Industrial ecology and sustainable development—a viewpoint

Industrial Ecology (IE) is a novel approach to achieve sustainable development. It aims to optimize the consumption of natural resources and energy and minimize the generation of waste. Industrial Ecology is the study of the means by which humans maintain a desirable carrying capacity given continued economic, cultural and technological evolution. The concept requires that all industrial systems be viewed not in isolation from surrounding system, but in concert with them. Several examples are discussed to illustrate how this can be achieved.     

Delhi—planning and growth

This paper traces historical and political forces in Delhi's development and reviews the planning approach as implemented there and which is advocated or adopted extensively all over India. The author focuses on the modern period.     

Sense of place: using people’s experiences in relation to a rural landscape to inform spatial planning guidelines

This paper explores the interplay between people and a distinctive rural locality namely Vredefort Dome World Heritage Site, South Africa to inform spatial planning guidelines. A transdisciplinary, qualitative research methodology was followed. First, participants’ experiences in relation to the rural landscape were obtained using photographs, interviews and focus groups. Experiences related to physical and emotional safety, relaxation and tranquillity, hope and curiosity, and relational experiences with people and a divinity emerged. Drawing on these interactional experiences, participants (divided into multi-disciplinary groups) made visual collages of how to maintain the sense of place. Guidelines developed included two-dimensional site planning guidelines: (i) a sense of arrival; (ii) development zones; (iii) conservation zones; (iv) compatible land uses; (v) a low density, spatially dispersed development pattern and (vi) footpaths. Three-dimensional design guidelines included: (i) unity in style with a diversity of detail designs; (ii) restricted buildings sizes; (iii) building heights of maximum two storeys; (iv) specified building materials and (v) prescribed colour codes. The paper contributes to existing sense of place research by proposing an integrated, contextual and participatory approach as a possible way forward to make the sense(s) of place explicit by integrating these in spatial planning guidelines.     

Greening Ahmedabad—creating a resilient Indian city using a green infrastructure approach to investment

Ahmedabad is the commercial centre of the Indian state of Gujarat. With a population of 5.1 million, it is subject to a range of socio-economic and ecological pressures which influence how the city’s landscape is planned. In 2013, the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA) released a second draft of the 3rd Development Plan for the city. This document outlined how the city plans to strategically deliver built infrastructure, as well as, enhance its landscape through green infrastructure (GI). Utilising ecological networks the plan explores the value of integrating landscape projects to facilitate a spatially functional landscape resource base. This paper evaluates the transition from the rhetoric of the Development Plan to delivery. Drawing on commentary from local stakeholders, it reflects on the form that GI is taking, and asks whether projects such as the Sabarmati Riverfront are meeting both the strategic, and more localised socio-environmental needs of the city.     

Customers’ perspectives on a residential development using the laddering method

Residential development is closely related to the question why some people buy in certain residential developments and others do not. The reason is obvious: if the product is not appreciated by consumers they will search for another alternative which will decrease the estimated market share for a specific residential project. The main idea in this study is to increase our understanding of how to design and build more attractive residential developments by evaluating buyers’ needs and preferences. Research concerning the means-end chain theory and the laddering technique has been quite extensive in the food industry but examples in residential development are rare. Laddering interviews were made with respondents who visited open house sales of a tenant-owned apartment on sale. We hypothesize that there exists a difference between bidders and non-bidders regarding their beliefs of functional and psychological consequences and abstract personal values. In our study we did not find any major difference in terminal values, but instrumental values do differ. This is true also for abstract product attributes and functional and psychological consequences. Professional developers and planners were able to use the beliefs of bidders and non-bidders to decide on a re-design of specific locations in the residential development of Frösunda, north of Stockholm, Sweden.     

Urban development,maintenance and conservation: planning in Germany – values in transition

In the history of urban planning, the attitude toward the existing urban fabric, the built heritage, has been subject to a number of changes both in theory and practice. This wide‐ranging article reviews the changing attitudes to the built heritage within Germany’s cities since the nineteenth century. Drawing on contemporary literature and many specific examples of practice, it charts perspectives and priorities which have ranged between neglect and attention, conversion and imitation. Present perspectives in German planning are marked by a growing awareness of future urban shrinkage which is likely to affect urban development policy for sustainability: from expansion to maintenance and regeneration of existing structure and substance.     

Prospects for the Compositions of City Planning System in China——Initiated from the development and puzzlement in modern western city planning

This essay is intended to draw up anoutline for the study of this subject,thougha big one,since the present development ofcity planning in China can provide the neces-     

What’s in a cover image? How to depict planning history

A book’s cover is frequently the first visual element of a book that a reader encounters in a library, bookshop, or—most likely now—on the Internet. Combining the publisher’s usually predetermined logo, typography and layout with an image provided by the volume editor or author, the cover aims to convey multiple meanings. These meanings are particularly important in a field such as planning history, where visuals of the associated disciplines play an important role. Spatial planning and urban design convey multi-faceted ideas through masterplans that are often illustrated with memorable images. Planning history explores these images as part of its approach and needs to pay attention to the ways in which images convey meaning. Taking the example of the selection of the cover image for the Routledge Handbook of Planning History, the article presents how five different types of images addressed specific approaches of the handbook by showcasing cross-cultural exchange, identifying key words and terms of planning history, and using comic strips, games or art work as a means of translating the multiple themes of the book. This short reflective analysis concludes by asking for more investigation of the role of images as part of the changing role of planning in society and the built environment.     

Is Central Place Theory relevant to an understanding of retail provision and planning?

Analysis of shopping facilities in southwest Sydney suggests that there exists a threefold hierarchy of centres. This hierarchy appears to conform to a central place system with a variable k- ratio: the higher order centres follow a k=7 arrangement and the lower order centres a k=3 arrangement. Thus, although the study area is a long-settled part of Sydney, it exhibits some features characteristic of the metropolitan periphery, possibly because communication links to neighbouring areas are limited.     

The 1968 Tehran master plan and the politics of planning development in Iran (1945–1979)

ABSTRACT

This paper traces the relationship between state development policies and planning Tehran’s urban development from 1945 until the 1979 Islamic Revolution. It shows how the geopolitical context of the Cold War, and the political agendas of multilateral and bilateral development agencies (i.e. the World Bank and the Ford Foundation), together with the specific circumstances of the national modernization of Iran, were decisive in shaping the Iranian planning administration and the emergence of a comprehensive master planning approach. Moreover, this study demonstrates the critical role of the Iranian technocratic elite and professional middle class in establishing planning institutions and advocating for a vision of progress and development. The focus here is on the formation of the ‘Plan Organization’ as the first modern planning institution in Iran, and the ways in which this institution played a key role in shaping Iranian expert culture and urban planning practices. By examining the links between national development policies and urban planning, this paper presents how comprehensive master planning emerged as the preferred model for the planning and development of Iranian cities. The focus here is on the design and implementation of Tehran’s 1968 Comprehensive Master Plan.     

Solar energy development and application in Japan—an outsiders assessment

This paper gives an abbreviated account of developments in the application of solar energy in Japan investigated by the author during a study tour of Japan and Australia in April–May 1980. A complete account in Swedish is given in references (1).     

Too complex to be managed? New trends in peri-urbanisation and its planning in Beijing

Taking Beijing as a case study, this paper analyses new trends in peri-urbanisation and the city’s planning responses after 2000 in China. The results of the analysis show that the percentage of temporary migrant residents continues to grow in the peri-urban region and the social inequalities in relation to quality of life between local people and migrants have increased there. In particular, there is a concentration of thousands of young and well-educated migrants in the peri-urban region, resulting in a new kind of urban slum. Sprawling development still dominates Beijing’s fringe. New planning policies related to an urban–rural integration strategy have played a positive role in improving living conditions in rural areas and reducing the social and economic gaps between urban and rural areas in the peri-urban region. However, planning in the peri-urban region is still facing new challenges due to vertically and horizontally fragmented management, growing market forces, and social discrimination caused by the remnants of the hukou mechanism. This suggests that it will not be easy to achieve the planning goal of urban–rural integration and harmony society unless further actions are taken to enhance political capacity of planning system in Beijing. The capacity-building of planning should be facilitated if institutional innovations can be made in arrangements of power, rights, public resources, accountability, and legitimacy in the planning system.