Urban Studies current issue

An Application of a Stated Preference Method to Value Urban Amenities

Howie, P., Murphy, S. M., Wicks, J. — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 08:44:49 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.

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

Lawless, P., Foden, M., Wilson, I., Beatty, C. — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 08:44:49 PST

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.

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

Beckett, K., Godoy, A. — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 08:44:49 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.

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

Kallio, A., Harmaakorpi, V., Pihkala, T. — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 08:44:50 PST

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.

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

Xu, Z., Harriss, R. — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 08:44:50 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.

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

Currid, E., Stolarick, K. — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 08:44:50 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. — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 08:44:50 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 influences state rescaling. The city of Gaziantep, Turkey, constitutes its empirical focus.

Homeownership and Economic Performance of Immigrants in Germany

Sinning, M. — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 08:44:50 PST

This paper investigates the homeownership gap between native and immigrant households 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.

Social Relations, Property and 'Peripheral' Informal Settlement: The Case of Ampliacion San Marcos, Mexico City

Wigle, J. — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 08:44:50 PST

This article explores the complexities of informal urbanisation at the metropolitan periphery of Mexico City through a case study of Ampliación San Marcos, a former agricultural area on the city’s south-eastern periphery. While the physical annexation of small towns and their environs is a common feature of Mexico City’s growth, the settlement of Ampliación San Marcos is more accurately described as a two-pronged process involving the extension of a nearby pre-Hispanic town and the expansion of Mexico City itself. The case study shows that the rural periphery of Mexico City is no tabula rasa upon which urban growth simply ‘takes place’, rather, settlement processes are influenced by longstanding in situ social relations and practices related to property. The paper highlights the importance of considering the relationships among social relations, property and informal settlement for understanding the complexity of metropolitan growth and change in large cities such as Mexico City.

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., Jung Ho Shin, — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 08:44:50 PST

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.

Book Review: Making Lahore Modern: Constructing and Imagining a Colonial City: W. J. Glover, 2007 Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press 258 pp. US$75.00 hardback; US$25.00 paperback ISBN 978 0 8166 5021 7 hardback; 978 0 8166 5022 4 paperback

Byerley, A. — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 08:44:50 PST

Book Review: London's Turning: The Making of Thames Gateway: P. Cohen and M. J. Rustin (Eds), 2008 Aldershot: Ashgate 356 pp. {pound}55.00 hardback ISBN 9780754670636 hardback

Porter, L. — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 08:44:50 PST

Book Review: The Everyday Resilience of the City: How Cities Respond to Terrorism and Disaster: Jon Coaffee, David Murakami Wood and Peter Rogers, 2009 Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan 344 pp. {pound}55.00 hardback ISBN 978 0 230 54673 8 hardback

Cooper, C. — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 08:44:50 PST

Book Review: Infrastrukturnetze und Raumentwicklung: Zwischen Universalisierung und Differenzierung: T. Moss, M. Naumann and M. Wissen (Eds), 2008 Munchen: Oekom-Verlag 339 pp. 34.90 paperback ISBN 978 3 86581 117 2 paperback

Best, U. — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 08:44:50 PST

Book Review: The Culture of Homelessness: Megan Ravenhill, 2008 Aldershot: Ashgate 274 pp. {pound}52.25 hardback ISBN 978 0 7546 7190 9 hardback

Sambale, J. — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 08:44:50 PST

Books Received

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 08:44:50 PST