Town Planning Research Articles

Exploring a new method to identify hidden danger space in the post-pandemic period: Taking Beian city in China as a case

COVID-19 has become a major public health emergency in the world, which seriously affects the normal operation of cities. Epidemic prevention and control is not only needed in big cities, but also in small and medium-sized cities. In view of this, the paper takes Beian city, China as the research area. This study establishes a street network model through spatial syntax, and predicts the crossing potential and arrival potential of its street network. This will play a reference role for traffic flow control in Beian city. The article uses emerging data. Through GIS spatial analysis method, we identify the hidden danger space of city. Therefore, this summarizes the places where people are easy to gather and some problems of the current situation of the city. The results show that: (1) Beian bridge and Wuyuer street have a good traffic potential. The intersection of Longjiang Road and Beidahuang street and the intersection of Tianyuan North Road and Baocheng road have good accessibility. (2) The intersection of Ping’an Street and Shanghai road is a potential hidden danger space of the city, and the focus of epidemic prevention and control. (3) The coverage rate of urban community medical services to residential land is 58.61%, and the existing medical infrastructure is insufficient. Under public health emergencies, the paper will argue a new development ideas for health and safety small town planning by visualizing the hidden danger space of the city.

Analyzing walkability in the vicinity of three metro stations in Doha, Qatar

PurposeMany factors contribute to public rail transit use in an urban network. However, a dysfunctional relationship between the built environment and the transport system significantly deters such use. Architects, urban designers, town planners and policymakers must understand the factors that promote or deter pedestrian use of the urban environment.Design/methodology/approachThe paper investigates four connectivity and walkability factors for three different metro stations in Doha, Qatar: Al Aziziyah, Hamad Hospital and West Bay. The analysis includes pedestrian sheds, block sizes, ground-level land uses and connectedness in the urban spatial network based on catchment contour maps using space syntax.FindingsThe results indicate the three metro stations and neighborhoods are representative of diverse type of neighborhoods in Doha: relatively compact but expansive for the Hamad Hospital Station area, metrically and topologically restrictive due to the poor planning and the peninsular location of the reclaimed land in the West Bay area, and expansive, shallow and reliant on attraction for the Al Waab transportation corridor associated with Al Aziziyah Station.Research limitations/implicationsTime factors and temporary closure/capacity reductions due to the global pandemic restricted planned efforts to collect more pedestrian use data based on passive observations and preference choices using surveys during the study. Nonetheless, adapting the investigation to the circumstances produced significant findings.Social implicationsThe analysis can help us develop better guidelines and diagnostic tools to calibrate design and planning strategies promoting more walkable, healthy and sustainable neighborhoods.Originality/valueThe study is original due to examining stations of the new Doha Metro for the first time. However, it relies on well-established representational techniques in urban morphology and space syntax research.

The introduction of garden centres to the Hutt Valley

New Zealand gardening histories are frustratingly brief when discussing the shift in garden retailing in the post-war period. Often, only a mere sentence or paragraph considers the introduction of garden centres. Architectural historian Paul Walker provides an excellent example, writing "Drive-in suburban garden centres spread everywhere and displaced older modes of garden retailing – the central-city garden shops, local nurseries, and probably a good many of the bread-and-butter mail-order businesses have gone." He then moves on to another topic.This paper looks at this shift in garden retailing through three of the earliest garden centres in the Hutt Valley: Zenith, Twiglands and Kents. Each business represents different developments in garden retailing: a nursery that converted into a garden centre, a purpose-built garden centre, and a garden centre with a café. These developments changed how people shopped for plants and garden supplies and evoked various responses from their neighbourhoods. Interestingly the question asked time and again was - do garden centres contribute to the public good? In addition to regular historic sources such as newspapers and advertisements, this talk uses unusual sources such as files from local councils, the Town and Country Planning Appeal Board, and the Shops and Office Tribunal.

A note on military mapping for engaging with the Northern Ireland Troubles

During the period of the Northern Ireland Troubles (c. 1968-c.2000), maps were an essential operational resource for the security forces. This review introduces and profiles the wide range of maps produced for the Northern Ireland ‘theatre’ by the UK Directorate of Military Survey. These maps extended from detailed 1:2500 town plans to synoptic ‘religious areas’ maps for the main cities and towns and single-sheets of the whole of Northern Ireland. A 1:20,000 series was also created for border areas that has no civil equivalent and which also covers adjacent parts of the Republic of Ireland. Although usually derived from Ordnance Survey base maps, the DMS maps give enhanced attention to grid-lines to facilitate precise specification of location and to recording places of concealment: woods in rural areas and ruined/ derelict buildings and archways in towns. Using data from various sources, including eBay and library listings, this article attempts to explore an important record of the Troubles, that appears to have received little systematic attention from scholars and archivists.

The Influences of Various Factors and Interest Demands on Linpan Landscape Evolution in the Chengdu Plain: A Qualitative Study Based on Oral Histories

Traditional rural homegarden agroforestry systems in the Chengdu Plain of China are often referred to as “Linpan” in Chinese, which integrates the landscape of ecological functions and human production activities. In recent years, due to the influences of urbanization and the aging population, the Linpan landscape has changed dramatically. Clarifying the factors which influence Linpan landscape evolution is a critical way to improve rural landscape renovation. Through oral history interviews, the deep-seated factors driving the evolution of the Linpan landscape form from 1949 to 2020 are explored using the grounded theory. The results show that in the process of Linpan landscape evolution, beneficiary groups, the material basis, and cultural characteristics are the prerequisites for changing the Linpan settlement landscape. The demand of production and life and government-led behavior are the two main influencing factors, and landscape change is the final result. The demand of production and life from the residents is the primary internal driving force of landscape change, while government-led behavior is the main external driving force of settlement development and evolution. The nature of the main driving forces behind the evolution of the Linpan landscape in the Chengdu Plain can be divided into three stages. (1) From 1949 to 1980, it was characterized as a balancing of government forces and social forces. (2) From 1981 to 1993, it was characterized by social forces suppressing government forces. (3) From 1994 to 2020, it was characterized as a stalemate between the government and social forces. From the perspective of the evolution of the Linpan settlement landscape, the traditional Linpan form and settlement layout have been unable to meet the new requirements of the rural social and economic transition period. They are facing the challenges of rural reconstruction and rural revitalization. In the future, village and town planning and the design of new settlements need to comprehensively consider the demands of different interest groups.

Integrated Framework for Inclusive Town Planning Using Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Method for a Semi Urban Town

Planning is a continuous process and must incorporate a regular evaluation of implementation and further revision for effective and efficient utility for the betterment of society through modification of the planning standards. Development plans for cities / towns are criticized for being rigid and static, having little regard for investment planning efforts, and taking a very long time in the process of formulation and approval. In depth analysis and review of the existing situation, covering the demographic, economic, financial, infrastructure, physical, environmental, and institutional aspects, is important so as to identify the strengths and weaknesses in the city overall development. In the present study, an attempt has been made to thoroughly review the existing planning standards adopted for the preparation and implementation of development plans in India, especially in Maharashtra. Since the development plan's objectives are not measurable, this study will use the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to assess their level of performance. For the purpose of identifying the various viewpoints of various stakeholders, field surveys and questionnaire surveys were conducted. This application can be used as an objective evaluation tool for planners and policy makers to improve planning practices and provide necessary knowledge for revising plans. The results indicated the importance of criteria from the pre-planning, preparation, and implementation stages of DP. These results were used for two semi-urban towns in Maharashtra regions and could also be used by planning engineers for further development of planning standards. Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-2022-08-12-07 Full Text: PDF

QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF DEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL REPORT (DPR) CASE STUDY: SEREMBAN CITY COUNCIL

Development Proposal Report (DPR) is a document that is particularly mentioned under the provision of paragraph 22(2) Act 172 as one of the elements that need to be referred to and considered in managing the planning permission application process. This is often done to control development as stated under part IV of the Planning Control Town and Country Planning Act 1976 (Act 1720), which states that each application for planning permission submitted to the local planning authority (LPA) shall be accompanied by DPR. Delays in decision-making, a lack of an experienced workforce, adherence to the manual of development proposal reports, and the quality of the development proposal presented by the applicant are some of the problems associated with this study. This study examines the Development Proposal Report (DPR) quality assessment at Seremban City Council under the DPR preparation manual and evaluation of the MyLCP Score Card. This study corresponds with section 21A of the Town and Country Planning Act of 1976 [Act 172], which mandates the submission of the DPR during the application for the planning approval procedure. MyLCP Score Card is an innovation from the PLANMalaysia's Planning Legislation & Regulation Division that aims to help the LPA evaluate the DPR submitted to ensure the quality of the DPR and help the LPA consider granting planning permission more expediently.

COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN THE URBAN PLANNING DECISION-MAKING PROCESS AMONG THE LOW-INCOME SEGMENT IN ISKANDAR MALAYSIA

Community participation in urban planning in Peninsular Malaysia is framed by the Town and Country Planning Act 1976. Iskandar Malaysia is facing rapid urbanisation, which sees development intensification, especially in Johor Bahru. As a result, it has inflicted challenges on local planning authorities in Iskandar Malaysia to plan and provide genuine participation to the community, especially the low-income segment. The question in this study is, "to what extent does the current participatory platform in Iskandar Malaysia offer a genuine opportunity to the low-income segment to participate in the planning and operational decision-making?". This study examines the current state of the low-income segment's participation in the development plan-making and planning permission processes. This study used document gathering and document analysis to collect and analyse the secondary data from selected local plans and planning permission applications of Johor Bahru and Kulai districts. A series of focus group discussions involving the residents' committees of the selected low-cost apartments around Johor Bahru and Kulai districts is also conducted; hence, thematically analysed to substantiate the document analysis' findings. The findings suggested limited opportunities for the low-income segment to participate in development plan-making and planning permission in Iskandar Malaysia.

THE ROLE OF STRUCTURALISM IN TOWN PLANNING RESEARCH IN THE DIGITAL ARCHITECTURE ERA

At first, Structuralism developed rapidly in France, but structuralism was not yet known in Indonesia; even in the early 1990s, Lévi-Strauss' structuralism did not resonate with Indonesian socio-cultural scientists. In 1966 the publication of the book The Architecture of the City, authored by Aldo Rossi, provided input on architectural and urban research based on structuralism; This book teaches Typomorphology. The purpose of this study is to provide an explanation of how structuralism is used as an approach method in town planning research. There are two research methods used, the first is a literature review method to gain an understanding of structuralism and the use of structuralism in the field in the context of town planning, namely the typomorphology approach. After this understanding, followed by the second research method, namely the case study method, which is to explain the use of the structuralism method in case studies in Semarang City. The research provides an understanding of structuralism, and an understanding of the use of structuralism in the scope of architecture, particularly in town planning research. In the current era of digital architecture, the results of this study provide an overview of the important role of structuralism in contributing to the facts of all aspects that make up the city; and this is the basis for research on urban development using digital architectural technology.

Plant Diversity along an Urbanization Gradient of a Tropical City

This study aimed to investigate the plant diversity, plant traits, and environmental variables along the tropical urbanization gradient in Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia. The study areas comprised 12 sampling plots sized 1 km2 that represented different urbanization intensities. Urbanization intensity was quantified as the percentage of the built-up area within a 1 km2 area. A total of 96 woody plant species belonging to 71 genera and 42 families were found in the study areas. In general, species diversity, richness, and evenness declined significantly as urbanization intensity increased. The number of native species reduced by 67.6% when urbanization intensity increased from wildland to suburban while the non-native species remained stable along the urbanization gradient. Regarding the plant traits, tree height decreased with increasing urbanization intensity, while no significant result was found for specific leaf areas. All environmental factors were significantly associated with urbanization where air temperature and light intensity showed a positive relationship with increasing urbanization intensity while the opposite trend was found for air humidity. This study emphasizes the importance of built-up areas as the predictor of native species in the tropics. The findings of this study may help town planners and policymakers to create more sustainable urban development in the future.

Re-Imaging the Future in Urban Studies and Built Environment Discourse: A Neurourbanism Perspective

Neurological constructs are being applied in various fields; within urban studies and built environments, neurourbanism stands out. To understand this concept, this study seeks to conduct a scientometric analysis of the concept of neurourbanism. To do so, we gauged the intellectual structure and clarified the influencers and emerging themes while seeking to identify essential gaps in neurourbanism research in urban studies and the built environment. Data were sorted from Dimensions Artificial Intelligence platform because of its reliability in providing the needed dataset accurately, and the Citespace software was used to analyze the data. Our results suggest plurality in explaining the risk factors in urbanicity research, particularly regarding prevalence, incidence, and the general cause of psychosis in urban living. The study also shows that players in the construction sector, such as engineers, town planners, and developers, have not fully grasped how the built environment assists in improving well-being, reducing stress levels of urbanists, assisting migrants in settling into the community, and the general mental wellness of those who live in the city. The study also identified a correlation between urbanization and mental health and added that the main recipient of rapid urban transformation countries does not show leadership in neurourbanism studies.

Corruption and Urban Landscape in Plato: The Story of Atlantis, the Chronicle of Thucydides and the Geometry of the Town Plan

The aim of this paper is to study Plato's use of landscape to convey the historical-political meaning of the Atlantis story. As the crux of the argument, I will argue two interlinked hypotheses: first, that the descriptions of Atlantis and primaeval Athens provide the key to identifying these cities, respectively, as mirror images of fifth-century Athens and of an idealised Sparta, suggesting that the story conceals an evocation of the Peloponnesian War. Secondly, I will propose that Plato expresses the cause of this conflict also through the landscape and, specifically, through the symbolism of the corruption of the circular layout that initially defines Atlantis.

Neighborhood retail amenities and taxi trip behavior: A natural experiment in Singapore

While a small change in land use planning in existing neighborhoods may significantly reduce private vehicle trips, we do not have a great understanding of the magnitude of the project- and shock-based causal change in travel behaviors, especially for the retail purpose. We analyze the impact of newly developed malls on the retail trip behavior of nearby residents for shopping, dining or services. Using the difference-in-differences approach and big data from a major taxi company in Singapore, we find that households residing within 800 m from a new mall are significantly less likely to take taxis to other retail destinations after the mall's opening. This travel behavior change encompasses both intensive (the share of the number of retail trips out of total taxi trips originating from each residential building) and extensive (the share of retail trip distance out of total taxi trip distance) margin responses. We further demonstrate that the magnitude of this retail trip reduction is more significant during PM peak hours and for residential buildings that are located farther from the Central Business District and in less self-sufficient communities. Our research provides suggestive evidence on the significant role of neighborhood retail amenities to the change in mode and destination choices for retail. An important implication is that improving self-sufficiency for suburban neighborhoods could not only enhance the well-being of their residents but also increase aggregate welfare by reducing the level of congestion. This is extremely relevant to residential town planning in both developing and developed countries.

Immigration, employment, and new town initiatives in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT The forces that drove the birth of Kwun Tong new town in Hong Kong are not comprehensively understood. Previous historical narratives have magnified the impact of industrialization or laissez-faire liberalism. This article looks at the formation of Kwun Tong new town from the perspective of migration and employment, and reveals that employment acted as a catalyst to resettlement. The production of space theory and investigation of British colonial archival documents, proposal maps, and aerial photographs reveal that new town planning unfolded relative to spatial coding in Ngau Tau Kok and urban practice in Shek Kip Mei, showing historical continuity. The social and political dynamics of immigrants and how they interactively influenced the built-environment and resettlement are highlighted in this article. Under morphological analysis, critical changes in urban form provide other angles from which to understand how the new town was shaped. In addition, morphological analysis provides a spatial dialectics, filling the research gap of town planning in Hong Kong in the 1950s.

Outdoor ventilation evaluation and optimization based on spatial morphology analysis in Macau

Owing to Macau's high urban development intensity, outdoor ventilation is important to enhance human comfort. In this study, four morphological indices as frontal area index (FAI), site coverage (SC), building height (BH) and floor area ratio (FAR) were mapped and analyzed by establishing a refined three-dimensional urban digital model. Then indicator analysis, numerical simulation and LST retrieval were comprehensively used to assess the present outdoor ventilation conditions of Macau. The results showed that Macau's overall spatial morphology was not conducive to ventilation. In hot season, the cool sea breeze was obstructed by high-rise buildings in coastal area of the northern peninsula and difficult to infiltrate into the inner city. In cold season, the high pedestrian level wind speed of urban blocks in coastal areas of southern island was not good for wind protection. In Macau's northern peninsula, three potential wind corridors that connecting several existing open spaces are suggested. In southern island, a clustered urban development mode is proposed to create a wind corridor network. In addition, the existing heat islands in the windward side of wind corridors can be reduced by optimizing land surface. For pedestrian-level ventilation, the wind speed of traditional neighborhoods can be enhanced by reducing site coverage and introducing high-rise buildings during urban renewal. Wind protection methods should be considered in existing coastal urban areas, and low-rise high-density development mode is recommended for coastal new town planning in southern island. This research presents an opportunity to assist urban planners and researchers in developing a comprehensive understanding of Macau's ventilation condition, and provides theoretical support for planning practices for Macau and cities with comparable conditions.

MAKING TOWNS CHILD FRIENDLY

The way spaces are designed can have a huge impact on the wellbeing and life chances of children and young people. Charlotte Goddard speaks to those leading the way in child-friendly town planning

Sustainable Urbanism: Pathway to Resilient Strategies in Adapting Early Malay Town towards Low Carbon City

Due to an alarming rate on the impact of global climate change, the integration of low-carbon goal in regeneration of historic urban areas is regarded as a key part towards the implementation of sustainable urbanism practises based on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). Much studies on the planning and design of low carbon strategies concerned overwhelmingly on the new planned cities without much emphasis given on the implemented at old town centre. In the context of Malay early town, the adaptation of the low carbon planning as shifting in environmental conditions is regarded as paramount importance particularly in the planning of the urban form to address the growing complexity of urban fabric at the town. This paper therefore explores the developed framework of Low Carbon City initiative and integration of resilience as an approach in urban transformation and regeneration of Malay early town to provide the platform for understanding the complexity of urban-natural environment from morphological perspective. The purpose of this research is two-fold; firstly, to examine the role of discourse in implementing Low Carbon City Framework (LCCF) in Malaysia at large. The second objective is to identify the place-specific mechanisms based on resilience approach to understand the capacity of urban form system to absorb, adapt or transform in ensuring the dynamic equilibrium of the urban-natural system. Considering Kota Bharu as representative of Malay town, a discursive-analytical perspective framed to examine the upsurge of the LCCF that helps to understand the pathway towards integration of framework at national, state and district level. Such comprehension on implementation measure formed a basis to identify the interactions between environmental performance and urban forms pattern as strategies for resilience. A case study with mapping analysis were employed that revealed significant relations between socio-cultural and environmental dimension which shaped the formation and transformation of urban morphology of the town. This study concludes with an examination of possible future directions for integration of space-morphological approach to general urban resilience for future adaptation planning of Malay towns towards Low Carbon City.

Early experiences of women and planning initiatives 1980–1990

This paper discusses gender planning initiatives from the 1980s to the 1990s based on the experiences in London of two practising planners when local authorities began discussing gender-sensitive cities and developed specific actions and planning policies, women’s committees and women’s officers in planning departments. The first experience in the early 1980s introduced women into mainstream discourse particularly through the Town and Country Planning Summer School. The second describes Open Sesame, a project in Haringey. These experiences are contextualised in the GLC promotion of women’s issues through their Women’s Committee. It concludes with a discussion of the current position of women in planning.

Social Housing Provision in Rural Areas: Lessons learned from a Historic Analysis of Council House Building in a Small Town in Rural England

History shows that one successful method of addressing poverty and inequality is by providing social housing. In England during its post war peak, local authorities, such as borough, urban and rural district councils, built thousands of “council” houses. The common perception of the “council” estate is of huge developments such as in Beacontree built by the London County Council, but construction took place on a smaller scale in rural districts and much can be learned from studying how social housing was provided in these areas. Princes Risborough in Buckinghamshire is an excellent example of council housing provision before and after WW2. Archival data was used to analyze and evaluate the council house-building program from 1919 to 1953. Beginning in 1919 with 10 workers cottages built under the powers of the Housing and Town Planning Act 1919 and ending in 1953 with the erection of 164 “Wimpey” no-fines concrete houses, the Wycombe Rural District Council built 790 dwellings. By the time of the 1961 Census after the WRDC postwar building program effectively ended in 1953 council houses accoutned for about 40% of the homes in the town and the population doubled since 1921. Records show construction of the dwellings helped develop a thriving local construction economy fueled by procurement with local builders, constructing as few as two units. Only toward the end of the building period were contracts let in large quantities when non-traditional construction methods were adopted.

Activity Towards a Safety Environment in Traditional Street of Old Kajang Town

In urban design, streets are one of the important elements that function as public spaces, especially in Malaysia. The image of a street reflects the time as well as demonstrates the image of the city. Hence, a street with a strong sense of safety and walkability, simultaneously contributes to the similarity of the character of the place. However, the recent development of the heritage town shows a lack of activity occurring at night, hence displaying a less secure atmosphere for the place. Therefore, the objective of the article is to discuss the activities that contribute to the safe environment in ‘Jalan Mendaling’ and ‘Jalan Tukang’, ‘Bandar Warisan Kajang Selangor’. These three case studies of traditional streets were chosen as they are considered as public spaces. This research adopted a qualitative method, including the interview and field observation techniques. There were 20 respondents among the street users, from both static and mobile were interviewed. The data collected was analysed through a triangulation approach and further explained through literature evidence prior to the development of the finding. The findings show that there are several factors that contribute to the safe environment in the case studies area. It includes mixed development with residential typology, diversification of business activities, and business operating hours. The findings contributed to the architect, urban designer, and town planner in further enhancing the street design in terms of its liveability, walkability, and quality of safe streets.