National Urban Policy Research Articles

Evaluating scenarios for twenty-first-century Australian settlement planning: a Delphi study with planning experts

ABSTRACT This paper presents findings from a national survey of Australian planning experts examining future settlement patterns and locations at the continental scale. Collective judgement supported efforts to achieve population decentralisation and favoured three possible scenarios – Satellite Cities, Boosted Secondary Capital Cities, and East West Megaregions. The findings on preferred settlement pattern scenarios can inform future efforts to develop a national urban policy for Australia. This case study can also serve as a reference point to the over 160 countries worldwide that are developing, implementing, or evaluating national urban policies in support of global urban agendas.

Eco-neighborhoods and the question of locational advantage: A socio-spatial analysis of French ‘ÉcoQuartiers’

In response to the need for ecological transition, a multitude of eco-city and eco-neighborhood initiatives have been instigated around the world. A major challenge has been the charge, captured by terms such as ‘eco enclaves’ and ‘environmental gentrification’, that these initiatives poorly attend to questions of social diversity and spatial equity. In France, too, where since 2008 a major national ÉcoQuartier initiative has been underway with close to 500 projects launched, some have warned against creating ‘écoquartiers bobo’ – urban development catering for a mainly ‘bourgeois-bohemian’ clientele. Consequently, this article investigates whether there may be selectivity at work in the placement of ÉcoQuartiers that favours advantageous locations. To this end, a detailed socio-spatial analysis was carried out with a sample of 214 implemented ÉcoQuartiers. Using exploratory factor analysis (EFA), eight factors were extracted from a comprehensive set of 53 socio-economic and geospatial variables. These were used to compare the sampled ÉcoQuartiers with the overall territory (mainland France and Corsica) as well as with a parallel national urban policy initiative, the ‘Quartiers Prioritaires de la Ville’ (‘urban priority neighborhoods’) which expressly focuses on areas of social disadvantage. As a result, this study reveals several dimensions of locational selectivity, which are discussed in terms of their policy and practice implications as well as their significance for conceptualizing eco-neighborhoods as socio-spatially inclusive places.

Long-Term Settlement Scenarios for Australia: A Survey and Evaluation of Community Opinions

ABSTRACT The projected long-term growth of Australia’s population to over 50 million people raises significant implications for infrastructure planning and liveability. Concomitantly, support for population growth through immigration is, according to some measures, waning. This paper presents findings from a national survey, Plan My Australia, measuring support for alternative national settlement patterns for accommodating population growth. The responses favourthree possible settlement patterns – satellite cities orbiting the state capital cities, regional cities on rail links connecting the capital cities, and cities in inland regions. Policymakers should consider the findings in the context of a re-emerging national urban policy.

Romania’s urban policy in the context of COVID-19 pandemic time

Under the conditions of frequent changes, of some edifying transformations and perpetual challenges, urban policy undergoes changes/adjustments/updates over certain time intervals. These changes generate increasingly more complex requirements that impose drafting a flexible multidisciplinary framework able to support the future development of a territory. In full debate-process, the new urban policy of Romania promotes sustainability, resilience and inclusive growth, on the background of a critical period under the dominance of the SARS-CoV2 pandemic. This new policy brings around the discussion table experts from relevant fields: decision factors, urbanists, economists, architects, citizens, civic initiative groups, etc. The national urban policy must address all categories of urban areas (defined as a city area considered as the inner city plus built-up environs, irrespective of local body administrative boundaries), being fundamental in implementing the goals set by the New EU Urban Agenda, approved in the framework of the Habitat III conference of the United Nations (2016) and the new provisions of the New Leipzig Charter (2020). Urban policy must ensure a single planning framework that would support the implementation of the programs and projects financed from European and national funds, preparing thus the financial exercise 2021-2027. Considering the above mentioned, the present paper aims to review the important and strategic elements of the future urban policy from Romania and its role in promoting and supporting balanced territorial development under the conditions of the SARS-CoV2 pandemic crisis which is far from over.

A win-win situation? Urban regeneration and the paradox of homeowner displacement

This paper examines urban regeneration outcomes for homeowners through a mixed-methods analysis of population change in six redevelopment sites. Israel's national urban regeneration policy presents itself as a ‘win-win’ mechanism, claiming that it mitigates displacement. This claim is tested and discussed through the theoretical lens of state-led gentrification and displacement. The Israeli program relies on contractual agreements between private homeowners and developers and provides homeowners with newly built high-rise condominium units. Consequently, homeowners can choose how to capitalize on their new property – whether to inhabit, let or sell. We argue that their choice reflects the preferences and varied capabilities of owners. While homeowners are relatively protected from direct displacement, the variance in owner capabilities may lead to economic pressures that chiefly impact vulnerable low-income owners. We suggest that the Israeli model of sharing the benefits from housing commodification glosses over the capability gap and frames potential displacement pressures as market choice features.

Urban regeneration programming in Poland in the years 2014–2020

In 2015, the National Urban Policy, The Urban Regeneration Law, and the Guidelines regarding urban regeneration in operational programmes for the years 2014–2020 were adopted in Poland. These documents marked a new direction for developing and implementing these difficult processes. Simultaneously, communes received support which was supposed to help them plan urban regeneration properly on the basis of reliable diagnoses of the initial state, considering their endogenous features and potentials, with active participation of local communities. The aim of the article is to present the Polish approach to regeneration programming. Its background is the analysis of the definitions of urban regeneration which have functioned in Polish literature since the 1990s followed by a presentation of Western European stages of the evolution of this subject. The analysis offered in the article as well as the resulting conclusions show that the Polish approach to regeneration follows the integrated model prevalent in Europe. It fits the discussions between the academics and practitioners regarding the designation of degraded areas in cities, the principles of regeneration programming, and active involvement of different stakeholders in the aforementioned processes.

Institutional capacity development within the national urban policy formation process – Participants’ views

In 2019, Serbia adopted its first national urban policy. This document was established through a communicative process during 2018–2019, formally encouraging urban governance as a practical innovation in Serbia’s planning doctrine. The main aim of this research is to explore institutional capacity development within a live setting of the policy formation process. The participants of this process are the primary subjects of the research. Data was collected through participatory events in four instances during the process. The concept of institutional capacity development is used in this paper as a basic framework to assess knowledge, relational and mobilisation capacity for urban governance. The main contribution of this paper is providing an understanding of the challenges and potentials for establishing urban governance practices in a post-socialist country planning context. Findings indicate an increase in the participants’ knowledge and understanding of governance instruments such that coordination and cooperation are continually unfolding. The identified challenges relate to the mobilisation capacity and fragility of institutions and resistance to change, while a need to deal with complexity and uncertainty remains present.

Становление национальной городской политики в России в контексте европейского опыта

This article analyses the features, shortcomings, prospects, and limitations of Russia’s national urban policy (NUP) and its international counterparts to formulate proposals for the further development of the Russian NUP. To this end, the study examines international documents and publications on NUP, particularly German ones, and Russian regulatory legal acts. The COVID-19 pandemic has drawn attention to the resilience of cities to crises and the development of urban green spaces. Germany’s current NUP, adopted in 2007, stands out for its complexity and congruence with the regional policy. The Spatial Development Strategy is the principal NUP document in Russia. However, it overlooks some issues essential for the development of the city system: the federal authorities support only selected types of towns, such as single-industry municipalities, and the NUP is not comprehensive as it pays little attention to the economic aspects. A feeble information framework and municipal authorities lacking the powers impede the further development of the NUP. A transition to a comprehensive and well-designed NUP in Russia is proposed, which includes counteracting the concentration of population and economic activity in Moscow and establishing Saint Petersburg as a centre of economic growth. There is also an urgent need to understand the economic development prospects of smaller towns.

Assessing How Sustainability Is Promoted in Ghana’s National Urban Policy and Action Plan

Managing contemporary and future urbanisation to create sustainable outcomes is a globally acknowledged policy goal. However, despite the increasing uptake and implementation of National Urban Policies (NUPs), little research has explored how these policies incorporate and promote sustainability as a concept in the context of urbanisation. This paper provides a critical analysis of the extent to which sustainability is promoted within urban policy in the context of Ghana. We review Ghana’s NUP and supporting Action Plan (AP) to determine whether their initiatives promote sustainability. An evaluation matrix is used to show how the initiatives in the documents align with the dimensions of urban sustainability outlined in the UN-Habitat’s City Prosperity Index (CPI); and in addition, consideration is given to how the contents align with the dimensions of the World Bank’s Urban Sustainability Framework (USF). The overarching argument that emerges from the analysis is that while Ghana’s NUP and AP provide adequate scope and an eclectic mix of initiatives that promote urban sustainability, the sustainability benefits are potentially undermined by factors which include: (i) threats to inclusivity and social sustainability due to the neo-liberal outlook of policy documents; (ii) explicit lack of a poverty reduction strategy; and (iii) lack of environmental performance targets. To this end, suggestions are provided that could potentially enhance the sustainability impacts of Ghana’s NUP and AP in the context of urbanisation.

Australia’s national urban policy: The smart cities agenda in perspective

AbstractThe Australian Government's attempts at national urban policy have been sporadic and inconsistent, under the constraints of constitutional, financial, ideological and political factors. This paper concerns the recent resurgence of national urban policy under the rubric of “smart cities” adopted by the Turnbull Government and carried on by the incumbent Morrison Government. It investigates how this round of smart cities agenda articulates with Australia's political tradition of national urban policy to seek continuity and change, through comparing historical policies, unpacking major smart cities programmes, identifying explanatory factors and critically commenting on its innovation and legacy. Drawing upon these analyses, this paper argues that understanding the smart cities agenda needs to move beyond the political, ideological “to‐and‐fro” pendulum to national urban policy observed in history. Rather, it resonates with a globalised policy norm established upon the city‐based global integration and competition, driven by an imperative of transitioning to a knowledge economy and pursuing innovation capacity. It is too early to judge whether the smart cities agenda will bring changes to Australian cities in the way it wishes, since it involves long‐term infrastructure investment and urban development projects. However, a comprehensive and consistent national urban policy to govern the Australian system of cities and towns has not been established yet.

Visibility, democratic public space and socially inclusive cities: The presence and changes of Turkish amenities in Amsterdam

Visibility, democratic public space and socially inclusive cities: The presence and changes of Turkish amenities in Amsterdam

Visibility, democratic public space and socially inclusive cities

Visibility, democratic public space and socially inclusive cities

The Spatial Development Framework to facilitate urban management in countries with weak planning systems

ABSTRACTThere is an urgent need to develop strategic spatial planning methods adapted to the conditions of countries with weak planning systems facing rapid urbanization. These methods should allow evaluating the territorial qualities of the system of cities and to meaningfully guiding the implementation of national urban policies or strategies. In this context, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UNHabitat) has developed the Spatial Development Framework (SDF) method, which is presented here for the first time, after having been tested in different countries. The SDF method helps to develop an understanding of the roles and inter-linkages of various urban settlements in the territory and to frame the territorial structure in a context of fluidity and uncertainty typical of countries facing uncontrolled urbanization. The method is then discussed and conclusions for the way forward are drawn.

The role of Planning Support Systems in national policy transfer and policy translation in secondary cities

ABSTRACTRwanda has developed a National Urbanization Policy (NUP) that identifies six secondary citieswhere efforts to promote urbanization and economic growth should focus. To implement it, a Spatial Development Framework (SDF) was developed, that makes use of Planning Support Systems (PSS) to communicate the goals to the local level. PSS present opportunities for stakeholders to understand and translate national policies to their local planning contexts. This paper questions how the SDF’s PSS tools can be used in the NUP’s transfer and translation to the local level. It focuses on potential users of the SDF. Results suggest that SDF’s PSS tools and outcomes can promote better spatial understanding, and communicate planning needs, strengthening regional competition andeconomic development among the secondary cities and in line with NUP. We conclude that the national government can use vertical transfer and horizontal translation to transfer the SDF’S PSS tools and outcomes to secondary cities.

Advocacy Planning in the Age of Trump: An Opportunity to Influence National Urban Policy

In the years following World War II, the United States experienced a period of unmatched economic prosperity and political influence, which many scholars refer to as ‘Pax Americana.’ While the majo...

Poverty Policy, the Market, and the Metropolis

This essay focuses on three recent books that examine contemporary trends and policy responses to poverty and urban regeneration: Places in Need: The Changing Geography of Poverty, by Scott W. Allard; The Servant Class City: Urban Revitalization versus the Working Poor in San Diego, by David J. Karjanen; and Urban Policy in the Time of Obama, edited by James De Filippis. Each examines the issue with a substantially different focus—the increase and nature of suburban poverty, the role of market-based urban revitalization in poverty production, and the approach and limitations of national urban policy under Obama—to shed light on the possibilities, limitations, and unintended consequences of our efforts to regenerate our cities and address poverty in urban areas.

Effect of national-level spatial distribution of cities on national transport CO2 emissions

Most research regarding the relationship between cities and transportation carbon emission is focused on intra-city travel, and it has been found that compact patterns tend to emit less carbon. Yet, little is known about the impact of national-level spatial distribution of cities and inter-city transportation on transportation CO2 emissions. Further, most studies regarding the impact of urbanization on CO2 emission directly examine the relationship between urbanization rate and CO2 emission with little consideration of the national spatial pattern of urbanization. This study hypothesizes that the national-level spatial distribution of cities – in a dispersed or polarized pattern – affects national transport CO2 emissions due to the varying intensity of inter-city transportation. This study uses the Gridded Population of the World v3 and v4 from Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) of NASA to examine the national-level spatial distribution of urban agglomerations. It applies the Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology (STIRPAT) model. The analysis shows that, among 60–90% of urbanized countries, spatially dispersed urbanized countries (e.g., countries with many medium-sized cities scattered over the territory) show a lower national transportation CO2 emission than spatially polarized urbanized countries (e.g., there are only a few large cities). The urban system elasticity of transportation CO2 emissions is 0.4 or 0.6. That is, if the degree of polarization decreases by 1%, national transportation CO2 emissions decrease by approximately 0.4–0.6%. This effect is similar to the effect of GDP per capita of around 0.5%. Because it is particularly difficult to disperse people and economic activities across a country once spatial polarization is set, this study's findings have the most significant implications for urbanizing countries. If urbanizing countries adopt national urban policy and territorial plans to form dispersed cities, it could reduce transportation carbon emissions and promote sustainable development. For already urbanized countries, national urban policy development is recommended to promote spatially dispersed rather than polarized national urban systems.

A qualitative exploration on the awareness and knowledge of stakeholders towards Urban Heat Island phenomenon in Greater Kuala Lumpur: Critical insights for urban policy implications

Despite its notable role in the exacerbation of urban climate, Urban Heat Island (UHI) was poorly addressed, communicated and integrated into local urban policies of many developing countries. Such scenario often queried the level of UHI understanding amongst the key players who were involved in urban policy formulation. Hence, a qualitative study using Focus Group Discussions (FGD) was designed to investigate the awareness and knowledge level of stakeholders such as policy makers and practitioners in Greater Kuala Lumpur (GKL), an expanding socio-economic hub of a developing tropical country. The findings demonstrated a variable lack of awareness and knowledge about the concept of UHI, its status in GKL as well as organizational engagement in adaptation and mitigation initiatives among the study participants. Essentially, policy makers illustrated a facile awareness and knowledge towards UHI issues whereas practitioners displayed a more robust portfolio of factual understanding regarding the corresponding issues. In line with National Urbanization Policy's (NUP) aspiration to optimize urban developments that provide high quality of life, this study sheds some light on the exigency for UHI awareness creation and capacity building among the policy makers. This study also provides impactful prepositions for the articulation of necessary actions towards evidence-based urban policy formulation in future.

A neglected issue: informal settlements, urban development, and disaster risk reduction in Latin America and the Caribbean

PurposeThis paper introduces the state of informal settlements in Latin America and the Caribbean, and it explores potential relationships between informal settlements and national policies on urban development and disaster risk reduction, especially on how risk governance and disaster resilience are conceived and practiced by governments.Design/methodology/approach17 Habitat III National Reports issued during the preparatory process toward the New Urban Agenda in 2016 are analyzed using statistics and qualitative methods. Some quantitative variables, such as access to drinking water and sewerage in the region, are combined with qualitative data from references to the Sendai Framework and national urban policies in the mentioned reports. Countries in the study include Argentina, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.FindingsResults show that the situation of informal settlements in the region is complex and presents two different realities that coexist: one group of countries in which provision of basic urban services poses great challenges for a significant proportion of the urban population, while the other group in which urban informality and precariousness persists despite better statistics. Risk governance and disaster resilience principles are scarcely articulated in existing urban development discourses in the region.Originality/valueThe preparatory process toward the New Urban Agenda allowed to conduct an original updated cross-country analysis and to identify cross-cutting issues on informality, risk reduction, and urban development in the region.

Governance of Heritage Conservation: Overview on Malaysian Practice

Heritage conservation refers to the process of preserving, repairing, restoring and maintaining sites and buildings that have significant heritage values. In Malaysia, currently, heritage sites and buildings are currently facing great threat from new urban development particularly due to the need to accommodate the growth of population, infrastructure development as well as economic growth. The scarce of land supply in the heart of Kuala Lumpur city for instance has exposed this modern heritage city to severe from commercialisation pressure because of the land price. Whether to preserve and conserve is still in great debate among the policymakers, stakeholders and academicians. The importance of conservation comprised a significant impact on the three pillars of sustainability; social, economy and environmental. This research examines the gap in related documents such as national development plans of Eleventh Malaysia Plan (EMP), National Physical Plan (NPP), National Urbanization Policy (NUP) and specific guiding document / policy on the heritage conservation such as National Heritage Act 2005 (NHA), ICOMOS Charters and relating current by-laws that facilitates the conservation activities in Malaysia. Hence, the focus of this paper is to review and identify the gap of present governance and legislations to protect such heritage values from being demolished and destroyed. Finally, the paper identifies several best practice strategies towards better governance of heritage conservation.