Contemporary Urban Development Research Articles

Unsettling Stories of Eviction from the New Saigon

AbstractStories of settling and civilizing a landscape often mask or conceal stories of displacement. Settling stories are often unsettling stories—and scholarship on urban settlement should strive to show both faces of the settlement process. This article analyzes interview excerpts collected between 2010 and 2012 from residents who have been evicted from an urban development site located across the Saigon River from Ho Chi Minh City’s central business district. I highlight how evictees evoke their own histories of settlement as a way of unsettling the triumphalist story of contemporary urban development in the city. Along the way, an unexpected, yet equally unsettling, irony emerges. The settlement stories evictees rely upon to prove their own status as legitimate urban settlers evoke the larger story of Vietnamese manifest destiny, which is also an unsettling tale of conquest, displacement, and settler colonialism.

Place branding and growth machines: Implications for spatial planning and urban development

ABSTRACT Place branding is increasingly being adopted by cities in advanced economies, with recent evidence suggesting that branding has expanded beyond its traditional role of presenting an image reflective of an existing local identity and is instead now able to play a role in guiding local planning and urban development. As with other elements of contemporary urban development, however, place branding also required scrutiny regarding what configurations of local stakeholders are involved in the branding process as well as the resulting implications for planning and development. In this regard, place branding presents a contemporary example of the growth machine thesis. Using this context, the key stakeholders, their roles, and the implications for spatial planning and urban development due to the configuration of the coalition are explored through a series of in-depth interviews with local officials (n = 18), semi-private economic development practitioners (n = 8), and place branding consultants (n = 10). Findings of the study show that the growth machines are dominated by private-sector stakeholders—in particular consultants—who guide the branding process. As a result, these private-sector actors are setting the broad policies that guide the urban development policies and spatial planning of cities.

SYSTEM ANALYSIS OF THE INFLUENCE OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL STATE OF COMFORT OF AN APARTMENT BUILDING

It is known that the density of cities has a negative effect on the mental state of the urban population, but at the same time, residential real estate in Ukraine plays an important role in the economy of the state. In the modern development of any country, which is experiencing a significant influence of politics and Economics, the problem of housing comfort is quite complex and unexplored challenge facing urban development. Also the changes that have occurred over the last decades influenced the development of the latest information technologies and technical equipment in construction, should be considered by designers for the erection of a comfortable home, which refers to psychological comfort, harmony between the space of the living environment and the subjective pleasure. Through this, it is necessary to investigate all the factors and processes that describe the interaction between the above mentioned elements. Today offers a variety of planning concepts. One of these areas is focused on the pedestrian, the other on the exterior of apartment buildings, that is, they have already begun to consider the comfort of rules which are already under discussion the relevant state agencies. Although the standards of residential property offer a number of advantages, which include enclosed and secure territory and underground Parking, etc., but unfortunately these existing standards almost nothing is said about the parameters of psychological comfort. One reason is that contemporary urban development is more focused on the price per square meter, rather than internal (psychological) comfort. Thus, in this article, the authors set out the General theoretical questions of system analysis of information processes describing the comfort of the living environment from the point of view of internal (psychological) characteristics of the health of the residents of apartment buildings, taking into account various factors and parameters that affect quality accommodation in this type of houses. Special attention is given to the information process in activities of urban construction in modern conditions of instability and crises occurring in society, the economy and other social spheres, since the most important and basic requirement which faces modern housing is a harmonious blend of physiological and psychological signs of comfortable life.

Groundwater Mining in Contemporary Urban Development for European Spa Towns

Mining activity is usually associated with heavy industry, the degradation of space and areas with a clearly industrial character. In fact, mining can be associated with other functions, such as health resorts, recreation and leisure. In the case of spas specializing in balneotherapy, medicinal underground waters “mineral and thermal” are extracted from local deposits using mining methods, in borehole mines. Mining activity is not the main direction of development of these places, but it remains absolutely essential for maintaining the spa function and offering services in the field of recreation, rest and tourism. The article focuses on the relationship between mining activity and the basic function of spas, the spatial relations between urban development and the spa zone, the range of mineral and thermal water use (natural resources obtained from underground deposits using the borehole method), and above all-the manner of exposing mining facilities in spa space and explaining the importance of these elements. The basis for the discussion featured in the article is constituted the results of an original study carried out by the author, employing field research, in 2018 at the Institute of Cities and Regions Design, Faculty of Architecture of the Cracow University of Technology. Research work was performed in a dozen South-German statutory spas (Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Saxony). Four cities representing a much wider group of spa centres were selected for detailed analysis: Bad Buchau, Bad Saulgau, Bad Aibling and Bad Schandau. It was shown that the selected cities were directly related to the mining of groundwater, but at the same time differed significantly in terms of the studied features. The study's conclusions may be useful in programming the development of spa towns operating on the basis of underground medicinal waters, as well as in the creation of concepts and projects on the urban and regional scale. Doi: 10.28991/HEF-2020-01-01-01 Full Text: PDF

To What Extent Can the Green Belts Prevent Urban Sprawl?—A Comparative Study of Frankfurt am Main, London and Seoul

A salient issue facing contemporary urban development in many countries is that the physical areas of major cities are growing at a faster rate than their populations. The popularity of the green belt concept among advocates is that it can effectively counter urban sprawl while safeguarding the countryside from urban development. This paper is intended to measure the efficacy of the green belt in preventing urban sprawl through an international comparative study in three cities of different sizes, and which have experienced different urban growth pressures, namely Frankfurt am Main (Germany), London (UK), and Seoul (South Korea). The study adopts the urban sprawl measurement methodological framework defined by Jaeger et al. to process GHSL data in order to examine the urban sprawl index in the three case study cities. This quantitative evidence-based comparative study demonstrates that the designation of green belts has failed to prevent urban sprawl both within urban centers and at a wider regional level.

Contrasts of socioeconomic space in the center of Russia and their evolution: two cross-section cases

The article reveals the level of contrasts in the center of Russia by municipal units, based on some economic and social indicators for two sections, or profiles, that together resemble the letter X on the map. The first profile follows the way from St. Petersburg to Moscow, crossing Leningrad, Novgorod, Tver’, and Moscow oblasts and then to the south of Tula region; the second one also follows the highways from the southern part of Kaluga Oblast via Moscow and Yaroslavl oblasts to the eastern outskirts of Kostroma Oblast. Inequalities in intra-regional, interregional and international migration to permanent residence along the selected profiles, as well as in intra- and interregional temporary labor migration, are studied and graphically shown. The long-term dynamics of population and the post-Soviet transformation of industry and agriculture, obtained including from field research and literary sources, allow us to partially explain modern population movements. It is shown that migration losses in the areas around the Moscow region are both a consequence and a cause of the local economic crisis. It is observed that the pre-revolutionary industrial potential was largely destroyed by the end of the twentieth century, while the accumulated late Soviet potential had a significant impact on the contemporary urban and areal development. However, the possibilities of its post-Soviet use varied greatly from place to place. The cumulative effects of economic spatial shrinkage and population concentration in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, regional centers and their suburbs are clearly visible. Population migration to large cities and agglomerations turn into losses of the most active population in the regions’ peripheries, and, consequently, into spatial economic polarization. Although the economy is partially recovering, changing specialization, its consolidation and modernization, including in agriculture, increases the problems in employment and social sphere, particularly acute at the municipal level. Migration losses in areas around the Moscow region are both a consequence and a cause of the local economic crisis.

From “Sarskaya Road” to “Victory Avenue”. The Architectural Ensemble of Moskovsky Avenue in Saint Petersburg

The article contains a brief overview of the history of the formation of the architectural ensemble of Moskovsky Avenue in Saint Petersburg — one of the major highways in the southern districts of the city. The role of regular urban planning techniques is noted in the process of organizing the main part of the modern highway, starting from Sennaya Square. The highway from the moment of its inception has served as part of a lengthy route important for the whole country, connecting Saint Petersburg with Moscow and Kiev. The process of gradual changes in the architectural characteristics of the avenue in the 19th century is traced, when the composition of the following sections of the highway was formed — from the Fontanka to the square at the Moscow Triumphal Gate. The historical and symbolical emphasis of the Gate is emphasized. The focus of the article is on the part of avenue that was created in the middle of the twentieth century in the neoclassical style of that time. The results of a large competition for the development of planning projects of the highway, conducted when the avenue was named after Joseph Stalin, are briefly reviewed. The authors analyze the spatial structure of the highway, the developed nature of which makes it possible to compare Moskovsky Avenue to Nevsky Avenue. It is shown that the very use of the patterns specific to the order system allowed for the creation of an ensemble, whose solemn character is consonant with the theme of victory in the war of 1941–1945. The authors evaluate the creative contribution of a number of Soviet architects and sculptors in the creation of the ensemble. The article also explores examples of the contemporary urban development of the neighboring city blocks and evaluates the level of their compatibility with the task of preserving the ensemble as an art monument of its time.

Making room for the extraeconomic

This paper revisits the 2011 debate in City over the relationship between assemblage urbanism and critical urban theory. Rather than emphasizing the somewhat exaggerated cleavage between the two sides of the debate, it seeks to address some of the incisive critiques that Brenner, Madden, and Wachsmuth ([2011]. “Assemblage Urbanism and the Challenges of Critical Urban Theory.” City 15 (2): 225–240) level against McFarlane's ([2011a]. “Assemblage and Critical Urbanism.” City 15 (2): 204–224) thought experiment regarding what assemblage thinking might bring to critical urban theory by returning to Deleuze and Guattari's political philosophy. It both explores the lineage of the two central concepts defining Deleuze and Guattari's political philosophy—the ‘state apparatus’ and the ‘war machine’—and uses aspects of the redevelopment of Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood as case study to argue that their political theory is especially well-suited for understanding the interaction of economic and extraeconomic forces (specifically ethics and aesthetics) in contemporary urban development.

Time as infrastructure

Overlapping and interlinked dimensions of time are shaped by and, in turn, structure contemporary urbanization and everyday life. This Special Feature debates the implications of such temporal dynamics for our cities: It explores the making of temporalities, the power relations in and through which this process is embedded, and the inequalities that its effects entail. Beyond definitions that focus on the material characteristics of infrastructures, the Special Feature understands temporalities themselves as infrastructures: structures that underlie and powerfully shape current forms of social organization and interaction. Considering time through this analytic lens promises to elucidate the ways in which political, social and economic conditions shape and exert authority over the everyday urban, as well as the material and social effects of such dominations. The papers assembled in this Special Feature unite scholars from different disciplines, probing this infrastructural lens to understand the structuring effects of urban temporalities in relation to central issues of contemporary urban development, including urban mobility and transnational migration, the politics of financializing urban infrastructure, urban energy transitions and climate risk. Moreover, thinking through the making of temporal infrastructures—that is, disentangling temporal authorities and their underlying power structures—allows thinking through opportunities for action and political change. In sum, these contributions advance three aims: to strengthen and enrich the analytical notion of infrastructure; to facilitate new knowledge about the construction of present, past and future temporalities; and to unveil potential entry points for social interventions that aim to establish empowering approaches towards urban equality and inclusion.

Urban development falling into the gutter: sanitation planning and ‘anti-politics’ in Myanmar

Urban development, and particularly the improvement of basic services delivery, is still approached in mostly technical terms by international development actors and municipalities of the Global South. Sanitation planning, for instance, remains the realm of engineers despite decades of evidence that conventional approaches focusing on infrastructure upgrading have failed to tackle socio-environmental challenges. Against this background, this paper explores sanitation planning in Mandalay, the second largest city of Myanmar. Here, the Asian Development Bank and a French consulting firm have seized the opportunity created by the country’s recent opening to embark with the municipality on a multi-million dollar scheme: the Mandalay Urban Services Improvement Project (MUSIP). Drawing upon insights from critical development studies, the paper argues that the MUSIP can be interpreted as an ‘anti-politics machine’ that ignored local needs and proposed disputable solutions to local sanitation challenges. The paper further explores how this machine jeopardised urban development in Mandalay more generally, and was eventually challenged by the municipality. The paper concludes that the case is not unique and illustrates how urban development is today being reshaped throughout Myanmar, while it also shows the continued relevance of the ‘anti-politics’ framework to understand contemporary urban development assistance projects.

Creative spaces in the structure of strategic planning of contemporary urban development: case of Saint-Petersburg

In the article, the authors consider the topical issue of the development of creative spaces and their effects on the growth of the modern digital economy. In terms of effective development of the modern metropolis, creative spaces are one of the best sources of new knowledge and technological innovations, they provide additional jobs and employment and contribute to increasing flexibility of the city's economic structure. Development of such spaces and industries is directly and inextricably linked with the strategic planning in the modern cities. Using the example of St. Petersburg the authors show that development of creative spaces and industries can only give the expected economic and social effects if it is balanced, well-coordinated and integrated into the system of urban strategic planning.

When Bourgeois Utopias Meet Gentrification: Community and Diversity in a New Urbanist Neighborhood*

Scholars have recently begun to explore how social and politically liberal gentrifiers make sense of the classed and racial inequalities linked to gentrification. In this article I ask how residents of one new urbanist “bourgeois utopia”—the Mueller Development in Austin, Texas—experience and give meaning to their neighborhood in a context of gentrification. Drawing on 31 in-depth interviews I explain how new urbanism has reimagined and marketed “diversity” and “community” to middle-class and wealthy consumers and provides these to affluent people as neighborhood amenities. I show how residents draw on diversity ideology and multicultural capital to neutralize what they see as their neighborhood’s role in gentrification. In doing so this article adds to our theoretical understanding of how contemporary urban development exploits pursuits for the social good as rhetorical tools to assuage privileged guilt while promoting profitable enterprises.

Construction site deliveries in urban areas, based on the example of Szczecin

Abstract Implementation of construction projects is of key importance for contemporary urban development. However, enterprises involved in the project encounter problems of various kinds. One of them is construction supply chain functioning. Construction site deliveries being part of construction supply chains constitute a weakness due to restrictions imposed by city authorities with regard to the transport policy and their impact on the urban traffic organisation. This article presents an analysis of solutions applied in construction site deliveries within the area of the city of Szczecin, and attempts at diagnosing the major problems in that regard.

Urban remote sensing with lidar for the Smart City Concept implementation

Introduction of the problem. The paper emphasizes that the key features of the contemporary urban development have caused a number of challengers, which require the innovative technological introductions in urban studies. The research goal of this paper means representing a multifunctional approach, which combines author’s urbogeosystem (UGS) theory with the URS (Urban Remote Sensing) technique for LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) data processing. The key elements of the Smart City concept within a geospatial perspective. Three basic assumptions are implied due to the affiliation “a geospatial perspective ó the Smart City concept” (SCC). The five key elements of the SCC have been outlined: Innovations; Scalability; Data gathering, measuring, and mining; Addressing environmental challengers; Interlink between the smart meter information and the geo-sensor information. The urbogeosystemic approach as a tool for simulating the “smart urban environment” – a core node of the Smart City hierarchy. The urbogeosystemic ontological model has been introduced as a trinity-tripod (urban citizens, municipal infrastructure, urbanistic processes and phenomena). The “smart urban environment” is a core node of an urbogeosystem. Processing results of LiDAR surveying technique. With increasing availability of LiDAR data, 3D city models of robust topology and correct geometry have become the most prominent features of the urban environment. Three key advantages of the LiDAR surveying technique have been introduced. The flowchart of the operational URS / LiDAR / GIS workflow for the Smart City implementation has been depicted. Urban Remote Sensing for data mining / city analytics and the EOS LiDAR Tool. ELiT (EOS LiDAR Tool) software is both a separate web-based (network) generator (an engine) – ELiT Server, and an integrated component of EOS Platform-as-a-Service software – ELiT Cloud. The allied one to these two products is our desktop ElitCore software, that possesses even broader functionality. The paper outlines the whole framework of urban data mining / city analytics relevant to the mentioned applications. The ELiT software use cases for the Smart Cities. A number of use cases that can be completed with the ELiT software in the common urban planning domain have been described and illustrated. Each from five scenarios presented suggests some unique solution within the frameworks of the SCC implementation. Conclusion, future research and developments. The completed research results have been summarized. An entity of the urban geoinformation space has been introduced. A geodatabase of ELiT 3D city models has been assigned a mandatory key component of the urban decision support system.

Alvin Boyarsky and his System: The Evolution of the Pedagogical Programme in London Architectural Association in the 1960-1980s

One of the most exciting periods on the history of London Architectural Association was in the 1960–1980s, when Alvyn Boyarsky became its director and the school turned into a true experimental field for the post-reconstruction generation, bringing up today’s world architecture leaders. The school’s graduates are the heroes of contemporary architecture, sensitive to the historical urban context, architectural genealogy and the complexity of human everyday life in general. Some of the issues raised during that period are still relevant in contemporary urban development. The current paper is a study of AA’s educational methods and programmes, with a focus on the main research topics, best diploma projects, and extracurricular activities. Education for Boyarski was a way to create an environment for experimentation and critical thinking, so he supported any student undertaking — from costumed carnivals and elephant riding to music records and student magazines. This was the reform carried out by Boyarski: he completely changed the structure of the studying process by proposing the “unit system” as the base model (which he himself called the “well-laid table”). The paper is devoted to the history of London Architectural Association of the 1960s–1980s, the urban problems faced by the generation that succeeded the generation of the postwar Reconstruction, and the methods of teaching developed during these years under the leadership of Alvin Boyarski.

E-urbanism: E-commerce, migration, and the transformation of Taobao villages in urban China

The development of information and communications technology (ICT) has promoted the rapid growth of e-commerce, which has gradually changed the city. Networking and migration are also key driving forces for contemporary urban development. Although a growing body of literature has studied e-commerce development, there is a lack of theoretical and empirical research to understand the impact of e-commerce and migration on urbanism. This study is an attempt to fill the gap. It firstly proposes a concept framework of E-urbanism that includes three interwoven layers, namely of ICT infrastructure and production networks, social networks and power relations, and urban form and land use. The framework is then applied to understand the influence of e-commerce and migration on the socio-spatial transformation of Taobao villages in Guangzhou city, China. This article concludes that ICT infrastructure and production networks form the foundation of e-commerce development, while social networks of rural migrants are important sources of social capital in the formation of Taobao villages. The existing physical forms provide opportunities for e-commerce growth, which has in turn reshaped them. E-commerce is fundamentally revolutionizing urbanism, the intertwinement of social and spatial reorganization of the city.

Effectiveness of landscape‐based green infrastructure for stormwater management in suburban catchments

AbstractLand cover changes associated with urbanization have negative effects on downstream ecosystems. Contemporary urban development attempts to mitigate these effects by designing stormwater infrastructure to mimic predevelopment hydrology, but their performance is highly variable. This study used in situ monitoring of recently built neighbourhoods to evaluate the catchment‐scale effectiveness of landscape decentralized stormwater control measures (SCMs) in the form of street connected vegetated swales for reducing runoff volumes and flow rates relative to curb‐and‐gutter infrastructure. Effectiveness of the SCMs was quantified by monitoring runoff for 8 months at the outlets of 4 suburban catchments (0.76–5.25 ha) in Maryland, USA. Three “grey” catchments installed curb‐and‐gutter stormwater conveyances, whereas the fourth “green” catchment built parcel‐level vegetated swales. The catchment with decentralized SCMs reduced runoff, runoff ratio, and peak runoff compared with the grey infrastructure catchments. In addition, the green catchment delayed runoff, resulting in longer precipitation–runoff lag times. Runoff ratios across the monitoring period were 0.13 at the green catchment and 0.37, 0.35, and 0.18 at the 3 grey catchments. Runoff only commenced after 6 mm of precipitation at the decentralized SCM catchment, whereas runoff occurred even during the smallest events at the grey catchments. However, as precipitation magnitudes reached 20 mm, the green catchment runoff characteristics were similar to those at the grey catchments, which made up 37% of the total precipitation in only 10 of 72 events. Therefore, volume‐based reduction goals for stormwater using decentralized SCMs such as vegetated swales require additional redundant SCMs in a treatment train as source control and/or end‐of‐pipe detention to capture a larger fraction of runoff and more effectively mimic predevelopment hydrology for the relatively rare but larger precipitation events.

Mixed use and diversity as a New Urbanism principle guiding the renewal of post-industrial districts

Abstract The revival of post-industrial areas, understood as a factor determining contemporary urban development, is a key process in regeneration. Such areas attract strategic renewal projects, because despite their perfect location next to city centres, they have long been inaccessible to city residents. The backbone of the projects is provided by programmes laying out the future functions of such areas and their target users. In the past, mono-functional districts were popular but their numerous weaknesses have meant that mixed use and diversity are increasingly being introduced into urban areas today. Mixed use and diversity underlie the urban design movement known as the New Urbanism. This article assesses the role of mixed-use and diversity as the New Urbanism principle guiding the renewal of post-industrial areas. It is based on desk research and a comparative analysis of two case studies: the Paris Rive Gauche (France) and the New Centre of Lodz (Poland). The article concludes that regeneration based on the New Urbanism principle of functional and user diversity leads to an effective renewal of run-down urban areas. The applicability of other New Urbanism principles stressing the need to ensure harmony between an urban design strategy and the human scale in the revival of urban neighbourhoods is also worth considering in the long term.

Right To The City: Lagos, An Emerging Revanchist City In Nigeria?

Right to the city is a concept that is part of discourse about contemporary urban development with its resultant social inequalities while revanchist city refers to a city that has zero tolerance policies against the poor, marginalized and downtrodden people who are seen as threats to urban order and culprits of urban decay. Gathering data from secondary sources, this chapter x-rayed programmes and policies executed by Lagos State between 2007 and 2015. The results showed that various processes of neoliberal restructuring of Lagos city had threatened democracy. Lagos State government, in a bid to revitalize the city, demolished some slum areas and evicted the residents because it would no longer tolerate the existence of slums in the centre of the state with a megacity plan for a ‘world class’ Lagos. Beggars and the destitute were forcibly removed from the streets and taken to the rehabilitation centre in Ikorodu. Some were evacuated to their various states or countries. The result further revealed that a number of the beggars were sent to Kirikiri Prison while illegal aliens were expelled and repatriated to their homelands. It was also observed that riding commercial motor-cycles popularly known as ‘okada’ was banned in most parts of the city. Markets in Tejuoso and Oshodi were demolished and rebuilt beyond the reach of the former traders. Also banned was street trading. With all these inhumane strategies, this article concludes that Lagos is becoming a revanchist city and suggests that the state should jettison this neoliberal legislation and reconsider liberal policies characterised by redistributive policy, affirmative action and antipoverty legislation because constitutionally in Nigeria, every individual has the freedom to live in any region, state, or city of his/her choice.

Multi-Dimensional Assessment Method of Open Spaces in New Communities' Low- Middle Income Housing

Rapid urbanization is considered today as complex combinations of what we have at the present and the shift that will happen in the future with many other social and economic forces. The mid-20th century and contemporary urban development create the new expanded urban areas that have the characteristics of fragmented integration cores to-wards the emergence of new centralities. The new built environment should have an intelligible special configuration to adapt with human agents, and based on this insight, it is important to explore these prop-ositions further and examine different ways to investigate the domain of urban spaces in new communities and its related social properties as urban spaces shouldn’t compiling one dimensional demand. This paper introduces some examples of open spaces in new commu-nities low -middle income housing that could be used to investigate in which manner, spatial patterns can influence the social contribution, and analyzing the social factors which have an impact on the physical properties of the open spaces in these segregated urban pattern. The aim from this paper is to reach a multi-dimensional assessment meth-od that could recover the open spaces s that suffered from the absence of policies and regulations of urban planning and development. The study is introducing a methodology for empirically exploring and clas-sifying the variables and attributes that define the physical and non-physical dimensions in open spaces by qualitative case study analysis to facilitate the social cohesion and integration in the community. By comparing the results from the spatial and physical perspective; an assessment method will be reached at the end to for-mulate the new community potentials and to overcome the problems for more social integration.