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High-density Living in Hong Kong from the Perspective of Teenagers
No full textBeing one of the world’s densest cities and the most expensive to buy a home, Hong Kong is infamous for inadequate housing and small living spaces. Living under such crowded conditions is often accused of aggravating stress and social problems. However, the effect of high living density on juveniles remain ambiguous. Using a 2017 survey of secondary school students in Hong Kong, this paper examines residential crowding and satisfaction experienced by juveniles with respect to objective densities of their homes measured by number of persons per room. The results suggest for juveniles in Hong Kong high living densities do not necessarily lead to the perception of crowding. Moreover, residential crowding, if perceived by the juveniles, is not directly translated into dissatisfaction. The variables which explain the residential (dis)satisfaction of juveniles are the composition and ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds of their families. The paper argues that family composition and ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds contribute to juveniles’ varying degrees of tolerance to high living density, which lead to different levels of perceived crowding. The effect of perceived crowding on residential satisfaction is further mediated by the interactions of family members and the overall quality of family life.publishedVersio
Transitional Approach for Enhancing Place-based and Collaborative Policies, towards an Evolutionary Dimension of Cohesion Policy
No full textThe paper proposes a new perspective in the design process of tailored development policies via the innovation boost. Stemming from the current debates on regional diversification together with the emerging role of the city in pursuing local innovation ecosystem, the aim is to explore new development policy configuration in which the evolutionary framework prompts the response of different territories to continuous shocks. The relevance lies in bridging Resilience, as an ongoing process of change rather than a recovery to a (pre-existing or new) stable equilibrium state, with Diversification, as a leverage of regional resilience to absorb shocks, and Evolutionary Theory based on “continuing and progressive change”. In this perspective, the innovative aspect stems from conceiving Transition Management (TM) as a keen strategical approach to translate the combination (Resilience, Diversification, Evolutionary Theory) into policy design and implementation. The paper is a place to present the TREnD project expected to construct a platform on the basis of capturing resilience and evolutionary path as policy design factors to push forward the state-of-the-art of approaches to innovation policy. This paper introduces the background and rationale of the TREnD project, analysing the academia’s discussions on the S3 implementation in EU regions to find the existing gaps in the current EU Cohesion Policy. It then presents the TREnD approach, discussing its objectives, methodology, conceptual framework, and implication. Finally, it draws a brief conclusion and offers suggestions for the upcoming research activities.publishedVersio
Walking in Shanghai : street planning and design based on walkability
No full textIn the process of rapid urbanization, urban traffic emphasizes the development of motorization and neglects the important health effects of non-motorized transportation systems. The impact of automobile traffic on urban ecological environment and walking environment cannot be ignored. This not only causes serious air pollution, but also leads to a decline in the health of residents. Before the car became popular, walking was the most important way for city residents to go out. Residents walk not only to reach their destination, but also to socialize and exercise on the road. Improving the walking environment will enable people to choose more green ways of travel. It allows them to communicate with others while walking, which helps the residents' mental health and enhance community cohesion. This paper explores the importance of walking ability to improve the health of urban residents, and points out that walking cities are an important part of building a healthy city. By studying the practice and design guidelines for improving the walking environment in Europe and the United States, and using Shanghai as a case, explore how to transform an international city into a livable and healthy city. And what are the shortcomings in Shanghai's current street design guidelines.publishedVersio
Rethinking organic waste streams as metabolic drivers for improving urban sustainability and agroecological practices
Get PDFRestoring the nutrient cycles, and assuming their centrality for sustainable management of agro-environmental resources at local level, are key aspects for amending the metabolic rift that has been historically triggered by the emergence of capitalistic socio-spatial organization, and that is currently reproduced and further deepened under neoliberal urbanization processes. This paper aims to explore how organic waste streams can be reorganized and reconnected with urban and periurban agriculture, enabling the proactive role of farmers and food growers in soil nutrient cycling, and reshaping urban metabolism towards more regenerative and resourceful models. In particular, we look at composting practices as meaningful entry points for inquiring the relations between urban metabolism and agroecological practices. The paper builds on some initial insights offered by the case studies of London and Venice, bringing to light which kind of soil nutrition and land management practices are currently prevailing among food growers in these contexts, which connections are established between food production and food waste, to which extent compost from organic waste is valued (and eventually claimed) as an essential asset for nutrient cycling, how access and control on resources can be facilitated and empowered, and finally how the pattern of urban waste streams can be rethought for enabling place-based metabolic ecologies, considering environmental and social justice issues. Unpacking these aspects allows to understand better how metabolic processes are related to (and embedded into) specific practices of labor located in time and place, and to expand the urban metabolism analytical framework in order to move beyond the ‘black box’ effects from which suffer many quantitative approaches strictly focused on material flows.publishedVersio
Suppressing urban creativity: displacement of the art spaces out of the mainstream cultural scene of Istanbul
Get PDFIstanbul’s contemporary cultural scene has been struggling with the displacements of long-establıshed cultural assets due to the applications of top-down urban redevelopment and renewal projects. In particular, the stigmatization of the city’s long-established cultural spaces as a non-profit places and the de-functionalization of their buildings through long-term closures and neglect have appeared as a political strategy of urban policy makers to legitimatize the replacements of public spaces by profit making private spaces. In this paper, as focusing on one recent case of the displacement of the Emek Movie Theatre that has symbolically important place for Turkey’s local cinema scene through the application of urban renewal project, I investigate the reasons that the survival and resistance tactics of the bottom-up agencies failed to evolve planning processes into a communicative and collaborative structure. It is aimed to evaluate the drawbacks of the noncommunicative and non-collaborative governance structure arising in the urban policy scene of Istanbul in the generation of urban creativity. The study will underline the importance of nonmainstream cultural scene in the development of Istanbul’s creative and innovative capacity along with contributing to enhance the status of bottom-up urban players in the public spaces of cities. Thus, it draws an attention towards sustaining urban environments with the vision of innovative and positive nature of bottom-up urban practices, and contributes the debates on how the urban processes in Istanbul are democratized by the participation of bottom-up urban actors in formal planning and urban development processes.publishedVersio
Cooperative bridges: the role of risk perception in construction of resilient communities
Get PDFThis paper discusses the necessity to develop approaches to urban and regional planning and management for climate proof and resilient cities that incorporate the perception of risk associated with climate change. Our paper advocates for seeing community resilience as a process of social learning and highlights how risk perception could play a key role in it, which is crucial for envisioning and learning collectively how to produce more just and resilient socio-ecological urban and regional systems. Public risk perception is usually thought to have overriding importance in community resilience as it plays an important role in shaping community preparedness to risks. Our paper argues that in order to play a relevant role in constructing cities that are resilient to climate change, risk perception should be considered as a socio-cultural construction that embodies citizens’ experience of risk and its associated tensions between frames of crises and frames of change. Through a case study we show how the use of the categories that describe the tensions between the frames of crisis and change can be decisive in the constitution of resilient cities and spaces of learning. We call these categories cooperative bridges and discuss their role in building community resilience
“There is no way of speaking logically about this mess”: The impact of actor-relational dynamics on integrated planning practice
Get PDFThe non-linear complexities of urban development processes exceed the understanding of any individual. Consequently, more actors are entering planning processes for enabling the synergy of multiple knowledges, simultaneously increasing their internal complexities. These complex dynamics contest the everyday planning practice from within, requiring increased awareness of their possible consequences. Planning research has acknowledged that the actor-relational aspects of planning processes are not yet adequately understood, calling for methods to reveal the often-invisible dynamics and their possible effects over time. This research aims at revealing the social complexities of integrated planning processes and recentering the understanding on the actor relational level by focusing on the aspects of knowledge co-creation and process memory development. A practice-based example of the actual actor-relational dynamics is explored with mixed methods and detailed longitudinal data of an actual four-year strategic spatial planning process in the Nordic context. The findings indicate that a range of actor-relational dynamics affects the level of sectoral and scalar integration over time, and social complexities carry an essential role for enabling knowledge co-creation and process memory development within integrated planning practice. Unveiling the actor-relational dynamics is a promising research direction, requiring new methods for bridging research and practice
Urban Planning and Nature: Parametric Modelling as a Tool for the Responsive Greening of Cities
Get PDFUsing advanced parametric computational tools – and considering variables such as the size of urban areas, their population and recommended indicators of amount of green space and its proximity to residents – this paper proposes an approach to simulate optimum urban morphologies based on the application of defined large-scale green planning models such as the green belt, green wedges and hybrid approaches. Parallel patterns of growth and shrinkage have marked cities in the last decades. Furthermore, planning cities for climate-change related events and social transitions is a pressing action. Yet, while there has been an upsurge of research on the beneficial effects of green spaces and their efficient planning and implementation in cities, explorations regarding standardbased spatial simulation and modelling of future green scenarios need further research. This paper first contextualises current processes of urban and landscape transformations. Secondly, it defines the parameters used in the model and assesses the performance of selected green planning models. Finally, it shows how the proposed computational approach could become an effective quantitative tool for improving the processes of envisioning future sustainable and re-natured urban environments
Urban Regeneration and (over) tourism in China: Exploring Alternative Tracks in Suzhou’s Historic Centre
Get PDFThe booming development of cultural tourism in China has a significant impact on historic cities. While offering favorable opportunities for urban regeneration, tourism also poses a direct threat to the quality of life and the authenticity of urban cultures. This paper takes the historic center of Suzhou as an illustrative case to explore how alternative, spatially decentralized and timedistributed forms of tourism can contribute to the long-term and sustainable regeneration of historic cities and benefit local communities. Through conducting a design investigation of Suzhou, this research explores in particular the role of urban planning and design in aligning tourism development and urban regeneration agendas. The exploration reveals that, as opposed to exclusive and reductive city branding practice, a diversification of the tourism offer can multiply the distinctive identities of Suzhou’s historic city and contribute to its regeneration. It also advocates the potential role of urban design as an instrument of exploration and mediation in heritage-led regeneration projects in China.publishedVersio
AESOP 2019 Conference - Book of Papers
Get PDFContemporary cities and territories face significant challenges – natural disasters due to climate change impacts, ecological crises, growing socio-economic unrest, global migration, political rifts including a rise of right wing factions, ambitious public works and mega-projects – all of which require new capacities in dealing with such individual and multiple groupings of such challenging and profound changes.
It is a matter of fact that at international level a discourse if not a condition of transition is pervading sectors and societies. This discourse points to alternative patterns and solutions to many of the challenges faced. A quickly changing scenario requires forms of planning, both locally and globally, which bear the capacity to support and manage mutable urban and environmental conditions. In fact, although cities do incessantly change, policy-makers and institutions are never fully prepared to respond to complex and risky situations, as well as relying on planning and policy tools which are often outdated; in addition, also existing theoretical frameworks, concepts, cognitive abilities and approaches become ineffective or outmoded.
Each unintended or unanticipated change comes as a break to existing social, political, and administrative routines and yet is may be anticipated that mechanisms of collective reflection and action will be generated. The congress invites scholars and practitioners to present and discuss case-studies of cities and projects that have engaged in meeting challenging situations – supporting transitions in urban contexts.
Specifically, it is aimed at offering an understanding of the forms of knowledge, concepts, tools, and skills needed to plan and address transition. Furthermore, it seeks to explore whether (and how) managing such changes has brought any overall reconsideration of the city design model and towards more general institutional reconfigurations.
The book collects all the papers presented at the Aesop Venice 2019 conference. It is articulated in chapters that correspond to the tracks (16) and special sessions proposed (23)