The Liberalization of the Land Market in Spain: The 1998 Reform of Urban Planning Legislation

Against a general climate of liberalization, the Spanish Government has made a concerted effort to bring about a reduction in house prices. A legislative reform in April 1998 has sought to liberalize land and planning, through (a) refining the category of land previously excluded from development to enable residential development to take place, (b) allowing for greater flexibility of land uses and building controls, and (c) reducing administrative controls. This paper discusses the extent to which such reforms are likely to meet their anticipated objectives, resulting in beneficial effects in the land and housing markets, as well as the territorial impact of such reforms from a sustainability perspective.     

当代中国城市低保制度的演进及反思

当代中国城市低保制度从1993年起,经历了初创及试点、正式确立及全面实施、应保尽保、规范管理和全面法制化五个阶段。随着该制度的日益完善和操作程序的不断规范,城市低保制度开创了一种既符合我国国情,又与国际接轨的社会救助新模式,对保障城市困难群众的基本生活、维护城市社会稳定、推动经济体制改革都起到了重大促进作用。城市低保工作呈现出保障人数大体稳定、财政投入逐年增加、保障水平不断提高的态势。该制度面临的困难和问题需要结合国际扶贫的新模式和当前我国的低保工作的实践进行完善和创新。     

当代埃及的城市边缘区问题

本文是对第三世界城市化进程负面影响的个案研究。当代埃及的过度城市化造成了城市边缘区的出现和膨胀,加剧了城市贫困,形成城市二元结构。城市边缘区的政治参与表现为政治冷淡和人民议会选举中畸形的高投票率。城市边缘区卷入了自发性暴力和伊斯兰极端组织发动的政治暴力,直接威胁埃及的政治稳定。因此,从1993年开始,穆巴拉克政权启动“棚户区改造计划”,以从根本上遏制城市边缘区的政治暴力,维护政治稳定。     

Planning for Culture in Urban Australia

This paper offers a selective overview and assessment of cultural planning in urban Australia from the perspective of a cultural geographer. It is argued that in theory cultural planning adopts a fluid and broad definition of culture similar to that used by contemporary cultural geographers. In practice, however, a narrow, material definition of culture is found in cultural plans, and the relations between cultural practices and place are construed unidimensionally.     

城市事件旅游活动的地域差异

城市事件旅游策划形式、类型、内容、强度等多方面都存在着明显的地域差异。城市规模大小、经济发展水平、政治化背景以及旅游竞争力因子等,会对事件旅游的发生、发展产生深刻的影响。     

Urban Planning and Sustainable Development

Following the discourse about sustainable development based on the Brundtland Commission's report and the processes in the UN Committee on Environment and Development, a sustainable urban development would require considerably more ambitious policies than today in order to limit energy consumption, reduce pollution and protect natural areas and arable land. Re-use of urban areas and more effective utilization of building sites is a possible strategy to this end. However, continuous growth in the building stock will make it increasingly difficult to bring urban development in wealthy countries within the frames of what is ecologically sustainable and equitable in a global perspective. Planning for a sustainable urban development must be oriented towards long-term goals and utilize knowledge about the environmental consequences of different solutions, but should not be based solely on means-ends rationality. Rather than aiming at consensus including all stakeholder groups, planning for sustainability should facilitate alliance-building among those population groups who can support the basic equity and environmental values of a sustainable development.     

Teaching Experiential Learning in the Urban Planning Curriculum

The urban and regional planning profession demands the training of practical planners who have some experience with community development, citizen participation modules, and conflict resolution skills. Community outreach in curricula provides needed exposure to practical applications of textbook lessons and exposure to group dynamics, community clients, and complex problems. The recognised need for practical training in any planning curriculum is most often addressed through community outreach-based courses such as planning studios, practicum or in lectures interwoven into seminar courses. The basic structure of all of these classes typically supports teams of students working with a particular community on a specific planning-related activity. These outreach courses, however, pose some of the greatest teaching and learning challenges in the entire curriculum. This paper assesses the challenges and successes in teaching the practicum course and provides insights for others teaching similar courses.     

Challenges to Democracy in Market-Oriented Urban Planning in Norway

Neo-liberal ideas have resulted in a planning practice characterized by an informal phase in which early agreements are reached in closed negotiations between municipal planners and private developers. This challenges norms of legitimacy and accountability found in traditional democratic theories, as well as deliberative planning and network governance theories. Input-based legitimacy may be weakened by the lack of participation as well as by asymmetry in resources available for participation (voice). The representative democracy's (vote) responsiveness to the electorate may be weakened due to the lack of knowledge of the views of those affected, early lock-in to agreements and weak meta-governance due to the lack of adherence to overall plans. Throughput legitimacy is reduced by the lack of transparency, and thus accountability, in the informal phase. Output legitimacy might justify the privileged position of developers if tangible results are achieved. However, lack of participation weakens the quality and long-term lastingness of decisions, and lack of deliberation weakens the acceptability of justifications for those burdened by the decisions. We argue that two different types of reforms are necessary to increase the input legitimacy of planning practices: representative democracy reforms that strengthen the role of politicians and reforms that strengthen the direct participation of stakeholders in planning.     

Establishing a Market-orientated Urban Planning System after State Socialism: The Case of Tallinn

The article examines the development of the urban planning system in Tallinn from 1991, when Estonia re-established its independence from the Soviet Union, until 2004. The planning laws and planning documents are analysed from the point of view of what kind of tools they provide for the public authority to intervene in urban development. It is argued that a liberal ad hoc urban planning that was established in the early 1990s is currently gradually being replaced by a more regulatory system where the rights of landowners are increasingly yet not always comprehensively defined in advance. Nonetheless, despite the recent revival of planning, the market still primarily dictates Tallinn's urban development.     

汉代城市规划及城市内部结构

汉代城市有着它固有的城建导向或指导思想。这突出地表现在泣重地理环境、强调庄严重威、流行神学思想三个方面。且各级城市的建设有着较严格的等级规定。本文在中心城市的内部结构中,论列了宫殿区、商业区、居宅区、文化区的分布及其特点,欲对汉代的中心城市作一较完整的勾勒。     

Urban geo-archaeology in medieval alzira (Prov. Valencia,Spain)

Alzira is situated in a cut-off meander loop of the Rio Júcar. Geo-archaeological study shows that the Islamic city wall was built during the second quarter of the 11th century AD, at a time when the river had a low-amplitude and low-energy flood regime. After mid-century, overbank silts began to invade the city as peak flood discharge increased, with a spate of destructive floods reflected by high-energy deposits during the late 11th century. Urban expansion within the city wall is dated to the later 11th or early 12th century, interrupted by local abandonment and moderate-energy flood silts. Major construction during the mid-12th century was followed by protracted abandonment (after a siege in AD 1171?) and further, moderate-energy flood silts that redistributed occupation and collapse debris. Reoccupation, during the late 14th century, was terminated by catastrophic floods in 1517 and 1571, after which much of the western end of Alzira was not rebuilt. Following further flood catastrophes during the 17th century, parts of the central walled city remained abandoned until the 19th century. with new occupation atop flood sands of yet another disaster in 1864. The change in flood regime after 1150 was a result of deforestation of the watershed, but progradation of a downstream tributary fan after 1517 created an unstable, aggrading floodplain increasingly prone to severe flooding. Climatic anomalies were responsible for periods of recurrent severe floods, archaeologically verified during the 11th and 12th centuries, and historically documented, beginning in 1318. The geo-archaeological methodology illuminates the constructional and settlement history of Alzira, allows distinction of fluvial and cultural components, and provides the necessary microstratigraphic detail and dating control to document the true complexity of alluvial processes during the last 1000 years.     

Outside the Walls: Urban Gated Communities and their Regulation within the British Planning System

Gated communities are residential developments where access is restricted and public spaces are privatized. They have potential impacts on their surrounding neighbourhoods such as threatening safety, restricting access, and perpetuating social inequality. Although there is an academic and public policy debate in the US, there has been little attention focused on gated communities in Britain. This article looks at how the British planning system deals with this issue by comparing development control of gated communities in two boroughs of London. The conclusion is that the planning system does not adequately consider the impacts of gated communities and specific policies are needed.     

Closed Condominiums as Urban Fragments of the Contemporary City

Contemporary cities have witnessed the emergence of new real-estate products in which gated communities and closed condominiums (CCs) can be included. The proliferation of these urban products is worldwide, with similar patterns that are analysed in this paper according to five perspectives of analysis: physical, economic, social, political and cultural. These perspectives cross-cut some of the main issues of discussion of the contemporary urban debate associated with private residential developments. These developments seem to appeal to an increasing number of social groups and have been able to adapt to different planning systems. With a smaller scale, these developments emerged in Portugal in the form of CCs, and are analysed in a case study in Greater Oporto. The purpose of this paper is to present the Portuguese singularities of this phenomenon in comparison with the worldwide dimension. In our case study we find some important particularities strongly associated with the Portuguese planning system. Some of these particularities have negative impacts on the surrounding urban landscape. As a result, CCs demand specific planning policies to counteract the negative consequences they are likely to generate in local social and urban fabrics. In the absence of these policies, CCs, as well as other private residential developments, are likely to contribute further to an increasingly fragmented and divided urban landscape.     

Market Actors' Views on Urban Family Living: Informing Urban Planning and Place Marketing in Preparation for Urban Transitions

Cities want to attract young families as residents instead of losing them to the suburbs. This asks for profound and specific understanding of the housing-related needs and expectations of those families desiring urban living. The article presents and discusses these needs and expectations, focussing on social and environmental issues, as seen by different market actors with regard to a major urban transition area in Basel, Switzerland, a typical middle-sized western European city. We used the exploration parcours technique, which allows for what is called “information acceleration” including an in-depth encounter with different scenarios of urban design before responding to a questionnaire on urban family living (N?=?80). The results indicate that housing suppliers underestimate young families' demand for participation, for the recognition of children's needs, and, to a large extent, for high environmental standards.     

An Empirical Enquiry into the Impact of Urban Planning Policy on Urban Growth

Recent research has stressed the need to evaluate the economic implications of urban planning policy. In this article, we present empirical evidence on the impact of this policy on the population growth of towns and cities. A simple theoretical model serves to highlight the mechanisms whereby this policy may affect urban growth. The model yields a reduced-form equation which we estimate for the towns and cities of Andalusia (Spain). The empirical model strongly supports the claim that urban planning policy considerably affects urban growth and thus, the distribution of population across space. Our results suggest that urban planning policy is contributing to the reduction of diseconomies of agglomeration in larger cities. On the negative side, we find that urban plans are subject to obsolescence, which slows down growth.     

《考工记》营国制度与中原地区古代都城布局规划的演变

<考工记>营国制度的产生,标志着中国古代都城布局规划理论体系的正式形成.以这一理论为标尺,可将中原地区古代都城布局演变划分为四个阶段.分析考察可知,<考工记>营国制度在当时的历史背景下,只是儒家描绘的一幅"理想王都"的美妙蓝图,只有在统一的封建社会盛世,才有可能将这幅蓝图变为现实.     

解放后北京城市住宅的规划与建设

解放后,新中国的首都面临着只有安居才能乐业的巨大挑战,中共北京市委和市政府坚持为生产服务、为中央服务、为劳动人民服务的方针,在百废待兴和建设新首都的前提下,逐步解决城市居民的住宅问题。改革开放以来,围绕着北京住宅的规划和建设,北京市委和市政府采取了成片开发与危旧房改造并举、房改与改善住房条件并举、市场运作与宏观调控相结合等项措施,使北京在进入新世纪的时候,以城市居民人均17 62平方米的住房面积而达到小康水平。北京作为历史古都、文化名城和新中国的首都,其住宅建设应有其历史的继承性和创新性。     

Flexibility in Planning and the Consequences for Public-value Capturing in UK,Spain and the Netherlands

In the 1960s, flexibility was often seen in planning literature as a negative feature, whereas today it is perceived by planners and policy-makers as a positive asset to cope with the challenges of growing complexity, opportunism and diversity in cities. The discussion seems to rest between two approaches. While planning should be flexible to facilitate a non-linear and multi-layered decision-making system, implementation should not be too flexible as the public sector might lose the controlling power and the private sector might gain increasing influence in urban development. This paper uses empirical data from case-based research on British, Spanish and Dutch urban regeneration projects, and provides an analysis of the effects of an important feature of flexibility on public-value capturing. Public-value capturing is the level at which public bodies manage to make developers pay for public infrastructure—infrastructure provision, public roads and space, public facilities and buildings, affordable and social housing—and eventually capture part of the economic value increase. This important aspect of flexibility is the level of certainty about future development possibilities before negotiations between developers and local planning bodies take place.