Local Planning Practices Research Articles

Mapping pedestrian heat stress in current and future heatwaves in Cardiff, Newport, and Wrexham in Wales, UK

The paper describes a study that uses computer simulation to assess the extent of heat stress experienced by pedestrians in three Welsh cities during heatwaves, with a view to identifying implications for urban planning and design practice. The simulation model used localized radiant temperature, wind speed, air temperature, as well as the metabolic rate and clothing insulation of occupants. Simulated results were partially evaluated using field measurement data and from the Land Surface Temperature data obtained from Landsat satellite thermography. Results suggest that peak heat stress is expected to increase by 4.5 °C in Universal Thermal Climate Index equivalent temperature by 2080, especially for urban areas exposed to direct sunlight. The percentage of daytime hours without heat stress are expected to decrease significantly, from 30 to 80% in 2020 to 10–70% by 2080. The study suggests that mitigation measures are essential to reduce future heat stress in Welsh cities and towns; these include interventions such as green and blue infrastructure, choice of trees and artificial shading, choice of both artificial surface materials and vegetation cover, and street layout with proper orientation and aspect ratio. The results have significant implications for local authorities, town planning, and landscape practice.

SCIENTIFIC APPROACHES TO ORGANIZATION OF "BLUE-GREEN" URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE IN CONDITIONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

The study is dedicated to a crucial aspect of the revitalization and ongoing development of Ukrainian cities: addressing environmental challenges through the establishment of "blue-green" urban infrastructure. The overarching objective of this research is to apply current scientific knowledge concerning this matter to local urban planning practices. This is achieved by incorporating ecosystem-based solutions to foster sustainable development within the region. Fundamental concepts essential for shaping the framework of "blue-green" urban infrastructure in the context of climate change are elucidated. The paper introduces a model for a riverside city, emphasizing the integration of a natural water feature - such as a river, including its tides where applicable - and the surrounding coastal areas. It is discerned that a networked structure characterizes settlements along riversides. The role of the city's "blue-green" infrastructure in adapting to climate change is articulated. This includes conserving water resources, averting floods and other natural disasters, preserving biodiversity, mitigating the heat island effect, and enhancing air quality. Furthermore, a tailored adaptation model suitable for riverside settlements is developed, accompanied by the author's recommendations. An analysis of current scientific approaches within the domestic academic and practical sphere is provided, focusing on the integration of green and water elements. These approaches encompass: a) establishing the “water-green diameter” of the city, b) devising plans for water-green zones, and c) organization the “blue-green” urban infrastructure—an idea introduced by the author. The study identifies potential challenges and hurdles in implementing the “blue-green” infrastructure concept along the coastlines of river settlements. These challenges include the environmental aftermath of military aggression, existing development of territories, ecological sustainability, public support, regulatory frameworks, etc. A theoretical examination of the “blue-green” infrastructure underscores its potential as an innovative and crucial instrument in cities' adaptation to climate change. This framework aids in resolving issues associated with escalating temperatures, floods, air pollution, and the decline of biodiversity. Profound comprehension of the constituents and functions of “blue-green” infrastructure empowers us to better tailor our urban environments to climate fluctuations, thus fostering more sustainable and habitable cities.

Exploring local spatial planning as practices of process design in the Stockholm region, Sweden

ABSTRACT The quest for sustainable urban development requires innovative planning approaches more apt to cater for transformative action. Based on a case study approach, this study aims to explore the potential for local planning to develop practical approaches able to accelerate the transition towards sustainable urban development. To guide spatial development towards sustainability, the analysis of the results shows that local planners need to envision a process design as to advance the understanding of how a site or area can be developed. The act of process design involves pending between processes of contextualization (i.e. exploring five distinguishable domains of planning inquiry) and concretization (i.e. deciding upon a course of action by executing activities that form a process trajectory). Regarding the potential of local planning to develop transformative approaches, it is concluded that: (i) local planners possess capabilities that allow them to probe the future of places and produce insights about prospective change, (ii) the transformative capacity of local planning practices is bound to the development of the identified domains of planning inquiry and (iii) forthcoming evaluations organized around the act of process design can reveal insights regarding the possibilities to put the notion of sustainability into practice at the local level.

Towards a multi-scalar place-sensitive planning approach in small-sized cities

ABSTRACT The urban fabric can be characterised as an ever-evolving assemblage operating on multiple scales; constantly being constituted and reshaped by internal and external elements, not making it possible to regard any place as an isolated entity at a specific scale. Through an overview of relational place theory, this paper aims to theoretically discuss how local planning practices need to include a relational and multi-scalar approach to cope with complex urban and rural realities if they wish to create development in local places. To unfold this, the paper reveals some of the empirical implications of such a multi-scalar urban reality, by analysing how two selected Danish municipalities seek to relate to, respond to and comply with the networked and relational reality of place in their planning practices. The empirical work builds among others on students’ field work and the cases expose the importance of working with totalities, relations and networks on multiple scales; however, they also reveal the challenges related to the manifestations of such a practice. The paper argues that, despite the challenges associated with this practice, the current complex global interconnectedness of places calls for an increased focus on strategic municipal planning approaches that are both multi-scalar and place-sensitive.

COVID-19’s impact on local planning and urban design practice: focusing on tactical urbanism and the public realm with respect to low income communities

ABSTRACT In the face of lockdowns promulgated in response to COVID-19, the effects on local planning are diverse. One of the effects is planners’ use of tactical urbanism in their efforts to improve public health. Tactical urbanism is characterized as temporary, and it is appropriate to ask whether tactical strategies help keep communities healthy in times of pandemic. We address that question by examining several examples of a tactical program called Slow Streets. This program provides temporary public spaces in the streets for exercise and interaction. We review literature to understand the relevance of the program to tactical urbanism, and we investigate how successful it has been. Survey questionnaires complement the research. The study outcomes suggest that the pandemic forced planners to act swiftly, but the Slow Streets program was limited in improving the health of the underserved population because it lacks comprehensive community engagement and alignment with longer term plans.

Latin American spatial governance and planning systems and the rising judicialisation of planning

Recent studies on Latin American Spatial Governance and Planning Systems (SGPSs) have highlighted the need to focus on alternative processes and mechanisms of land-use management and transformation that, arising and operating alongside the formal ones, contribute to shaping the nature of SGPSs themselves. This paper taps into this ongoing debate by further unfolding this ‘other institutionality’ and broadening its scope. It does so through the exploration of three case studies – namely the SGPSs of Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay – here analysed in relation to their institutional and legal frameworks and the instruments that are produced. In relation to each case, the local spatial planning practices in intermediary cities are examined, enabling understanding of the nuances of the ‘other institutionality’ mentioned and the role that the latter plays in the overall SGPS. The analysis shows an ongoing ‘judicialisation’ of spatial planning in the form of an increasing number of legal actions undertaken by civil society and the mobilisation of legal expertise in addressing the urban conflicts. This phenomenon seems to be related to the lack of updated spatial planning tools and public participatory processes to accompany official spatial planning practices. Overall, these findings open a pathway for further comparative spatial planning studies broadening the concept of the ‘other institutionality’ in Latin America and beyond and shedding light on the role and impact of the latter within existing SGPSs.

Local public right of way for surface and subsurface resource integration

ABSTRACT A utilidor is a ‘system of systems’ infrastructural solution to the ‘subsurface spaghetti’ problem resulting from direct burial of utility transmission infrastructure beneath the public right of way (PROW). The transition from direct burial to utilidors in older, dense American cities has generally not occurred, despite the potential to increase system performance in a long-term, financially and environmentally sustainable manner, because it would require reform of local planning practices and of utility pricing to support financing within a complex regulatory system. Utilidor adoption in New York City (NYC) would be a significant local infrastructure transition, amplifying the need for locality-based research, that would occur while each utility sector undergoes its own infrastructure transitions, thereby increasing the level of regulatory complexity. This paper applies transitions analysis, recursive collective action theory, and capacity to act analysis to NYC’s experience with its PROW subsurface spaghetti problem and utilidor implementation to demonstrate a place-based methodology that identifies specific sources of resistance to innovative subsurface design and feasible pathways for resolving them. This methodology would be transferable for application to other American cities or classes of American cities to supplement the limits of generalised subsurface and subsurface resource integration research for practitioner application.

A comparison of in-house and shared RapidPlan models for prostate radiation therapy planning

Knowledge-based planning (KBP) can increase plan quality, consistency and efficiency. In this study, we assess the success of a using a publicly available KBP model compared with developing an in-house model for prostate cancer radiotherapy using a single, commercially available treatment planning system based on the ability of the model to achieve the centre’s planning goals. Two radiation oncology centres each created a prostate cancer KBP model using the Eclipse RapidPlan software. These two models and a third publicly-available, shared model were tested at three centres in a retrospective planning study. The publicly-available model achieved lower rectum doses than the other two models. However, the planning-target-volume (PTV) doses did not meet the local planning goals and the model could not be adjusted to correct this. As a result, the plans most likely to satisfy local planning goals and requirements were created using an in-house model. For centres without an existing in-house model, a model created by another centre with similar planning goals was found to be preferred. Variations in local planning practices including contouring, treatment technique and planning goals can influence the relative performance of KBP. The value of publicly available KBP models could be enhanced through standardisation of planning goals and contouring guidelines, providing information related to the planning goals used to create the model and increased flexibility to allow local adaptation of the KBP model.

Welfare-Partnership Dynamics and Sustainable Development

The welfare partnership is defined as the process through which local agents interact with each other in the dynamics of collectively defining strategic objectives and building place-based approaches that reinforce local citizenship. What can we learn from the experience of municipal social action partnerships that is likely to assist us in building sustainable development formulas? This article analyses the partnership practices in six Portuguese municipalities in the Northern Region, discussing forms of social support that are convergent with sustainable development and how they tend to be articulated in municipal social action partnerships. The present research followed phenomenological reasoning using qualitative methods and multiple case studies. There were debates with professionals, looking for explicit meanings in the abstract knowledge of the concept trajectory. The results suggest that convergence with sustainable development resides in the combination of three elements: (1) developing innovative eco-community social responses that are aligned with a comprehensive social sustainability ideal that is contextualized in the relationship between subjectivities and territory, as well as with the general principles of the providence system; (2) implementing a local strategic planning practice, monitored and aligned with local projects that act on the ecological effect, determining local vulnerabilities; and (3) adopting an efficient practice of governance and allocation of stakeholders and resources, emphasizing the multilevel articulation and durability of the implemented local processes.

Everyday politics of land use planning in peri-urbanisation

This paper compares everyday land administration systems and local planning practices involving traditional authorities and local statutory planning officials in the transformation of peri-urban areas in Ghana. First, it analyses the processes and conflicts in local plan preparation for peri-urban transformation. Second, it examines the power relations between traditional authorities and statutory planning officials in peri-urban land use planning. It uses a qualitative research design involving in-depth interviews and secondary data analysis, and a comparative case studies of Abuakwa and Adomako peri-urban communities in Ghanaian cities of Kumasi and Sunyani respectively. Findings show that conflicting rationalities and power relations between formal and customary land use planning are likely to occur when one stakeholder significantly overshadows the role of the other. In Abuakwa, the dominance of traditional authorities in land use planning has rendered statutory planning agencies ineffective. Similarly, the overemphasis on Lands Commission's role in land use planning activities in the Adomako case is producing conflicting rationalities both within and between statutory planning and traditional authorities. This paper argues that when roles are not defined in hybridized land use planning and management system, it is the peri-urban areas experiencing rapid transformation that suffer from haphazard, unplanned and non-inclusive development.

Decolonizing local planning through new social cartography: making Black geographies visible in a plantation context in Colombia

ABSTRACT Maps produced during the saga of European ‘discovery’ were shown to erase local forms of spatial knowledge of colonised populations to serve domination interests. This paper explores the continuation of this colonial erasing logic in local planning practices in Jamundí, a municipality where Black peasants’ traditional farms persist in a sugarcane dominated landscape. We first compare official maps from the current Land Use Plan of Jamundí with social cartography produced by afro-descendant community councils to analyse the maps’ selections, omissions and additions. Through community map drawings and collective discussions during cartography workshops, interviews and tours of the territory, we then reconstruct a Black geography that is concealed in official maps. Our analysis shows that official maps naturalise a scale in which only plantations are formally represented, rendering invisible small-scale traditional agricultural systems and Black ecologies, favouring the expansion of uses and activities detrimental to Black territorial projects in Jamundí. We argue that afro-descendant living spaces and experiences are visually omitted from spatial representation in the physical planning maps through institutionalised processes. We conclude that decolonising local planning is crucial for the recognition and securing of afro-descendant customary land and territorial rights in Colombia as well as for regional sustainability.

Covid-19 and London’s Decentralising Housing Market – What are the Planning Implications?

ABSTRACT This practice review examines some of the early evidence, and reporting, of housing market change in England prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Taking a transect from central London, through surrounding near-urban areas, to the countryside beyond, it looks at the possibility and implications of more dispersed housing market choices and what sorts of challenges these may present to local planning practice. The pandemic has the potential to accelerate multiple home ownership (MHO), widening current inequalities in the distribution of housing wealth and bringing new demand pressures to near urban and rural locations.

Expanding the toolbox: Assessing methods for local outdoor recreation planning

Growing demand for outdoor recreation puts pressure on highly-frequented peri-urban areas. In the Netherlands, a more equal distribution of recreationists has been proposed by the Dutch government to relieve pressure on overcrowded recreation hotspots. Devising landscape planning strategies that redirect recreation flows requires reliable data on areas that people currently use and what areas would also be suitable for recreation. Such data may not be available for local planners. The objective of this study was therefore to analyse how different data gathering methods can support local recreation planning.For an empirical case study in the Netherlands, we compare data on current and potential use of landscapes for outdoor recreation through participatory mapping, free listing, quantitative photo ranking, and analysis of social media data. Based on maps produced from these different data we interviewed local planners to assess how applicable and relevant the different methods are for planning practice. Local planners indicated they had limited knowledge of and access to scientific methods and insights. Their assessment of different methods suggests that some methods are not yet applied for local planning, such as free listing or participatory mapping. These methods have potential to be used for evidence-based planning, because they require few resources to be implemented. Planners also indicated that using social media data would be interesting, but that the skills required to collect and analyse data are typically not currently in place. Our results show the potential and challenges for research methods to be integrated into local planning practice to distribute recreation flows more effectively.

Approaching Sustainability in Local Spatial Planning Processes: A Case Study in the Stockholm Region, Sweden

The quest for cogent responses to sustainability goals challenges local spatial planning practices across growing metropolitan regions to develop planning approaches that enable transformative capacity in increasingly complex settings. Based on a case study conducted in the Stockholm region, this paper explores the design and organization of local planning processes to provide a basis for a discussion of alternative approaches that may enhance sustainability in plan and project development. More specifically, it aims to analyze the conditions for embedding and consolidating sustainability issues in local planning processes. The results show that the municipalities need to create conditions for an effective interplay between the planning work carried out in individual projects and the organization of resources, knowledge, and skills on which the projects depend to handle sustainability issues. This study contributes to the understanding of the challenges associated with putting sustainability into practice at the local level by identifying and conceptualizing three important barriers. By acknowledging the temporal, locational, and procedural dimensions of knowledge in local planning processes, planning practices may become better at knowing when, and in what ways, different forms of knowledge can become created, introduced, and used in a synergistic manner to aid the realization of sustainability goals.

A framework to integrate multifunctionality analyses into green infrastructure planning

Green infrastructure (GI) has become an integral part of the process leading toward urban sustainability because it provides multiple ecosystem services that contribute to urban ecosystems and human health. Planners and managers have therefore attempted to understand and improve GI multifunctionality. This study has characterized and mapped GI multifunctionality in the Fengtai District of Beijing based on the ecosystem services (ES) perspective and has developed an adaptive model to improve its multifunctionality. The study has aimed to: (1) assess and map GI multifunctional degree, (2) characterize GI multifunctional types, and (3) propose adaptive solutions based on characterization of GI multifunctional types. Biophysical models and social questionnaires were used to quantify and map ES, ES hotspots, and ES bundles to identify the degree of multifunctionality and characterize GI multifunctional types. An adaptive model was designed to improve GI multifunctionality for local planning and design practice. Three GI multifunctional degrees were mapped, and areas with high multifunctional degree were found to account for only 5.55% of the study area. Seven GI multifunctional types were identified by the distinct heterogeneity of their compositions and function sets. These types of GI also implied different improvement strategies for GI planning and design practice. The adaptive model offers integrated solutions for preserving, restoring, and embedding levels that correspond to the characterization of GI multifunctional types. The ES-based framework proposed in this paper integrates multifunctionality analyses and can be helpful to urban planners and designers in adaptive GI planning.

New metro system and active travel: A natural experiment

BackgroundWe used the first metro system in a developing city as a natural experiment to investigate the causal inference in the new metro’s impact on modal shift and active travel. Material and methodsThe treatment group was formed by residents from neighbourhoods located within the 800-m walking distance to new metro stations. The first control group was formed by residents lived 1.6 km away from and outside of walking distance to the nearest station, and the second was 5 km away and outside of cycling distance. The groups were determined by local transit-oriented planning practice and empirical studies on active travel. Of the 5627 participants who had finished a baseline travel behaviour survey before new metro launched, 1770 returned and completed the follow-up survey a year after the metro’s operation, which consists of 833 cohort participants in the treatment group and 937 in the two types of control groups. We used a difference-in-difference method to make before and after comparisons of travel behaviour changes between treatment and control groups. ResultsOur longitudinal data analyses revealed diverse travel behaviour changes. In general, people who used to take bus have adopted metro. The average metro usage was 30.9 (28.8–33.3) minutes daily for work trips and 16.6 (14.9–18.7) minutes daily for non-work trips. Walking time decreased 19.7 minutes at most (p < 0.001), and cycling decreased 22.1 minutes daily (p < 0.001). Car and e-bike usages remained largely unchanged before and after new metro, without difference between treatment and control groups. ConclusionThe natural experiment study provided the first empirical evidence in a developing city context on causal inference in new metro’s impact on active travel. A new metro does not necessarily promote active travel increase or car use reduction, calling for caution in making general assumptions about the effects of urban rail transit investments. We suggest local urban and transport planning knowledge could be useful in designing and explaining the complex natural experiments in transport and health.

Variation in Interinstitutional Plan Quality When Adopting a Hypofractionated Protocol for Prostate Cancer External Beam Radiation Therapy

This study quantified plan quality differences across the 4 cancer centers in Alberta, Canada for plans that followed the PROstate Fractionated Irradiation Trial protocol. Prostate plans of 235 patients were retrospectively reviewed. Interinstitutional plan quality comparisons were made based on distributions of protocol-specified parameters using 1-way analysis of variance with Games-Howell post hoc analysis. Dosimetrically representative cases were selected from each center using k-medoid clustering, enabling side-by-side comparison of dose-volume histograms and dose distributions. Fourteen anatomic features were investigated to explore interinstitutional patient population differences. Anatomically representative cases were selected from each center to explore differences in planning practices. Tumor control probability (TCP), as well as rectal wall and bladder wall normal tissue complication probabilities (NTCPs), were calculated to quantify the clinical effect of the differences in plan quality. Comparing the mean value of each center to the other 3, statistically significant differences were observed for bladder wall D30% and D50%, left and right femoral heads D5%, planning target volume D99% and D1cc, and clinical target volume D99%. Dosimetrically representative cases demonstrated consistent results. Although anatomic differences were observed between the center-specific populations, an analysis using anatomically similar cases demonstrated consistent trends in the dosimetric differences, suggesting the dosimetric variation is not exclusively due to anatomic differences. Minimal differences (<1%) among the 4 centers were noted for TCP and NTCPs, suggesting the reported differences in plan quality may not have any clinical significance. Despite common guidelines, statistically significant differences in plan quality metrics occurred among the 4 investigated centers. The differences are due at least in part to variation in local planning practices. TCP and NTCP calculations suggest that the clinical significance of the differences is minimal. These results can serve as a reference for the degree of variation among centers that can be accepted when a common protocol is adopted.

Improving Infrastructure Installation Planning Processes using Procedural Modeling

Time and costs are often the most critical constraints in implementing a development impact fee (DIF) for local infrastructure installation planning in South Korea. For this reason, drafting quality plan alternatives and calculating precise DIFs for improvement remain challenging. This study proposes an application of a procedural modeling method using CityEngine as an alternative to traditional methods, which rely on AutoCAD. A virtual low-density suburban development project in Jeju, South Korea was used to compare the workability of the two methods. The findings suggest that procedural modeling outperforms the other approach by significantly reducing the number of steps and commands required in the planning process. This paper also argues that procedural modeling provides real-time 2- and 3-dimensional modeling and design evaluation and allows for a more efficient assessment of plan quality and calculation of DIF. We also argue for the need to diffuse procedural modeling to better support local planning practices.

Minority neighbourhoods and availability of green amenities: empirical findings from Seoul, South Korea

ABSTRACTAvailability of green amenities in cities often raises environmental justice issues. This study empirically examines Seoul, South Korea, where minority populations, such as foreigners, the poor, the old, the young, and the disabled, are generally increasing but the land area of parks and green spaces is gradually decreasing. Using ordinary least squares (OLS) and generalised least squares (GLS) regression models, this study finds that foreign population is mostly negatively associated with green amenities. The old and the young are positively associated with the green amenities in general but negatively with small and children’s parks. Neighbourhood parks do not seem to be associated with concentrations of any minority populations. Findings of this study argue for securing more lands for green amenities in cities and provide lessons to local planning practice.

Planning Matters

Problem, research strategy, and findings: Recent research reveals growing spatial disparities in warehousing-related environmental externalities, including air pollution and traffic safety concerns, across municipalities. The existing research, however, fails to present how institutional factors contribute to spatial variations. In this study, I explore how variations in planning practices contribute to the different trajectories of warehousing development. I interviewed planners, local residents, warehousing developers, and regional agency staff to identify local planning practices and policy elements that affect the location choice of warehousing facilities. My results show land use policies (land use permission, industrial zoning, and land parcel division schemes), job-related policies (job creation initiatives and job density requirements), financial incentives (tax rates and financial incentives), and environmental regulations (building design, land use buffering, and landscaping) are the major planning elements that affect warehousing development. Relative to brownfield redevelopment in the municipalities close to the urban core of a metropolitan area, developing greenfield warehousing facilities in suburban cities is likely to cause more environmental concerns in the near future. However, unmeasured factors could be responsible for some of the warehousing development patterns I find in the data.Takeaway for practice: Knowledge, communication, and collaboration are needed to cope with the rapid growth and, in particular, the disproportionate concentration of warehousing-related environmental externalities in certain municipalities. In this study I also provide planning strategies to regulate excessive warehousing development, including land use- and job-related policies, financial incentives, and environmental regulations. With these strategies, planners in warehousing-intensive cities can determine the best way to reduce the impacts of environmental externalities on local communities in the long term.