proves possible. Price is not set equal to marginal operating cost. Rather the price changes according to the cost and demand conditions.The author is an economist with the federal energy administration. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the policies of the federal energy administration or the views of other federal energy administration staff members.     

Three Fronts of Federal Environmental Policy

Federal environmental policies, as expressed in legislation and agency action, are discussed in terms of three principal dimensions: control of pollution, or “residuals”; evaluation and coordination of federal program impacts on environmental quality; and planning and controlling uses of environmental resources. Particular attention is paid to the gradual incorporation into policy of new concepts concerning causes of environmental problems, new perceptions of what constitutes a “quality” environment, and new methods of environmental management. Current needs include operational criteria for residuals management and environmental resource planning; more flexible tools for neutralizing economic incentives to pollute; policy oriented technology assessment; and increased citizen access to planning processes during generation of and selection among alternatives.     

黄山风景名胜区分区规划研究

分区规划作为协调保护和利用关系的重要手段,是风景名胜区总体规划中的核心内容。以黄山风景名胜区为例,介绍了现状多种分区并存的局面和分区之间的结构,分析了现状分区规划及其实施中存在的问题,再从分区类型、管理政策等方面提出规划改进意见,包括将分区细分为四大类十小类,以及针对具体的人类活动、人工设施和土地利用类型分别制定管理政策,最后提出分区监测的概念,并对监测指标和标准的选择进行了初步探讨。     

The Devil Is in the Definitions

Problem: Traditional American zoning separates land uses, yet many urbanists and contemporary planners argue that bringing mixed use back to the American city is the key to restoring its vibrancy.

Purpose: This article compares the American and the German approaches to regulating land use.

Methods: I derive my conclusions from a review of German federal and local regulatory documents, and interviews I conducted in the German city of Stuttgart.

Results and conclusions: The U.S. zoning approach assumes that each land use district is suitable for only a single type of human activity, such as residential, commercial, or industrial use; whereas in Germany the prevailing principle is that each land use district is suitable for multiple types of activity, and most districts end up in mixed uses. Thus, despite some nominal similarities in the land use categories employed in both countries, the zoning methods are in fact starkly different.

Takeaway for practice: The German zoning system, which commonly mixes the land uses, challenges deeply engrained assumptions that underlie standard U.S. zoning, and it may offer useful alternatives for zoning reform.     

改善老年人的住房与社区环境:规划设计如何应对衰弱与独居的挑战?

需要日常照料的老年人数量正在急速增长。即使老年人自理能力不断减弱并越来越趋向于独居,当代社会的主流选择与政策目标仍着重于协助他们在原先的居所度过晚年。然而现阶段,美国和其他很多国家的住房均未针对日益严峻的老龄化挑战采取应对措施,为居家老年人提供的公共服务与支持相当匮乏。本文基于满足老年人在衰弱过程中的各项需求,从空间和社会的视角系统地检视了社区和住房层面的创新模式,内容包括服务强化型社区、集中照料型社区、全龄型社区,为老人服务型住房组团,小规模代际融合居住型住房,以及交通、输送和通信等方面技术手段的创新。这些对策目前尚未得到广泛应用,但有理由相信这些手段有助于推进居家和社区养老战略目标的实现。规划与设计人员应认识到老年人在生理、感官、认知障碍和独居时面临的挑战,利用设计手段改善公共空间及其连接性。