Examples Of Urban Development Research Articles

Squandering the territorial capital in the Balkans? Urban megaprojects between global trends and local incentives

Throughout its history, but also squeezed between the current challenges of globalisation and sovereignty, the Balkans has been confronted with a number of different political, economic, environmental, and cultural problems. Such a complex social framework inevitably implies spatial degradation, not only in terms of the urban forms as the final planning product, but also in terms of the nature of the planning process and urban governance. Notably, we assume that territorial capital in the Balkans is under serious threat due to the abuse of legal procedures, the neglect of the public interest and the politicisation of planning. To elucidate this, we focus on the megaprojects Belgrade Waterfront (Belgrade) and Hellinikon (Athens) as examples of urban development that require exceptional conditions such as special regulations, additional funding, long-term timeframes, and ad hoc actor networks. Against the conceptual background of multi-level governance and based on in-depth case studies, we examine the nature of vertical cooperation between authorities at different levels (from supranational to local), horizontal cooperation amongst different stakeholders, and the role of planning professionals who are seen as facilitators in this process. Finally, we point out to the most important conditions that enable a democratic social, political and professional framework for urban megaprojects.

Using Remote Sensing to Discover Historic Context of Human‐Environmental Water Resource Dynamics

AbstractAnalysis of historic and contemporary high‐resolution imagery can help to fill knowledge gaps in land cover and management history in locations where documentation is non‐existent or records are difficult to access. Historic imagery dating back to the 1960s can be used to structure quantitative investigation and mapping of land use and land cover change across space and time to enhance earth science, policy, and social science research. Imagery can further inform municipal planning and implementation in areas of natural resource allocation, infrastructure, and hazard mitigation. For management and public education, historic imagery can help people to understand environmental processes and the impacts of human activity in the local environment. Here we emphasize the value of high‐resolution historic satellite imagery from the Corona and Keyhole satellite programs to inform environmental research, public education, and environmental management. Within the Region of Arequipa in southern Peru we highlight examples of urban development, agricultural expansion, river channelization, and glacial retreat via comparison of historic and modern satellite imagery. By incorporating these types of historic imagery data in formats accessible to non‐professionals, public engagement as well as research into human‐environmental investigations will be greatly enhanced.

Urban Development and Airports in Northern and Central Italy: Main Trends and a Focus on Parma Giuseppe Verdi Case Study

The paper aims at highlighting some major trends in the air transport system in Northern Italy, and then at presenting examples of urban development and planning issues related to airports, focusing on the case study of “Giuseppe Verdi” airport in Parma. In the last years there has been a significant increase in air passengers in Northern Italy, with a sharp growth in International and European traffic. Parma airport, despite being built in late nineteenth century, has one of the lowest traffic in Italy and suffers an important financial crisis. The case study can therefore be useful to analyse the dynamics of many so-called “service” airports, questioning their possible development and necessary integration at the National and International level, justified by the presence of key managerial, commercial, industrial and also tourist centres. Furthermore, the case study of Parma is useful to single out conflicts and incoherencies between airport planning and urban planning, which are unlikely usual in current competitive and bottom-up planning system, and to draft possible improvements.

The New Control of Territory and Urban Planning: the Eminent Domain in the US

The article analyses the transformations of the use of eminent domain in the United States in the context of urban redevelopment programs. In the past the private property has been expropriated for public use only. Recently it is possible to forcibly transfer property, from a private subject to private developers, on the basis of a cost-benefit analysis that demonstrates that the new use is more efficient than the previous one. This profound change has been possible thanks to a progressive modification of the concept of public use. Traditionally, public use coincided with the construction of infrastructures and public utility, such as highways and railroads. Over the time, it has come to include other aims: firstly, projects of urban renewal and economic development carried forth by private developers. Essentially, it has resulted in the use of expropriation to assemble lands which are then granted to subjects who intervene in the reconfiguration of the city for private purposes. Starting from some important examples of urban development, the main phases of this process are reconstructed, also taking into account the most important decisions of the US Supreme Court that contributed to the change of doctrine, invalidating the postulate of public use as justification for expropriation.

Neoliberalization's Propagation of Health Inequity in Urban Rebuilding Processes: The Dependence on Context and Path.

This article will discuss how neoliberal processes during urban redevelopment sustain and increase health inequities through uneven wealth accumulation and development. It will use examples of urban development in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, to highlight how key neoliberal strategies of territorial development, economic development, and place promotion- mediated through the process of creative destruction-result in uneven development and wealth accumulation, which in turn result in health inequities. The history of rebuilding processes in Baltimore offers insight into the context and path-dependency of current neoliberalization rebuilding processes and current health inequities.

Evaluating Change in Housing for Sustainable Development: Kosuyolu Case in Istanbul

Sparse attention has been paid to the inevitable processes of change that enable progress in today's globalizing urban centres, but also threaten their unique identity, historic memory, and cultural heritage. The aims of this work are to understand the urban dynamics that trigger these change processes, uncover their effects, and discuss how these changes can be utilized to achieve sustainable development. The case study, which uses a comparative mixed method strategy consisting of archival research, fieldwork, and semi-structured interviews, is the Kosuyolu Housing Settlement, a project dating to the 1950s that represents one of Istanbul's best examples of urban development and housing culture. Displaying the architectural and urban planning ideals of the Modern period, this settlement is a concrete example that reflects the period's considerations regarding social housing. Through this case, change in housing has been evaluated in terms of sustainability indicators. The derived evidences show the significant role of governance and the maintained land use pattern for the achievement of the sustainable development and these evidences are used to suggest the development of an adaption guide that will assist in sustainable development in the short term, and the creation of alternative scenarios that are flexible and easy to adapt, active, and based on participatory processes for the long term.

Wood combustion, a dominant source of winter aerosol in residential district in proximity to a large automobile factory in Central Europe

Industries in close proximity to residential districts are a historical phenomenon of urban development frequently causing air quality problem in European cities. Mladá Boleslav, the long-time centre of the automobile industry in the Czech Republic, is typical example of urban development. However, this air pollution source reconnaissance study found a source of currently increasing importance for the European cities, wood burning. Receptor modelling, time series of organic tracers for wood and coal burning, small-scale multiple-site PM10 monitoring and mobile PM10 measurement were combined to identify sources of fine (PM0.15-1.15) and coarse (PM1.15-10) particles in a residential district of Mladá Boleslav in winter 2013. The receptor model was applied to hourly concentrations of organic and elemental carbon in fine and 27 elements in fine and coarse aerosol particles at a receptor site. Multiple-site measurements with PM10 monitors showed no statistically significant differences among the monitors. Thus, the source apportionment derived from the central site data should apply to the entire residential district. Campaign average PM10 (33.9 μgm−3) consisted of 88% fine particles. Wood burning (49%), coal combustion (34%), traffic (16%), and industry (1%) were identified as the fine particle sources while combined wood burning and coal dust (80%), road dust with salt (14%), and abrasion of car brakes (6%) were identified the coarse particle sources. The large contributions of wood and coal combustion were surprising for this residential district that is a block of flats with district heating. High correlations were observed between the wood combustion contributions and the levoglucosan and mannosan concentrations. The homohopane index of 0.05 indicated lignite combustion. Peak concentrations in excess of 500 μgm−3 of PM10 recorded during mobile measurements along with visible plumes from home heating, support the source apportionment of the fine particle mass.

Neither ordinary nor global: a reflection on the ‘extra-ordinary’ expansion of Athens

As part of the debate on Mediterranean urbanities in between ‘ordinary’ and ‘global’ cities, the present paper proposes a reflection on Athens’ long-term expansion seen as a paradigmatic example of urban development in southern Europe. The article debates economic restructuring, demographic processes, and social changes taken as determinants of the shift in the city’s morphology towards urban dispersion. By reconnecting socioeconomic dynamics into a multidisciplinary perspective, the author engages in a debate on the future of large Mediterranean cities in between settlement expansion and crisis.

Integrated urban ecosystem evaluation and modeling based on embodied cosmic exergy

This paper presented a thermodynamic synthesis that involved resource accounting, evaluation and modeling of urban ecosystems based on embodied cosmic exergy (EcE), which redefined embodied exergy with the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) as the reference for solar exergy. In a case study of the Beijing urban ecosystem, the major resources supporting the urban ecosystem, both from free natural resources and from the economy, were accounted for, analyzed and evaluated in the same units, Cosmic Joules (Jc). These indicators revealed the current performance of the Beijing urban ecosystem by considering five aspects of the system: EcE sources, EcE intensity, EcE welfare, environmental impacts and economic efficiency. Moreover, through the combination of the EcE synthesis with a systems dynamics, this research constructed an embodied cosmic exergy-based urban system model (EESM) using Beijing as an example of urban development. The results show that the 10 years from 2010 to 2020 will be very critical for the sustainable development of Beijing because many key factors, such as water resources, wastes and urban assets, might be confronted with great changes during this period. These changes will inevitably transform the urban system not only in its external circumstances but also in its inner structure and may lead to serious consequences. Of all the necessary resources, the most sensitive factor is water supply.

Limites et défis de la gouvernance urbaine en Amérique latine : une analyse à partir de la théorie du régime urbain et de l'opération commerciale d'Alto Palermo à Buenos Aires / Limits and challenges of urban governance in Latin America : an analysis based on the theory of urban regimes and the Alto Palermo shopping centre at Buenos Aires

The concept of 'urban governance' seems to be central in the formulation of urban policy in most 'under developed' metropolises since the end of the 1980s, especially due to the influence of the World Bank. This paper examines this notion by confronting the theory of urban regimes with the analysis of a case of urban renovation based on a shopping centre in Buenos Aires. The aim is to demonstrate the theory's limits in a local context. In the Argentine federal capital, the shopping centre represented a model example of urban development, enabling experiments to be undertaken on the changing roles in the city's productive activities resulting from the withdrawal of the state. The paper studies the interactions between different urban actors in the creation of the shopping centre, and in the transformation of its environment as well as the consequences for the city.