A primer on the building economics of climate change

Climate change will entail new conditions for the construction industry. Knowledge about the implications of climate change on the built environment will be of the utmost importance to the industry in years to come. A building is a ‘long lasting’ durable asset that is changed over time due to exogenously imposed strains and by actions. The built environment has an expected lifetime varying from 60 to more than 100 years. Hence, the building economics of climate change should be treated within a dynamic analytical framework that explicitly allows for changes in the information sets over time. The building stock of the future consists of the building stock of today and of new construction. In the future, parts of the present building stock will be adapted to changes in the environment, while some parts will be kept as they are. Analysis of how building stock is affected by future climate change should handle this diversity. This can be done through the use of a putty-clay model. Uncertainty of what kind of climate regimes will prevail in the future enhances the profitability of actions that increase future flexibility. Hence, the real option approach to building economics is utilized.     

Comments on “School Integration Policies in Northern Cities”

This study develops a research method of assessing people's satisfaction with housing. Instead of the old approaches which consider in fragmented ways the characteristics of the dwelling, or the neighborhood, or the social environment, the author proposes a systems approach in which various interdependent factors are studied in relation to one another. Using the techniques developed, the relative satisfaction of tenants in public housing projects in certain areas of Canada is identified, analyzed, and discussed.     

Evaluation and management of foreign exchange and revenue risks in China's BOT projects

China is actively investigating ways to introduce project financing, specifically through the build-operate-transfer (BOT) scheme to meet the needs for the country's infrastructure and to be attractive to foreign investors and lenders. The advent of concession agreements, backed by new BOT laws, will be a positive move forward to achieving project-financed infrastructure projects. There are thus opportunities especially in the power sector for foreign investors. However, it is important to identify and manage the unique or critical risks associated with China's BOT projects. This is especially so after policies were introduced in late 1996 when the first state-approved BOT project, the US$650 million 2 × 350 megawatt (MW) coal-fired Laibin B Power Plant (Laibin B), was awarded. They include a competitive tendering process and 100% foreign ownership of the operating company. This paper is based on the findings from an international survey on risk management of BOT projects in developing countries, with emphasis on power projects in China. It discusses specifically the criticality of foreign exchange and revenue risks which include exchange rate and convertibility risk, financial closing risk, dispatch constraint risk and tariff adjustment risk. The measures for mitigating each of these risks are discussed also.     

Business Activities of Not-For-Profit Organizations: Surviving the New Federalism?

All over the country community organizations are starting new community based businesses designed to fight unemployment, generate needed income, or respond to their own growth needs. This article addresses the questions of whether these new approaches can be used to plan and implement economic development efforts, what their political and ideological content is likely to be, what impact they will have on their neighborhoods, and what roles planners can play. The analysis is based on the authors' experiences as planners and technical assistants to such efforts, and on a detailed analysis of case studies.     

Defining and meeting the carbon constraints of the 21st century

The magnitude and implications for the construction industry of reductions in carbon dioxide emissions that will ultimately be required globally and in industrialized countries are critically examined. As a result of the problem of climate change, these reductions are found to be in the region of 80–90% by 2050- much larger than those presently under discussion in national and global political fora. The technological feasibility of buildings with low energy requirements and low carbon emissions suggests that existing technology is capable of delivering reductions in this range. Unfortunately, the progress that is being made at the cutting edge is, with very few exceptions, not carried over into building stocks as a whole. Regulatory, fiscal and market-based policy and strategy mechanisms for improving the performance both of new build and the existing stock are critically examined. The achievement of meaningful reductions will require a coordinated and strategic approach, which makes use of the complementarity between these mechanisms. Regulation alone, in the absence of clear and consistent price signals provided through mechanisms such as carbon taxation, is unlikely to deliver the reductions in carbon emissions that will be needed to stabilize the global atmosphere and climate.

L'ampleur et les implications pour l'industrie de construction des réductions des émissions de dioxyde de carbone qui seront généralement exigées en fin de compte font l'objet d'un examen critque dans les pays industrialisés. Suite au problème des changements de climat, on a trouvé qu'en 2050 ces réductions d'émissions devraient se situer dans une zone de 80 à 90 % - c'est à dire, beaucoup plus grands que celle qu'on trouve dans les discussions et symposiums politiques nationaux et mondiaux. La faisabilité technologique de constructions nécessitant peu d'énergie et à faible émission de carbone suggére que la technologie actuelle est capable d'apporter des solutions à ces réductions. Malheureusement, à de rares exceptions prés, les progrés qui sont faits dans ces domaines de pointe ne sont pas appliqués dans leur totalité au secteur du bâtiment. La politique coordinatrice et fiscale, basée sur le marché ainsi que les mécanismes stratégiques visant à améliorer les performances concernant aussi bien les nouvelles constructions que celles existantes, sont examinés d'une façon critique. L'obtention de réductions significatives exigera une approche coordonnée et stratégique mettant en oeuvre ces deux mécanismes complémentaires. La seule réglementation, en l'absence d'arguments de prix clairs et cohérents comme par exemple la taxation sur l'oxyde de carbone, ne va vraisemblablement pas entrâner les réductions d'émissions de gaz carbonique qui seraient nécessaires afin de stabilizer l'atmosphère et le climat au niveau mondial.     

Peri‐urban informal housing development in Victorian England: the contribution of freehold land societies

Self‐help housing in peri‐urban areas (usually outside municipal boundaries) is a feature, not only of rapidly urbanizing countries now in the South, but was also in Victorian England, where it was often initiated by freehold land societies, created by the Chartist movement in order to expand the franchise. These bodies bought and subdivided land for sale to their members, and laid out roads, using legal powers conferred upon the building societies. The societies made a significant contribution to housing for the urban working class, and preceded the garden city and town planning movement promoted by Liberal politicians. A case study is presented of one successful provincial society, the Ipswich and Suffolk Freehold Land Society.     

Town and Country Planning in England's Northeast Section

Abstract

A SYMPOSIUM OF CURRENT PLANNING THEORY: Planning for America , By GEORGE B. GALLOWAY AND ASSOCIATES. Henry Holt and Co., New York; 713 pages, price $3.

A TEXTBOOK ON SUBDIVISION: Subdivision Regulations: An Analysis of Land Subdivision Control Practices. By HAROLD W. LAUTNER. Public Administration Service; 346 pages, price $3.75.

EMPLOYMENT IN THE REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF RESOURCES: Development of Resources and Stabilization of Employment in the United States. By THE NATIONAL RESOURCES PLANNING BOARD; 409 pages, price $1.20.     

Peter Hall's planning history

Sir Peter Hall passed away at the age of 82 in July 2014. As a leading figure in the fields of planning, geography, urban regeneration, regional studies and transportation, numerous tributes and obituaries have already been published. In this memoir, Associate Editor Rob Freestone draws from his essay in the 2014 book which he co-edited with Mark Tewdwr-Jones and Nicholas Phelps, entitled The Planning Imagination: Peter Hall and the Study of Urban and Regional Planning (2014), to reflect on Peter's approach and contributions to the study of planning history.