1,721,091 research outputs found
Planning support science: Developments and challenges
No full textIn this paper, we provide an update of recent developments and forthcoming challenges in the field of planning support systems, following earlier reviews in 2003 and 2009. The rationale for this update is the rapid development of information and communication technologies and their impact on planning support systems. After a brief retrospective assessment of past planning support system developments, the paper presents a synthesis of the experiences and views of a worldwide sample of invited planning support system experts, whose innovative contributions comprise a new Handbook of Planning Support Science. The developments documented by the experts together substantiate our impression that a fundamental transformation is taking place – a paradigm shift – wherein the field of planning support systems is maturing into a planning support science. From this perspective, it is expected that planning support systems will become indispensable instruments in the planning process in the not too distant future. The signs of this maturation are already visible in research, education and practice
Planning support science: Developments and challenges
Full text linkIn this paper, we provide an update of recent developments and forthcoming challenges in the field of planning support systems, following earlier reviews in 2003 and 2009. The rationale for this update is the rapid development of information and communication technologies and their impact on planning support systems. After a brief retrospective assessment of past planning support system developments, the paper presents a synthesis of the experiences and views of a worldwide sample of invited planning support system experts, whose innovative contributions comprise a new Handbook of Planning Support Science. The developments documented by the experts together substantiate our impression that a fundamental transformation is taking place – a paradigm shift – wherein the field of planning support systems is maturing into a planning support science. From this perspective, it is expected that planning support systems will become indispensable instruments in the planning process in the not too distant future. The signs of this maturation are already visible in research, education and practice
Urban Informatics and Future Cities
No full textThis book forms a selection of chapters submitted for the CUPUM (Computational Urban Planning and Urban Management) conference, held in the second week of June 2021 at Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland. Chapters were selected from a double-blind review process by the conference's scientific committee. The chapters in the book cover developments and applications with big data and urban analytics, collaborative urban planning, applications of geodesign and innovations, and planning support science
Heterogeneous landscapes of urban greenways in Shenzhen: Traffic impact, corridor width and land use
Full text linkGreenways are linear green spaces that are widely incorporated as policy instruments to address various urban issues. Heterogeneity is observed among the forms, functions, and activities of greenways. However, a number of studies have viewed urban greenways as homogeneous landscape features despite the increasing heterogeneity of urban greenways caused by transportation development. Taking the “three-legged stool” concept as a theoretical starting point, this article develops a conceptual framework for understanding the heterogeneous landscapes of urban greenways. The framework is then applied to empirical work in Shenzhen. This study shows that traffic impact, corridor width and land use are crucial factors in determining the heterogeneity of urban greenways and resolving the conflicts that result from the overemphasis on the transportation function of greenways. These factors also determine the primary benefits of greenways and differentiate various types of greenways. Based on field observations and empirical data, we identify four types of greenways in Shenzhen: transport greenways, forest greenways, park greenways and rural greenways. Greenways in Shenzhen have apparent heterogeneity in recreational attractiveness due to the surrounding landscape and external interference. Furthermore, the majority of Shenzhen greenways are nonmotorized transportation infrastructure with narrow corridors of street greenery. The composition and heterogeneity of greenways in Shenzhen are the result of the “one-size-fits-all” approach to greenway typologies and planning activities, which has become a challenge for multipurpose greenway planning in urban environments. Future efforts should place more emphasis on the heterogeneous landscapes of urban greenways in order to develop improvement strategies associated with specific policy goals
Without vision no transition: exploring the potential of planning design studios
Full text linkRepresentations of the future – plans, visions, scenarios – guide us in taking complex decisions in the present. In our current day and age, we face multiple societal challenges, for example, climate, ecology, and social exclusion. This makes long-term thinking more relevant than ever. However, this core idea of spatial planning as a future-oriented discipline seems to have been eroding over the years. We teach our students to critically assess what is and not so much what could be or should be. The educational format of planning design studios trains long-term thinking and students' imaginative capabilities in an experiential, real-life setting. In this contribution, we evaluate 25 years of planning studios at Utrecht University.This essay reviews the history and discusses adaptations in course design and -objectives, student involvement and -experience, and teachers' evaluations over the years. We position these empirical impressions against a brief comparison of the 'Utrecht model' with studio exercises at planning schools of other Dutch universities. We discuss whether planning studios as a form of real-life, experiential learning still succeed in triggering the long-term thinking abilities of students. We scrutinize to what extent students are still capable of thinking so far ahead and summarize both the bottlenecks and enablers for an educational environment in which long-term thinking can flourish. We suggest that the biggest challenge to fostering long-term thinking is not so much the potential of studios but rather their decreasing importance as an integrative course in the curriculum design, which may limit the efficiency of training the futures literacy of planning students
Communication-Oriented and Process Sensitive Planning Support
Full text linkThe complexity of the planning context has raised criticism against public participation for being a rigid top-down endeavour which does not recognize the different communicative needs and necessary working modes in the engagement of broad publics and collaborative small groups. Consequently, the problem is how to improve public participation so that it becomes more sensitive to the variety of communicative activities and knowledge needs involved in the design of urban planning processes. The aim of the article is to present and discuss, on the basis of two small case studies in the Finnish context, a revised model for a process-sensitive planning support system (PSS), with examples of several digital tools. The authors argue that besides broad public participation, more collaboration is needed to converge the diverse knowledge of planning in two-way communication and co-working settings which enable the analysis and design of living environments.Peer reviewe
Smart Urban Governance for Climate Change Adaptation
Full text linkClimate change will affect the way cities work substantially. Flooding and urban heating are among the most tangible consequences in cities around the globe. Extreme hydro-meteorological events will likely increase in the future due to climate change. Making cities climate-resilient is therefore an urgent challenge to sustain urban living. To adapt cities to the consequences of climate change, new ideas and concepts need to be adopted. This oftentimes requires action from different stakeholder groups and citizens. In other words, climate adaptation of cities needs governance. Facilitating such urban governance for climate adaptation is thus a big and increasing challenge of urban planning. Smart tools and its embedding in smart urban governance is promising to help in this respect. To what extent can the use of digital knowledge technologies in a collaborative planning setting be instrumental in facilitating climate adaptation? This question entails visualising effects of climate adaptation interventions and facilitating dialogue between governments, businesses such as engineering companies, and citizens. The aim of this thematic issue is to explore how the application of technologies in urban planning, embedded in smart urban governance, can contribute to provide climate change adaptation. We understand smart urban governance in this context both in terms of disclosing technical expert information to the wider public, and in terms of supporting with the help of technologies the wider governance debates between the stakeholders involved. The contributions reflect this dual focus on socio-technical innovations and planning support, and therefore include various dimensions, from modelling and interacting to new modes of urban governance and political dimensions of using technologies in climate change adaptation in urban areas
‘Do the resilient things.’ Residents' perspectives on responsibilities for flood risk adaptation in England
Full text linkAbstract Residents should take adaptive action to reduce flood risk—this claim increasingly resonates in the academic debate on flood risk management (FRM). Hence, it must be assumed that a change in the division of responsibilities between actors involved is an imperative, that is, beyond the public authorities, residents should become more responsible for their own flood resilience. However, residents' perspectives on their own and other's responsibility for adaptive action has not yet been explored extensively. In this contribution, we distinguish between four notions of responsibility in analysing the perspectives of residents regarding flood risk adaptation measures undertaken by public authorities, insurance companies and residents themselves. A qualitative study in England shows how residents perceive responsibilities for flood risk adaptation across the various notions and actors, including themselves. We found that residents have clear expectations and perceptions on how they think responsibility is divided among stakeholders and how they would like it to be. Additionally, the discourse on responsibility division in FRM raises questions and causes mismatches between the formal legal parameters and residents' perceptions. With the insights into residents' perceptions, opportunities arise to better inform and encourage them to take flood risk adaptation measures and thereby improve flood resilience
Smart Governance and COVID-19 Control in Wuhan, China
Full text linkIn dealing with the global COVID-19 pandemic, China has achieved reasonable success in governing COVID-19 within two months with the help of technologies. This study specifically focuses on how these massive technologies have been implemented to facilitate the smart governance of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China. By discursively analyzing existing data from multiple sources, the results obtained in this chapter show that the real ‘smartness’ of the smart governance of COVID-19 in Wuhan is the innovative use of technologies to develop different types of governance approaches to control COVID-19 in an effective and targeted way. As the pandemic continues to evolve worldwide, lessons learned from Wuhan, China can be beneficial to other countries in different institutional contexts to build their own, context-specific governance for controlling the pandemic
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