Strategic spatial planning – a missed opportunity to facilitate district heating systems based on excess heat

ABSTRACT

Strategic spatial planning is important for developing long-term visions and strategies towards regional and local sustainability. This paper explores if and how strategic spatial planning could be useful for overcoming some barriers related to new sustainable ways of heating residential areas, using district heating systems based on industrial excess heat. This longitudinal study builds on interviews with municipal and private actors in six Swedish municipalities. It highlights that important barriers can be overcome by influencing the design and location of residential districts and industrial activities. Further, it identifies missed opportunities in local spatial planning practice as stakeholders are involved late in the planning when much is set, leaving little space for stakeholders to have an impact. Consequently, there might be a lack of knowledge and expertise in how such issues could enhance planning. Strategic spatial planning could facilitate conditions for excess heat-based systems of district heating as it implies a broader systems perspective which could enhance a broader planning scope. Plan programs could bring about more strategic spatial planning processes as these require early stakeholder involvement. If taking stakeholder involvement one step further to stakeholder collaboration or co-production, an even broader planning scope would be achieved.     

Toronto Inc? Planning the Competitive City in the New Toronto

This paper analyses recent developments in urban planning in the City of Toronto. A municipality of 2.4 million inhabitants that makes up the inner half of the Greater Toronto Area, the City of Toronto was consolidated from seven municipalities in 1998. Planning practice, discourse, and "vision" in the new City of Toronto are shaped by the city's bid for the 2008 Olympics, related proposals for waterfront redevelopment, and preparations for a new official plan. In the context of comparative debates on trends in local governance, we see current planning strategies in Toronto as one of several strategic sites in which Toronto is consolidated into a "competitive city." Historically, the formation of the competitive city in Toronto must be seen as a result of the impasse of postwar metropolitan planning in the early 1970s, the sociospatial limitations of downtown urban reform politics in the 1970s and 1980s, and the neoliberal restructuring and rescaling of the local state in the 1990s. Theoretically, we draw on the global city research paradigm, regime and regulation theory, and neo-Gramscian urban political theory to suggest that planning the competitive city signals shifts in the sociopolitical alliances, ideological forms, and dominant strategies that regulate global-city formation. These constellations and strategies threaten to reconstitute bourgeois hegemony in Toronto with a series of claims to urbanity.     

Actors,Decisions and Policy Changes in Local Urbanization

Land-use policies have long been recognized as important driving forces of urbanization, but little research has been conducted on the interrelationship of actors, policy decision processes and changes in the built environment. In this paper, we use the advocacy coalition framework to analyse policy decisions that affected the development of the built environment in three Swiss municipalities between 1970 and 2007. We found that all three municipalities experienced the same major policy changes, namely a new definition of the role of urban management (1970s); the adoption of an environment- and problem-oriented approach in land-use planning (1980s) as well as an increased emphasis on public participation and intra-municipal coordination (1990s). Although national laws and actors have shaped the crucial driving forces of urban change, local actors, their coalitions and the local distribution of resources crucially determined these decisions in the study period. Our findings suggest that a stronger focus on local actors, their coalitions and resources could greatly improve our understanding of spatial development processes in Switzerland. For instance, as land ownership turned out to be a crucial resource, Swiss municipalities could benefit from engaging more actively in the land market.     

Reinventing Strategic Planning in Post-socialist Cities: Experiences from Sofia

Recent planning experiences in post-socialist cities indicate a growing interest in strategic spatial planning. In their search for new planning paradigms, municipalities in transition countries have embraced strategic planning as a way to involve the business community and the broader constituency in defining a vision for the future of cities. More importantly, this more proactive approach has created an opportunity for mobilization of funds and political support for urban development thus bridging the resource gap under a regime of fiscal austerity. Drawing on the recent experience of Sofia with strategic spatial planning, the paper outlines the essential characteristics of the process (plan-making) and the product (strategic plan). The research establishes clear links between the process of strategy development, its institutional framework and the hierarchical structure of goals, objectives and actions. It is argued that strategic spatial planning is an efficient tool to manage post-socialist cities.     

URBAN NETWORKS AND GOVERNANCE IN CITY‐REGION PLANNING: STATE‐LED REGION BUILDING IN NANJING CITY‐REGION,CHINA

During the transition towards a more market‐oriented economy and entrepreneurial governance, local authorities have attempted to create new cross‐jurisdiction regional entities to enhance their competitiveness through making city‐region plans or regional strategic plans in China. This article analyses the process of region building in China through a case study of Nanjing city‐region. We argue that region building is a state‐led regional project in China, not a spontaneous process. City‐region planning has played a legitimacy‐seeking role in the construction of new regions. Based on the discourse provided by the city‐region plan, associated city networks are being created as a mechanism for plan implementation and regional coordination. This signals that regional planning is entering the stage of regional institution building. By assessing the capacity of regional institutions, we argue that the newly‐emerged regional institutions or urban networks have facilitated regionalization in terms of the increasing involvement of non‐state actors, the formation of regional coherence and identity and the enhanced inter‐city co‐operation. However, it is still difficult to establish effective regional governance due to competing local governments, the arbitrary political leadership and the fragmented planning functions.     

Finnish municipalities and planning in transition: Empowerment,impulses and strategies

In a complex and turbulent environment, planning should have a different form from planning in a time of stable development. The modes of action of planning are changing with the environment. The main features of changes concerning planning in the Finnish local government crystallize in a shift from government to governance. The focus of this article is on: (a) an evolution of Finnish municipalities; (b) a possible new form of planning according to principles of governance (including empowerment, impulse planning and strategies); and (c) a quest for a new solution for the future in three Finnish municipalities.     

Multiple land use planning for living places and investments spaces

Planning is assessed not only based on its ability to improve the living environment through place making, but also based on its role in facilitating investments in the built environment. This paper approaches the combination of these functions as planning for multiple land use. Contracts, rather than plans, are used to bridge these functions. This concept of multiple land use is used to reflect on the contributions in this special issue on regulation of private sector involvement and property market dynamics in urban development. Questions for further research are raised based on the concepts of legitimacy, effectiveness and efficiency. These questions can also be used to assess current planning practice in which private sector investment and place making are combined.     

Mind the gap: Town planning and Manchester's local railway network: 1947–1996

This article uses Manchester as a case study to explore post‐war relationships in Britain between local rail networks and urban form. During this period, Manchester's rail network has been severely rationalized with only limited investment in new infrastructure, although local services have been underpinned by public subsidy. During the 1950s and 1960s, there was little formal land use planning policy with regard to the rail network, but in the late 1970s strategic policies crystallized which sought to steer major activity generators to nodalities generally well‐served by public transport. However, these policies were undermined in the 1980s by Thatcherite deregulation. The early 1990s has seen more positive trends with the opening of Manchester's light rail line and the development nationally of policies aimed at creating more sustainable urban form through synergy between local rail networks and urban development. But there is evidence of counter‐trends and the whole future of the rail system has been thrown into doubt because of rail privatization. Conclusions are drawn that focus on the need for changes in the institutional arrangements for transport planning and strategic town planning through the creation of a strong regional tier of government, as found in other EU countries.     

城市发展战略规划:透视激烈竞争环境中的地方政府管治

经济全球化和市场化给中国城市的发展营造了一个激烈竞争的环境,地方政府的企业化倾向更加明显,并对外界环境变化做出了种种反应。发展战略规划就是地方政府力图突破传统城市规划的制约,以增强城市竞争力为目标、强化地方发展利益的一种新城市管治方式。章通过城市发展战略规划的研究,分析了其作用以及地方政府在其中的主导角色,透视了在中国经济社会转型期地方政府管治的变化。     

试论乡村聚落体系的规划组织

乡村地理学是人文地理的重要分枝学科,乡村聚落的演化是乡村地理学的重要研究内容。在新的经济、社会发展背景中,乡村的意义与价值正在被重新认识,对其进行合理的规划组织,以形成与区域宏观社会经济背景相匹配的聚落体系,对城乡区域空间的整体协调发展具有重要的现实意义。文章阐述了乡村聚落体系演化理论、规划组织理论。关于乡村聚落体系演化,本文提出了区域空间进程中的四个阶段:农业社会阶段、过渡性阶段、工业化阶段、技术工业和高消费阶段。文章还研究了国际上对乡村聚落体系组织的战略方法,包括职能地域一体化战略、选择性空间封闭战略、乡村城市发展战略。文章结合江苏的有关案例,重点论述了中心镇及中心村选建、设施配置、政策配套等内容,指出:①通过中心镇的建设实现乡镇合并、重组;②通过中心村的建设实现农业空间的集约化经营,推动城市化进程;③通过配套支撑体系来实现对乡村聚落体系优化的引导。提出了中心村选建的主要标准:①区位优势;②联系合理;③规模经济;④节约用地。     

Infrastructuring Public Sector Innovation: Challenging Municipal Work Practices in Copenhagen

Abstract

In a complex and changing field, influenced by globalization, technological development, and increased differentiation and complexity in all parts of society, urban planners are increasingly required to rethink and innovate the way they manage and develop cities. As the contemporary focus on public sector innovation and “liveability” in cities gains momentum, the pressure on planners to re-invent their practices is becoming an interesting focal point for urban studies and raises the question of how research can engage with, and participate in, the development of new urban planning practices. This article reports from the action research project “Create your City”, which intervened in the innovation strategy of the Technical and Environmental Administration of Copenhagen during the period 2011–2013. The article shows how researchers can engage with the contemporary challenges for urban planning by staging interventions that allow planners to imagine the city in new ways, and develop new planning practices in the process. By analysing the infrastructuring of “Create your City”, the article shows how the project contributed to the development of new innovative practices in the administration, and points towards new potentials for scholarly engagement in the field of urban planning.     

Modelling diversity: cultural district policies in Doha and Singapore

ABSTRACT

Over the last twenty years, cities around the world have seen the multiplication of cultural district projects, which aim to concentrate cultural organisations in a circumscribed urban space, or to label a neighbourhood’s cultural scene. This paper examines the adoption and adaptation of a globally circulating cultural policy model as an instrument of urban governance. Moving away from the notion of policy transfer, understood as a neutral and unidirectional process through which successful culture-led development models spread to other contexts, I show how local actors mobilise external references to position themselves in a transnational cultural policymaking field, and construct their city as a model. I compare the multi-scalar politics of urban modelling in Doha and Singapore, where globally circulating culture-led development models have been introduced not only as instruments of economic growth, but also as diversity management tools. On the one hand, cultural districts serve as discursive nation building/branding instruments to project an imagined identity locally and internationally. On the other hand, urban elites can mobilise cultural districts to make strategic shifts in the diversity management discourse, through an engagement with the urban environment, and the co-optation civil society actors at multiple scales.     

Strategic Participatory Planning in Archaeological Management in Greece: The Philippi Management Plan for Nomination to UNESCO’s World Heritage List

Abstract

This paper examines appropriate conditions for effective strategic participatory planning in archaeological heritage management. It is suggested that heritage literature often considers the tangible outcome of strategic participatory planning, the management plan, as an end of the planning process in itself. Drawing from experience in drafting a management plan for the archaeological site of Philippi in Greece, conventional archaeological management in the country is discussed followed by the identi?cation of constraints on and bene?ts from strategic participatory planning. This paper argues that more critical approaches to the actual planning process are necessary for strategic participatory planning to continuously improve as an approach in Greece and elsewhere.     

编制城市生态功能区划的相关思考

本文从生态功能区划的意义出发,对城市生态功能区划编制的工作方法及可应用的理论进行了介绍,并从(1)对城市生态系统的正确认识(2)注意建立可能的生态资源资料库(3)注意寻求城市生态系统可持续发展理想化模型(4)进行科学的生态功能区划(5)制定城市生态功能区建设导则等五方面提出如下观点:城市生态系统是以人的行为为主导,自然环境为依托,资源流动为命脉,社会体制为经络的社会-经济-自然复合生态系统;建立生态环境要素资料库及建立生态因素单因子图层库,是客观、科学编制生态区划的基础;以维持城市可持续发展要求为前提,研究自然生态系统的理想化平台模式和社会经济发展的理想化模型的最佳结合,才能构筑城市生态系统可持续发展理想化模型;以环境问题为导向,以环境安全为原则,以环境合理功能为目标,才能制定科学的生态功能区划;为确保城市生态环境质量的建设要求,保障生态功能区划实施的有效性,制定刚性与弹性相结合的城市生态功能区建设导则是必要的。     

Linking polycentricity concepts to periphery: implications for an integrative Austrian strategic spatial planning practice

This contribution searches for a regional planning conception that allows for a mutual recognition and practical translation between strategies for urban regions and peripheries beyond separate urban and rural categories; taking the Austrian strategic spatial planning context as the example. For this, various notions of polycentricity are discussed and assessed with regard to periphery. The Austrian strategic spatial development concept ÖREK sets out a focused work programme with changing responsibilities and participation of actors. The objectives are targeted and the processes are implementation oriented. Amongst other topics, urban regional issues and peripheral, declining regions are worked on separately. A conceptually integrative, plan-like strategic instrument across the topics and for the whole of Austria is lacking. The ESPON notion of ‘inner peripheries’ is proposed as a complementary concept to the ESDP notion of polycentricity, helping to create a bridge between urban regional and periphery strategies. This has the potential to guide strategic planning practice efforts in Austria towards a yet missing strategic spatial plan for the whole of the country beyond urban and rural categories. Practice relevant conclusions related to the case of Austrian strategic spatial planning are drawn and a need for further, comparative research in a European context is identified.     

基于考古遗址公园的城市文化生态系统研究——以西安市为例

考古遗址公园是大遗址保护与利用的主要形式,不仅具有文化传承的作用,也具有生态、经济方面的功能,已于城市发展密不可分。鉴于分区规划对大遗址的影响,结合考古遗址公园蓬勃发展的现状,本文提出利用西安市域内的5大遗址公园和浐灞生态园构筑围绕西安核心区域的"文化-生态廊道"的规划理念,希冀能够在西安地区形成一条由西向东脉络鲜明的中华民族文化地标线。     

Different typologies of ‘co-working spaces’ and the contemporary dynamics of local economic development in Rome

ABSTRACT

Co-working spaces of different types are emerging as new economic and social intermediaries in the contemporary process of urban regeneration and urban economic growth. Despite their relevance, literature still fails to explore their role in the surrounding local economy. This paper intends to fill that gap, providing empirical evidence from the city of Rome and suggesting new policy perspectives. First, a taxonomy of the different spaces is provided, assessing their role in the related socio-economic ecosystem. Three main typologies have been identified: CWS1 acting as a ‘social incubator’ with an educational role and closer links to local authorities, CWS2 or ‘start-up incubator’ providing economic and technical support to the entrepreneurs-to-be, CWS3 or ‘real estate incubator’ which are mainly a commercial product. Their locational patterns are then discussed, highlighting the planning implication of their settlement in some in-between urban peripheral areas of Rome. Finally, suggestions for the creation of public/private partnerships or ‘social leases’ are proposed, foreseeing the integration of such spaces in the local offer of amenities. The current research paves the way for further discussion on the renewal of cities’ governance tools, processes of urban regeneration and policies tackling the new urban entrepreneurial class.     

Designing a New Civic Economy? On the Emergence and Contradictions of Participatory Experimental Urbanism

Can we remake local economies from scratch – not through political struggle but by design – to solve wicked problems and transform urban governance? Such questions are raised by an emergent trend within urban experimentation that emphasises participation and commoning in designing peer-to-peer provisioning systems through a platform logic. This article deconstructs the discourses animating what we term “participatory experimental urbanism” and reflects on what this might mean for local state restructuring in times of neoliberal austerity. By following its policies and prototypes as they move and mutate across the London Boroughs of Lambeth and Barking & Dagenham, we examine two exemplary initiatives, Open Works and Participatory City, tracing their beginnings in Lambeth's “cooperative council” model and their ongoing assembling into novel public-common-philanthropic partnerships. Foregrounding the contradictions within this latest turn towards urban governance-beyond-the-state, we draw out the implications for the future of social innovation, design-thinking, and the experimental city.     

地方政府管治下城市空间拓展——以广州市为例

改革开放以来的一系列制度变化对地方政府的政府职能和管治手段提出了新的要求,并由此对城市空间拓展产生了深远影响。以广州市为研究对象,探讨了其近十年城市空间拓展与地方政府管治的关系,发现市级政府以行政区划调整为手段、以战略规划为纲领的管治方式主导了城市生产及流通空间的建设;同时,由于各级政府之间利益协调的原因,地方政府管治过程出现了尺度分异,表现为区级政府与房地产市场共同作用下外围地区空间拓展向北低效蔓延的管治失灵现象。通过对政府管治在城市空间构建过程中的作用和成效的探讨,以期对引起人们对中国城市化进程中地方政府管治和城市空间关系的思考。