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The notion of sociotechnical system in the planning process of a Smart Region
No full textPlanning for Transition – book of proceedings 31; 2Energy transition is a long-term change process of the energy system of regions and cities towards smart and low carbon features. From a technological point of view, energy system is an integrated system including several sources, technologies, and products for energy production, distribution, and consumption. From a social point of view, local population's choices and actions determine the time and the features of energy transition at regional and local scales. Energy system is not only technology matter. Sociotechnical and territorial approaches underline the importance of interactions between energy, society, and space. Based on these interactions, this research delineates an analytical framework and an applied definition of sociotechnical system for place-based contexts, with the aim to promote recommendations towards Smart Regions. Starting from the definition of the important concept in the social sciences of sociotechnical system, this research proposes an applied definition of sociotechnical concept in space-based contexts. This applied definition can shape and change the socio-energy system that is another important concept in social sciences, meaning the world that ‘one wants to create for the future’ (Miller et al. 2015).publishedVersio
Progress in the nineteenth-century: planning, building and managing the modern urban infrastructures in Coimbra
No full textDuring the 19th century, cities throughout Europe faced a period of transition. The rise in technical skill, the hygienic theories, the urban sanitation and the new forms of transport created an unprecedented transformation in European cities and dictated the emergence of urbanism. Portugal, a small, peripheral country also faced this transition. Moreover, this change was not limited to the urban fabric, it was necessary to create a body of technicians capable of planning and carrying out the major infrastructure works. It was also required to create institutions capable of programming these processes and municipalities had to form technical entities, commission the first topographic surveys and demanded a large dose of politicians’ boldness. Coimbra, a medium-sized city, but until the beginning of the 20th century, the settlement of the only Portuguese University, was an example of these process of modernization. However, the size of the city and the lack of entrepreneurs made it difficult and delayed the process. This paper aims to show how during the second half of the 19th century, Coimbra managed to dare to replicate the improvements in progress in Europe and, beyond the expansion of the urban fabric, introduced modern urban infrastructures into the city.publishedVersio
“Imagining the future of my neighbourhood”: Residents’ perceptions of sustainable mobility and regeneration around metro stations in the city of Thessaloniki
No full textNew development around public transport stations has long been seen as the main alternative to low-density urban sprawl and car dependent land use patterns. Less attention has been given, however, to involving local residents in the public discussion about the potential of public transport infrastructure for sustainable regeneration of their neighbourhoods. The present paper presents an experiment undertaken to seek out how local residents would actually conceive the future of their neighbourhood and its potential for sustainable regeneration based on the metro which is under construction in the city of Thessaloniki. The experiment focused on two metro stations under construction in two different neighbourhoods in terms of their socio-spatial characteristics. After a questionnaire survey to residents and businesses, two interactive workshops were held on the day of the nearby open market, one in each station. The survey and workshops operated as knowledge production for both sides: the local residents that were helped to envisage the metro as a future challenge and the research team that had to incorporate their expectations into an ongoing pilot urban project. The paper highlights the potential of the use of qualitative methods in the research and planning of sustainable mobility and neighbourhood regeneration.publishedVersio
Landsupport, a decision support system for territorial government
No full textThe objective of LANDSUPPORT is the construction of a smart geoSpatial Decision Support System (S-DSS) , providing a powerful set of decision supporting tools – that will be open and freely accessible through the web – devoted to (i) support sustainable agriculture/forestry, (ii) evaluate their interaction and trade-off with other land uses, including spatial planning and (iii) support the achievement of selected land policies of both EU and UN agenda, with special emphasis to the key, “achieving a land degradation-neutral world” and climate change mitigation goals. By doing that, LANDSUPPORT will reconcile urban regeneration policy ambitions with operational reality addressing the often overlooked support for planning/management actions at the very local scale. In fact, only by this approach incorporating the local dimension it is possible to produce DSS tools to simultaneously fulfil all high demand ing specific challenges such as the evaluation of “land use trade-offs “, “incentivising real actions / behaviour / investments” contributing to “sustainable management of land resource” and considering societal needs. This is exactly what the high performing LANDSUPPORT integrated scientific approach promise to do, unlike the aggregated Territorial Modelling Platform already in use for the ex-ante evaluation of EC policies
Participatory sensing within co-creation: improving the transformation of the urban environment. The Verona case inside the LOOPER project
No full textPlanning for Transition – book of proceedings 31; 2This paper illustrates methods, technologies and tools used and developed to support a cocreation method for the transformation of the urban environment, developed and tested in the framework of the Verona case from the LOOPER project. The LOOPER project (Learning Loops in the Public Realm), is an European Research Project co-funded under the JPI Urban Europe program. Other two cities are involved: Brussels, working on traffic related issues; Manchester, working on quality of spaces. Co-creation brings together participatory sensing, co-design and other activities to activate a participatory process. The LOOPER co-creation methodology, in the way it is applied at the Verona case study, is therefore based on working with the stakeholders since the first steps of the project, meaning that participatory sensing is grounded on the scoping and monitoring of urban issues done by citizens, enabling them to gain better result thanks to the knowledges obtained in the beginning. To support this process different technologies are used: passive sensors for NO2; noise boxes; PM2.5 portable sensors; user-friendly visualisation dashboard to collect and visualise data. These methods and technologies have been used to improve co-creation to ideate and design urban transformation facing some issues in the city of Verona Sud.
Keywords: Co-creation, Co-design, Participatory sensing, Learning LooppublishedVersio
How Could the Integration of Land Use and Transport in Planning Practice Contribute Achieving Sustainable Urban Form - By a Case Study Analysis of Kings’ Cross and Olympic Legacy in London
No full textThis dissertation seeks to analyse how the integrated land-use and transport planning could contribute archiving sustainable urban form. It has been evidenced that there is a close interrelationship existing between land use and transport. Moreover, it is essential to evaluate the effectiveness of planning practice for archiving a more sustainable future from an integrated perspective of land use and transport. London Kings’ Cross and Olympic Legacy have been selected as two studying cases, as London can be regarded as an excellent research platform with the well-developed planning system. In general, this study will analyse and explain the contribution of integrated land-use and transport planning for sustainable urban form in three levels. Firstly, the theoretical relationship between sustainable urban form and its influencing factors will be summarised. Then, the primary planning principles will be summed up through the analysis of integrated planning strategies. Finally, the effectiveness of planning practice will be assessed through the case-specific planning policies. The conclusion in various levels will improve the connection between theoretical research and planning practice for achieving sustainable urban form through integrated land-use and transport planning.publishedVersio
Urban micro-renovation based on action research methodology: A case study of Vifengli, Hongkou district, Shanghai
Get PDFAfter near four decades of the rapid development, a number of cities in China have made great achievement. While plenty of the brand-new places are created, many "old cities" are left behind in a shabby condition. Lilong, a typical cultural heritage of residential townhouse with the combination of Chinese and Western architecture styles, belongs to such one. In order to change the situation, Shanghai government has launched the movement to ameliorate inhabitants' living condition in Lilong since 2012. However, the satisfaction of residents is not very high though a considerable expenditure had been spent, partly because of lack of knowledge and experience on how to reach a successful participation. To deal with the issue, the authors engaged in a case study, the micro-renovation project of Yifengli of Hongkou District, Shanghai, with the action research methodology. The project could be divided into three stages of initiation, implementation and perfection. Stakeholders are engaged in the whole process, including the different groups of local residents with different attitudes, local government and university consultant team which takes the leading role. Through the interesting and inclusive involvement at every stage, stakeholders gathered together in identifying the problems, discussing the choice, evaluating the planning and design, taking action and reflecting and continuing to modify actions. The project has gone relatively smoothly although the different stakeholders presented divergent interests. The outcome is desirable beyond the expectation of inhabitants. The study argues that the action research methodology is a meaningful tool not only for bringing out the positive change in the urban built area renovation, but also for spurring the social cohesion.publishedVersio
Enhancing internationalisation through inter-institutional collaboration: Innovative practices in planning education
Get PDFTransactions of the Association of European Schools of Planning; Volume 3 / Issue 1 / June 2019; page 7-22Although internationalisation has been identified as a key transformative factor of higher education at the beginning of the 21st century and is firmly embedded in most institutional missions, there is growing concern amongst educators that internationalisation is being devalued and that the progress of its implementation has stalled. One particularly worrying aspect is a rather limited, predominantly instrumental implementation of internationalisation by institutions subsumed by neoliberal ideologies, economics and rankings, which prioritises international student recruitment over enhancing intercultural understanding, curricula and students’ personal development. Responding to calls to re-orient institutional missions, this reflective essay seeks to stimulate a discussion of how aspirations of socially responsible internationalisation (internationalism) and learning for global citizenship may be reclaimed. Drawing on selected cases from the field of spatial planning, the author suggests that interinstitutional collaboration and partnerships could be a valid means to support (explicitly or implicitly) socially responsible internationalisation while also covering institutional performance targets. Cases are interrogated for their rationale (aims, institutional arrangements, focus) to gain an understanding of how they address various aspects of internationalisation and to draw lessons for wider adoption
Examining cultural planning in Vienna : The discursive institutionalization of social infrastructure in strategic planning
Get PDFplaNext-Next Generation Planning Vol. 9 (2019) Navigating change: Planning for societal and spatial transformations 26-44Culture and planning have often been connected through issues of culture-led urban development and regeneration or cultural and creative industries. However, cultural provision as a form of social infrastructure has rarely been used to understand the institutionalization of culture within planning practices. I claim that how culture is institutionalized through discursive interactions between different agents reveals the importance of culture for planning practices. I exemplify this notion by analysing the discursive institutionalization of culture within strategic planning in Vienna. The results point to a diametral position of the underlying ideas of culture within planning in Vienna: 1) planning for culture, where culture plays an important role for the social functioning of the city, and 2) planning through culture by using culture as a selling point for the city. The paper analyses cultural planning practices in Vienna since the 2000s, thereby contributing to detailed knowledge on the institutionalization of culture and path-dependent developments of culture within urban planning practices. The paper illustrates the use of culture as a form of social infrastructure for rethinking strategic cultural planning in Vienna
Rome Capital Region: reasons and scope of a different prospective
Get PDFNew geographies of urban development have been emerging, as a result of the interplay between global driving forces and local socio-economic and institutional conditions. In Central Italy, the influence of the city of Rome has gone beyond the administrative limits and of the Daily urban system traced on the basis of commuting flows. The urban geography of Rome has, no longer, a radial structure, new spatial and functional interdependencies are emerging in a vast and low-density city-region, expanded even beyond regional borders. This paper presents first results of a research carried out by the University of Roma Tre commissioned by the Lazio Region, whose aim is to investigate recent urbanization processes in the city-region of Rome under the above-mentioned perspective, adopting a multiscale approach, critically referred to international studies on the regional dimension of urban development, with an intentional mix of quantitative and qualitative methods. Since “conspicuous changes” are now emerging from a series of tactical and opportunistic assemblage, our aim is to underline the need of a renovated multi-level governance, to address the transition from assembling to agencing in terms of a more equal distribution of social and economic opportunities within the regional space