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Characteristic towns - three levels of link and dialogue between Europe and China
No full textBook of proceedings: Annual AESOP Congress, Spaces of Dialog for Places of Dignity, Lisbon, 11-14th July, 2017There are many scenic, distinctive characteristic towns in Europe, such as Cordoba, Cuenca, Portofino, Kema and so on. They are famous tourist attractions, visitors often linger there. China's town plans and constructions often refer to European towns. Recently, China issued "The Notice of Fostering Characteristic Towns", which decided to carry out nationwide characteristic towns' cultivation work, it plans to cultivate about 1000 characteristic towns before 2020, China also identified 127 national characteristic towns for the first batch. This article takes the characteristic towns as the research object, and takes the field research, cases comparison and the policy analysis as the research methods, thinks the characteristic towns forms the link between Europe and China in 3 levels. It referred to Europe towns a lot in China's town plans and constructions, especially in the layout forms and architectural styles. For example, the Shannan town in Hangzhou city determines to build "China's Greenwich Town". These learning, imitation and reference form the first level of the link and dialogue between Europe and China. The Chinese governments support the development of characteristic towns by providing a number of favorable policies, which achieved remarkable results. Policy supporting comes from both local and national governments, such as local governments give Land use indicators and tax reliefs, the national government gives special funds and so on. This paper argues that this approach deserved to be promoted, European countries and local governments can also introduce similar incentive policies to promote the further development of the characteristic towns. This promotion of support policies will form the second level of the link and dialogue between Europe and China. This article prospects that Europe and China will achieve the third level of link and dialogue by promoting enterprise cooperation, such as European enterprises go to China to lead the construction of characteristic towns, Chinese enterprises go to Europe to lead the construction characteristic towns. This may create a win-win situation. These three levels of link and dialogue upgrade gradually and interact with the process, containing good social and economic benefits. They deserve attentions and active treatments.Published versio
Strengthening the culture of resilience in urban space vulnerable to recurrent unfavourable climatic phenomena – experience exchange aimed at solutions
No full textBook of proceedings: Annual AESOP Congress, Spaces of Dialog for Places of Dignity, Lisbon, 11-14th July, 2017The city of Petrópolis, situated in the serrana region of Rio de Janeiro State, is no exception to the rule when it comes to the population growth observed in most cities, and mainly in Brazil, where the urbanization rate today has reached around 80%. The phenomenon of urban growth is set against an absence of improvements in infrastructure that is detrimental to the quality of life of the citizens. Moreover, this has not even been the object of public policies aimed at avoiding the negative impacts on natural resources. On the contrary, these are becoming scarce due to the disorderly nature of the urban expansion on the periphery (Baptista and Calijuri, 2007). This phenomenon is also present in the city of Amadora, situated in the large metropolitan area of Lisbon. It is the fourth most populated city in Portugal. In the 60s, Amadora changed from being an industrial and residential suburb to a suburban city. As a consequence, the population flow and its concentration in the territory of Amadora – as well as in the surrounding area – have led to high pressure on urban space, the public services, and, of course, the organizations and institutions in charge of administering them. This condition configures a crisis of urban growth (Nunes, 2012). Although the cities present specificities in their formation and urban layout, the cultures coexist and feel the same socio-environmental impacts attributed to urban densification, aggravated by climate change, which, as a consequence, generate natural catastrophes. In their search for solutions and alternatives, we have adhered to the U.N. international campaign, Constructing Resilient Cities 2010-2015, which addresses issues of local governance and proposes development of assets of good practices that would make all communities more resilient after facing disaster situations.Published versio
The urban-ruran relationship and its development tendency based on the phenomenon of pseudo counterurbanization - taking Wuhan as an example
No full textBook of proceedings: Annual AESOP Congress, Spaces of Dialog for Places of Dignity, Lisbon, 11-14th July, 2017Urbanization is, with the development of social productive forces, the process of promoting the rural population’s migration in urban areas, causing changes in the social and economic space, and making closer sharing relations of public services. In this process, the urban area and the rural area are the two poles of the flowing of elements such as population, economy, and service, and is an important geographical space carrier in urbanization. Therefore, the judgment of the urban-rural relations has an important role of explanation and prediction for the cognition of the characteristics and connotation of urbanization development. And different development stages of urbanization are accompanied by different economic and social development levels, industrial divisions and institutional changes, and then show the corresponding urban-rural relations characteristics, forms, and functions. Therefore, so the prejudgment for the development trend of urban-rural relations is also an important basis for formulating the future urbanization development strategies.Published versio
New mechanisms of intervention in the existing city: requalifying through degrowth. Objective: a resilient city through a circular urban planning
No full textBook of proceedings: Annual AESOP Congress, Spaces of Dialog for Places of Dignity, Lisbon, 11-14th July, 2017It is becoming widely accepted that the future of urban planning and the place of the satisfaction of our needs in our cities, will be based on urban redeveloping and regeneration, instead of continuing with the unlimited consumption of virgin land. Therefore, the challenge is to qualify and intervene on the existing city, otherwise we run the risk of incurring into greater inefficiencies and resources shortages. Hereby, urban qualification is understood as a model of efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability. Once it is accepted the goal of effective intervention on the city, we must confront the systemic problem which concerns urban planning: the practical impossibility of intervention in the consolidated city, except by injecting public money (that we don’t hace, and will not have) or by programming artificial re-densification. Both procedures cannot be considered as feasible methods. While the city is still growing and consuming large quantities of virgin land, there are no opportunities to generate the added value needed so that the existing city can reinitiate the redeveloping process. Therefore, we must catalyse urban redeveloping by limiting expansion and generating value. Reducing urban growth does not only diminish the ecological footprint, but it generates an increase in value in the already altered land, that facilitates the regeneration of the existing city. Concentration of value through physical net degrowth that generates net value growth. In other words, this approach provides a new mechanism to intervene in the existing city: active and programmed urban degrowth acts as a generator of value and as a redeveloping catalyst. This land use approach is the first step towards resilience and circular urban planning (brand new concept provided in this paper, as the closure of life cycle in land use). As a matter of fact, resilience can never be fully achieved if mechanisms that facilitate urban degrowth are not effectively implemented. Degrowth is itself resilient: In fact, the response of degrowth should be viewed as the most resilient of all. The background is the theory of the circular economy and the philosophy of cradle to cradle: waste should be understood as a food of a new parallel process. Garbage is food, as well as degrowth generates value.Published versio
Levels and scope of participated projects: case studies in the Portuguese context
No full textBook of proceedings: Annual AESOP Congress, Spaces of Dialog for Places of Dignity, Lisbon, 11-14th July, 2017In Portugal, there has been a growing concern, in recent years, about the participation of citizens in architectural and political decisions. The ineffectiveness of the traditional processes of participation of the democratic system proves incapable of responding to the contemporary problems of the citizens. In parallel it has been seen in recent years the deepening of the economic and financial crisis of 2007/2008, which, in Portugal, led to a sharp rise in the levels of unemployment in the architecture market. The lack of commissioning of building projects and plans, that had previously generated work, led to new concepts and approaches in particular in newly formed architects. On the one hand, there have been numerous collectives of architects motivated by issues related to political intervention and dynamics of social and territorial innovation. On the other hand, political decision-makers implemented new participatory instruments to support decision, such as Orçamento Participativo (Participatory Budget). This program has been implemented widely among municipalities in Portugal. Citizens' participation in project decisions is a recurring theme in the 1960s and 1970s, which reappears with a new configuration at the beginning of the XXI century. These days are marked by years of economic crisis and the universe of facilitated circulation of information in a wide network system accessed by a large number of citizens. However, some questions arise concerning the levels and scope of participation. Since a conventional project involves a certain level of involvement of decision-makers, architects and users (Carlo, 2010), two questions arise: how can we now achieve a higher level of participation and involvement of stakeholders (citizens, Architects, policymakers) in the project? How can we achieve areal bottom-up procedure, in which context problems find the best formal solution (Alexander, 1964), during a process implemented in most cases by groups of architects outside the community of citizens for whom they work? Starting from a reflection on SAAL, a housing program promoted by the Central Government in the post-revolution period of April 1974, research is carried out through the assessment of the participation level (Arnstein, 1969) of referred participatedPublished versio
ID 1607 | Internet+ urbanization in less-developed areas - case study on Taobao towns and villages in China
No full textBook of proceedings: Annual AESOP Congress, Spaces of Dialog for Places of Dignity, Lisbon, 11-14th July, 2017Nowadays more than 50% of the world population has already been in urban areas and the rate of global urbanization are expected to be more than 70% in the next four decades, with about 90% of the urban expansion occurring in the developing countries. As a result, New Urban Agenda-Habitat III and other influential urban conferences have led to pay more attention to a better urban life. However, the development of rural areas should be emphasized as well. On one hand, although the proportion of rural areas is declining, they have their significance of existence, such as the supplies of food or other products, rural culture, etc. On the other hand, although there seems be a wide gap between urban and rural areas, they still have their characteristic advantages which provides more possibilities for their dignified development. The Chinese strategy to deal with the relationship between urban and rural development is called Integrated Urban-Rural Development. Its specific performance covers all kinds of fields, such as accessibility of traffic system, same standards of infrastructure and public service facilities in urban and rural areas, what’s more, realize rural areas, etc., which could reduce the distance between urban and coordinated development and mutual progress. Smart rural development will be a tendency in China even around the world and will be a new symbol to measure the levels of urban development. So, Integrated Urban-Rural Development is so meaningful to provide a strong basis for the smart rural development. Zhejiang Province and Jiangsu Province are two good examples to practice Integrated Urban-Rural Development, whose towns and villages are much wealthier relatively.Published versio
Analyzing a global sense of place by using cognitive maps: a study of Afghan immigrant women in Auckland
No full textBook of proceedings: Annual AESOP Congress, Spaces of Dialog for Places of Dignity, Lisbon, 11-14th July, 2017Sense of place, according to the literature (Hummon, 1986; Lewicka, 2008; Proshansky et al., 1976; Raymond et al., 2010; Relph, 1976; 1997; Tuan, 1980; 1975), is the characteristic and meaning of a place derived from the experiences that people as individuals or within a group have in the place. Places are, therefore, spatial settings which gain specific characters from people’s experiences in a particular time. Places are conceived and sensed “in a chiaroscuro of setting, landscape, ritual, routine, other people, personal experiences, care and concern for home, and in the context of other places” (Relph, 1976, p.29). Globalization is widely argued as the process of economic, political and socio-cultural change since it has been associated with worldwide flows of migration and mobility (Berner, 1997; Castells, 1991; Massey & Jess, 2003 [1995]; Pile et al., 1999; Pries, 1999; Steger, 2003). Cities are not excluded from this global change. Their meanings and identities constantly change according to the different experiences of different people over time. This paper explores the meanings of places in the global city of Auckland according to everyday life experiences of Afghan immigrant women who live in Auckland. In order to discuss the meanings of different places for Afghan immigrant women in Auckland, firstly, I provide an overview of the meaning of everyday life experience in relation to the developing sense of place in the era of globalization. Then, along with offering a critique of the essentialist approach to the place and its meaning in the globalization era, this paper suggests cognitive mapping as a method to explore the meanings of the place in the global city. This paper discusses the findings of the fieldwork study that I undertook for my PhD research project in Auckland from 2014 and 2015. This fieldwork study was on eight Afghan immigrant women from two generations of immigration (1st and 1.5 generation) who live in Auckland. By focussing on cognitive maps which were drawn by these women, this paper, finally shows how these Afghan women conceive, perceive, use, and present different places in the global city of Auckland. As a concluding mark, I suggest that cognitive mapping can be applied as a method compatible with the fluidity of everyday life experiences of different groups of people, especially groups of minority, in the place of majority of global cities like Auckland.Published versio
The learning experience of transport planners : an international survey
No full textBook of proceedings: Annual AESOP Congress, Spaces of Dialog for Places of Dignity, Lisbon, 11-14th July, 2017The call to advance the quality of higher education should be a constant priority for academic institutions in response to the changing needs of the professions. This is particular true for transport planning, a discipline that is experiencing rapid and on-going changes due to the emerging environmental, economic, security-related and social issues that mobility is becoming increasingly more associated with. Indeed, academic institutions are faced with the challenge of ensuring that transport planning courses address the growing complexity of urban challenges (Zuylen 2000; Ramsden 2003). Transport planning courses are typically offered in urban and regional planning or engineering departments although, in some instances, they are also offered in other institutions such as tourism, business, public policy, social science and urban studies departments. A number of studies have provided national overviews of transport planning education, such as in Australia (Mateo-Babiano et al., 2013), Switzerland (Kaspar, 1982), Canada (Ruppenthal, 1998) and USA (Krizek and Levinson, 2005). These studies have adopted different research methodologies and slightly different research questions. In any case, in these studies, it has been identified a general preference for multidisciplinary and holistic transport planning courses (see as well van Zuylen, 2000 and Ferreira et al, 2013, who confirm the same trend). In the ‘60s and ‘70s the rational technical planning model influenced the field of transport planning which led to the delivery of a technical-oriented transport-planning curriculum. With the introduction of communicative planning in the ’80s and ‘90s, planning pedagogy was revised to capture its thrust towards policy-orientation and towards the facilitation of communicative planning processes (Handy et al 2002). This had important implications in a number of transport planning courses, which have reflected this new trend.Published versio
The spectacularization of the urban space for tourism in Brazil and its contradictions
No full textBook of proceedings: Annual AESOP Congress, Spaces of Dialog for Places of Dignity, Lisbon, 11-14th July, 2017The third industrial revolution based on the interaction of microelectronics with computers and the consequent collapse of the Fordism model of mass production led the major western economies to rethink their models of accumulation. As a consequence, the capitalist system, unable to continue the process of accumulation in the actual productive base, has been seeking other mechanisms of recovery. Among these is the tertiary sector, where tourism is an important activity for growth resumption. This has implied an increasing capital investment in physical infrastructure to support the production, circulation and consumption of goods and services. In this sense, starting in the 1970s, many cities in the world started to invest in reinventing their urban spaces. Under the logic of commodities (MARX, 1983), spaces are reinvented and facilities are built to give life and to promote the development of tourism. In Brazil, the State and its partners have been investing in the revitalization of architectural structures and in the reinvention of the urban landscape in favor of tourism, in the last three decades. In Fortaleza, state of Ceará, shortly after the announcement that Brazil would host the 2014 World Cup, the authorities announced a package of initiatives: the reform of the Maritime Terminal of passengers in the Port of Fortaleza and Castelão Stadium, the revamping and expansion of Pinto Martins International Airport and the works of urban mobility, mainly the Light Vehicle on Rails (VLT), which is the focus of this paper. This article aims to investigate the contradictions of the recent projects of embellishment (DEBORD, 1997) of urban spaces in the city of Fortaleza, specifically those called "World Cup Works” and their purported promise to revitalize the tourism infrastructure in the city through the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC).Published versio
Interest at stake: a non-substantial reading of community
No full textBook of proceedings: Annual AESOP Congress, Spaces of Dialog for Places of Dignity, Lisbon, 11-14th July, 2017Talking about community is becoming more and more dangerous, and the reason for this danger is quite simple: the concept of community seems to resonate with the post-political warning emerging from ourtimes (Ziziek, 2003). In a post-political perspective, a community is an assemble of individuals who share – more or less explicitly and overtly – a so called “commonality” which can be variously stated: a place, a purpose, a cultural feature, a context, a practice. Thanks to this commonality we can find a certain degree of homogeneity among those individuals, and thanks to this homogeneity we can find a certain degree of compliance through which we can define, or even predict, their actions. What we lose in this frame is the political dimension of community as «the unavoidable challenge of negotiating a here-and-now» (Massey 2014: 140), washed away and reduced to a mere contractual dispute on supply services and management. The (non-obvious) happy end is widely known: government becomes governance, politics becomes administration, class struggle becomes a neighbours’ scuffle and, consequently, the space of resistance leaves room for the end of history to unfold (Fukuyama, 2003). The underlying utopia is the emergence of self-regulating subjects who are able to recognize, despite their different interests and needs, the best of all possible worlds: a world where efficiency is simply more advisable. Following this path, it is worth to wonder how we can regain a proper political dimension of the concept of community.Published versio