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A Tale of Two Cities: A Comparative Analysis of Quality of Life Initiatives in New York and Bogota

Beckett, K., Godoy, A. — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:26:46 PST

In the 1990s, city officials made a concerted effort to enhance security and civility in two large cities long associated with fear and danger: New York City and Bogotá, Colombia. In this article, a comparison is made of how ‘quality of life’ and ‘civility’ were conceptualised and pursued in New York City and Bogotá in the 1990s. The findings suggest that there were some similarities in the conceptualisation and operationalisation of these ideals, and that both cities became markedly safer in the period under investigation. Yet there were also important differences in the quality of life campaigns undertaken in the two settings. Specifically, measures to protect rights, enhance social services and expand the use of public spaces, particularly in poor communities, were a key component of Bogotá’s quality of life campaign. The Bogotá example shows that it is possible to take crime and civility seriously without criminalising minor offences and by coupling security measures with broader initiatives to strengthen democratic inclusion.

Urban Renaissance as Intensification: Building Regulation and the Rescaling of Place Governance in Tokyo's High-rise Manshon Boom

Sorensen, A., Okata, J., Fujii, S. — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:26:47 PST

During the past decade, Tokyo has seen a massive building boom, despite a prolonged economic slump since 1990. Since the 1980s, central government has enacted a steady stream of building code changes that allow much larger buildings. This paper argues that the recent wave of private investment in high-rise intensification has been instigated by these changes to building regulations, so that the form of urban restructuring and the distribution of winners and losers in the process are shaped by the central state, a reverse of the previous trend of decentralisation of planning powers. This restructuring of central/ local government relations can be understood as a creative rescaling of governance power that disrupted established democratic institutional frameworks of decision-making and conflict resolution. This study highlights both the centrality of land assets in Japan's developmental capitalism and the continuing importance of the distinctive institutional legacies of the developmental state in structuring Japanese urban governance.

Policing Development: Urban Renewal as Neo-liberal Security Strategy

Samara, T. R. — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:26:47 PST

This paper examines the evolution of policing in the townships of Cape Town in the context of a neo-liberalising city. Policing is situated in relation to the shifting meaning of security, the city's emphasis on economic growth and attempts to develop the townships through a law-enforcement-driven urban renewal process. Research conducted in the city suggests that current approaches to urban renewal risk exacerbating social instability by reproducing aggressive forms of policing associated with the apartheid era. Further, as crime is framed as a security threat because of the danger it is thought to pose to market-led growth, urban governance in the townships increasingly takes on the character of a containment strategy. Current security ideology and policing practice create an expanding law enforcement web in which millions of poor residents are caught annually and which appears to undermine the very developmental goals used to justify its expansion.

Escaping Car Dependence in the Outer Suburbs of Paris

Motte-Baumvol, B., Massot, M.-H., Byrd, A. M. — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:26:47 PST

The outer suburbs of Paris are home to a large number of low-income households driven from the centre by the workings of the property market. This shift could give rise to a new form of socio-spatial segregation insofar as the elevated costs of mobility in such highly car-dependent areas restrict and change these households’ mobility patterns. These effects were observed in data on three groups of working people from the 2001 global transport survey. However, the socio-spatial impact of this outward movement is significantly reduced by the residential mobility of low-income households, which move from the most car-dependent areas to denser areas with better public transport provision. The presence of social housing in these areas only partially explains these migrations. These results obtained from 1999 census micro-data cast doubt upon the emergence of a new form of segregation in the outer suburbs described by Dodson and Sipe.

Economic Growth and the Expansion of Urban Land in China

Deng, X., Huang, J., Rozelle, S., Uchida, E. — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:26:46 PST

This paper aims to demonstrate the relationship between economic growth and the urban core area in order to help urban planners reach a better understanding of the pressures that are leading to changes in land use. Using a unique panel dataset with measures of China’s land use, it is shown that, during the late 1980s and 1990s, China’s urban land area rose significantly. Descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis are then used to identify the determinants of urban land use change. In addition to using more standard regression approaches such as ordinary least squares, the analysis is augmented with spatial statistical analysis. The analysis demonstrates the overwhelming importance of economic growth in the determination of urban land use. Overall, it is found that urban land expands by 3 per cent when the economy, measured by gross domestic product, grows by 10 per cent. It is also shown that the expansion of the urban core is associated with changes in China’s economic structure. If urban planners have access to forecasts of economic growth, using these results they should be able to have a better basis for planning the expansion of the built-up area in the urban core.

Children's Views on Child-friendly Environments in Different Geographical, Cultural and Social Neighbourhoods

Nordstrom, M. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:50:14 PST

The aim of this study was to determine how the dimensions in a theoretical framework for environmental child-friendliness developed by Horelli apply to responses about child-friendly environments from 12-year-old children living in geographically, culturally and socially different urban neighbourhoods. Children's written responses to the question of what they find to be a child-friendly city have been analysed according to these dimensions. The results show that three of the dimensions in particular apply to the children's responses: 'safety and security', 'urban and environmental qualities' and 'basic services'. However, other dimensions of that framework, containing more abstract phenomena, do not seem to apply to these children's environmental experiences. A child-friendly perspective on cities, with children's age in mind, seems to involve a local perspective on environment, a result that indicates a need for change in current city planning practice.

Homeownership and Economic Performance of Immigrants in Germany

Sinning, M. — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:14:59 PST

This paper investigates the homeownership gap between native and immigrant house-holds in Germany, paying particular attention to the assimilation process of immigrant households. A double cohort model is derived, which circumvents the identification problem for separating age, period and cohort effects and accounts for differences in the effects. The empirical findings suggest that immigrant households are less likely to own their primary residence than comparable native households. Moreover, the duration of residence in Germany does not affect the homeownership probability of immigrants, indicating that an assimilation process in homeownership between native and immigrant households did not take place. This result is largely consistent with the German immigration policy, which has focused predominantly on short-run economic needs and has neglected long-run economic effects of immigration.

The Occupation-Industry Mismatch: New Trajectories for Regional Cluster Analysis and Economic Development

Currid, E., Stolarick, K. — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:14:59 PST

This article is a natural extension of the current discussion on occupational clustering and economic growth. It is argued that, while there has been increased interest in the role of occupations, little has been done from a methodological and empirical approach to discover how the study of occupations can illuminate the study of industry. Prior work in cluster analysis has generally taken an ‘either/or’ approach towards occupational and industrial analysis. Porter’s clustering model has illuminated the cross-fertilising linkages across industries, but this is only half the story. It is argued that what drives these clusters is not only the industry, but also the people and their occupational skills and, therefore, such analysis must be expanded. Using the case of the IT sector in Los Angeles, the industry approach is combined with an ‘occupational cluster analysis’. It is concluded that this approach leads to a better understanding of regional competitiveness and growth.

Local Entrepreneurialism and State Rescaling in Turkey

Bayirbag, M. K. — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:14:58 PST

The paper examines the links between the rise of local entrepreneurialism and state rescaling in a neo-liberal context. The thrust of the article is that the agency of localities, increasingly manifested in the form of local entrepreneurialism, emerges through the political activism of a local bourgeoisie, in pursuit of a multiscalar local accumulation strategy. The article focuses on the spatial interest representation strategies of the local bourgeoisie introducing the concept of scalar strategies of representation, to examine in what ways the broader state rescaling process contributes to the formation of local agency and how this agency infl uences state rescaling. The city of Gaziantep, Turkey, constitutes its empirical focus.

An Application of a Stated Preference Method to Value Urban Amenities

Howie, P., Murphy, S. M., Wicks, J. — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:14:58 PST

This is a case study analysis of how residents value the amenities of a small US city—Missoula, Montana. A measure of a community’s amenity values is needed in city planning so as to protect those elements of urban communities that are highly valued. Missoulians favoured their local amenities against an average of 30 comparison cities. Results from this study’s stated preference model indicate that Missoulians highly value amenities such as outdoor recreation, low population density and scenery; whereas, they are generally willing to tolerate less than average levels of job opportunities. The study’s results raise questions about the appropriate methods for local governments to pursue when attempting to raise wage rates by ‘growing the economy’ of a city like Missoula.

The City as a Mirror: Transport, Land Use and Social Change in Jakarta

Hutabarat Lo, R. — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:14:57 PST

This paper examines historical patterns of transport and land use development in Jakarta with a view to understanding the larger meaning of development in this context. The paper uses archival analysis and policy interviews to trace theories and practices of national and urban development from the late colonial period to the mid 1990s. Apparent continuities in the development of major roads, goods movement corridors and spaces of flows are investigated in relation to claims of fundamental policy and social change across this period. Additionally, shifts in the provision of public transport and pedestrian facilities are investigated in terms of wider processes of social contestation and resolution. The analysis highlights the connection between transport and land use policies and wider economic, political and social imaginaries. It also suggests that, despite the appearance of fundamental ideological change and social upheaval, there are continuities in development that suggest the maintenance of social relations within Jakarta.

A Spatial and Temporal Autocorrelated Growth Model for City Rank-Size Distribution

Xu, Z., Harriss, R. — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:14:58 PST

Rank–size distribution has been an important tool in characterising and analysing city size distributions across spatial and temporal scales. Zipf’s law in city rank–size distribution has been observed in many analyses and is considered an important empirical regularity describing the organisation of cities. Based on analyses of the evolution of cities in Texas from 1850 to 2000, this paper documents spatial and temporal autocorrelation in city population growth rates. A modelling strategy has been developed that accounts for the spatial and temporal autocorrelated growth in Texas cities and is effective in reconstructing the empirical rank–size distribution. This study shows that it is necessary to take into account the interdependence among cities in simulating the city size distribution.

Brownfield Development: A Comparison of North American and British Approaches

Adams, D., De Sousa, C., Tiesdell, S. — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:23:30 PST

Over the past 30–40 years, urban change and deindustrialisation in advanced economies have created a legacy of vacant and derelict land that is increasingly seen as a development opportunity rather than planning problem. This paper investigates how the shared challenge of bringing such brownfield sites back into productive use has been interpreted differently in four countries: the US, Canada, Scotland and England. In each case, the particular policy environment has shaped the brownfield debate in distinctive ways, producing a different set of relations between the public and private sectors in brownfield redevelopment. Through this detailed comparison of the North American and British experience, the paper traces the maturity of policy and seeks to discover whether the main differences in understanding and tackling brownfield land can be attributed primarily to physical, cultural or institutional factors.

Understanding Area-based Regeneration: The New Deal for Communities Programme in England

Lawless, P., Foden, M., Wilson, I., Beatty, C. — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 07:56:33 PDT

The New Deal for Communities (NDC) programme is an ambitious English area-based initiative which aims, over 10 years, to transform 39 deprived neighbourhoods in relation to six outcomes: crime, education, health, worklessness, housing and the community. Data indicate modest programme-wide change against benchmarks. Evidence is used to examine the validity of the programme’s four design parameters: a 10-year horizon is necessary to achieve change; holistic regeneration can help to achieve cross-outcome change; working with other agencies and having other overlapping ABIs helps change; and, having the community at the heart of the initiative enhances outcomes. Findings in relation to these design features have wider applicability across area regeneration policy.

The Effects of High-density Zoning on Multifamily Housing Construction in the Suburbs of Six US Metropolitan Areas

Chakraborty, A., Knaap, G.-J., Nguyen, D., Shin, J. H. — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 07:56:33 PDT

This paper presents an empirical analysis of the effects of high-density zoning on multifamily housing construction from 1990 to 2000 in the suburbs of six US metropolitan areas. Zoning constraints are measured as the total number of high-density units allowed by right in each suburban jurisdiction obtained from local zoning ordinances and geographical information data. Using two-stage least squares, the analysis provides two important results: zoning as practised by suburban governments in the six metropolitan areas limits the construction of multifamily housing below market determined levels; and, multifamily zoning constraints are not exogenous but vary systematically with distance from the central city and with the racial composition of the community in 1960.

A New Rubric for 'Creative City' Potential in Canada's Smaller Cities

Lewis, N. M., Donald, B. — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 07:56:33 PDT

In Canada and elsewhere, Richard Florida’s ‘creative capital’ model has gained considerable influence over urban policy and development strategies. The model posits that most cities can be economically successful if they become diverse, high-tech and amenity-rich. The way that creative capital is theorised, quantified and applied, however, tends to marginalise smaller Canadian cities. We use recent census data and qualitative evidence from a study on the social dynamics of economic performance in Kingston, Ontario, to argue that a new rubric based on livability and sustainability provides a more optimistic and empowering picture of creative potential in smaller Canadian cities. Critiques of creative capital thus far have tended to discredit the model entirely, leaving large cities as winners by default in an irrational capitalist system and small cities with few options. Instead, the goal of this paper is to change fundamentally the parameters of the creativity debate for smaller cities by offering new ways to conceptualise and operationalise development in the ‘new economy’.

Explaining Tenancy Sustainment Rates in British Social Rented Housing: The Roles of Management, Vulnerability and Choice

Pawson, H., Munro, M. — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 07:56:30 PDT

High rates of tenancy turnover in social rented housing have increasingly been identified as problematic both in the UK and elsewhere. High turnover has been variously associated with management failings, individual vulnerability or (absence of) tenant choice. Drawing on original research into ‘prematurely terminated’ tenancies in Glasgow, we investigate explanatory factors associated with tenancy sustainment rates. In doing so, we interrogate the (managerialist) rationale which positions such residential mobility as potentially ‘excessive’ and therefore ‘problematic’. The empirical findings demonstrate evidence for all three posited explanations for high tenancy turnover but also suggest that some tenants vacating their homes after only a short time may be making a positive choice. They also emphasise that, in seeking to reduce early tenancy termination, social landlords should recognise the importance of improving mainstream housing management services and the condition of the housing stock, as well as attempting to address individual vulnerability through targeted support.

Spatio-temporal Analysis of Noise Pollution Near Boston Logan Airport: Who Carries the Cost?

Ogneva-Himmelberger, Y., Cooperman, B. — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 07:11:28 PDT

Airports are often located near densely populated residential areas, affecting a large number of people. Thus, knowing socio-demographic characteristics of the noise-affected areas is important for the development of policies on noise control and abatement. This study proposes a new methodology that combines airport noise models with spatial statistics and geographical information systems to identify spatial clusters of socio-demographic characteristics in relationship to the noise level. Statistically significant ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ socio-demographic clusters represent spatial concentrations of certain social groups, corresponding to various levels of vulnerability to environmental impacts. Results show that the population ‘paying’ for the cost of noise from Logan International Airport in Boston, USA, is highly vulnerable as there are more minority and lower-income populations, and lower house prices in the noise-affected areas. These results should draw the attention of policy-makers and the public as policies for noise abatement are being developed.

The Changing Ethnic Structure of Housing Tenures in London, 1991-2001

Hamnett, C., Butler, T. — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 07:11:27 PDT

This paper examines the changing ethnic composition of housing tenures in London (inner and outer) from 1991 to 2001. The question that it addresses is the extent to which ethnic minorities have become increasingly concentrated in social and privately rented housing in the inner city, as much of the literature on other European and American cities suggests, and the extent to which some of them have been able to move outwards and upwards into suburban ownership. The period 1991–2001 is particularly important in London because it witnessed a major increase in the size and importance of its ethnic minority population and important changes in its tenure structure. The introduction of an ethnicity question in the 1991 census permits analysis over time. The paper shows both an increase in suburban ethnic minority ownership and a growing concentration of ethnic minority groups in social and privately rented housing.

How Diverse Are US Suburbs?

Hall, M., Lee, B. — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 07:11:27 PDT

American suburbs are popularly perceived as demographically homogeneous compared with central cities. Social scientists have long challenged this perception; indeed, some cite recent evidence on suburban diversity to assert that the suburb–city distinction has become irrelevant. Here, several conceptual, methodological and theoretical improvements are introduced to improve the adjudication of claims about the extent and nature of suburban diversity. The analysis examines patterns and potential antecedents of population composition at both the suburban ring and place levels for 65 large US metropolitan areas. It is shown that rings and their constituent places are much more diverse than traditionally imagined. However, important differences still exist between suburbs and central cities on specific dimensions. It is also found that suburban diversity varies with metropolitan population size and suburban size, density, dominance and distance from the central city.

Markets, Large Projects and Sustainable Development: Traditional and New Planning in the Thames Gateway

Greenwood, D., Newman, P. — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 07:11:26 PDT

The transition from traditional hierarchical government to new forms of governance and planning can be overstated. The regionalisation of planning and new ambitions for spatial planning in the UK are commonly understood to have created an overcomplex system concerned with co-ordination and integration across jurisdictional spheres. However, this new governance of planning sits alongside traditional planning processes such as the public inquiry and ministerial decision. This case study of a large port development near London suggests that the emphasis upon the move to new, collaborative practices understimates the influence of traditional governmental structures. This provides cause for questioning the capacity of the current planning system to address the challenge of sustainable development, a central concern for the new planning.

Economic Transition, Dynamic Externalities and City-industry Growth in China

He, C., Pan, F. — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 07:11:25 PDT

Using data on two-digit manufacturing industries for prefecture-level cities during the period of 2000–05, this study found a significant non-linear relationship between dynamic externalities and city-industry growth. Industrial specialisation and local competition may help city-industry growth, but may harm growth when they exceed a certain level. Diversity helps industry growth, but only when it reaches a certain level. Liberalised, globalised and locally protected industries are more likely to benefit from dynamic externalities. Industries located in cities with greater authorities are also found to grow faster. The empirical findings indicate that economic transition has created conditions to allow a larger role of dynamic externalities in stimulating city-industry growth.

Towards a Digital (Societal) Infrastructure?

Ohman, J. — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 07:11:27 PDT

In what ways might informational techniques and information technology alter the infrastructure of society? The approach employed in this paper involves a number of fundamental, almost historically determined, conditions for the emergence of an increasingly societal infrastructure. This discussion is then related to analyses of the significance of information and communication technologies (ICT) in terms of ubiquities, agglomerations and clusters. Are there grounds for assuming that these trends are having an impact on the systems of towns and cities of differing sizes and at varying distances? In conclusion, the discussion turns to the issue of whether developments in informational techniques over the past 20 years are leading towards what has been referred to as a digital division of labour and, by extension, also towards a ‘digital (societal) infrastructure’.

Absorptive Capacity and Social Capital in Regional Innovation Systems: The Case of the Lahti Region in Finland

Kallio, A., Harmaakorpi, V., Pihkala, T. — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 07:11:26 PDT

The recent theories of innovation suggest that there is great potential for innovation in the structural holes and weak links of the innovation system. Higher absorptive capacity enables an easier crossing over of structural holes in the innovation system, aided by social capital that is located in the social relationships of actors. However, the level of human and social interaction in regional innovation systems has been largely neglected as a research topic. Empirical research on a sample in the Lahti region in Finland suggested three forms of social capital: organisational bonding social capital, regional bridging social capital and personal creative social capital. Further analysis revealed three groups of actors’ interaction behaviour: Missionaries, House Mice and the Passive Resistance.

Unravelling the Global City Debate on Social Inequality: A Firm-level Analysis of Wage Inequality in Amsterdam and Rotterdam

van der Waal, J., Burgers, J. — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 01:45:24 PDT

In this article, an assessment is made of the consequences of globalisation for urban wage inequality. Using data on employers in the Dutch cities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam, it is shown that simply equating global city formation with globalisation, when it comes to urban wage inequality—which is the common research practice in urban studies—leads to a blind spot for the impact of international competition, falsely equates economic restructuring with globalisation and strongly overrates the impact of globalisation on the urban wage structure. Global city formation does not lead to polarising tendencies, while exposure to international competition leads to upgrading tendencies.