Sustainable Urban Renewal Research Articles

Transit-Oriented Development and Suburban Gentrification: A “Natural Reality” of Refugee Displacement in Metro Vancouver

ABSTRACT This article examines a highly localized example of marginalized renters in an aging, low- to moderate-density suburban neighborhood facing displacement because of high-density redevelopment in a transit-oriented development (TOD) planning area. In doing so, I offer a case study for those concerned that TOD interventions could result in gentrification and the displacement of low-income groups. In this article I show how TOD policy has come to bear upon residents of a single rental apartment complex in Metro Vancouver’s suburban City of Coquitlam, in British Columbia, Canada. This local case lies at a nexus of international migration, the Syrian refugee crisis, understandings of adequate refugee housing, and imaginaries of sustainable urban renewal. TOD policies are buttressed by arguments for smart growth and environmental sustainability, and in this case those arguments surmount social equity concerns. However, I question the impartiality of TOD logic requiring high-density residential redevelopment around rapid transit stations when residential intensification policies readily target areas of lower income renters, but are slower to affect areas of single-family homes. A mixed-methods research design of Geographical Information System (GIS) mapping, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions reveals a complicated set of circumstances in which TOD planning contributed to the displacement of Syrian refugees.

PINECUBE: technologies for sustainable plant production and urban renewal in Belluno (Italy)

PINECUBE: technologies for sustainable plant production and urban renewal in Belluno (Italy)

Large-Scale and Refined Green Space Identification-Based Sustainable Urban Renewal Mode Assessment

Urban sustainable renewal has received extensive attention in a wide range of fields, including urban planning, urban management, energy management, and transportation. Given that environmental resource conservation is critical to urban sustainability renewal, this study highlighted the imbalance among green space, urban development, and transportation accessibility. Here, a novel node-place-green model is presented to measure sustainable urban development; meanwhile, deep learning is utilized to identify and extract the green space to measure the environmental index. Based on the generated node, place, and green value, urban developing status could be classified into nine modes for further analysis of transportation, urban function, and ecological construction. The experimental results of Harbin reveal the feasibility of the proposed method in providing specific guidelines for urban planning and policies on sustainable development.

Assessment of Road Rehabilitation in Ibadan, Nigeria

The study examined road rehabilitation in Ibadan North East Local Government of Oyo State, Nigeria. The data used in this study was obtained from both primary and secondary sources. The primary data was obtained through a reconnaissance survey and administration of the questionnaire. The reconnaissance survey is appropriate to establish the nature of an environment, event or situation before making decisions. The population for this study consists of all the residents available in Ibadan north local government. Both descriptive and thematic content analysis was employed in the analysis. Findings showed that rehabilitation (3.33) is the most desirable facility in the study area. Construction, maintenance, traffic management capacity building and street naming followed with 3.01, 2.56, 2.42, 2.28 and 2.12, respectively. The study concluded that compensation is an important factor that can enhance sustainable urban renewal programme, and therefore resident whose building was affected are to be compensated so that they could secure a better place for living or for their transaction.

A large-scale urban renewal project in a vicious cycle of commons and anticommons: The Fikirtepe case (Istanbul, Turkey)

In the cities of countries that have undergone rapid population growth and dynamic development, two phenomena attributable to market failure prevent sustainable urban renewal and reconfiguration. The tragedy of the commons and the tragedy of the anticommons. This article focuses on how the coexistence of commons and anticommons is designed on a specific example in a narrow perspective. In the selected sample area, the Fikirtepe Urban Renewal Project (Istanbul, Turkey), plan decisions (plan notes) that stimulate densification for land assembly were analyzed. This study aims to examine a large-scale and holistic urban renewal project that includes using plan notes to eliminate a co-existence of the commons and the anticommons. Semi-structured interviews with were carried out with 17 people who represent different key actors in the Fikirtepe Urban Renewal Project. The findings demonstrate that there are some conditions to implement this method for a holistic urban renewal project. The first is that the state (central or local governments) needs to be initially involved in this form of urban renewal project. Second, it is needed to defined the organizational structure and roles at the beginning. Third, increase of the legal power of the plan notes is needed. Fourth, ensuring legal certainty for all sides is needed in the land assembly stage.

The evolving process of the land urbanization bubble: Evidence from Hangzhou, China

A significant cause of economic recession and environmental change that has attracted the extensive attention of researchers and policy-makers worldwide is the land urbanization bubble (LUB) – a rapid and catastrophic growth and decline in urban development fueled by a mixture of misplaced exuberance and speculation. It is also an important topic for sustainable urban development and urban renewal, and is of particular interest to China, as one of the countries with the largest amount of urban land, most drastic change, and most prominent land urbanization conflicts in the world. This study analyzes the characteristics and presence of dynamic change in LUBs during China's urbanization process through a case study of the changing space-time rules in Hangzhou in Zhejiang province over the years 2004, 2007, 2010, 2015, and 2020. Based on a literature review and analysis of the mechanism driving Hangzhou's LUBs, we design a method for their classification and measurement. This reveals the existence of an overall 18.24 km2 LUB in 2010 and a predicted 40.62 km2 LUB in 2020. Locally, the Jianggan and Yuhang districts are expected to have a higher LUB risk by 2020, the Bingjiang and Xiaoshan districts a medium risk, the Shangcheng and Xiacheng districts a low risk, and the Xihu district having no LUB risk. Finally, three policy recommendations are proposed in consideration of Hangzhou's economic development and land use characteristics, comprising (1) reducing LUBs by promoting intensive urban expansion, (2) reducing the possibility of LUBs by building a market-oriented control system for construction land expansion, and (3) the dynamic control of LUB risks by differential regulation of the expansion of urban construction land.

Paths and strategies for sustainable urban renewal at the neighbourhood level: A framework for decision-making

With the rapid process of urbanisation in China, the challenges facing cities with regard to urban fabric, urban function, and human living conditions are enormous. Urban renewal provides opportunities to address these challenges and realise sustainable development. This study proposes a framework for integrating an indicator evaluation system and a decision-making matrix for urban renewal at the neighbourhood level in China; the level at which most development projects take place in a city. The indicator system covers subjective and objective evaluations on different aspects of neighbourhoods to shed light on specific problems and characteristics, namely, social aspects, economic aspects, environmental aspects, land use forms, building conditions, and facility conditions. The decision-making matrix is designed to provide implementation paths and corresponding strategies for urban renewal. The proposed framework was tested using a case study of eight neighbourhoods of Qixinggang, Yuzhong District, Chongqing in China. The results show the status quo and problems of the selected neighbourhoods and specific strategies to address these are subsequently proposed. Via in-depth investigations on various neighbourhoods within a city, decision-makers are capable of locating key areas and adjusting practical approaches from a ‘one size fits all’ approach to ones that are customised and offer small-scale improvements. The proposed framework can shed light on other empirical cities that possess similar local characteristics.

Spatial production and spatial dialectic: Evidence from the New Urban Districts in China

New Urban Districts (NUDs) are the important spatial carriers to promote urban expansion or transformation. Since the 1990s, they have been playing a more and more crucial role in China’s urbanization. For NUDs in the strict sense we found that: 96% to the east of Hu Line; 56% within the municipal districts; 64% within 36 km from their every city center and below the area of 423 km2. The regional distribution follows significant spatial difference as “Eastern Region (50%) - Central Region (42%) - Western Region (8%)”, and the provinces with the largest number of NUDs are Guangdong, Henan, Zhejiang, Liaoning, and Ji-angsu. Furthermore, their interesting constructed process highlights the typical characteristics of spatial production and spatial dialectic. This paper uses the theory of the production of space, and discovers that the growth of NUDs is a rapid ternary dialectical process of spatial production: “representations of space” is guided by the top-down governmental power; “spatial practice” is reflected in the hierarchical and regional difference of spatial elements, such as the type, pattern, distance and area of NUD; “spaces of representation” embodies the tension between governmental power and urban development rights, as well as the coun-termeasure mechanism. The extensibility of spatiotemporal sequences ensures the unity and continuity of spatial (re)production of NUDs. However, this is also facing a series of challenges like the management coordination of administrative division and the increasing unbalanced or inadequate development. Thus, critically rethinking the evolution of NUD is the key basis for achieving sustainable urban renewal and regional orderly development in the new era.

Land-use decision support in brownfield redevelopment for urban renewal based on crowdsourced data and a presence-and-background learning (PBL) method

Brownfield assessment is a crucial precondition for sustainable urban renewal. In particular, brownfield assessment usually involve a large amount of data and information relevant to urban or land dynamic. However, obtaining these data and information in fine scale has been especially challenging via traditional datasets (like surveyed or statistics datasets). This paper proposes a method for integrating crowdsourced datasets and traditional datasets to measure dynamic information of land parcels and applies a presence and background data machine learning (PBL) model to assess the redevelopment suitability in mass. The work focuses on the study area of Shenzhen, a high-density urban context with an adequate amount of urban renewal cases and sufficient crowdsourced data. Results indicated that assessments based on the combination of crowdsourced datasets and traditional datasets were accurate and reliable for the residential and commercial land parcels. Furthermore, mass assessments at a fine spatial-temporal scale are viable if introduce crowdsourced datasets due to the cost of obtaining the crowdsourced data is much lower, and the spatial-temporal scale is much finer than investigated or surveyed data.

Evaluation of Sustainable Urban Renewal Strategies in an evolving Residential District of Lagos Island, Nigeria

Population growth and Urbanization are part of the attributes of a developing city. These attributes impact on the environment and the living condition of its inhabitants. The need to have a mechanism for sustainable development of cities is of necessity. One of such mechanism is the creation of a smart city. This development plan is an agenda for cities such as Lagos State, Nigeria. A study was done on some selected existing buildings found in the residential district areas of Lagos Island with the aim to identifying the housing and planning characteristics found in these residential areas to aid smart city implementation. The history of the buildings and factors that have influenced the change in housing types was studied; how these can influence and affect any agenda of smart city implementation or reform was explored. Survey methodology was used in carrying out the research with the use of questionnaire administered to residents; observation and photographic materials were also used as research instrument. Statistical methods using frequency and percentages were used to analyze the data collected. The result showed that a large percentage of the buildings investigated, had not been renovated in the last ten (10) years and are mixed used buildings. It was observed that the present state of housing in Lagos Island has been greatly influenced by increasing commercial activities in the area. Also, the result showed that the purpose and types of housing found in this area had evolved over time, a once resting place for a man and his family is now a place of several functions. Sustainable urban renewal and planning were suggested to enable the implementation of a smart city.

From urban sustainability transformations to green gentrification: urban renewal in Gaziosmanpaşa, Istanbul

Processes aiming to achieve urban transformation that includes sustainability can result in green gentrification and thus promote exclusivist, private green spaces. At the same time, they compromise the ability of cities to promote more systemic sustainable development. Istanbul has long been a site of planned gentrification and displacement through urban renewal and regeneration projects, which have recently touted a sustainability angle. While sustainable urban renewal can have positive impacts on human health and well-being and is critical for addressing climate change and other environmental challenges, the benefits are rarely evenly distributed. Through an examination of sustainability-oriented urban renewal projects in Istanbul’s Gaziosmanpaşa district, this study shows that vulnerable residents have been displaced by the planned gentrification and that such consequences are likely to be amplified by visions of green sustainability. It also illustrates that plans to harness the city’s drive for economic growth and urban development risk making large parts of the “green” districts affordable only for relatively well-off citizens. Based on semi-structured interviews, non-participatory observation, and analysis of project and municipality-level documents, we find that even though seismic vulnerability and energy efficiency are cited as reasons for these transformations towards sustainability, policymakers are not paying sufficient attention to the political ecology of social exclusion and an increase in inequality that can result from sustainability-oriented urban renewal.

Assessing Land Fragmentation in Planning Sustainable Urban Renewal

Planning of sustainable urban renewal is one of the key issues for city development. Particular emphasis is placed on the problem of the sustainable urban renewal of areas that are made up of a large number of private cadastral parcels that cause ownership fragmentation. Urban renewal is most often carried out to realize a large project where it is necessary to determine the optimal way of its realization. This paper proposes a methodology for assessing the index of fragmentation for the purpose of sustainable urban renewal planning. The methods used to solve the task are Simple Additive Weighting method (SAW) for ranking alternative solutions (i.e., cadastral parcels, spatial elements and areas of future construction), and the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process method (FAHP) for defining the criteria weights. In the process of defining the index of fragmentation model as well as the weighting determination, a group of experts was involved. The proposed model was tested on the field of the construction of the University of Split campus, for which implementation was planned in several periods. The obtained results show that the proposed methodology can provide support in analyzing the spatial–functional capacities of the existing land, and for decision making in optimizing the realization of urban projects.

Review of the Basic Theory and Evaluation Methods of Sustainable Urban Renewal

With the integration of the sustainable development concept and urban renewal practices, sustainable urban renewal has emerged as a new research area. At the same time, in the context of the emergence of urban problems with the increasing complexity, sustainable urban renewal has gradually become a new type of governance that takes social, economic and environmental sustainability into account. Based on the analysis of relevant terms of urban renewal and reviewing the relevant theories of sustainable urban renewal, this paper systematically sorts out the research progress of sustainable urban renewal evaluation methods, which provides theoretical guidance and technical support for sustainable urban renewal decision-making.

The role of stakeholders and their participation network in decision-making of urban renewal in China: The case of Chongqing

Since the late 1970s, China's fast growth of economy and urbanization have driven large-scale urban renewal projects. To deal with complex urban problems, urban renewal requires integrated, coordinated and multifaceted strategies involving a wide range of stakeholders. A deeper understanding of the stakeholders in the decision-making process is an essential step towards sustainable urban renewal. This paper aims to understand the stakeholders and their participation in the decision-making of urban renewal in China, using the case of Chongqing. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and a questionnaire survey. Stakeholder Analysis and Social Network Analysis were complemented as the research methodology. First, the stakeholders involved in urban renewal decision-making were clarified. Second, the characteristics, including knowledge, power, and interest of each stakeholder, were analyzed. Third, the relationships between stakeholders were probed, and the structure of their network was examined. Finally, policy implications were drawn to the issues of stakeholder participation in urban renewal decision-making in China.

Exploring Participatory Microregeneration as Sustainable Renewal of Built Heritage Community: Two Case Studies in Shanghai

Since the 1990s, Shanghai has experienced massive urban development and renewal as ways to respond to its demographic, economic, and living space needs. Previous policies have led to the demolishment of many historical communities and valuable heritage housing. The existing ones continue to face extreme threats, such as bad physical conditions and the marginalization of communities. Yet there is a recent trend that emphasizes sustainable urban renewal named microregeneration (微更新), launched by municipal and local states since 2016. One of the main approaches of the initiative was to form new urban coalitions to focus on collaborative governance that helps integrate different agents’ expertise and values for more sustainable urban developments and renewals. This paper explores two cases on how this concept has emerged. The first case is An Shan Si Cun (鞍山四村). This housing block was built in the 1950s for employees of some state-owned enterprises. The second case is Jing Lao Cun (敬老邨). This alley house neighborhood was built in 1930s for migrants who came to Shanghai. Furthermore, this paper is to explore and compare their approaches to sustainable urban renewal, which attempts to preserve these communities that represent cultural and built heritage in Shanghai. Specifically, this paper examines the challenges and accomplishments of these experiments, and discusses policy implications for future tactics of sustainable urban renewal.

Sustainable Urban Renewal and Built Heritage Conservation in a Global Real Estate Revolution

A global real estate revolution has been transforming the urban landscape everywhere. Development and redevelopment projects have mixed with, if not become an integral part of, real estate construction. At the same time, there is a drive to commodification in this revolution, as shown by a growing trend to conserve built heritage in new development projects characterised by the rise of museums. This paper reviews some examples of attempts in various parts of the world to combine real estate development and conservation and applies the fourth Coase theorem to explore how built heritage conservation and urban renewal in Hong Kong, hitherto problematic in terms of their invasion of private property, can become a win-win outcome in the context of this global real estate revolution.

Demolition of Existing Buildings in Urban Renewal Projects: A Decision Support System in the China Context

Much of the rapid urbanization of China’s cities has occurred at the expense of the existing urban fabric. Across the nation, whole city blocks have been replaced with new structures, requiring large numbers of buildings to be demolished while still serviceable. This curtailed lifespan of existing buildings not only comes with an economic cost, but results in loss of urban culture, wastes resources, degrades the environment, exacerbates pollution, and inflames social conflict and instability. For the purpose of evaluating the merits of building demolition, this study develops a decision support system (DSS) for building demolition in the China context from the perspective of sustainable urban renewal. The indicators of this system cover economic, social, environmental, and institutional aspects of sustainable development. Meanwhile, both the individual characteristics of buildings and the external or extrinsic indicators at the neighborhood, local, or city level are taken into account. Based on exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), 24 critical indicators containing qualitative and quantitative factors are identified. These indicators are classified into six parameters: (1) service performance; (2) economic impact; (3) social identity; (4) local development; (5) building location; and (6) building safety. Empirical results reveal considerations of local development to be of greatest significance with the value of standardized factor loading standing at 0.911, followed by service performance (loading = 0.870) and building location (loading = 0.863), with social identity (loading = 0.236) ranking substantially lower. The findings contribute to the practice of urban renewal and, in particular, provide practical guidance to the building demolition decision-making process.

Role of Civil Society in Sustainable Urban Renewal (Machizukuri) after the Kobe Earthquake

‘Machizukuri’ is translated by most commentators as ‘place or city making’ and mainly refers to the direct participation of citizens into urban planning and construction. The present paper discusses the concept and evolution of machizukuri from a social movement to ‘soft-infrastructure’ at city level, focused on serving community needs in post-disaster settings. The 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in Kobe is chosen as the main case study, in order to review the role and process of machizukuri in disaster management in the context of urban renewal. This is followed by a discussion on the possibility of replicating this model in other contexts and the challenges which machizukuri and similar bottom-up groups are faced with in ensuring their sustainability. The paper argues that the culture and personal engagement of the citizens, and the commitment of national and local governments to cooperate with civil society groups, are essential in this process. Finally, the study suggests that the utilization of this concept has proved that there are undeniable benefits in engaging civil society in decision-making processes and initiatives, with the ultimate aim to create communities capable of overcoming the catastrophic consequences of disasters.

从社会因素角度评估香港城市更新模式的可持续性

从社会因素角度评估香港城市更新模式的可持续性

Wood Constructions for Sustainable Building Renovation

This paper discusses the potentials of different wood constructions for the renovation and extension of existing buildings for sustainable urban renewal. The renovation and extension of existing buildings with wood constructions can contribute significantly to sustainable urban redevelopment. The renovation of building envelopes, such as façades and roofs, with highly insulated wooden components, can reduce the transmission heat losses and related heating energy demand of existing buildings significantly. The extension of existing buildings contributes to the redensification of urban areas and can create synergies with the improvement of existing buildings’ performances. The manifold advantages of specific wooden constructions can be related to different aspects, such as construction type and material properties, building execution, design, logistic and sustainability. The results of this research discuss the architectural design and planning relevant properties of specific timber construction types, such as wood frame, cross-laminated timber (CLT), massive timber, and hybrid timber-concrete, considering the properties of different soft (such as spruce) and hard (such as beech) construction timber species. Timber constructions are compared with conventional massive constructions out of concrete and steel. The results confirm the significant advantages of timber constructions regarding all aspects.