Analysis of Urban Morphology in Core Towns＇ Neighborhoods of Mexico： Santa Barbara＇s Neighborhood as a Case Study

Cities＇ urban morphology is the result of historic, cultural, political and social processes. The historical cores in Mexican cities have high cultural diversity, which also intermingle pre-Hispanic cultures with colonial forms, as well with modernity and post-modernity irruption. The case study is Santa Barbara＇s neighborhood in Toluca City, which was founded in 1524, and the case study was the first neighborhood in Toluca＇s historical core. At present time, this neighborhood is considered as one of the most dangerous places in the city＇s historical core, therefore, it has been abandoned. This paper will display the changes in urban morphology of the neighborhood through the years from 1877 to 2010. For site evaluation, the methodologies of Ashihara （1982） and Lynch＇s （1961） were used in order to analyze positive and negative spaces, as well as main street visual features, street and avenue directions, street circulation and street circulation path configuration. The results show that the focal nodes are a key factor for economic and social reactivation, with which, through urban activation of vacant lots and the traditional use of the streets as public space, is possible to generate centripetal development to restructure the neighborhood.     

Response of Urban Planning to Climate Change in Rapidly Urbanizing Area: A Case Study of Nanjing

Global climate change is the greatest challenge for the survival of civilization in human history, to which a lot of countries all over the world have taken measures including the administrative and technical approaches in the field of urban planning. However, those approaches are mainly in line with the traditional urban planning principles and methodologies, with weak guidance to practice. Especially for the areas which are undergoing rapid urbanization, it is urgent to work on the critical problem of how to draw up city and regional plans to deal with the challenge of climate change by innovating the existing urban planning principles and methodologies. Taking Nanjing as example, this paper firstly puts forward the strategic principles to deal with the climate change in city master planning, including controlling urbanization speed and restricting disordered urban sprawl, balancing ecological system, protecting green spaces and ecologically fragile areas, enhancing the resilient ability to natural disasters and protecting urban security, and promoting sustainable development, etc., then presents the sustainable and flexible urban planning methods including adaptability assessment on spatial development, identification and delimitation of important ecological protection zones, risk assessment and early warning of disasters, clean pro- duction and energy-saving approaches, etc. It further explores some measures to addressing the issue of climate change that are applied in the new City Master Plan of Nanjing, including ① controlling the sprawl of construction land and protecting the ecological carbon sink spaces in order to weaken the impacts of climate change; ② guaranteeing the safety of ecological pattern and maintaining the balance of the urban eco-system in order to ensure the stability of local micro-climate and livable environment; ③ strengthening the regional flood-prevention in order to weaken the threat of natural disasters caused by climate change; ④ giving priority to public transportation and reducing carbon emissions in order to reduce the impacts of urban activities on the atmosphere.     

Social Participation in the Context of the Urban Public Space Renewal： The Case of Lagarteiro Neighborhood in Oporto

In 1980, Giancarlo de Carlo wrote in the Perspecta： Yale Journal, ＂An Architecture of the Participation＂. Carlo, proposed a sequence of procedures： the problem definition, the solution and the results evaluation, in all the three steps, the social communities should be integrated in as part of a share and dynamic process. This text corresponds to a new way of understanding the importance of the social communities in the architecture definition. From de Carlo＇s text, the main goal of this paper is to present the results of an intervention in public space renewal of the Lagarteiro neighborhood （in Oporto city） and the relation of this process with the participation of the resident population. The urban context of Lagarteiro＇s neighborhood presented before the intervention the typical and classic signs of disqualification of environmental and urban peripheral areas of resettlement. The term ＂disadvantaged areas＂ is associated with these areas in urban or peri-urban case, was framed in a specific Portuguese policy, called Initiative Critical Neighborhoods. Being a recent intervention, the renewal of the public space in Lagarteiro is a complete case study that allows comprehending the participation phenomenon in nowadays, at the same time that seduces a reflexion about technical and architectural solutions for ＂critical＂ neighborhood.     

Study on Emphases and Trend of Tianjin Urban Public Safety Planning from the View of Bohai Rim Megalopolis

Nowadays urban public safety has been an important subject of study in urban planning study. And planners realized that a safe city is very important for sustainable development. Traditional urban public safety planning begins to perfect the contents and method. And regional research is an important aspect in the improvement of new era urban public safety planning. This paper chooses Tianjin, the important city in Bohai rim area as the example for research. Tianjin urban public safety planning includes not only comprehensive disaster prevention and reduction, effectively preventing and reducing disasters, ensuring the safety of the life and property of the residents, but also sharing resources and facilities from the view of megalopolis, eliminating hidden area troubles, reducing whole environment risks and so on.     

Architectural Requirements for Improving Social Interactions in Subway Stations： An Evidence Based Design Approach

Environmental design is concerned with the function of people within an environment and their interactions. Subway stations spaces are important examples of public spaces that are in close connection with the social life of people. Also, the fact that the social interactions and relations between people and city environments are becoming indispensable for subway station space indicates that these spaces play an essential role in urban life. This paper addresses the result of a study conducted by the authors on the influential elements pivotal to the improvement of social interactions in subway stations. The theory of John Lang in Urban design with consideration of social interaction was considered in this study. The objective of the study was to identify the architectural requirements in improving social interaction between people and environment in subway station spaces according to an evidence based design approach. To do so, relevant literature in different disciplines, architecture, urban design, social sustainability and so on, were reviewed Next, the most important environmental factors which contribute to human behavior in public spaces were derived and analyzed. Data of the study were collected via questionnaires filled out by the users of Tehran＇s subway stations. The collected data were analyzed and the architectural elements/requirements for improving social interactions were classified. The results of the study indicate that in the case of architectural requirements, contribution to the improvement of social interactions, design considerations for physical and mental safety, accessibility and lighting are the most important factors.     

Legislation of Urban Planning Public Policy from the Perspective of Legal Boundary: Enlightenment from the Evolution of Planning Laws

The transition of urban-rural planning to public policy has become a common recognition in the planning fi eld. The new challenge is how to combine such a transition with legislation development. This paper reviews the disciplinary development and legislation of urban-rural planning, and analyzes the effects of the public policy transition on law implementation and administrative power from the perspective of the legal boundary. It points out that the defi nition of the legal boundary of urban-rural planning laws is signifi cant for identifying the impact of public policy, ensuring the implementation of regulations on administrative power, and scoping effective urban-rural spaces. It argues that the core of public policy legalization is to establish value judgments for public policy making, to specify authorization and restraint to administrative power, and to reduce confl icts between public policies and governments’ administrative actions in urban-rural spaces. Furthermore, this paper discusses some other relevant issues on how to complete the public policy legalization.     

An Analysis of the Realty Leasing Market in Qianmen and Zhongguancun Areas of Beijing

The urban realty market is very complicated with wide-ranging contents and manyproblems. in the past, we focused our research mainly on the land auction, land rental inbatches, public bidding and the development of mass plots of land in the coastal open cit-ies, while neglecting the research on the real estate leasing and structural readjustment ofurban land use and housing Therefore. we have selected two typical areas in Beijing foron-the -spot investigation. One is Qianmen ——the most prosperous area in Beijingwith all kinds of big, medium-sized and small enterprises of public, collective and privateownership, and with brisk commercial activities and busy real estate leasing business. Theother area is the Zhongguancun ——the key section of the experimental area in Beijing forthe development of new technology and industries. In the past few years there have set upnew and high-tech enterprise groups with multiple subjects, Various categories and acombination of technology, industry and trade, which represent the direction for the de-velopment of science, technology and new productivity. Along with the mass explosivedevelopment of a large number of companies, the structure of the land use in that area haschanged dramatically. the leasing and transaction of the real estate are very active the re,and the rents and prices of land and housing have come up to the highest in Beijing.     

Joining Paths and Dividing Paths： Juiz de Fora, Brazil

The aim of this paper is to present the urban history of Juiz de Fora, a city with some 500,000 inhabitants in southeastern Brazil, and discuss how strategic decisions about the planning and construction of roads and highways can determine ways of life in a city. While paths may integrate landholdings and territories, they may also segregate communities and environments, causing deep rifts in the fabric of urban and land areas. The growth of Juiz de Fora is particularly marked by the construction of paths. This article reviews the local urban history from the establishment of paths in the city, to an analysis of the major impact and benefits they have had, notably on the local economy and demographics, as well as on the conservation of the local environment： Issues that are frequently relegated to a secondary role in the cost-benefit analysis of the city＇s planning decisions. After analysis of the case study, the authors concluded that citizens should be included on the agenda of the city, from spectators to actors of daily urban life.     

Some Empirical Examples of Central Place Model in China

At the beginning of 1980s,the Central Place Theory was introduced into China from the West.The authors ofthis article are the initiators of applying this model to China's urban and regional planning as well as to the allocationof commercial activities.Since the commodity economy has been developing in China for thousands of years,most ofthe areas in eastern plains and inland basins of China show the spatial structure of typical central places scene.Duringsome six years,the authors participated in a lot of rural,urban and regional planning projects in which the spatialphenomena and relevant internal mechanism proved this model and its deformation.This paper gives only a few ex-amples of the application of central place theory in China:1.the distribution of rural markets,the empirical study isbased mainly on the situation in Shengfang town and its vicinal area;2.the spatial combination of urban systems,problems about city allocation in North China are emphasized;3.commercial centers in city and the network,a cru-cial study on commercial centers in city and the network,a crucial study on commercial distribution of themetropolis.Beijing is done by using central place model.     

Urban Utopia and Building Experimentations： The Rural Villages of the Sicilian Latifundium

The colonization of Sicilian latifundium was an attempt of regeneration of the rural areas. It was carried out by Benito Mussolini, called II Duce, who governed Italy by a regime with an absolute and conservative approach for 20 years since 1922. According to this plan, there were some rural villages （with a school, a church, a police station and a doctor＇s surgery） and a number of rural homes, spread in the landscape, that formed one of the most important achievements of the agrarian reform in Italy. The author has been conducting scientific research on this topic for several years. He started with the archive ＂Ente per la Colonizzazione del Latifondo Siciliano＂ （now called Ente Sviluppo Agricolo） to review the original designs and contracts with companies, ledgers and other administrative documents. Lately, he has been reviewing the personal archives of designers involved in the building program, where he has found original drawings, letters, sketches, etc.. He has also conducted some architectonic and technical surveys of the sites. We have to consider that nowadays the mentioned rural villages are a strategic resource for the development of the neighboring areas, as it may become a network for the sustainable tourism and the promotion of the local agro food specialties. On this purpose, the local authority is going to promote some plans for the requalification of these sites. The particular achievement of this article is to show a number of possibilities for the reuse of these places.     

Theory and Countermeasures on Stakeholder Governance in Redevelopment of Urban Villages

While urban villages are combinations of interests of different stakeholders,the redevelopment of urban villages is the benefit rearrangement among these stakeholders,whose target is to create values for all stakeholders and the society effectively.The principle of urban village redevelopment is to meet the multiple requirements of all stakeholders and balance the benefits of the dynamic environment.This paper discusses the utilization of theory of stakeholder governance amid urban village redevelopment.It proposes a "four in one" benefit coordination mechanism from the view of city planning.Some valuable policy suggestions on that are also put forward at last.     

Power,Society,and Living Space: Evolution and Formation Mechanism of Urban Streets in China

Being one of the most important elements of urban public space, streets have contained rich social lives as well as the social and political connotations in Chinese cities with specific local characteristics, while most of them have been long neglected in the researches focusing on grand narratives and center-based perspectives. The paper retrospectively analyzes the evolution process of urban streets in China, dividing it into four critical periods. With the perspective of socio-spatial analysis, the unique formation mechanisms of Chinese urban streets are summarized in different contexts including power system, social domain, and living space, thus to provide references for the exploration of street development mode and revitalization mechanism facing the multiple challenges of globalization, modernity, as well as local social and cultural traditions.     

Reconstructing Social Capital to Promote Urban Redevelopment:A Case of Lianjiao Area in the Pearl River Delta Region

Guangdong Province started the so-called"three olds redevelopment"in 2009,aiming to advance industrial upgrading.Existing literature points out that appropriate distribution of land rent differential among the stakeholders like urban governments,village collectives,and developers is the most important determinant.Employing the theory of urban regime,the paper focuses on the redevelopment process of the Lianjiao Area in the Pearl River Delta region to reveal how the three entities(government,rural community,and developers)interact.It has been found that the local urban government is the main driver which facilitates the positive accumulation of social capital through the supply of redevelopment policy and fi nancial support.Through the reconstruction of trust of villagers and developers,the government gains the rights to coordinate the redevelopment.As the actual landholder,rural villages represent the profi ts of villagers in bargaining with the other two parties.The improvement in infrastructure and the formulation of detailed redevelopment plans increase the land rent differential,encouraging developers’participation in the redevelopment.The three entities form a negotiation-based development alliance and fi nally lead to successful redevelopment.     

Characteristics and Causes of the Spatial Evolution of Urban Villages:A Case Study of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone

Studies on the renovation and governance of urban villages have become the interest of human geography since the 1990s.However up to now,there is little literature focusing on the development patterns and dynamic mechanism of the spatial evolution of urban villages based on the theoretical system of urban spatial structure,and there are few scholars doing analyses on the relationship between urban villages and general urban areas in terms of spatial development.In this paper,Shenzhen,the most representative city of China in terms of urban village development,is taken as a case for exploring the characteristics and modes of the spatial evolution of urban villages.With census data of urban village construction in 1999 and 2004 in terms of built-up area,floor area,and construction intensity,the spatial and temporal evolution of the 91 administrative urban villages in the original Shenzhen Special Economic Zone have been analyzed in comparison with that of Shenzhen’s general urban areas.It is indicated that the spatial evolution of urban villages matches with the general rules of the spatial development of general urban areas in three aspects.First,land expansion is the most remarkable mode of spatial evolution in the early stage of development;second,in the period of rapid development,there is the obvious tendency of "distance-decay" in terms of construction intensity accompanied by some anomalous fluctuations at certain points;third,renewal and redevelopment are carried out gradually in the mature stage of development.However,because of historical and institutional restrictions,the spatial evolution of urban villages shows its unique characteristics in the aspects of original spatial distribution and spatial expansion mode in the period of rapid development,etc.The outcomes of this study would help not only enrich the theoretical study on the evolution mode of urban spatial structure,but also strengthen the administration over urban villages,in particular with the suggestions that the spatial evolution of urban villages as a type of urban space should not be the same as that of general urban areas and its unique characteristics should not be ignored;specific rules should be set up to guide the rational spatial evolution of urban villages according to the economic development of the city,as well as the housing demands of various kinds of residents.     

Wood Preservative Solutions for Creative and Sustainable Bridge Design and Construction

Timber bridges can provide an economical alternative to concrete and steel structures, particularly in rural areas where vehicle traffic is light to moderate. The wooden components of bridges have historically been preserved with either an oil type or waterborne preservative system to protect the wood from decay in order to maintain required performance standards for an extended period of time. The focus of this paper is to describe some of the key preservatives, research and case studies that support use of preserved wood, and some important steps to follow for the appropriate and safe use of preserved wood when the planned application will be in or over aquatic and wetland environments. A wealth of scientific information has been collected and analyzed that clearly suggests the use of preserved wood does not present a significant adverse effect on aquatic and wetland environments. This conclusion is based on two decades of empirical research and case study evaluating the environmental fate and effects of preserved wood, level of migration of contaminates into aquatic and marine environments, and the preserved wood environment. This is particularly true when risks are properly assessed on a project site, the appropriate preservative is selected and the wood is preserved to the Western Wood Preservers Institute＇s BMPs （best management practices）, along with properly installing and maintaining the preserved material. To assist with the assessment process, peer-reviewed risk assessment models for 11 commonly used preservatives have been developed that provide for streamlined data entry by users and allow for evaluation of a structure above and below water. A companion preliminary screening level assessment tool is also available. When these measures are properly utilized engineers, biologists and other responsible officials can be confident that the service life of the preserved wood components will more than likely meet the required performance standards in an environmentally safe manner for up to 50 or more     

城市集水区管理和污染控制

The evolution of human civilization and urbanization has been centered around catchment (watershed, river basins) areas. As evident from the archaeological ruins of the earlier civilizations, the decision makers and planners recognized the importance of catchment areas as the physical planning units for urban development.However, in the post-industrial era, the practice of catchment management has often been ignored. With the increasing industrialization and transport network, the pace of urbanization has gained momentum. The cities,which were earlier created for specific functions and carrying capacities, are increasingly expected to meet the demands of multiple economic activities and growing population. The run-away growth in urbanization without commensurate backup infrastructure for civic amenities has taken its toll through increasing pollution.Pollution and associated problems are, to a great extent, attributable to lack of environmental considerations in planning and management of urban systems. The urban centres are confronted with various kinds of pollution,the nature and extent of which depend on the sources of pollution as well as physiographic conditions such as watershed and airshed. The present proper focuses on water pollution, which has a direct bearing on the urban catchment management. This article gives an introduction to urban catchment management and pollution control.     

David Knafo Tagit Klimor,建筑师和城市规划师,以色列

Design Concept: "Agro-Housing Concept" Combining high-rise apartments with a vertical greenhouse within the same building, the agro-housing concept allows tenants to produce their own food,reducing the need to travel for food and providing a green neighbourhood. The green house is equipped with a drip irrigation system and natural ventilation and heating system and offers a diversity of spaces for the benefit of its inhabitants. Featuring steel facades, this light steel structure will be prefabricated and installed on site.The project has great potential for future development of sustainable communities in urban China.     

加强柬埔寨城乡联系优化城镇布局

The Kingdom of Cambodia has experienced a massive migration of people from rural to urban areas. Cambodia‘s urban population is projected to grow at 3.5 per cent (2001-2005). The capital city, Phnom Penh, has a population ten times the size of the next largest urban area. Because of this, Phnom Penh is experiencing widespread growth in slum and squatter settlements. As a result, pressures on urban infrastructure and services have increased. In December 2003, the Phnom Penh Municipality started Rural-Urban Linkage Programme (RILP) in collaboration with the adjoining Kandal province on experimental basis. Cambodia is seeking for a more balanced network of towns at the moment.     

Practice on Urban Regeneration Planning for Traditional Industrial City of Wuhan

Amid the transitional period of rapid urbanization,Wuhan,as a traditional industrial base for decades,is exploring a regeneration way for its industrial areas,which should be in line with its current development and local characteristics.Taking the urban industrial parks as example,this article summarizes the regeneration modes of the traditional industrial base of Wuhan,and proposes suggestions to the regeneration of old urban industrial areas,as well as the conservation of urban industrial heritages,from the perspective of integral urban development strategy.     

Impact of “We Media” on Public Participation in Urban Planning:A Case Study on the Urban Design of Xuanwu Avenue in Nanjing

From a stakeholder perspective, this paper discusses the positive and negative impacts of “We Media” on public participation in urban planning based on a case study on the public event related to the Urban Design of Xuanwu Avenue in Nanjing. This research draws the following conclusions. Firstly,“We Media” helps to reduce the cost of the bottom-up feedback in the public participation process as it expands information dissemination approaches, and the comprehensiveness and objectiveness of the in...