New Town Development Research Articles

Does self-containment of spatial scale and land use function contribute to mitigate urban heat island effects? Lessons from new towns in Shanghai

The concept of self-containment in new towns has been widely discussed from social and economic perspectives. However, localized interpretations within the context of China's development, particularly regarding climate adaptability and urban heat island (UHI) mitigation, are scarce. To fill this gap, our research analyzed self-containment from the perspectives of urban spatial scale and land use function. Focusing on Shanghai’s five new towns, we empirically demonstrated how self-containment influenced the UHI effects from 2005 to 2020, employing the Geodetector method. The findings reveal that during the daytime, the intensity of UHI in new towns decreased, serving as vital connectivity nodes of UHI within the region. Conversely, during the nighttime, both the intensity and area of UHI showed an increasing trend. The research confirmed that expanding the urban scale and functional diversity are effective strategies for mitigating the UHI. Based on these findings, we offer practical suggestions for the development of new towns: Increase population size while ensuring coordination with development scale; enhance mixed-use functions in large-scale development projects like university towns and industrial parks; and be vigilant of potential functional decline in central areas and increasing thermal impact due to new town development. Overall, this study enriches our understanding of self-containment in Chinese new towns and provides valuable insights for mitigating UHI in other similar contexts.

Exploring non-linear urban vibrancy dynamics in emerging new towns: A case study of the Wuhan metropolitan area

New towns have been extensively developed in many worldwide metropolises to overcome a series of urban crisis caused by over-intensive population and economic activity, such as environmental deterioration, traffic congestion and space shortage. The successful development of new towns has been regarded as a common, international urban challenge aimed at creating vital and lively urban life. Quantifying the complex relationship between new town vibrancy and the built environment provides a theoretical basis for formulating adequate planning regulations and policies to solve the development predicaments of new towns. Taking the Wuhan metropolitan area as the case study, this study employs the gradient boosting decision tree (GBDT) machine learning method to delve into the intricate non-linear relationship between urban vibrancy and built environment indicators both in both peripheric new towns (NT) and central mother cities (MC), shedding light on the differences in the characteristics and complexities of vibrancy between NT and MC. The findings reveal stark disparities in vibrancy levels between NT and MC, emphasizing the critical need for tailored revitalization strategies. It is found that the indicators with the highest contribution to the impact of vibrancy in NT and MC are respectively the point of interest (POI) density and Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) development intensity. Model comparison between NT and MC concludes that enhancing POI density to meet the basic needs of citizens is a prerequisite for fostering urban vibrancy. To successfully create similarly vital and lively urban life as that in the MC, NT should focus on the impacts of TOD development and policy factors such as government relocation on vibrancy. Finally, deriving from these findings, we propose some policy insights and practical strategies for urban practitioners and policymakers to enhance the vibrancy and sustainability of the new towns.

Development of New Town in Project Affected Area

Development of New Town in Project Affected Area

Is Development Type a Determinant of College and Graduate Students’ Commute Time to School? The Case of Seoul Metropolitan Area

This study examines the impact of large-scale suburban new town development on the commuting time of college and graduate students in the Seoul Metropolitan Area. Household travel diary data from 2016 were analyzed to categorize residential areas and quantify the impacts on commute time to school. Multiple linear regression modeling is used to explore the relationships between development type, individual, and household characteristics and their impact on commute times. The results of the study show that students living in new urban areas have significantly longer commute times than those living in central Seoul, highlighting the differences that result from urban expansion policies targeting middle-class housing. These results suggest that the development of suburban new towns, which was intended to alleviate the housing shortage, has inadvertently lengthened the daily commute time of many students. Thus, a critical reassessment of suburban development strategies is needed to better balance the advantages of residential neighborhoods against the educational and living costs associated with increased travel time.

Accommodating the Rise in Urbanisation: Are New Towns a Good Solution?

Abstract This paper studies the performance of New Towns, that is, planned large urban sub-centres, as a central tool to accommodate the global rise in urbanisation. A spatial quantifiable general equilibrium framework suitable to study large-scale urban master plans is presented. The framework is then used to investigate the equilibrium effects of five New Towns developed in the 1970s in Paris’s metropolitan area. By 2015, the development of New Towns appears to have increased metropolitan population ($+$18%), metropolitan gross domestic product ($+$11%) and reduced average commuting times (−6.9%). The results obtained for Paris’s metropolitan area are externally validated using a difference-in-differences approach on all 314 New Towns developed worldwide between 1992 and 2012.

Predicting Neighborhood-Level Residential Carbon Emissions from Street View Images Using Computer Vision and Machine Learning

Predicting urban-scale carbon emissions (CEs) is crucial in drawing implications for various urgent environmental issues, including global warming. However, prior studies have overlooked the impact of the micro-level street environment, which might lead to biased prediction. To fill this gap, we developed an effective machine learning (ML) framework to predict neighborhood-level residential CEs based on a single data source, street view images (SVIs), which are publicly available worldwide. Specifically, more than 30 streetscape elements were classified from SVIs using semantic segmentation to describe the micro-level street environment, whose visual features can indicate major socioeconomic activities that significantly affect residential CEs. A ten-fold cross-validation was deployed to train ML models to predict the residential CEs at the 1 km grid level. We found, first, that random forest (R2 = 0.8) outperforms many traditional models, confirming that visual features are non-negligible in explaining CEs. Second, more building, wall, and fence views indicate higher CEs. Third, the presence of trees and grass is inversely related to CEs. Our findings justify the feasibility of using SVIs as a single data source to effectively predict neighborhood-level residential CEs. The framework is applicable to large regions across diverse urban forms, informing urban planners of sustainable urban form strategies to achieve carbon-neutral goals, especially for the development of new towns.

Commuting paradox of the technopole Newtown: A case study in the Seoul Metropolitan Area.

This study examines the relationship between different types of new town development and their impact on commuting patterns. It provides an empirical analysis of how development in Technopole Newtown and Residential Newtown influences commuting time and distance. Technopole Newtown is characterized by a blend of technological institutional clusters and residential development, while Residential Newtown primarily emphasizes residential development. Seoul Metropolitan Area was chosen as the case study, with data sourced from the Household Travel Survey. This study reveals a surprising commuting paradox in Technopole Newtown, where the plan was to blend job opportunities with residential development. The findings indicate that commuters did not benefit. Instead, they endured longer commutes in both time and distance compared to those in Residential Newtown, which is typically characterized as a bedroom community. The integration of job opportunities for the development of new towns should be considered a crucial factor in creating urban sustainability in the future.

A comparative study of air pollution levels in different urban street configurations in Pangyo New Town, South Korea

Despite the expanding recognition of the impact of urban design on the well-being of citizens in planned communities, air quality concerns are frequently neglected in the development of new towns. This study aimed to address this gap in the literature by conducting comparative field assessments of different street structures in South Korea's new towns, measuring the concentrations of ultrafine particles (UFP), fine particulate matter (PM2.5), and black carbon (BC) in street canyons with varying aspect ratios (ARs) and road configurations. During a six-day period in October, measurements were taken both before and after business hours in pedestrian zones with ARs of 2.5 and 10, as well as vehicle zones with open and loop roads. The findings revealed that the concentrations of UFP, PM2.5, and BC were consistently higher in a deeper canyon (AR 10) than in a shallower canyon (AR 2.5) in the pedestrian zone throughout the day, with the difference being most pronounced during periods of heightened commercial activity. Additionally, vehicle zones with loop roads had higher levels of air pollution, particularly in terms of UFP and PM2.5 concentrations, compared to open roads, regardless of vehicle traffic volume. The study highlights the importance of evaluating the influence of street configuration on air circulation, regulating emissions from direct sources, and adopting a comprehensive approach to urban planning to improve air quality and safeguard public health in densely populated areas.

Is Ride-Hailing an Effective Tool for Improving Transportation Services in Suburban New Towns in China? Evidence from Wuhan Unicom Users’ Mobile Phone Usage Big Data

Ride-hailing, a newly emerging mobility service that is popular worldwide, has become an efficient new mode of transportation. Nonetheless, the use and value of ride-hailing remain unclear for newly developed areas in the suburbs. We crawled through the usage data of 10 ride-hailing apps from Wuhan, China, and used Spatial Autocorrelation and Geographic Weighted Regression (GWR) to explore the role of ride-hailing in suburban new towns. We found that: (1) There is variability between urban and suburban in the use of ride-hailing, and residents in suburban new towns are more inclined to complete travel activities by ride-hailing. (2) In suburban new towns, ride-hailing has a complementary effect on public transportation, and this complementary role has differences in regional and demographic attributes. This effect is greater for high-tech industrial areas and is more in women and young people than in men and elderly people. Overall, this study confirms from a geospatial perspective that residents of suburban new towns are more likely to use ride-hailing compared to central urban areas and that ride-hailing can supplement the lack of public transportation services (PTS) in suburban areas and improve transportation services in such new towns where development and construction are not yet complete. Therefore, the integration of online taxis with traditional public transportation is expected to promote multi-modal transportation options in newly developed areas and help realize the development of suburban new towns. In addition, the study also found the effectiveness of using big data from mobile phones in studying residents’ temporal and spatial behavior.

The green quality of urban spatial development: A multi-dimensional and multi-regional model using big data

Spatial development involves multi-dimensional and multi-regional objectives that might be competing, while few studies have examined these issues simultaneously. We proposed a comprehensive model to assess the green quality of urban spatial development (GQUSD), focusing on the synergy of multi-dimensional objectives and the balance of multi-regional interests. The metropolitan city of Hangzhou was taken as an example. We included land consumption, vegetation loss and infrastructure cost as the inputs and the density of production and living activities as the outputs of spatial development. We developed a categorical Data Envelope Analysis (DEA) using geospatial big data and stratified optimization to evaluate the synergy of inputs-outputs at the finer level of spatial grids. Resultsshow a “sandwich” structure of the GQUSD in Hangzhou when considering green space and vegetation loss, and characterize four spatial typologies of agglomerated development, limited development, blinded development and low-potential development through the Bivariate Local Indicator of Spatial Association (LISA) analysis. The “sandwich” structure is shaped by spatial processes of socio-economic agglomeration, industrial-driven sprawl, new-town development and suburbanization of high-end sectors. We also find green inequality in the spatial development of Hangzhou where vegetation costs were higher in manufactural industrial sites and low-income communities. We provide urban planning strategies to balance competing interests across regions, objectives, functions and communities for green growth and sustainable goals.

Research on the transformation and upgrading of historical and cultural blocks from the perspective of urban regeneration——Take yongqingfang in Guangzhou as an example

<div><p>With the rapid development of urbanization, the development and construction of new towns and new areas has become the main direction of urban expansion. On the contrary, the development of the old urban areas has been neglected and gradually fell into recession. In the new era, how to promote the new vitality of the old city and realize the double wheel drive between the old city and the new city has become an urgent research topic. Enning Road, located in the old urban area of Liwan, guangzhou, gathers the essence of Xiguan arcade building, but once became a typical example of the decline of old blocks. Through micro transformation, it not only protects the authenticity of the historical environment, but also promotes the development of the cultural tourism industry, realizes the regeneration of the historical and cultural blocks, and walks out a unique road to the revitalization of the historical and cultural blocks. Based on this analysis, the article puts forward policy suggestions to further improve the revitalization of historical and cultural blocks from the aspects of establishing a diversified participation mechanism, correctly handling the relationship between the protection and development of historical and cultural relics, and preventing violations of consumer rights and public interests.</p></div>

Development of new towns in Poland. A case study of local labor markets.

The article attempts to assess the effect that obtaining urban status has on changes in the local labor markets of new towns. The analysis concerned those towns that were granted urban status for the first time between 1990 (the beginning of the transition to a market economy) and 2020. The analysis and research results did not show any significant correlation between the obtaining of urban status and improving labor market conditions. Despite the increase in entrepreneurship and the greater mobility of incoming employees, the localities did not become more attractive locations for medium-sized and large enterprises. Work-related population flows did not undergo major transformations and the range of influence of local labor markets was still mainly limited to the new towns’ own gminas, which together with the directly neighboring gminas formed functional urban areas that nonetheless rarely exceeded the boundaries of the poviat.

Planning and developing a high-speed railway new town under state entrepreneurialism in China

ABSTRACT The development of high-speed railway (HSR) new towns in China represents a new phase of suburbanization and has had a significant impact on urban expansion, but not all of its mechanisms and drivers have been studied. This article aims to understand the booming development of HSR new towns in China through the theoretical lens of state entrepreneurialism. It dissects the entrepreneurial behaviors of the local state in a medium-sized city, which harnesses the HSR project strategically to develop a new town. Our findings reveal that local governments play out state entrepreneurialism in developing HSR new towns. They compete with other cities for HSR projects. They are motivated by land revenue generation, career advancement for officials, and maintaining state power. Furthermore, this article contributes to the understanding of interactions among multi-level governments. Local states in China can also exert influence on the policymaking and resource allocation of the national government.

Hesitant migration to emergent cities: Angola’s intentional urbanism of the ‘centralidades’

This article discusses migration to rural areas in Africa and its relation to the emergence and development of new towns and urbanism. New conditions of mobility and the establishment and development of newly urban and proto-urban areas call for a reassessment of mobility and settlement dynamics. Changing contexts of urban-rural relations with important societal implications, new transformations and reconfigurations of urban forms call for analyses beyond rural exoduses, unequal territorial development, or the primacy of major cities. In Angola, urban construction, namely of the new ‘centralidades’—emergent new cities made of blocks of buildings and respective infrastructure in vacant areas in the countryside—attempts the creation of cities before the agglomeration of population or the undertakings to attract migration, other than just housing. This intentional urbanisation is thus characterised by hesitant settlement, which this article analyses using empirical material collected in a variety of Angolan centralidades.

Research on sustainable design of sports centre based on algorithm verification

Abstract In the process of urbanisation in China, many cities expect to promote the development of new towns through the construction of sports centres. However, due to the unreasonable design of the scale, accessibility and vitality of the sports centre, the catalyst effect of the sports centre is difficult to play an effective role. Using cluster analysis algorithm and spatial syntax, this study analyses the algorithm of sports centres with sustainable development characteristics, and puts forward the conclusions of sustainable development planning strategies such as venue merger design under the principle of intensive, maintaining high accessibility of sports centres, ensuring the compound function of surrounding plots and grid space to improve regional vitality, in order to provide some inspiration for the planning and construction of Sports Centre in the future.

THE CHANGING AND DECLINE OF JOHOR KANGKAR SETTLEMENTS: A CASE STUDY OF MUAR, JOHOR

Kangkar is a traditional Chinese historic settlement in Johor, which established during Kangchu system from 1844 to 1917 represents strong historical significance in the Chinese architectural paradigm. However, the number of kangkar settlements decrease drastically from 100-120 to less than 20 in current context. This article aims to identify the possible reasons of kangkar decline in order to give insight in developing conservation policy for the historic settlement. Historical method was employed through archival research, literature review, and historical cartography; while field trip was carried out to examine the current development of kangkars. The findings revealed that 75% of kangkars are lost while the rest of 25% have been survived at least partly in today’s context. The establishment of New Village Resettlement and development of new town near to the kangkar settlements greatly contributed to the diminishing of kangkars at Muar. In short, the identification of reasons contributes to decline of kangkars act as the lessons to be integrated in traditional village conservation or town development planning in the future. This could avoid further neglect, gradual deterioration, and destruction of the traditional environment built with the experiences gained over the centuries.

Possibility of Urban Heat Island Formation by Lifting Green Belts: Focusing on the Cases of Busan Metropolitan City, Korea

We analyzed the temperature changes in cities and regions due to the lifting of the green belt in Busan Metropolitan City. The difference between the average temperature change in the summer surface due to the lifting of the green belt was analyzed in Local Spatial Autocorrelation Analysis (LISA) for the two points in 2000, when the green belt was fully preserved, and in 2018, when the recent record heatwave was recorded. Consequently, approximately 28.14% of the areas where the green belt was lifted from the cluster map became a hotspot. In Busan Metropolitan City, the changes in the soil quality, resulting from the development of new towns, creation of industrial complexes, reduction of green areas, and an increase in impervious areas due to largescale housing development projects following the lifting of the green belt, lead to the temperature rise in the city, thereby causing urban heat island phenomenon. This study contributes to the field by revealing that the urban heat island phenomenon can be affected in the long term depending on the urban development project involved in the lifting of the green belt. In addition to its original function of preserving the environment and preventing urban sprawl, the green belt can be a major urban planning tool for mitigating the rising urban heat island phenomenon caused by climate change, which demonstrates its policy implications.

A network of circular economy villages: design guidelines for 21st century Garden Cities

PurposeThe purpose is to open the possibility for a research institute, perhaps in partnership with a local council and a major developer, to bring together skills necessary to prototype the CEV development model.Design/methodology/approachThis paper advances the development of a hypothetical, systems-based approach to the design and development of smart rural villages – a network of circular economy villages (CEVs). The method is to assimilate visionary ideas from 20th century town planning literature related to decentralisation and the development of new towns in rural areas, identifying key design principles. The present trajectory of infrastructure design and emerging development models are then analysed to modernise the design principles for implementation in the 21st century.FindingsThe availability of localised, renewable energy micro-grids potentially makes CEVs feasible and affordable. The shift to remote work and movement of people to regional areas suggests that this may be a desirable development form. This can only be confirmed through the development of a pilot project as proof of concept.Originality/valueThe proposed CEV development model applies circular economy strategies to every aspect of the smart rural village development including financing, ownership, spatial planning, design and material selection.

"남악신도시 사례를 통한 도청 이전(移轉) 신도시 개발에

본 연구는 전남도청 이전을 목적으로 개발된 남악신도시를 통해 도청 이전 신도시가 내포한 문제점을 비판적으로 바라보고 현재 개발 중인 도청 이전 신도시에 시사점을 남기는 것을 목적으로 한다. 전라남도 남악신도시 개발은 관외 지역에 있는 전남도청을 관내 지역으로 옮기고, 도내 낙후지역을 개발하려는 목적에서 시행되었다. 그러나 신도시 개발사업이 15년 이상 흐른 지금, 1단계 사업이 거의 마무리되는 현시점에서 남악신도시 개발을 살펴보면 다음과 같은 문제점이 발생하였다. 첫째, 대도시 권역의 인구 분산적 차원에서 남악신도시는 해당 목적을 충분히 달성하지 못하였고 오히려 지표상 광주광역시로의 인구집중이 심화되었다. 둘째, 목포시-무안군에 걸친 남악신도시 행정구역의 이원화로 주민들의 행정 서비스 이용에 문제가 발생하였다. 셋째, 신도시 개발에 따른 목포시 원도심 쇠퇴문제가 발생하여 대도시 인구를 흡수하는 것이 아닌, 신도시 주변 지역의 인구를 흡수하여 도시쇠퇴를 가속시킨 문제점이 발생하였다. 이러한 문제점 인식은 향후 도청 이전 신도시 개발에 적절한 해결방안을 찾는 데 도움이 될 것이다.

The Key Factors Driving the Development of New Towns by Mother Cities and Regions: Evidence from China

As an important carrier of expanded urban spatial growth, new towns have been a “policy tool” for spatial production in the new era and have received long-term and constant attention from circles such as geography, planning, and economics. National new districts constitute a new regional space for China to implement the national strategy and promote the transformation of urban development mode. They are mutually reinforcing with their mother cities and hinterland provinces. Based on the geodetector method, this paper reveals the key factors driving the development of national new districts by mother cities and hinterland provinces and their interaction effects, which provides a basis for municipal and provincial governments to accurately formulate policies to promote the development of new towns by classification. The study shows that, firstly, there are five types of driving factors, that is, all-round driving factors, scale-increasing factors, expansion and quality-improving factors, expertise driving factors, and non-driving factors. The strength and dimension of the driving factors are characterized by prominent heterogeneity; R&D personnel, export and import trade are the key factors to expand the increment, optimize the inventory, and improve the quality; the overall development driving forces are in the order of innovation > opening > industry > investment > population. Secondly, the pairwise interaction between different factors exhibits two-factor enhancement, and the population shows a nonlinear increase in the driving force of investment, openness, and innovation on a provincial scale. Thirdly, according to the driving force of the factors and the interaction between them, suggestions are put forward based on the development stage and key demands for city and provincial governments to make policies for the development of national new districts, to support the establishment of scientific competition and cooperation between new towns and mother cities or regions, and to build a long-term collaborative development mechanism.