Spatial Planning System Research Articles

The Role of Urban Growth Poles in Regional Policy: The Romanian Case

As part of a broader Europeanization process, the general guidelines and principles of the European spatial planning documents have been uncritically overtaken in the last two decades in the Romanian spatial planning system. One of them is represented by the growth pole concept, which was widely used not only in the selection process of the cities as growth poles but in the delimitation of the metropolitan zones as well. The Regional Operational Program (ROP) 2007-2013 has incorporated the above logic, the priority axe 1 sustaining the urban growth poles with 30% of the budget allocated to the whole ROP. The future prospects for 2014-2020 are going in the same direction.The main aim of this paper is to evaluate the process and outcome of establishing the urban growth poles as key elements of the new regional policy in Romania. In particular, we will address the process of establishing the urban growth poles as high priority development goal. The paper highlights the failure of regional policy in attaining its essential objective, the reduction of regional disparities. Driven by the growth of the capital region Bucharest-Ilfov, regional polarisation is at a historical high, as the regional policies applied in Romania being unable to influence this process. Although we have at this time no exact evaluation on their regional impact, we can assume that the urban growth poles program has rather contributed to the intensification of regional imbalances.

High-tech development and spatial planning: comparing the Netherlands and Taiwan from an institutional perspective

ABSTRACTHigh-tech development has been broadly accepted as a prominent matter of regional development policies and plans at the global level. Strategies to enhance it have evident implications for spatial planning policies, plans and visions. Consequently, careful attention should be paid to the role that spatial planning policies play in the national and regional efforts to advance high-tech development in a particular place. This study addresses the relationship between the spatial planning system and high-tech development, searching to explain the spatial implications resulting from this relationship. It approaches the topic by comparing high-tech development experiences in the Netherlands and Taiwan from an institutional perspective. Although both countries have used a range of spatial strategies for economic growth through high-tech development, the results show that their different institutional settings, power relations between different levels of government and conceptions of science park have led to the implementation of two very distinct spatial strategies, shaping different spatial patterns of high-tech development clustering in these two regions. The findings demonstrate the potential of the institutional approach to study international planning issues, and contribute to theories of high-tech development and spatial planning.

Europe exposed: mapping the impacts of EU policies on spatial planning in the Netherlands

ABSTRACTNational laws, local traditions and practices largely define which spatial planning policies are pursued and how they are carried out. Still, like many other policy areas, an unmistakeable process of Europeanization is underway in planning. On the one hand, informal bottom-up Europeanization is occurring through the increasing interaction between scholars and practitioners and by the growing body of spatial information and analyses available at the European Union (EU) level. On the other hand, formal top-down Europeanization occurs when EU policies – competition, economic development, agriculture, nature protection, air quality, etc. – impact domestic spatial planning systems, policy and practice. In this study, we investigate this second kind of Europeanization, using the case of the Netherlands as an example. Specifically, we construct a map revealing the location of EU sectoral policy using six distinct impact types. We observed that many policies overlap and various inter-sectoral tensions (horizontal coordination) are present. The empirical analysis moreover revealed, in line with recent theoretical literature on multilevel governance, that domestic policies and practices, particularly at the national level, determine the way European policies affect planning. This finding has implications for all member states, but particularly those whose national planning is undergoing fundamental reform.

A better zoning system for South Africa?

After many years of disjointed legislation, the new Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act has finally been implemented in South Africa. This legislation requires a holistic spatial planning system that includes development principles, policy, spatial planning on all levels of government, land use management and control. The development principles relate to spatial justice, redress, inclusion, resilience, efficiency, sustainability and good administration. At the same time the act mandates land use zoning as the form of development control, yet zoning has been criticised as being exclusionary, unjust and unsustainable. It is thus in conflict with the principles of the act. This raises the question: if not zoning, what other form of land use management and control will be suitable for South Africa and other countries with a similar colonial history? This paper considers the role of land use management and the criteria for an appropriate system in circumstances of weak municipal government capacity. As part of the argument it considers the arguments around zoning and then evaluates the applicability of alternative forms of development control in the South African context. The paper concludes with a suggestion for a land use management system based on a transect adapted to the South African landscape using various forms of land use management such as performance zoning, form based codes and local spatial plans, where applicable in the local context, within the transect.

The Challenge of Spatial Plan Coordination in Urban China: The Case of Suzhou City

The fragmented and overlapped planning administration, evolved from the planned economy, is the institutional foundation of the spatial planning system in China. Together with the problems of development control, spatial plan coordination of FYP, land use planning and urban planning in urban China thus has been concerned for a long time. This paper explores the dilemmas and relevant mechanisms of spatial plan coordination by a case study of Suzhou city. The empirical analysis shows that local spatial plans were highly constrained by the sectoral codes, hierarchic regulations and the controlling system of various quotas beyond the city level. The primary contradictions among the three plans were rooted in the planning parameters of the land area for construction and the spatial regulation on land use. The sectorally improved planning administration increased the complexity of plan coordination on the one hand. On the other hand, embedded in the different philosophies of the central and local governments over land governance, various spatial plans have become their complicated arenas and the planning process was mixed by central control and local initiatives. Subsequently, under the nested institutions of planning making, local spatial planning was manipulated and intervened, and thus spatial plan coordination failed.

Improving essential fish habitat designation to support sustainable ecosystem-based fisheries management

A major limitation to fully integrated ecosystem based fishery management approaches is a lack of information on the spatial distribution of marine species and the environmental conditions shaping these distributions. This is particularly problematic for deep-water species that are hard to sample and are data poor. The past decade has seen the rapid development of a suite of advanced species distribution, or ecological niche, modelling approaches developed specifically to support efficient and targeted management. However, model performance can vary significantly and the appropriateness of which methods are best for a given application remains questionable. Species distribution models were developed for three commercially valuable Hawaiian deep-water eteline snappers: Etelis coruscans (Onaga), Etelis carbunculus (Ehu) and Pristipomoides filamentosus (Opakapaka). Distributional data for these species was relatively sparse. To identify the best method, model performance and distributional accuracy was assessed and compared using three approaches: Generalised Additive Models (GAM), Boosted Regression Trees (BRT) and Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt). Independent spatial validation data found MaxEnt consistently provided better model performance with ‘good’ model predictions (AUC =>0.8). Each species was influenced by a unique combination of environmental conditions, with depth, terrain (slope) and substrate (low lying unconsolidated sediments), being the three most important in shaping their distributions. Sustainable fisheries management, marine spatial planning and environmental decision support systems rely on an understanding species distribution patterns and habitat linkages. This study demonstrates that predictive species distribution modelling approaches can be used to accurately model and map sparse species distribution data across marine landscapes. The approach used herein was found to be an accurate tool to delineate species distributions and associated habitat linkages, account for species-specific differences and support sustainable ecosystem-based management.

Doprinos morskog prostornog planiranja zaštiti morskog okoliša

Rad obrađuje postupak morskog prostornog planiranja koji podrazumijeva analizu i raspored aktivnosti u trodimenzionalnom morskom prostoru te doprinosi učinkovitom upravljanju morskim aktivnostima i održivoj upotrebi morskih i obalnih resursa. Razmatraju se ključni elementi i koraci koje treba uzeti u obzir prilikom odlučivanja da li i kako razviti sustav i okvir morskog prostornog planiranja s ciljem poticanja održivog rasta pomorskih gospodarstava, održivog razvoja morskih područja i održive upotrebe morskih resursa. Istodobno, prikazano je stanje u Republici Hrvatskoj. Analizira se dosegnuti stupanj razvoja prostornog planiranja u Republici Hrvatskoj i primjer dobre europske prakse. Autori se zalažu da se primjena načela morskog prostornog planiranja kao pravne stečevine Europske unije ugradi u pravni sustav Republike Hrvatske.

The Riverfront as a Mirror: The Case of the Transformations in Post‐Soviet Cities

Cities that have gone through the long period of integration in the ex‐Soviet Union naturally incorporated a set of principles that are now under pressure. It's in this context that we review the central question of the relationship between river and city.Tbilisi, Georgia, is representative of the challenges faced by cities that experienced the fast transition from state‐controlled to open‐market economies. Territorial planning, as a single system of state spatial planning, is presently still highly unstructured and has very little practical influence, with several urban planning decisions being made with little regard for formal urban planning agencies. One of the key issues in the capital city, Tbilisi, is the lack of green/recreational zones, which is also expressed in the loss of public space along the urban riverfront.Undermanaged growth of post‐Soviet city, expiration of the term of the last general plan, and disregard for historical traditions of city planning resulted in an abnormal and complex problem of interplay between Tbilisi and River Kura. The river has been, in the last few decades, striped of its architectural planning significance.Interrelation between Tbilisi city and the River Kura constitutes a complex and challenging urban problem but their transformation is related also with political aims. Kura, as an essential active element of the landscape, is being used to influence the city's planning character and as political instrument.This presentation highlights, through an overview of some relevant examples from Tbilisi of planning and design, how the interface zones between river and surrounding plots of land have been transformed to increase urban–river connectivity. Yet, this transformation also results in the emergence of urban projects that symbolize more political and economic powers that the aspiration of the people to appropriate public spaces.

Concept of implementation of consolidation in Serbia

Land consolidation means a system of spatial planning, technical, legal and socio-economic measures takes by the community for a fundamental improvement of natural, economic and environmental conditions of the land territory with the aim of providing better living and working conditions and environmental protection. This document shows the analyzes of land consolidation development in Republic of Serbia, as well as the facilities and the problems that accompany it. On a practical case for land consolidation area K. O. Priboj, City of Leskovac, an analysis of the situation before land consolidation - the old condition and conditions after land consolidation - a new condition. Explained the phases in the process of land consolidation, and is particularly explained one of the most important stage - the allocation of land consolidation land mass.

Managing ‘Ordinary Heritage’ in Poland: Łódź and Its Post-Industrial Legacy

It could be argued that cultural heritage in Poland, like in other post-socialist countries, is losing its importance due to modernisation, and that its preservation is in conflict with new investment. The situation is caused by several factors. Firstly, free use of private property is often more valued than the care for historical landscapes, which could be attributed to the consequences of the economic crisis. Secondly, there are legal shortcomings in spatial planning and heritage conservation systems. Thirdly, cooperation among politicians, urban planners and heritage protection officers is not efficient.
 Since the transition period of the 1990s, historic relics have been exposed to multiple threats. The following case study of Łódź illustrates the general need for a change of approach towards cultural legacy management, especially in reference to more common heritage elements which are not under hard protection.

THE MULTICRITERIA ASSESSMENT OF THE SPATIAL PLANNING PROCESS: THE ASPECT OF INVESTMENT

The effectiveness of an investment determined by the macroeconomic situation of a country stimulates national macroeconomic development. The principles of sustainable development must be followed in order to effectively organize the spatial planning process. To ascertain the efficiency of the legal base of Lithuanian spatial planning, a comparison of the Lithuanian spatial planning organization process with those carried out in Poland and Germany has been performed. For this purpose, the basic principles of spatial planning legislation have been analyzed. The challenge was addressed to the analysis of the verbal spatial planning system. Verbal decision-making system UniComBOS (Unit Comparison for the Best Selection Object) is used for determining a model for an effective spatial planning system. The modified concept of the spatial planning model is suggested in accordance with the results obtained in the run of the carried out analysis.

One Nation, Two Planning Systems? Spatial Planning and Multi-Level Policy Integration in Ghana: Mechanisms, Challenges and the Way Forward

Effective integration across policy domains and between spatial scales is indispensable in dealing with the inherently complex process of policy formulation and implementation at all levels. In this paper, we examine the key features of Ghana’s spatial planning system focusing on the mechanisms and challenges of policy integration in practice. We show that a combination of path dependence and recent reforms has inevitably created two distinctly separate planning systems: an established Development Planning System and a newly instituted Spatial Planning System. Under the established notion of the ‘spatial’ being distinctively separate from the ‘socio-economic’ in planning, these two systems deploy separate institutional and legal arrangements as well as policy instruments to accomplish the task of planning. Within this context, mechanisms to ensure effective policy integration were found to be weak and ineffective. Moreover, the absence of a tradition of strategic regional planning and a culture of strategic partnerships among local authorities, the lack of appropriate institutional arrangements and sustainable sources of finance and duplicitous institutional functions were the key barriers to effective integration within the new concept of hierarchical spatial planning. We argue that a new paradigm of integrated planning under a unified planning system is urgently needed as a pre-condition for effective multi-level policy integration. We suggest that some forms of institutional restructuring would be necessary to establish a tradition of integrated planning. Finally, we recommend the use of legally binding mechanisms to institutionalize and enforce a culture of strategic alliance among local governments in cross-cutting matters.

Kenjiro Omura — Japan

Japanese planning has a top-down spatial planning system: from the national level through the regional level to the local level, i.e. from national comprehensive planning to regional planning and u...

Redefining Territorial Scales and the Strategic Role of Spatial Planning

This paper argues that spatial planning systems tend to redefine and reinterpret conventional territorial scales through the dual adoption and articulation of legal instru- ments and spatial strategies at different levels of planning administration. In depicting such redefinition, this paper delves into the cases of Denmark and Catalonia through an analy- sis concerned with: i) the strategic spatial role attributed to each level of planning; and ii) the redefinition of territorial scales as a result of changing political objectives and spatial rela- tionships occurring between planning levels. The assessment pertaining to the strategic roles of spatial planning instruments as well as the evolving redefinition of territorial scales in both Denmark and Catalonia suggests that the conventional, hierarchical ‘cascade-shaped’ ideal of policy implementation is superseded. While both cases tend to converge in their alignment with strategic spatial planning, the implications stemming from rescaling processes radically diverge, as illustrated by the opposing fates of the regional scale and the distinctive means to reassure a ‘vertical spatial anchor’ for the stability and permanence of power structures.

Housing for the urban poor: towards alternative financing strategies for low-income housing development in Ghana

This article aims to provide an understanding of the housing market situation in Ghana, the financing instruments available and the challenges faced by low-income households in accessing housing finance. The gap between income and house prices is shown to be huge across different groups in Ghana. It is also demonstrated that conventional mortgage finance is inaccessible to low-income households due to high payment-to-income ratios, lack of cash for down-payments and long repayment periods. Three alternative housing finance strategies are proposed: first, practical approaches to financing housing development through the spatial planning system; second, strategies to develop and make housing microfinance accessible to low-income households; and third, strategies to mobilise labour for housing development at reduced costs through community-based initiatives. Together, these alternative strategies could provide sustainable and affordable housing finance options for low-income housing development in Ghana.

Współczesne wyzwania stojące przed planowaniem przestrzennym w świetle pardygmatu zrównoważonego rozwoju

Niniejszy artykuł stanowi próbę wskazania autorskiej koncepcji zmian w systemie planowania przestrzennego i planowania rozwoju w Polsce.We wprowadzeniu do pracy scharakteryzowano krótko ewolucję planowania od narzędzia urbanistycznego służącego głównie porządkowaniu fizycznej przestrzeni do instrumentu służącego pobudzaniu procesów rozwoju i optymalizacji wykorzystania różnych zasobów. Wskazano na potrzebę integracji i stosowania podejścia funkcjonalnego w planowaniu. W dalszej części artykułu przybliżono wybrane, najistotniejsze słabości instytucjonalne obniżające skuteczność systemu planowania przestrzennego w Polsce. Mając je na względzie, w drugiej części artykułu zarysowano autorską koncepcję zmian na poziomie lokalnego i regionalnego planowania. Tekst kończy krótkie podsumowanie odnoszące się do warunków jakie muszą być spełnione dla wprowadzenia proponowanych zmian w systemie planowania rozwoju.

Analysis Of Land Use Transformation Potential In Spatial Management

Abstract The current system of spatial planning in Poland does not provide an effective and efficient tool for controlling planning decisions at a level higher than local. The result is an unrealistic approach to adopting development policies. Nowadays there is strong competition among local governments to attract investors, which results in excessive designation of investment areas and, consequently, an imbalance between supply and demand on the real estate market. An extremely important factor from the point of view of local authorities is also the financial burden on government budgets related to the implementation of the provisions of previously adopted policies. An improper spatial development policy can therefore generate costs without delivering the expected results, due to the lack of demand for the offered resources. A step in the right direction in optimizing how the spatial policy process is shaped may include conducting analyses and forecasts to support the decision-making process. Such analyses are needed both in terms of the amount of areas designed for each type of land use as well as their spatial distribution. Our considerations are focused on the second aspect. Analysis of land use transformation potential can be used in spatial management by selecting areas most where land use is most likely to change. The paper presents the simplified mechanisms of such analyses which can be adopted by the use of cellular automata. The final potential of an area is affected by variables such as the neighborhood, accessibility and suitability. As a result of the integration of these variables, it is possible to determine land use transformation potential. These considerations relate to the MOLAND (Monitoring Land Use/Cover Dynamics) research project and works on the development of the Metronamica decision support system, conducted in Western Europe.

The Change and Transformation of Indonesian Spatial Planning after Suharto's New Order Regime: The Case of the Jakarta Metropolitan Area

The fall of the New Order regime has spurred the process of democratization and marked the transformation of Indonesia from authoritarian rule into a more democratic government. The new system of government also spurred the changes in the spatial planning system of Indonesia. The system of law and procedure which set the ground rules for planning practice in Indonesia during the New Order regime, as stipulated in the Spatial Planning Law 24/1992, reflected the authoritarian rule of the New Order regime. This law was replaced with the Spatial Planning Law 26/2007, a more participatory and accountable spatial planning law enacted in 2007. The paper examines the extent to which the transformation of spatial planning practices has taken place in the Jakarta Metropolitan Area after the fall of the New Order regime.

João Cabral — Portugal

The current Portuguese spatial planning system is the outcome of a legislative process incurred by the implementation of the democratic regime in 1974, which enabled representative-elected authorit...

Оценка пространственной и временной изменчивости показателя уязвимости ландшафтов Калининградской области как компонент экологически ориентированного территориального планирования

The relevance of applied regional studies aimed at solving problems of adapting the nature management and spatial planning system to the current conditions of natural landscape transformation is based on the widespread interest in this topic from Russian and international researchers. Environmental approaches, which gained currency at the legislative level elsewhere in Europe, are virtually absent in the Russian system of spatial planning. This results in the emergence of and increase in the number of nature management conflicts at the regional and local levels and creates problems for using advanced international experience in problem solving. This study aims to establish a methodology for a comprehensive assessment of the Kaliningrad region’s territory according to the degree of landscape vulnerability to the anthropogenic impact in spatial and temporal aspects. In practical terms, this study demonstrates the possibility of introducing environmental approaches into the system of regional spatial planning in view of the geoecological, economic, geographical, and historical factors. The key result of this study is the preparation of cartographic documents describing changes in landscape vulnerability of the Kaliningrad region. These documents serve as the basis for proposals aimed at optimising the regional nature management system. The findings of the study make it possible to augment the existing approaches to spatial planning in the Kaliningrad region and its municipalities.