Capital City Regions Research Articles

Connecting land-use and water planning: Prospects for an urban water metabolism approach

The current fabric of urban areas is largely the result of past land development and land-use planning decisions. Historically, there was relatively little consideration of the impact of these decisions upon hydrological systems within and outside urban areas. Despite their close relationship, urban and regional planning and water resources management have typically been carried out separately and guided by different institutional arrangements. The range of impacts of urbanisation on hydrological systems at the city-region scale, and the dependence of urbanised areas upon these systems, call for better integration between the sectors of urban and regional planning and water resources management to ensure the sustainability and resilience of cities and their regions to future changes and uncertainties.This paper evaluates the extent to which planning mechanisms currently support integration between land-use and water resource sectors. The evaluation draws on a comparative analysis of 113 statutory and non-statutory planning mechanisms in three Australian capital city-regions: South East Queensland, and the Melbourne and Perth Metropolitan regions. Results indicate that the function of water at the city-region scale, including its role in supporting environmental connectivity, needs to be better understood and considered by land-use planning systems; improved institutional capacity is required to enable both sectors to deal with future changes and uncertainties related to water resources; and emergent planning trends supportive of the consideration of water connectivity at the city-region scale are yet to be fully implemented. Based on the results, the paper concludes by exploring how the concept of urban metabolism may facilitate better integration between the two sectors, along with the identification of best suited planning mechanisms and needed changes in governance and institutional arrangements conducive to integration.

Knowledge sharing in the process of developing a cross-border knowledge region

Knowledge Regions are insufficiently studied by academia. The aim of the article is to analyse Knowledge Region (KR) by inter-linking knowledge creation theories, including knowledge management and knowledge sharing for the purpose of developing of a Cross-Border Knowledge Region (CB KR). The empirical study of the cross-border cooperation organisation and a theoretical debate on the creation processes of CB KR are linked. This methodology puts in evidence that an intermediary organisation and CB KR creation processes are explicitly linked as it facilitates the development of a KR. The originality is that cross-border cooperation organisation is studied by applying the three-element model developed by Nonaka, Toyama and Konno to an intermediary organisation. The intermediary organisation covers Helsinki and Tallinn capital city-region(s) and is used as a Place/Space/Ba in this article. The outcomes prove that intermediary organisations should be part of KR development processes.

The Australian Metropolis 2000-2015In 2000 the authors published The Australian Metropolis: A Planning History, an account of the evolution of Australian metropolitan planning from the early years of colonial settlement to the end of the twentieth century

In 2000 the authors published The Australian Metropolis: A Planning History, an account of the evolution of Australian metropolitan planning from the early years of colonial settlement to the end of the twentieth century. Most state governments were by then pursuing strategies to make their capital city-regions more compact and were encouraging reduction in car dependency. The final chapter identified a growing tension between ‘sustainable’ and ‘productive’ aspirations. On the one hand, environmental concerns were seen as underpinning renewed popular and political support for public planning. On the other was the rise of what we called ‘market triumphalism’, acknowledging the turn to neo-liberal policies preoccupied with global competitiveness alongside evidence of growing inequality, social diversity and ‘short-termism’ of political priorities. This paper looks at what has happened to Australian metropolitan planning in the decade and a half since the book was published. The opening decade of the twenty-first century saw sustained economic growth, largely as a consequence of a resource boom triggered by rising levels of industrial activity and consumption amongst Australia’s largest trading partners, albeit slowed for several years by the Global Financial Crisis. Australia’s population continues to expand and the current total of around 24 million is likely to double in the present century. Growth is concentrated in the larger capital cities with some recurring trends and challenges including the decline of suburban manufacturing employment and growth of new ‘knowledge economy’ jobs mainly in the inner cities; housing unaffordability, especially in the two largest cities of Sydney and Melbourne; the continued shift to higher density and high rise urban forms through urban renewal; growing infrastructure deficits, particularly in public transport; a growing gulf in access to services and quality of life; and dysfunctionalities in metropolitan governance. Against this background, the paper overviews the planning strategies prepared for the five mainland state capitals of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth over the period 2000-2015. Drawing on a survey of primary documents and a growing body of research, the treatment highlights major planning trends, similarities and differences between the major cities. Major themes have included further promotion of anti-sprawl policies of infill and redevelopment; transit-oriented development; privatisation of public infrastructure such as motorways and airports; dealing with the spatial mismatch between homes and jobs; a resurgence of urban design; and growing administrative fragmentation. State governments have deployed their executive power to drive through major redevelopment projects, with a corresponding reduction in public participation, and they are under continuing pressure to reform planning systems in order to facilitate economic growth with mixed success. The national government has latterly become re-engaged in urban development primarily as the crucial links between urban investment, infrastructure, GDP and planning systems become more evident. The paper ends by reflecting on an evolving style of Australian metropolitan planning in the early twenty first century in pursuit of an increasingly complex and often competing set of aspirations for productive, sustainable, liveable and well-governed cities.

Characterizing geographical preferences of international tourists and the local influential factors in China using geo-tagged photos on social media

Understanding the geographical preferences of international tourists is critical for the tourism planning and marketing. However, it is not an easy endeavor to gather the corresponding information, given the absence of city-level tourism statistical data and high costs of participant survey. This paper characterizes the geographical preferences of international tourists using geo-tagged photos on social media (the Flickr in particular). Data are harvested for 333 prefecture-level cities in China from 2008 to 2013, and the intensity of photo sharing (IPS: the ratio between total number of uploaded photos and total area of the city/region) is used an indicator of tourist geographical preferences. IPS visualization shows the geography that tourism hotpots generally concentrate in regional capital cities and economically developed megaregions. More specifically, the East Asia and Oceania tourists exhibit more preferences towards the eastern coastal cities, while the Europe and North America visitors show increasing interest in exploring the western and northern places. Spatial regression is employed to quantify the local influential factors of tourists’ geographical preferences. It is found that international tourists usually consider the local economy, accessibility, infrastructure and cultural attractions when they choose their destinations in China. East Asia and Oceania visitors particularly appreciate the local economy and cultural attractions. Europe and North America tourists especially value the cultural attractions and local openness. The demonstrated methodological framework is not restricted to Flickr data, and it can be applicable to social media offer geo-tagging service. This paper is therefore believed to advance the applications of social media into geographical research.

The impractical supremacy of local identity on the worthless soils of Mappano

Soil is under pressure worldwide. In Italy, in the last two decades, land consumption has reached an average rate of 8 m2, demonstrating the failure of urban planning in controlling these phenomena. Despite the renewed recognition of the central role of soil resources, which has triggered numerous initiatives and actions, soil resources are still seen as a second-tier priority. No governance body exists to coordinate initiatives to ensure that soils are appropriately represented in decision-making processes. Global Soil Partnership draws our attention to the need for coordination to avoid fragmentation of efforts and wastage of resources. Both at a global and at a local level, the area of fertile soils is limited and is increasingly under pressure by competing land uses for settlement, infrastructure, raw materials extraction, agriculture, and forestry. Here, we show that an administrative event, such as the creation of a new small municipality, can take place without any consideration of land and soil risks. This is particularly problematic in the Italian context as recent studies demonstrate that increasing local power in land use decisions coupled with weak control by the central administration and the high fragmentation and small dimension of municipalities has boosted land consumption. The fragmentation of municipalities has been detrimental to land conservation. The case study of Mappano (in the northwestern Italian region of Piedmont on the periphery of the regional capital city of Turin) is emblematic to demonstrate the role played by the supremacy of local identity or local interests despite the acknowledged importance of the key role played by soil everywhere. The contradiction highlighted by this case raises discussion amid some crucial issues as to the role of local urban planning and the protection of soil, which cannot be fragmented or subject to local short-term visions/interests. In this perspective, urban planning has to address soil and land issues by introducing new rules and competences at the local level and beyond.

Targeting oil and gas in the Perth Basin using an airborne gravity gradiometer

In recent years there has been renewed interest in the hydrocarbon potential of the Perth Basin in Western Australia. It is close to the regional capital city and the gas pipeline that runs between Dampier in the north and Bunbury in the south. Recent discoveries of gas by AWE have shown that there is a working hydrocarbon system within at least the northern and central parts of the basin. In most parts of the basin, modern seismic data is relatively scarce. In the current low oil price environment, explorers are looking for cost-effective ways of exploring and targeting seismic acquisition. Airborne gravity gradiometry is such a technique. It has been widely used in frontier basins to understand the basin architecture (Bain et al., 2013, Roberts et al., 2015), sedimentary structure (Feijth et al., 2015 and Kovac et al. 2013) and planning of seismic acquisition (Moore et al., 2012). The Black Swan geophysical survey was conducted by CGG to assist oil and gas producer, Empire Oil and Gas, in identifying target areas for hydrocarbon exploration. The main tools employed were the Falcon Airborne Gravity Gradiometer (AGG), magnetic and digital terrain data. The survey was flown east-west with a nominal flying height of 100 m with 1 000-m line spacing, using a flight line to tie line ratio of 10:1. Structural interpretation has been carried out in two phases. Regional interpretation provided an overview of major regional structures and aimed to analyse the linkage between segments within the exploration blocks. It was derived from regional, publicly available gravity and magnetic data. Detailed structural interpretation was derived from the AGG (Airborne Gravity Gradiometer) data in order to improve current understanding of the tectonic pattern within Empire Oil’s exploration blocks. Depth to magnetic basement was calculated using publicly available government data. The survey identified areas containing large structural leads and trends for targeting future gas exploration activities, including infill 2D seismic acquisition.

Recent Progress in Online Communication Tools for Urban Planning

This comparative analysis of Polish and German online communication tools for urban planning follows a similar study conducted in 2012. A comprehensive method for analysis of e-participation tools including three complimentary criteria: “transparency”, “spatiality” and “interactivity” is now enhanced with mobile applications for planning. Using the same research sample (the biggest regional capital cities) enables the comparison of the ICT tools in the years 2012-2015. The results show how public planning institutions improve and develop their online communication in urban planning processes in line with the contemporary trends and citizens' expectations. They also point to the emerging standards in e-participation in urban planning, evidently similar in Poland and Germany despite different historical background as well as socio-political and technological contexts.

Regional-Local Executive Branch Conflict in El’tsin’s Russia: the role of boundary control in Sverdlovsk Oblast

Download this article from UCL Discovery. Conflicts between regional executive leaders and the executive heads of regional capital cities were a frequent occurrence in El’tsin’s Russia, and were consequences of the rapid decentralization of power that occurred in the first half of the 1990s. This article focuses on the political competition that emerged in Sverdlovsk Oblast between the regional governor Eduard Rossel’ and his counterpart at the local level, Ekaterinburg Mayor Arkadii Chernetskii. It evaluates the key network relationships held by these two actors during the 1990s, and asks how these networks influenced the balance of regional power prior to the federal recentralisation processes of the 2000s. The article applies the strategy of boundary control, as previously applied by Edward Gibson to the study of subnational regional regimes in Latin America under conditions of national democratization;1 in so doing, it considers Rossel’’s hold over regional power as being determined by his approach to representing regional elite interests, both political and economic, which thereby insulated his power from challengers.

Determinants of immigrants’ entry to homeownership in three nordic capital city regions

The extent of homeownership among immigrants may be seen as an indicator of integration and as a determinant of ethnic residential segregation. Studies have shown differences in the determinants of homeownership between immigrants and natives, indicating that variation in homeownership is not only a function of differences in economic resources. These studies have largely focused on Anglo‐American contexts, using mostly cross‐sectional data. We apply survival analysis methods to analyse the determinants of entry to homeownership in the capital regions of three Nordic countries – Denmark, Finland and Sweden – utilizing longitudinal individual‐level register‐based datasets. We find that differences in entry to homeownership between natives and different immigrant groups cannot be explained by differences in socio‐economic background factors. We also find differences in the effects of these factors. Effects of income are generally weaker among non‐Western immigrants and immigrants are less responsive to changes in household composition. The share of non‐Western immigrants in the neighbourhood is only weakly related to entry to homeownership, while immigrants and natives living in public rental housing tend to be slightly less inclined to move to homeownership. Weaker income effects among immigrants, weak effects of ethnic segregation and the importance of the public rental sector differentiate our results from earlier findings. Weaker income effects may indicate that uncertainty about the future also affects middle‐income immigrants. Differences between the three contexts in housing markets and policies do not seem to matter much, although the results indicate that difficult access to the private rental sector may push immigrants to homeownership.

The Effect of Internal Control System and Amil Competence on the Financial Reporting Quality at Zakat Management Institution Active Member of Zakat Forum in Special Capital City Region Jakarta and West Java Provinces

Financial reporting Quality is an important factor to the users in their decision making process. The purpose of this study is to find empirical evidence whether internal control system and amil competence affect the Financial Reporting Quality (FRQ). Populations used in this study are all of 37 amil zakat institution active member of zakat forum in West Java and DKI Jakarta provinces. The sample of this research is determined using simple random sampling method. There are 28 amil zakat institution collected. Data are analyzed using multiple regression analysis. The result indicates that internal control system and amil competence influence the FRQ

Regional quality of living in Europe

This article sets out the conceptual framework and results of Regional Quality of Living indicators that were developed in order to benchmark European NUTS2 regions. Nine non-business-related indicators are constructed to support the goal of policy makers to improve the attractiveness of regions and cities for people or companies to settle in, and by doing so create economic growth. Each of the constructed indicators represents a pillar of the Quality of Living. The highest indicator scores are found for regions within Switzerland, Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands. Some countries show a wide divergence between regional scores. The southern regions of Italy and Spain, for example, have significantly lower scores than those in the north. In addition, capital city regions have better RQI scores. A positive correlation was found between the average RQI scores and both GDP per capita and weighted population density. Compared to GDP per capita, weighted population density has a modest influence on the RQI score. The European regions are divided into 11 clusters, based upon GDP per capita and weighted population density in order to benchmark a region with its peers.

Interaction for Innovation: Comparing Norwegian Regions

Building upon insights from earlier investigations of innovation collaboration from a regional perspective as well as the triple helix perspective, local/regional innovation systems and open innovation approaches, this study explores whether cooperation between firms, universities and government increases the intensity of innovation equally for the capital city and peripheral regions. We investigate whether firms located in the capital region benefit more from public support, cooperation with universities, and cooperation with different stakeholders than firms located in peripheral regions. Using logistic binary regressions, we find that capital region firms are generally not more innovative than those located elsewhere. We also find no effect on innovation from cooperation with universities, although public support is related to engagement in product and process innovations. Our results warn against simple applications of triple helix and open innovation approaches, as many forms of collaboration seem to have little impact on innovation, regardless of regional context.

The Quality of Central Squares in Small Towns of Ostrava Agglomeration

Quality of public spaces, especially quality of central squares, has recently been a hot topic among experts as well as the general public. The submitted article focuses on the analysis of the central squares of small towns around the regional capital city Ostrava. These towns are part of the Ostrava agglomeration. Evaluated squares are alike for their location and historical development, on the other hand, their current usage is often different. The subjects of the research are mainly those factors and aspects that affect the quality of the central square of aesthetic, architectural and techno-economic. These factors are for each square separately analyzed and evaluated. The aim of the analysis is to determine how selected cities approach their most important public space, to the central square.

Harnessing the Economic Potential of ‘Second-Tier’ European Cities: Lessons from Four Different State/Urban Systems

In this paper I argue that ‘second-tier’ European cities warrant more attention because they could potentially help secure balanced development and territorial cohesion. I compare the asset bases of four such cities (Munich, Tampere, Timisoara, and Leeds) located within different state and urban systems and examine the scope for public policy to improve their growth trajectory. Each city has sufficient economic critical mass and institutional capacity to act as motors for their respective regions and to relieve pressure on capital city regions by attenuating the steady drift of investment and jobs to them and encouraging greater deconcentration of investment. The case studies suggest that general characteristics of effective urban policy making also apply to second-tier cities: continuity, compositional balance, comprehensive packages of measures, stakeholder participation in design, and delivery to reflect their particularities. However, better ways of handling relations between second-tier cities and other city regional authorities and interests are needed.

Personal Bankruptcy in the Capital City Region and South Bohemian Region in the Czech Republic

Personal bankruptcy, as a process of debt relief, is very popular among those who want to solve their complicated financial situation nowadays. It is also one of the ways how insolvency can be declared in the Czech Republic. There are two ways of processing personal bankruptcy: firstly debts of an individual can be repaid (partial or whole) by selling some of the debtor's assets. Secondly, depending on the debtor's income, part of the debt can be repaid through repayment plan. In this research it is not defined by which of these two ways is personal bankruptcy handled, but it concentrates on structure of debtors in particular regions of the Czech Republic such as gender, age, education and income. This paper is also focused on comparison of above mentioned characteristics between regions.

Improving interchanges in China: the experiential phenomenon

This paper examines the development of multimodal passenger rail hubs as part of the high-speed rail (HSR) network in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The instrumental, attitudinal and affective experience of the journey through the interchange is assessed from the user perspective. Surveys are used from three HSR stations: Beijing South, Chengdu East and Suzhou North (N=150), representing three types of HSR stations, i.e. national capital, regional capital and sub-regional city. ‘Expected’ and ‘realised’ facilities are compared – with the difference representing the ‘disgruntlement’ factor (after Stradling et al., 2007).The unprecedented urbanisation process currently being witnessed in the PRC, together with the rapid development of the HSR network and associated multimodal interchanges, offers much opportunity to develop a leading-edge public transport system and urban development predicated on the use of public transport. Although the importance of intermodal interchange hubs is being increasingly recognised, the journey experience through the interchange often remains poor, with problems including Wi-Fi availability, waiting and seating, the availability of door-to-door ticketing, crowdedness, access to the hub, time of travel through and waiting in the hub. MANOVA analysis and factorial (three way) MANOVA analysis are used to explore the differences between intermodal hubs, with many instrumental and particularly attitudinal and affective factors being significantly influenced by location.

Functional and Sectoral Division of Labour within Central and Eastern European Countries: Evidence from Greenfield FDI

__Abstract__ In this paper, we analyse the sectoral and functional division of labour in Central and Eastern European (CEE) regions within the convergence debate. By analysing the investment decisions of multinational corporations in 49 NUTS-2 regions across 6 European CEE countries (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria), we show that capital city regions not only receive more greenfield FDI but also attract a larger variety of investments in terms of sectors and functions. Capital cities are more likely to host higher-end sectors and functions, which provides an explanation for the existing regional disparities within CEE countries. These results highlight the importance of functional and sectoral divisions of labour in the view of regional profiling and contribute to the recent EU Cohesion Policy debate.

Functional and Sectoral Division of Labour within Central and Eastern European Countries: Evidence from Greenfield FDI

AbstractIn this paper, we analyse the sectoral and functional division of labour in Central and Eastern European (CEE) regions within the convergence debate. By analysing the investment decisions of multinational corporations in 49 NUTS 2 regions across six European CEE countries (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria), we show that capital city regions not only receive more greenfield FDI but also attract a larger variety of investments in terms of sectors and functions. Capital cities are more likely to host higher‐end sectors and functions, which provides an explanation for the existing regional disparities within CEE countries. These results highlight the importance of functional and sectoral divisions of labour in the view of regional profiling and contribute to the recent EU Cohesion Policy debate.

Diversification of the dynamics of population size and the number of the employed in small and medium-sized Polish towns from 1995 to 2010

Abstract This paper presents partial outcomes of the project called ‘The Diversity of the Development Processes of Small and Medium-Sized Towns and its Influence on the Polycentric Development of Poland’. The research conducted within that project has been based on the identification of two basic groups of Polish towns, regarding their locations either within the functional area boundaries of the regional capital cities (functional areas of voivodship centre), or outside. The goal of our research is to determine whether small and medium-sized towns maintain their roles as stable elements of the settlement network and their development is diverse, depending on their neighbourhood in respect of the regional capitals. The population and the employment fluctuation rates constitute some of a dozen of development indicators under examination. The changes in those indicators’ values were identified in the period of 1995-2010, and additionally, two more subperiods were identified: 1995-2003 and 2003-2010. Our research discovered essential differences in the population rates of small and medium-sized towns located in the functional areas of regional capital cities (Group I) and outside (Group II). In 1995-2010, we observed an increase of population in Group I and it was the only Group of towns with growing population nationwide. In view of the generally non-beneficial changes in the number of the employed nationwide in 1995-2010, a better situation occurred in the towns belonging to Group I. In some of the Polish regions, we found an increase of the number of the employed in that group of towns. An essential national increase of the number of the employed, identified in the sub-period of 2003-2010, was larger in the towns of Group I than Group II.

Factors affecting the persistence of traditional agricultural landscapes in Slovakia during the collectivization of agriculture

Collectivization of agriculture (1950s–1970s) was one of the most important periods in landscape development in Slovakia. Traditionally managed agricultural landscapes, that covered more than half of the Slovak territory, were transformed into large-scale fields and only fragments of traditional agricultural landscapes survived. We mapped the remaining traditional agricultural landscapes using aerial photos and historical maps. We then statistically analyzed the various geographical factors and their influence on the transformation process of traditional and collectivized fields, i.e., slope steepness, soil fertility, distance from settlements and isolation from regional capital cities. The comparison was performed using classification tree analysis. We constructed a set of decision rules that explain why fields were managed traditionally or collectivized. Our findings show that traditional agricultural fields were more likely to persist on steep terrain, less fertile soils, and on locations that were closer to the settlements, but more isolated from the regional capital cities. Steepness played the most important role: small-scale fields located on steep areas were not accessible to heavy machinery and therefore, frequently survived the collectivization. We show that the selected geographical factors are good explanatory variables for the collectivization of arable fields and orchards. For vineyards and grasslands, however, the explanatory power of the selected geographical factors is lower, and we suspect that other factors, not depicted in the analysis play an important role.