Form Of Urban Development Research Articles

Smart city construction and quality upgrading of export products: Evidence from China

Smart cities, as an advanced form of urban development in the digital age, are likely to profoundly affect the operations of local businesses. This paper analyzes the impact of smart city construction on the quality of firms’ export products by exploiting a quasi-natural experiment based on a smart city pilot policy in China and employing the staggered difference-in-differences (DID) method. Our empirical results reveal that the implementation of the policy significantly improves the export product quality of local firms, and this finding remains quite robust after a series of sensitivity tests. Mechanism analysis shows that the improvement of innovation efficiency and the reduction of transaction costs are two effective channels through which smart city construction enhances export product quality. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the policy effects are more prominent in high-tech industries, cities with high administrative levels, the eastern and central regions, non-state-owned firms, and general trade firms, which enjoy greater policy dividends than their counterparts.

Investigation of the Effects of Disasters on the Development of Urban Form

Cities are in a dynamic structure that is in a constant process of change and transformation. In the process of changeand transformation, while cities grow by developing in various ways, their morphological structures also change. Inthis process, various natural disasters (earthquakes, floods, and flood, etc.) affect the changes in the cities and shapethe morphology of the cities to a great extent. Especially natural disasters that occur in urban centers can causesudden changes in the development of urban forms. This study, it is aimed to examine the spatial developments ofdisaster cities and the effects of morphological changes at the macro form level on the physical form of cities. Thoseaffected by earthquakes, one of the most experienced natural disasters in Turkey, and urban settlements whosecenters are desired to be changed; Erzincan, Sakarya-Adapazarı, Ağrı-Doğubeyazıt, Denizli, and Düzce provinces werechosen as typical case examples. Within the scope of the study; urban morphology was considered as a methodaiming to analyze the changes that a city or part of the city had undergone formally, and the urban developmentpatterns of the sample cities were examined by choosing the intervention scale city form in the city morphology.

Determining the climate adaptive capacity of urban actors: a case study of Mongla port-townin Bangladesh

PurposeIn an urban environment, different types of actors (individuals, households, community groups, institutions, governmental organizations, nongovernmental organizations (NGO), community-based organizations (CBO) and public and private organizations, etc.) play critical roles in enhancing urban resilience to adapt to the impacts of climate change. To identify and prioritize aspects of climate resilience planning, this study aims to examine the potential impacts of climate change on diverse urban systems and evaluate the capacities of various actors to adapt to climatic stress.Design/methodology/approachThis research selects Mongla, a coastal as well as port town in south-western Bangladesh that faces climate risks including frequent cyclones, storm surges and salinity intrusion due to sea-level and temperature rise, as reported in the National Climate Vulnerability Index 2018. This research uses the methodology proposed by ICLEI South Asia’s Climate Resilient Cities Action Plan and accesses different urban actors’ adaptive capacity for contributing to enhancing climate resilience based on three broad characteristics: the capacity to organize and respond, availability of resources and access to information. The cumulative scores of these characteristics aid in determining the climate adaptive capacity of each urban actor.FindingsThe identified 53 actors are grouped into four categories: government (local and national); international/local NGOs, CBOs and associations; community representatives and private sectors and groups and individuals. The group of NGOs, CBOs and associations has a higher overall adaptive potential than all other actor groups, according to the study. When it comes to practicing adaptive capacity, government institutions are in the second-highest position. But, the Khulna development authority, the government agency that is in charge of overseeing all forms of urban development, scored poorly on all fragile urban systems. However, the performance of the fourth group of urban actors is very subpar when it comes to adapting to climatic stress, which emphasizes the need for focused interventions.Research limitations/implicationsVariations in adaptive capacities to climate change across different actors are particularly useful for targeting actors with lower levels of climate adaptive capacities in Mongla town.Originality/valueThis paper particularly addresses the research gap in assessing the adapting capacity of urban actors in Mongla port-town. Policymakers and practitioners can create and carry out targeted interventions that address the particular needs and concerns of vulnerable actors by making use of the insights obtained from this kind of study, thereby assisting in the development of climate resilience in any urban area.

Creative solution concept for urban structure sustainability development (for example: architecture and planning structure of Iranian small cities)

Special urgency for small cities in Iran represents developing problem guiding principles of transformation and development of architectural and planning structure, as well as applied technique of its evaluation in accordance with the requirements of sustainable development. This article describes leading forms of urban development settlements and identifies common principles which influence on sustainable urban development.
 The objective of this article is to assert sustainable development theories which meets city planning structure and develop a sustainability concept for Iranian small cities. This will be done through studies that were influenced by addressing a rethinking in order to emphasize adapting new trend of sustainable development which focused on city planning structure, and suitable for Iranian small cities condition. Thus, the main tasks of study could be formulated as follows: define Iranian small cities planning structure features and problems; study recent sustainability documents and related urban development forms and principles; comparative analysis; and finally suggest a creative solution for architectural and planning structure for Iranian small cities condition.
 The research used the method of analysis of latest international scientific literature and documents related to urban development sustainability in order to evaluate, compare and achieve a proper solution for Iranian small cities structures sustainability. It should be noted that such kind of analysis would be done only after analyzing and identifying the features and problems of the planning structure of Iranian small cities.
 Results of study: The article reveals recent sustainable urban development forms and its interpretations in modern urban development theories; demonstrates Iranian cities structure features; Iranian cities general plans problems; urban forms and design principles for achieving the goals of sustainable urban development for conditions of Iran.
 The scientific novelty of research is to study recent urban sustainable development forms and principles which related to urban structures; and suggest an appropriate and suitable concept for Iranian small cities development sustainability.

Prefigurative urbanization: housing cooperatives, social movements, and the urban transformation question in Harare (Zimbabwe)

ABSTRACT Housing cooperatives and social movements have become significant actors in the housing delivery in Harare, Zimbabwe. This paper examines how these social movements contribute to the transformation of urban territories. We argue that through strategies, such as collective defiance and demonstration of alternative; housing cooperatives and social movements have challenged urban authorities to concede to new forms of urban development. These urban collectives have created ‘new infrastructure geographies. At the same time, planning institutions respond by reforming policies to embrace grassroots housing initiatives. Our findings contribute to scholarly debates on how the urban poor produce and transform urban spaces.

Proliferation of the Subject of Christ Cleansing the Temple in 16th Century Painting: The Urban-Sociological Context

This paper aims to provide the urban-sociological context for the significant proliferation of the topic of Christ Cleansing the Temple in 16th-century painting. Widely accepted interpretations of this phenomenon consider it exclusively in the context of the Counter-Reformation, i.e. the Catholic Revival, considering the topic to be a symbol of the rejection of Protestant dogma or, otherwise, the Church's struggle against the demoralization of its clerics. The Counter-Reformation context is indisputably significant. However, certain socioeconomic processes that mark the 16th century, such as the development of protocapitalism in Italy, i.e. the establishment of year-round trade in the city and the emergence of a new, politically and economically dominant class of merchants and bankers, also emerge as an aspect worth examining. French sociologist Henri Lefebvre considered the 16th century to be a turning point in the development of urban forms and pointed out the connection between this biblical story and the disdain for the restructuring of the city which was due to those changes. Owing to his theses on the production of space, we will observe a dual involvement of the Church in the motions of inhibition and initiation of processes which, by producing a new type of space, disrupt the balance that ensured its material and symbolic power.

The National New Area as an Infrastructure Space: Urbanization and the New Regime of Circulation in China

AbstractThis paper proposes an infrastructure analytic for exploring the urbanizing landscapes of China's “national new areas.” In an effort to develop a less city-centred approach to the transformations underway in these spaces, I consider the new area as an “infrastructure space” in which the conventional distinctions between rural and urban have become increasingly meaningless. Such an approach draws our attention to the ways large-scale infrastructures of connectivity are driving a decentred form of urban development in which the livelihoods of residents are shaped by access to networks more than proximity to city centres. Based on case-study research of urbanizing villages and the rapid transformation of rural livelihoods in Gui'an New Area in Guizhou province, I suggest that an infrastructure analytic sheds light on the ways national new areas can be understood as particular events in an unfolding regime of circulation that has come to dominate urban forms worldwide.

Awareness of the Cittaslow Brand among Polish Urban Dwellers and Its Impact on the Sustainable Development of Cities

New ways of promoting sustainable urban development are currently being sought. One of them is the slow city model, which has been implemented by some municipalities. This model forms the basis for cooperation between the cities within the international Cittaslow network. It has been assumed that the Cittaslow brand could generate numerous benefits for cities. It can be a significant regional growth and socio-economic development factor. However, city dwellers have to be familiar with the brand, and they have to understand the philosophy behind the Cittaslow movement. The aim of the present study is to assess the awareness of the Cittaslow brand among the residents of the cities that are members of the Cittaslow network. Data from the questionnaires have been classified into multiway tables. The chi-square test is used to examine the relationship between the attributes. The surveys conducted demonstrate that the residents are not sufficiently familiar with the Cittaslow brand to derive any potential benefits from their network membership. This observation suggests that city dwellers should be educated on the main tenets of the slow city concept. The present study demonstrates that urban residents’ awareness of the Cittaslow brand, the slow city philosophy and the Cittaslow logo is influenced by their gender and age. These results show not only the need for education but also the need to promote the desirable forms of urban development; the respondents were familiar with some activities pertaining to the slow city concept, but they were not familiar with the other activities and did not link them to the Cittaslow movement. The most desirable ways of promoting the territorial Cittaslow brand were also identified. There is a general scarcity of research on the Cittaslow brand in Poland and in the world, and thus further studies are needed to formulate meaningful conclusions with the aim of promoting the development of the Cittaslow network.

Urban block as an effective tool for creating an environmentally comfortable environment

Modern urban planning sets itself the task of creating sustainable urban environments that would provide comfortable living and work for the population, while not harming the environment. In this regard, green construction has become one of the most relevant areas in urban planning.Green construction is a construction concept that takes into account environmental aspects and is aimed at creating environmentally friendly and energy–efficient buildings and infrastructure. Green construction includes the use of environmentally friendly materials and technologies, improving the energy efficiency of buildings and infrastructure, as well as the creation of green areas in the city.With the rapid growth of cities and an increase in the number of people, the problem of preserving ecological cleanliness and sustainability of the urban environment is becoming more and more urgent. Environmental problems of cities, such as air, land and water pollution, noise and vibrations, lead to deterioration of public health and negative impact on the environment. In this regard, there is a need for new approaches to urban planning that would take into account environmental aspects.In Russia, as in many other countries of the world, there is a need to create sustainable urban environments. One of the ways to create such an environment is to use urban blocks. Urban blocks are a modern approach to the construction of the urban environment, which allows you to create compact blocks that include residential buildings and infrastructure facilities. They allow for more efficient use of urban space and create comfortable conditions for the life and work of the population. In this article we will look at the practice of using urban blocks in construction, how they differ from other forms of urban development and what advantages they provide for residents and urban infrastructure in general.

Reproduction of city blocks while creating a comfortable urban environment

Urban planning and the creation of a comfortable green environment are two integral components of sustainable urban development. Modern cities face many challenges related to pollution, limited resources and lack of space. However, the creation of a green environment and sustainable urban development can help solve these problems. In addition, sustainable urban planning aims to create compact and convenient urban environments. This approach allows reducing traffic flows, using less energy and resources for the construction and operation of urban infrastructure facilities. One example of such urban planning is urban blocks. Urban blocks is an urban planning concept that involves the creation of compact and multifunctional city blocks that combine residential, office, retail and other types of real estate. This concept is designed to improve the quality of life of citizens, create a more sustainable urban environment and reduce traffic flows. Thus, urban blocks and green urban planning have much in common and complement each other. In this article, we will consider the issues of reproduction of urban blocks in construction, their differences from other forms of urban development, as well as what benefits they provide for residents and urban infrastructure in general.

Identifying urban form typology of residential areas in major cities in South Korea using clustering

In South Korea, cities have experienced rapid development, resulting in diverse urban form patterns. While the typology approach has emerged for identifying different patterns for better understanding of urban development, typology studies are still lacking for Korean cities. This study identifies and compares urban form typologies for residential blocks in major Korean cities using clustering. Two cities are analysed which represent distinct regional city characteristics and planning themes in Korea: Seoul and Jeju. In each city, physical form data are collected in the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) format for calculating and analysing residential blocks. Urban form variables and principal components were analysed and used for K-means clustering. The results of clusters are then interpreted as urban form typologies. The identified urban form typologies in the two cities show the similarities and differences of typologies between the cities providing insights in the influences of regional characteristics, such as natural environment, culture, and of the planning patterns on urban form development patterns. The findings provide a better understanding of diverse urban forms in the three cities and their different local identities. The typologies can be utilized as references for urban and policy makers for sustainable planning and design.

Active transportation policy and practice in the city of Oulu from 1998 to 2016—A mixed methods study

Land use and transportation policies have been recognized globally as major sources of physical inactivity, but there has been a gap between research and policy implementation. Our objective for this research was to produce an integrated view of community planning policies and the association between urban form characteristics and transportation mode choices in the city of Oulu from 1998 to 2016. Our findings showed that increasing density and diversity of the urban form, emphasizing active transportation, and developing the city center were highlighted in the community and transportation planning policies. In practice, urban form development focused on the inner city, but in the outer urban area and urban fringe, sprawl and car dependency increased. Overall, the active transportation mode share decreased by 2 percentage points during the follow-up, but increases in density, mix and access networks were associated with increased walking and cycling compared to car use. In conclusion, no consensus was established in Oulu to limit the dominance of private motor vehicles. Decreased active transportation mode share might have been due to inadequately assessed functional mix outside the inner city, increased urban sprawl and building more capacity for cars. In the future, stronger political leadership, increased density, better access to nearby services combined with investments in public transportation will be required to meet the policy goals.

Past-Present-Future: Urban Spatial Succession and Transition of Rail Transit Station Zones in Japan.

In today’s environmentally conscious society, advocated by a global point of view, land and building use around rail transit stations have changed in the urbanization process. Promoting urban construction and development centered on rail transit stations not only meets the actual needs of urban sustainable development but is also an important means to guide the development of innovative cities. Therefore, it is meaningful to study the characteristics of urban spatial succession, development rules, and future trends based on this new perspective. We analyzed the relationship between rail transit networks and urban form in Japan using GIS by investigating changes in land and building use around rail transit stations over 30 years in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s (from 1985–2010) using factor analysis and cluster analysis, and we discussed the impact of land consolidation planning and the setting and site selection of new stations based on urban development to understand the development trends inside and outside station zones and urban spatial succession. The results showed the following: (1) There are certain relationships between the development of urban form and traffic demand, and the rail transit network in Japan has the characteristics of high accessibility and aggregation of a small network; (2) Commercial development with a high plot ratio is dispersed and diverted by high-density rail transit stations in the commercial center of Japan; and (3) Commercial sub-centers form complexes by integrating multi-line transfers and form regional linkages through clustered commercial development. Regional business centers realize the agglomeration and radiation of functions through the compound development of station zones. This case study on rail transit zones and urban spatial succession in Japan has important enlightenment significance for urban construction toward optimizing the location and development of suburban rail transit lines, promoting the compact development of cities, exploring new ways to build more reasonable transport, planning city design and layout for rail transit station zones, and providing decision-making references for urban regeneration and sustainable development.

How effective are greenbelts at mitigating urban sprawl? A comparative study of 60 European cities

As Europe takes continuous steps towards urbanization, many cities in this continent are affected by the negative repercussions caused by urban sprawl. Among the efforts adopted to overcome urban sprawl and its adverse impacts is the greenbelt policy which is highly popular in several European countries. However, the actual effectiveness of this urban growth management strategy has been disputed. Using a sample of 60 European cities, 30 of which have greenbelts, this study compares (1) changes in urban sprawl in a 9-year time period (2006–2015), and (2) the level of sprawl between the cities with and without greenbelt in 2006 and 2015 separately, to investigate the performance of the greenbelts, applying the metrics of Weighted Urban Proliferation (WUP) and Weighted Sprawl per Capita (WSPC). The results show that (1) greenbelts have been largely effective at slowing down urban sprawl; and in most cases, they have helped reduce sprawl; (2) while urban sprawl decreased also in some cities without greenbelt, the average relative decrease in sprawl was much stronger in cities with greenbelts; (3) greenbelts were somewhat more beneficial in limiting urban sprawl in cities with larger population sizes; (4) the effectiveness of greenbelts was mainly due to the reduction of land uptake per person, i.e., through densification of the built-up areas. These findings are useful to inform future de-sprawling strategies in urban and regional planning as well as the formulation of new scenarios and of targets and limits to urban sprawl in support of more sustainable forms of urban development.

Security and Privacy Challenges using IoT-Blockchain Technology in a Smart City: Critical Analysis

A smart city is a comprehensive concept created by multiple digital industries. Smart city is a new generation of information technologies such as the Internet of Things, cloud computing, big data, and geospatial information to promote smart new ideas for urban planning, construction, management and services, power city operation and administrative management, industrial development, and public services in various fields. It is a modern high-end urban development form. A smart city is to establish a city center system by connecting terminals, applying information technology and network, and ultimately promoting the efficiency improvement and economic structure optimization in various fields. However, in the construction of smart cities, due to the sharing of a large amount of data, a lot of data leakage is caused, and data protection faces many challenges. The article first introduces the structure of smart cities, the challenges faced by smart cities in data protection and data privacy protection; then summarizes the characteristics, applications, and challenges of blockchain technology in the application of blockchain in smart cities, and makes reference to references. The corresponding comparisons are made, and the future challenges are finally summarized and proposed.

Mapping Resilience in the Town Camps of Mparntwe

From the perspective of urban planning, the history of the Town Camps of Mparntwe (Alice Springs) has made them a unique form of urban development within Australia; they embody at once a First Nation form of urbanism and Country, colonial policies of inequity and dispossession, and a disparate public and community infrastructure that reflects the inadequate and ever-changing funding landscape it has been open to. While these issues continue, this paper discusses the resilience of these communities through the Local Decision Making agreement, signed in 2019 between the Northern Territory Government and Tangentyere Council. One thing that has been critical to translating and communicating local decisions for government funding has been the establishment of an inclusive and robust process of participatory mapping—Mapping Local Decisions—where both the deficiencies and potential of community infrastructure within each Town Camp is being identified. As local community knowledge is embedded within these practices, so too are issues of health, accessibility, safety and a changing climate similarly embedded within the architectural and infrastructure projects developed for government funding. Being conceived and supported by local communities, projects are finding better ways to secure this funding, building on a resilience these communities have for the places they live.

Co-Creation Beyond Humans: The Arts of Multispecies Placemaking

Placemaking, as a form of urban development often focusing on arts- and community-based approaches, is becoming a key site for responding to pressing social and environmental concerns around the development of sustainable urban futures. This article explores the potential of arts-based methods to develop a “multispecies placemaking” in which “the community” is expanded to also include non-human species. Drawing on a performative event aiming to put the idea of multispecies placemaking into practice, the article brings together theories and practices of the evolving field of multispecies art with the more established field of socially engaged art to discuss challenges of co-creation and participation from a multispecies perspective. It concludes with a reflection on the possibilities of arts-based methods to foster not only methodological innovation within the field of placemaking but also to suggest a re-thinking of what placemaking is and could be.

Rediscovering the Scaling Law of Urban Land from a Multi-Scale Perspective—A Case Study of Wuhan

The law of urban scaling implies that there is a universally applicable nonlinear scaling relationship between population size and urban indicators, which is a method of quantitative analysis that can reflect the growth law and internal logic of the urban system. However, most present research is conducted at the municipal scale, and studies of scaling law in the inner-city system are scarce, especially from the perspective of compact urban form development. The goal of this paper is to discover the scaling law within urban systems from a multi-scale perspective. Through the empirical analysis of Wuhan, this paper examines the internal scale law of the urban system from the municipal and district scales. Moreover, we use the landscape expansion index to perform spatial autocorrelation analysis. In this way, we assess the relationship between the compactness of urban morphological development and the urban scaling law. The results indicate that the temporal scaling law on the city scale has a more significant linear law than the single-year scaling law. The analysis also shows the scaling law relationship within the inner-city system. Nevertheless, there is a deviation between the temporal scaling law and the cross-section scaling law. Namely, the time series development of a district does not follow the section scaling law of the urban system. Furthermore, the urban scaling law shows a negative correlation with the compactness of the urban form development. It is crucial to understand the current economic development and resource endowment of an urban system in the urbanization process, as it significantly contributes to urban development and regional coordinated planning.

Strategies for a new municipalism: Public–common partnerships against the new enclosures

This article considers the potential of public–common partnerships (PCPs) to act as a new municipalist intervention against the privatisation and financialisation of land in the UK. In previous publications, we have presented PCPs in abstract terms as a municipalist organisational form that could help communities eschew the disciplinary effects of finance capital to pursue alternative democratic forms of urban development. Here, we start to examine what this process looks like in practice. The article draws from ongoing participatory action research in two contrasting case studies, Wards Corner in Haringey and Union Street in Plymouth. We find that by establishing enduring organisational structures where collective decisions can be made about who owns and manages land and assets, PCPs could bolster already existing efforts to democratise urban development in both cities. As an organisational form, PCPs reframe the ‘local’ as a politics of proximity, decentre and reimagine the role of municipal institutions and foreground a politics of the common. This makes them an archetypal new municipalist strategy, well-suited to contesting the enclosure of urban landscapes. The article concludes by considering the development of PCPs within the broader new municipalist tendency.

Development of smart governance in Croatian cities - the size of a city as a determinant of smart governance

Purpose: The paper discusses the role and importance of smart governance as a modern form of urban development, identifies the key determinants of smart governance, analyzes models, evaluation and measurement indicators in smart and sustainable cities, and ranks 127 Croatian cities, regardless of city size. Methodology: A comprehensive database was prepared for the preparation of the study, including ten indicators of key smart governance determinants related to political participation of citizens, delivery of quality services to citizens, and sustainable functioning of city administration, in line with a review of models and indicators from previous studies. Results: The main goal of this research is to determine a correlation between the size of the city according to the number of inhabitants and statistically significant indicators of smart governance and, based on the value of the correlation coefficients, to determine the weights for the indicators in the process of city ranking. By aggregating the weighted z-scores, the Smart Governance Index was created for all Croatian cities and that index is not related to the size of a city. Conclusion: Statistically significant indicators for the formation of the Smart Governance Index for 127 cities in Croatia are the indicators of political participation and sustainable functioning of city administration. It is necessary to include as many indicators as possible in the future period so that the ranking results are as relevant as possible.