Implications For Spatial Planning Research Articles

Securing access to Services of General Interest in remote regions – ethical perspectives and practical implications for spatial planning

Services of General Interest (SGI) are basic services that society and economy vitally need to function and develop. Securing access to these services is a key concern in many European spatial planning systems. In remote regions across Europe, SGI provision is facing challenges due to demographic and economic transformation processes. Opposing political proposals on how to address these challenges are often rooted in opposing ethical convictions. This article sheds light on the perspectives that different ethical concepts offer on SGI provision and explores the practical repercussions they entail. It is shown that proponents of libertarianism will advocate for allowing people to move to or stay in remote regions without adequate access to SGI as long as this is their voluntary and conscious decision, whereas proponents of egalitarianism will consider it a matter of justice to ensure universal access to SGI in remote regions even if this presupposes major societal efforts. Proponents of utilitarianism, it is shown, will consider it reasonable to expand SGI in densely populated regions, where provision is cost-effective and many people benefit from it, and to reduce it in remote regions, where costs of provision are high and users are few. These positions are illustrated using the examples of school education and local public transport. The article puts forward the view that while a reflection of the different ethical positions cannot resolve the challenges that SGI provision in remote regions is facing, it is often possible to find solutions for SGI provision that reconcile the seemingly contradictory demands resulting from the different positions. The reflection of the different positions thus contributes to reasoned, informed decision-making on SGI provision in spatial planning and beyond.

Space-time Models and Personal Accessibility to Educational Facilities. Case Study of Space-time Accessibility to Schools in the City of Valencia

Society nowadays makes intensive use of time and extensive use of space. This has implications for spatial planning of facilities and services since it is now essential to look at personal accessibility (in terms of time and choice) and not just physical distance. Over and above spatial accessibility (distance or cost of travel to the facility or service), location models based on space-time accessibility also consider personal accessibility with respect to the time available to access a facility or service. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the practical usefulness of the theoretical approach grounded in the Geography of Time in enhancing personal accessibility to facilities and services which are provided in a specific space and at a specific time and have fixed start and end times, as is the case with schools. To this end, an ad hoc tool was developed to generate a number of scenarios simulating actual and hypothetical conditions for space-time accessibility to schools in the city of Valencia. The results showed how studying space-time accessibility may be extremely useful in drawing up proposals designed to increase personal accessibility to core services such as education and thereby helping to improve work-life balance.

Spatial-temporal heterogeneity of ecosystem service interactions and their social-ecological drivers: Implications for spatial planning and management

Uncovering the complex interactions among ecosystem services (ESs) is a prerequisite for managing multiple ESs simultaneously. We mapped the supply of six ESs, quantified their trade-offs/synergies and bundles, determined dominant social-ecological drivers, and subsequently provided sustainable spatial planning and management strategies at both grid and sub-watershed scales. The results revealed that: (1) the patterns of ESs were spatially heterogeneous, with food production decreasing the most, by 14.86% (grid scale) and 17% (sub-watershed scale), and water supply increasing the most, by 22.46% (grid scale) and 22.57% (sub-watershed scale) from 2000 to 2020; (2) ten ES pairs presented synergies while five ES pairs related to food production showed trade-offs at both spatial scales, with three ES pairs at the grid scale and two ES pairs at the sub-watershed scale experiencing declined synergies or increased trade-offs; (3) our spatial-temporal and cross-scale analysis of ES interactions identified ES pairs with declined synergies as an additional priority in ecosystem management and determined ES bundles as a zoning basis for spatial planning at both scales. The similarities and divergences in ES interactions and their drivers at different scales require the linkage and distinct focus of spatial planning at different scales. Thus, we integrated spatial-temporal and cross-scale knowledge on ES interactions into spatial planning to underpin sustainable ecosystem management across scales.

Unraveling the relative contribution of TOD structural factors to metro ridership: A novel localized modeling approach with implications on spatial planning

TOD (transit-oriented development) has gradually earned the reputation as a promising spatial planning strategy to encourage public transit usage. Many cities across the world, especially those in the global south, have established TOD projects around metro stations. From this standpoint, the paramount question of how TOD is conductive to metro ridership is at the heart of scholarly discourse. Theoretically, the territorial organization of a TOD comprises three structural factors –node (metro station), place (surrounding land use) and their feedback. An accurate judgement of the TOD-metro ridership relationship would not be achieved if we neglected any of the three structural factors forming the TOD architecture. However, the three TOD structural factors have not frequently been considered simultaneously in prior literature. A gap remains regarding the relative contribution of TOD structural factors to metro ridership across time and space. This paper aims to address this unresolved issue using a case study of the Hangzhou metropolitan area in China. As the dependent variable, metro ridership is measured using one week of smart card records, with the three TOD structural factors as explanatory variables and sociodemographic factors as control variables, described by a set of indicators. A novel localized modeling approach using variance decomposition of geographically temporally weighted regression is demonstrated to quantify the spatially and temporally varying relative contribution of TOD structural factors. The results show that both similarities and discrepancies were identified compared to earlier studies. Most importantly, new knowledge was gained, particularly that ‘metro station’ factors contribute the most to metro ridership, followed by the feedback factor, ‘surrounding land use’ factors and sociodemographic factors both on workdays and nonworkdays. Furthermore, our analysis highlights that the relative contribution of TOD structural factors presents noticeable spatial heterogeneities across metro station areas both on workdays and nonworkdays but exhibits only obvious temporal heterogeneity on nonworkdays. Finally, TOD clusters are generated based on the relative contribution of TOD structural factors with implications for spatial planning. This study is believed to open the door for framing locally representative strategies of TOD to stimulate the use of public transit.

Central European Tourist Flows: Intraregional Patterns and Their Implications

Abstract Understanding tourist spatial behaviours is essential for strategic planning and sustainable development. Especially at the city-level, data provide implications for spatial planning and transport governance. Intraregional tourist flows to cities contributed significantly to the total volume of tourists within the Central European region before the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Given the challenges that urban tourism is currently facing, intraregional tourist flows could be a strategic opportunity for future growth. As a comprehensive assessment of the tourist flows at this spatial level is lacking, the paper aims to evaluate the structure of these flows and discuss the factors that influence their spatial distribution. Statistical data analysis of tourist flows to selected cities in Central Europe is evaluated by multiple linear regression. The results show that the main factors affecting the distribution of tourist flows are air connection, the attractiveness of the destination, and the size of the source market. Tourist flows within Central Europe are fundamentally affected by Germany. This market can be considered the most important source of demand for inbound tourism. Germany's national ties with Austria and Switzerland generated 47% of all trips examined. In this case, the influences of historical ties and the broader socio-economic context are evident.

Spatial variability of COVID-19 and its risk factors in Nigeria: A spatial regression method

The novel and unprecedented Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has negatively impacted most nations of the world within a short period. While its disproportionate social and spatial variability has been established, the reality in Nigeria is yet to be studied. In this paper, advanced spatial statistical techniques were engaged to study the burden of COVID-19 and its risk factors within the first quarter (March–May) of its incidence in Nigeria. The spatial autocorrelation (Moran's I) test reveals a significant but marginal cluster of COVID-19 occurrence in Nigeria (I = 0.11, p < 0.05). A model comparison between ordinary least square (OLS) and spatial error model (SER) was explored having checked for multicollinearity in the dataset. The OLS model explained about 64% (adjusted R2 = 0.64) of variation in COVID-19 cases, however with significantly clustered residuals. The SER model performed better with randomly distributed residuals. The significant predictors were population density, international airport, and literacy ratio. Furthermore, this study addressed the spatial planning implications of the ongoing disease outbreak while it advocates transdisciplinary approach to urban planning practices in Nigeria.

Factors affecting the spatial resilience of Ethiopia's secondary cities to urban uncertainties: A study of household perceptions of Kombolcha city

The resilience measurement focuses on urban shocks and stresses, which are excluded from current spatial resilience assessments. As a result, existing literature suggests that research in secondary cities of the global south is needed to understand better spatial resilience in the face of multivariate, intersecting, and uncertain challenges. This study aims to determine the factors affecting the spatial resilience of Ethiopia's secondary cities to urban uncertainties using household perceptions of Kombolcha city. The study collected empirical data through questionnaires and key informant interviews, and then analyzed those using SPSS and the Analytic Hierarchy Process. Accordingly, seventeen environmental and physical urban problems affecting the spatial resilience of the country's secondary cities were identified. Deforestation, surface flooding, landslides, poor solid waste management, and inadequate drainage facilities were perceived as top priority urban problems in Kombolcha city with the respective values of 19.73%, 13.02%, 12.70%, 7.59%, and 6.82% of the four hundred sampled households. However, water scarcity and wind-related shocks, scoring 1.48% and 1.89%, respectively, were the least recurring urban problems. The city's spatial resilience is further limited by unsustainable material and resource consumption, a lack of infrastructure, poor transportation system conditions, poor implementation of response measures: lack of appropriate planning, and non-long-lasting biophysical measures. The household perception also showed that the urban uncertainties are severe in the city, with a 49.48% response rate. The findings also revealed a relationship and commonalities amongst the problems exacerbated by land-use zoning changes and the thriving informal settlements. The study implied that improving secondary cities' coping, adaptation, and governance systems are critical for mitigating the perceived urban problems and making cities spatially resilient. Thus, the study's spatial planning implications are that local governments in secondary cities commit to localizing international initiatives, strictly establishing and enforcing local resource utilization strategies, and improving living conditions in their cities.

Spatial Pattern Change and Ecosystem Service Value Dynamics of Ecological and Non-Ecological Redline Areas in Nanjing, China.

Ecological conservation red line (ECRL) is gaining increasing academic attention as delimiting the minimum space scope of ecological protection and the bottom line of ecological security. Taking Nanjing as a case study, we divided the territory into ecological and non-ecological redline areas (ERAs and NERAs, respectively). This paper highlights two key research issues based on the 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2018 annual remote sensing data: (i) quantitative analysis of the Ecological Redline Policy (ERP) validity by conducting a horizontal comparison of the ERAs and NERAs; and (ii) exploration of the land-use transitions and spatial pattern changes affecting ecosystem service value (ESV). Results showed that delineating ECRL could effectively slow down the decline rate of ESV. The trend of eco-quality deterioration was greater than eco-quality improvement in Nanjing, presenting an ESV that declined slightly in the whole. According to our findings, we suggest that reasonably increasing eco-lands (woodland and water area) and decreasing construction land will enhance the regional ESV. Meanwhile, promoting the transition from production space to ecological space and depressing the encroachment of living space on other space types, will be instrumental in mitigating the ESV decline. The results of this study are expected to provide valuable implications for spatial planning and sustainable development in Nanjing.

Urban areas have lower species richness, but maintain functional diversity: insights from the African Bird Atlas Project

High human population growth and rapid urbanisation, particularly in Africa, have led to an increased interest in the impacts of this land-use change on bird communities. The African Bird Atlas Project, where species presence lists are collected in pentads, is a valuable source of data with which to explore the extent of these impacts. Here, for the first-time, we test for differences in species richness patterns across 50 matched pentad pairs from sub-Saharan Africa classified as either urban (or semi-urban) and rural. We found that species richness was lowest in pentads classified as urban (mean ± SD: 132 ± 59 species), compared with rural (172 ± 54). However, species richness was similar, compared with rural pentads, when levels of urbanisation were maintained at intermediate levels (semi-urban: 141 ± 69). Surprisingly, we found no significant differences in functional diversity measures between any land-use categories. Across most major dietary guilds (carnivores, herbivores, insectivores, granivores) species richness was lower in urbanised pentads and species were often small. However, the overall biomass of these guilds was similar between urbanised and non-urbanised areas, indicating the presence of common urban exploiter species. This resulted in no differences in functional diversity overall. Pollinators and piscivores showed little difference in metrics between rural and urban pentads. According to a model of the functional traits we consider, an African urban exploiter species is best described by being a scavenger, and less likely to be a habitat specialist, but fill a variety of niches. The urban spatial planning implications are that rare and range-restricted species in proximity to cities, as well as large bird species, will require particular attention and conservation measures as African cities continue to expand. Species richness could be maintained with intermediate levels of urban infrastructure development.

Classification of Rural Areas in Serbia: Framework and Implications for Spatial Planning

The classification of rural and urban areas presents an important topic both in scientific research and in the practice of spatial planning, regional policy making, and territorial governance. Taking into account the multidimensionality of these areas, this paper aims to provide a classification framework design for rural areas in Serbia. After selecting the relevant indicators, which were included to reflect the main demographic, economic, and physio-geographical characteristics of the Serbian rural areas, multivariate analysis (principal component method and factor analysis) was used to determine the main factors in the delimitation and classification of rural and urban areas. The last step of the conducted methodology used cluster analysis (CA) that identified six types of areas with similar characteristics. The results of this study and applied methodology can improve the existing rural–urban classifications and help planners and policy makers in the adaptation of strategic development documents.

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.

Spatial Conflict of Production–Living–Ecological Space and Sustainable-Development Scenario Simulation in Yangtze River Delta Agglomerations

Production–living–ecological space (PLES) is a recent research hotspot on land planning and regional sustainable development in China. Taking the Yangtze River Delta agglomerations as a case study, this paper establishes a spatial-conflict index to identify the PLES conflicts, and then builds a cellular-automaton (CA) Markov model to simulate the PLES pattern in 2030 and to evaluate the influence on PLES conflicts under two scenarios. Results showed that the ecological space (ES) and the living–productive space (LPS) of the Yangtze River Delta agglomerations showed a descending tendency in 2010–2015, whereas ecological–productive space (EPS) and productive–ecological space (PES) reflected a small increase. EPS and PES had squeezed ES and LPS with urbanization and industrial development in this region. Meanwhile, the spatial conflicts of PLES worsened during the period, with the average of the spatial-conflict index (SCI) shifting from 0.283 to 0.522, and seemed to gain momentum. On the basis of scenario analysis for 2030, it was concluded that the “ecological red line policy”, appropriate restriction of urban expansion, and ecological management of the bank of the Yangtze River are helpful in alleviating PLES conflicts, and contribute to spatial structure and harmonizing. The results of this study are expected to provide valuable implications for spatial planning and sustainable development in the Yangtze River delta agglomerations.

Estuarine cultural ecosystem services valued by local people in New South Wales, Australia, and attributes important for continued supply

Cultural ecosystem services (CES) are the non-material benefits obtained from natural ecosystems that contribute to human wellbeing through aesthetic and recreational experiences, and spiritual enrichment. While research on CES is rapidly increasing in line with growing recognition of important contributions to wellbeing, little is known about CES derived from estuaries: some of the most densely populated and highly impacted ecosystems worldwide. A broad-scale assessment of CES derived from estuaries in New South Wales (NSW) was conducted using a questionnaire survey that targeted people residing near estuaries. The study aimed to determine: (i) CES important to respondents; (ii) perceptions of threats to the provision of CES; and (iii) attributes considered important by local people for their continued enjoyment and recreational use of estuaries in NSW. A total of 463 people completed the questionnaire and results revealed estuaries were highly valued by all respondents for supplying a range of CES; with aesthetics, intrinsic/existence/future, and nature/biodiversity being the most highly valued CES. The top three perceived threats with the potential to negatively affect supply of CES were: development, pollution, and poor water quality. Good water quality, maintenance of biodiversity, and litter prevention were the three most important attributes considered crucial by respondents for the provision of CES. Further, natural attributes were positively associated with CES. Overall, almost all respondents believed their estuary was very important in contributing to their wellbeing. These findings have important implications for spatial planning and the management of estuarine areas to ensure a continued provision of CES.

Geophysical benthic habitat mapping in Lake Tanganyika (Tanzania): Implications for spatial planning of small-scale coastal protected areas

Optimizing community-based fisheries management to enhance both food resource and biodiversity conservation in large lakes requires detailed knowledge of benthic habitats, which determines suitability for fish breeding sites. This information is unavailable for much of Lake Tanganyika, whose fisheries are threatened by a warming climate, destructive harvesting practices, and sediment pollution. Lake Tanganyika possesses a remarkably diverse fish population. Much of this is concentrated in areas with water depths less than 30 m and on rocky substrate. Here, geophysical tools were used to map benthic habitats in a 21 km2 co-management area of the lake in western Tanzania. Echosounding defined the position of the 30-m isobath, which varies with proximity to deltas and rift-related faults. Side-scan sonar discriminated among four unique substrates: crystalline bedrock, calcite-cemented sandstones, mixed siliciclastic sediments, and shell-rich sediments. Unlithified mixed silts and sands constitute over 91% of the study area. Rocky substrate composed of crystalline basement and calcite-cemented sandstone make up the less than 9% of the substrate in the study area. Crystalline bedrock was present from 0 to 30 m water depth, whereas the calcite-cemented sandstones were encountered in water less than 5 m deep. The spatial organization of rocky substrates is interpreted to be controlled by basin structure and lake level history; these habitats make ideal targets for establishing new small-scale protected areas. The techniques illustrated in this study are broadly applicable elsewhere in Lake Tanganyika, and to other large lakes where data needs for placing conservation reserves are lacking.

On advocacy and engagement

On advocacy and engagement

Do Compactness and Poly-Centricity Mitigate PM10 Emissions? Evidence from Yangtze River Delta Area.

The Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region is one of the most densely populated and economically developed areas in China, which provides an ideal environment with which to study the various strategies, such as compact and polycentric development advocated by researchers to reduce air pollution. Using the data of YRD cities from 2011–2017, the spatial durbin model (SDM) is presented to investigate how compactness (in terms of urban density, jobs-housing balance, and urban centralization) and poly-centricity (in terms of the number of centers and polycentric cluster) affect PM10 emissions. After controlling some variables, the results suggest that more jobs-housing-balanced and centralized compactness tends to decrease emissions, while poly-centricity by developing too many centers is expected to result in more pollutant emissions. The effect of high-density compactness is more controversial. In addition, for cities with more private car ownerships (>10 million within cities), enhancing the polycentric cluster by achieving a more balanced population distribution between the traditional centers and sub-centers could reduce emissions, whereas this mitigated emissions effect may be limited. The difference between our study and western studies suggests that the correlation between high-density compactness and air pollution vary with the specific characteristics and with spatial planning implications, as this paper concludes.

Stakeholders’ Perspectives to Support the Integration of Ecosystem Services in Spatial Planning in Switzerland

Integrating the concept of ecosystem services (ES) into spatial planning is an opportunity to make land use and management choices that maximize the delivery of multiple ES. The assessment of social demand can be useful for the identification of priority areas or potential conflicts among stakeholders. We used Q-methodology to understand stakeholder perspectives on ES to facilitate their integration into spatial planning in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland. Three perspectives, utilitarian, cultural and protective, were analyzed and used to discuss potential implications for spatial planning. First, ecosystem multifunctionality and synergies among ES should be emphasized. Second, the food production system should move away from a productive-only approach, to a system that protects soils and their functions. Providing a paradigm change, arable land could be protected to the same level as forests and farmers could be incentivized further to change their practices. Finally, our findings show a potential over-interpretation of the importance of cultural ES in current planning policies, as most participants would be ready to change their behaviors to preserve biological functions. It would be useful to conduct a similar study in other cantons to ensure that the results are fully representative of the current situation in Switzerland.

Assessing spatial temporal patterns of ecosystem services in Switzerland

Despite the importance of understanding the historical dynamics of ecosystem services (ES), little research has focused on a historical, spatially explicit, assessment of ES supply. This research is aimed at understanding the spatial patterns and potential drivers of temporal variations of ES supply. It has assessed associations of ES temporal variations, delineated ES bundles from changes in ES supply over time, and identified potential drivers of ES bundles. Finally, we discuss the potential implications for spatial planning. We reconstructed the spatio-temporal patterns of 11 ES supply in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland, between 1979 and 2014. We used Spearman’s rank coefficient, k-means clustering and redundancy analysis to understand the spatial patterns and potential drivers of temporal variations of ES supply. Municipalities were grouped into four clusters based on ES supply changes over four decades. Food production showed the most negative associations with other ES. Regulating ES were not always synergetic and were less related to increases in population density than cultural ES, which were found in low population density municipalities. In general, synergetic ES may not respond to the same potential drivers. Municipalities were able to supply ES at different levels but none showed an increase in all ES. ES can be synergetic in one bundle, but antagonistic in another. Different processes can cause a change in the same ES depending on their supply location. It seems unrealistic to require each municipality to have a multifunctional territory in the current political context.

Urban growth simulation guided by ecological constraints in Beijing city: Methods and implications for spatial planning

An ecologically constrained and scenario oriented urban growth simulation provides an effective means to address and mitigate ecological impacts resulting from urban expansion. However, current urban growth simulations usually set ecological indicators as explanatory variables in the model, while ignoring the trade-off relationship between the requirement for additional urban space and the prevention of ecological loss. In this study, ecological loss was set as a constraint parallel to the urban growth simulation indicator system. The Minimum losses of key ecosystem functions were set as constraints in order to realize optimized urban growth pattern. Taking Beijing's urban growth from 2000 to 2010 as a case, we proposed an optimized coupling model with ecological loss as a constraint in urban growth simulation. The results showed a 22.96% reduction in the total amount of ecological loss under the ecological constraint. According to the urban growth simulation, the “constant growth scenario” had the least ecological loss. Moreover, a combination of multiple ecosystem functions is required for describing the ecological constraint. We suggest that ecological constraint in an urban growth simulation model could be an effective policy tool to plan urban expansion and provide more accurate support for the formulation of spatial planning.

Does polycentric and compact development alleviate urban traffic congestion? A case study of 98 Chinese cities

Despite a growing interest among policymakers and urban planners in promoting polycentric and compact development to mitigate traffic congestion, empirical studies have often documented mixed and indirect evidence on the impacts of polycentricity and compactness on congestion. Drawing upon a direct and big-data-based measure of congestion and gridded (1 km × 1 km) population data of 98 Chinese cities, this study investigates how polycentricity and compactness may affect congestion in these cities. The degrees of polycentricity and compactness are measured through fine-grained identification of population centers. All else being equal, the empirical results show that congestion is positively associated with the degree of compactness but negatively associated with that of polycentricity. However, increasing the degree of polycentricity by developing more than four population centers may also lead to more congestion. Furthermore, the negative impact of polycentricity on congestion becomes weaker with the increase in a city's population and even turns positive for large cities with more than six million inhabitants within urban districts. The paper concludes with spatial planning implications.