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Evidence-based urban developmental: beyond the urban anecdotes : The need of going beyond anecdotal knowledge in urban planning
Get PDFPlanning for Transition – book of proceedings 31; 2Building a sustainable city is a complex task. Planners regularly become trapped in the tension between broad international or national aims for sustainable development and local, negotiated, agreements on what a professional is being asked to deliver. That’s because professional behavior and decision-making are based on service to clients or citizens, with only a very general sense of responsibility for economic and social impact on a wider scale. On top of that, the established development- and construction industries with their traditional professional territories and divisions of labor also limit more holistic ways of working with sustainable urban development (Cooper and Symes 2009).publishedVersio
Urban agriculture and the social role of urbanism: Planning and ethics for communities and territories
Get PDFUN Habitat III and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development have challenged scholars to reappraise the urban environment from the sustainability perspective. The study of urban form (urban morphology), as well as of resources and materials needed for cities to function (urban metabolism) are two specific areas which have potential to assess the urban environment and their projected development. Departing from such contributions this presentation, focus on the contributions of an ongoing research Project (SPLACH – Spatial Planning for Change), which aims to promote a sustainable urban transition of Lisbon Metropolitan Area (LMA), informed on a desirable food-based urbanism, with impact on the improvement of environmental conditions and people’s lives. LMA concentrates about 3 million inhabitants, whom mostly occupy its peripheral residential areas, mostly developed throughout 20th century. Many of these areas gave rise to relevant problems including social isolation and car dependency, while others have witnessed a number of municipal and private initiatives to counteract such issues, including the promotion of urban agriculture. SPLACH Project has surveyed a number of case studies which aim to theorize planning and housing dynamics occurred in LMA while identifying their impacts on territorializing ethical principles grounded on urban agriculture initiatives. Specifically, we will question what specific issues have been identified in SPLACH case studies which deem to provide opportunities to rethink urban planning and urban form towards a more sustainable environment and promote the social role of urban planning.publishedVersio
Steering disruption: a backcasting approach to govern the spatial impacts of the diffusion of automated vehicles in Turin
Get PDFThe diffusion of autonomous vehicles (AVs) is expected to increase rapidly in the next decades and its impacts can be potentially disruptive. To date, scientific literature on AVs mostly focused on technological innovation, safety issues, ethical dilemmas and normative aspects. A growing number of studies also addressed social aspects and potential demand for AVs. While at first less attention has been given to spatial and territorial impacts that AVs will determine, and on the need to govern their diffusion, concerns and literature on these issues are rapidly growing. Assuming the governance of AVs diffusion as a key aspect to limit their possible negative impacts on urban public space, this paper draws on the preliminary results of a research project led by Politecnico di Torino. The project adopts a backasting approach that considers how circulation and parking of AVs should be differently regulated in various parts of the city. The paper highlights how defining future visions of AV regulation for these backcasting exercises raises issues and questions, that are relevant for implementing policies to control AV impacts on urban public spaces.publishedVersio
The significance of urban historical parks to physical activity and public health: A case study in Beijing, China
Get PDFPhysical inactivity is a significant public health problem in cities. There is a growing consensus that physical activity results in a plenty of positive health outcomes. Therefore, finding a way to promote physical activity has the potential to improve public health as well as to control health care costs. More and more studies have proved that green infrastructure strongly affects physical activity carried out in our daily life. Urban parks eagerly visited by city dwellers are believed to promote walking and routine exercise, thus influencing population health. Based on the above assumptions, studies are conducted in three historical parks in Beijing(the Summer Palace, Beihai Park, Xiangshan Park) aiming at determining how well urban historical parks serve and influence public health for local residents, and developing recommendations for urban historical parks management and revitalization. This paper mainly researches 1) park users’ physical activities, 2) community members that parks serve, 3) space size, facilities, historical and cultural atmosphere, attractiveness in parks as well as surrounding environment of the parks. Questionnaire are developed to collect park users’ view of the role that they feel parks play in their physical activity. Semistructured interview are used as complement for collecting information. We conclude that activity undertaken in the park is primarily associated with the land cover structure of the park and its location within the city. And physical activity is significant positive especially in mental health. These findings suggest that urban historical parks play a critical role in facilitating physical activity even beyond the neighborhood, and the needs also arise to conduct active maintenance and spread cultural knowledge to improve the benefits.publishedVersio
Right to the city, human rights, and Canadian cities
No full textThe idea of the right to the city, as conceived by Henri Lefebvre, raises questions of how or whether human rights intersect with cities. Can rights be used to implement Lefebvre’s notion? In Canada, federal and municipal governments are deploying human rights policies in combination with city planning to realize this right to the city. A fundamental question here is whether a difference exists between the right to the city and human rights in the city?publishedVersio
Sense of ownership: Application of Participatory Action Research to a Cultural Ecosystem Valuation Process
No full textDespite the importance of cultural ecosystem services in decision-making processes, the application of an appropriate methodology for valuation of cultural ecosystem services among communities with the same and common cultural values has been underestimated. This has become a challenge for urban planners, social and environmental groups and other stakeholders. Urban development projects have a great impact on ecosystem services that are of fundamental importance to communities. As a growing population demands more space for ambitious urban projects, these demands present substantial challenges to urban ecosystems particularly in areas with crucial environmental, and cultural values. The concept of ecosystem services contributes to a better understanding of the values people attach to nature, based on how they can benefit from the ecosystem services. This provides us with an applicable framework for the investigation into the importance of ecosystem services in human life well-being, enhancing dynamic social and cultural relations as a prominent basis for planning and management. Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) are included in basic categories by presenting some important explanations for the necessity of an ecosystem framework. The values defined as cultural values have been elusive in part due to their complicated characteristics of intangibility and incommensurability in a valuation process. A lack of appropriate methodology and tool for valuation of CES has resulted in underestimating these values in the decision-making procedure. This paper firstly investigates CES and Participatory Action Research (PAR) as a possible valuation tool. Secondly, because of the importance of potential participation within the procedure, it investigates a sense of ownership that might result from PAR. Thus, the process aims to explore why this participatory-based approach can be defined as a reasonable tool for cultural ecosytem valuation by giving local people a greater knowledge of cultural values, and in-depth awareness of the consequences of socio-environmental actions in plannin
The Jericho Gate Project: Planning Challenges and Political Struggles around a Megaproject in the Oldest City in the World
No full textStarting from 1993, after decades of occupation and political conflicts, the Palestinians enjoy some form of local self-government in areas of the West Bank (areas "A"), through elected bodies like municipal councils and the National Government. Those young institutions that are in charge of urban planning, have to deal with a highly complicated set of challenges, with a very modest experience and a legacy of old and inadequate laws. In Jericho, a heritage-rich town in the Jordan Valley, the Palestinian company PADICO has recently proposed a leisureoriented, multi-billionaire, 300 HA mega-project, called Jericho Gate (JG), including tourist and entertainment facilities, villas, hotels, resorts, a sports city, amusement and water parks, malls and other facilities. JG follows a national and regional trends of privately financed new cities that is common in the region (i.e.Rawabi), that are marketed as development and job creators, and as a tool to improve the living conditions of the Palestinians who are struggling for an independent and sovereign country. In this study we will explore and analyze how that project has been received by the different actors, in particular, the local and national government and the local public opinion, how it was presented to the population through the media and how it was debated and finally approved by the official bodies. Despite its glittering architectural envelop and its promise of economic development, the JG project arises a number of questions about the capacity of the local context to benefit from it. Will the municipality, weakened under the state of occupation, be able to handle the needs of the new temporary residents, given its modest resources and capabilities? Will this upper-class oriented project increase socio-spatial fragmentation between wealthy visitors and the local population?publishedVersio
The spatial dimension of the Flemish Covenant of Mayors: A comparative spatial analysis on the transition towards energy neutral municipalities
No full textPrevious research has proven the necessity of an energy transition. More and more local visions on an energy neutral future are being adopted, powered by targets on different policy levels (UN, EU, national and local) and the Covenant of Mayors initiative in Europe. These visions are flanked by a series of concrete actions that should be established by either 2020 or 2030. A comparative analysis of the Sustainable Energy Action Plans (SEAP), submitted within the framework of the Covenant of Mayors, however shows that although the ambitions within these visions are frequently high when setting long term targets for an energy neutral future in 2050, actions on the short term often focus on low-hanging fruit. While these quick wins are necessary towards an energy neutral future, they will not be enough to create a real transition. There seems to be a missing link between ambitious visions and concrete actions. This paper will argue that territorial actions are needed to reach the energy goals and fill in the gap between those first, successful, but relatively easy actions and a full-blown energy transition. Moreover, the general awareness of the importance of spatial planning, of integrating energy goals into every spatial project and connecting different scale levels is often missing. Reducing energy, increasing energy efficiency and increasing renewable energy can all be linked with territorial factors. Furthermore, governance, going beyond government and including private and civil society actors is needed
Public participation in the community planning in China
No full textIn the 1980s, Chinese scholars in the field of planning began to introduce the theory and experience of Western public participation to China, and meanwhile carried out the practices. After 30 years' development, public participation in Chinese planning is involved in macro --, meso --, and micro levels of planning, namely urban comprehensive planning, control detailed planning, and community planning. Furthermore, more and more attention is paid to the micro level community planning.publishedVersio
Responsibilisation in fish habitat rehabilitation and stewardship
Get PDFNeoliberal thought has influenced how government policy is crafted, resulting in a stepping away by government in the implementation of policy solutions, and an ever-growing list of non-state actors enlisted to advance environmental policy agendas. The actions of these non-state actors are positioned as integral to solving environmental policy challenges such as habitat rehabilitation. Drawing on the theory of responsibilisation as a technique of governance this research explores the ways fisheries stewardship policy seeks to mobilise non-state actors to accept responsibility for addressing environmental problems which have previously been the responsibility of the State. Dvora Yanow’s approach to interpretive policy analysis is used to analysis key policy artefacts to identify the discursive strategies used to attribute blame for fish habitat degradation and responsibility for rehabilitation actions in an Australian state. This research uncovers a tension between the attribution of blame for the degradation of fish habitats and attempts to mobilise recreational fishers to take responsibility for remediation action through engaging in voluntary rehabilitation actions. An analysis of the selected texts highlights how recreational fishers are constituted as moral, political and authoritative actors, and by extension responsibilised to ameliorate degraded fish habitats